Suchergebnisse

The rise of populist movements worldwide is challenging science and motivating scientists to join the debate and enter politics. Based on my experience, taking a public stand will not come without slanderous personal and institutional attacks as an attempt to shake scientific credibility. The virology community is at risk of similar misrepresentation; reflection on this topic, particularly on how to address such challenges, should be a priority, given we are in the "post-truth" era.

International audience ; Avian influenza is an OIE listed disease that has become a disease of great importance both for animal and human health. The increased relevance of AI in the fields of animal and human health, has highlighted the lack of scientific information on several aspects of the disease, which has hampered the adequate management of some of the recent crises. Millions of animals have died, and there is growing concern over the loss of human lives and over the management of the pandemic potential. The present paper aims to identify areas of knowledge of veterinary competence that need to be improved in order to generate information to support the global AI crisis and highlights the major changes in AI legislation, including regulations related to trade. It also reviews the human health implications of AI, including the mechanisms by which a human pandemic virus may be generated and the food safety issues related to this infection. The application of control policies, ranging from stamping out to emergency and prophylactic vaccination are discussed on the basis of data generated in recent outbreaks and in the light of new regulations, also in view of the maintenance of good animal welfare. Poultry veterinarians working for the industry or for the public sector represent the first line of defence against the pandemic threat and for the prevention and control of this infection in poultry and in wild birds. However, given the current situation, it is imperative that close collaboration is sought and achieved by public health officials involved in the veterinary, agricultural and medical aspects of the disease. Only through the exchange of data, experiences, views and information will it be possible to combat this zoonosis which represents a major threat to public health and animal wellbeing.

International audience ; The extensive circulation of the H5N1 HPAI virus and the human health threat that it poses, has raised concerns over the food safety implications of this infecting poultry. In addition, among the most important risk factors for the possible emergence of Avian Influenza (AI) in the European Union (EU) and United States (U.S.), the European and Food Safety Agency (EFSA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) respectively have identified legal and illegal importations of infected poultry commodities. This paper reviews existing knowledge on the presence of viable avian influenza viruses in poultry commodities.

Governments continue to update social intervention strategies to contain COVID-19 infections. However, investigation of COVID-19 severity indicators across the population might help to design more precise strategies, balancing the need to keep people safe and to reduce the socio-economic burden of generalized restriction precedures. Here, we propose a method for age-sex population-adjusted analysis of disease severity in epidemics that has the advantage to use simple and repeatable variables, which are daily or weekly available. This allows to monitor the effect of public health policies in short term, and to repeat these calculations over time to surveille epidemic dynamics and impact. Our method can help to define a risk-categorization of likeliness to develop a severe COVID-19 disease which requires intensive care or is indicative of a higher risk of dying. Indeed, analysis of suitable open-access COVID-19 data in three European countries indicates that individuals in the 0–40 age interval and females under 60 are significantly less likely to develop a severe condition and die, whereas males equal or above 60 are more likely at risk of severe disease and death. Hence, a combination of age-adaptive and sex-balanced guidelines for social interventions could represent key public health management tools for policymakers.

The COVID-19 outbreak has fueled a global demand for effective diagnosis and treatment as well as mitigation of the spread of infection, all through large-scale approaches such as specific alternative antiviral methods and classical disinfection protocols. Based on an abundance of engineered materials identifiable by their useful physicochemical properties through versatile chemical functionalization, nanotechnology offers a number of approaches to cope with this emergency. Here, through a multidisciplinary Perspective encompassing diverse fields such as virology, biology, medicine, engineering, chemistry, materials science, and computational science, we outline how nanotechnology-based strategies can support the fight against COVID-19, as well as infectious diseases in general, including future pandemics. Considering what we know so far about the life cycle of the virus, we envision key steps where nanotechnology could counter the disease. First, nanoparticles (NPs) can offer alternative methods to classical disinfection protocols used in healthcare settings, thanks to their intrinsic antipathogenic properties and/or their ability to inactivate viruses, bacteria, fungi, or yeasts either photothermally or via photocatalysis-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. Nanotechnology tools to inactivate SARS-CoV-2 in patients could also be explored. In this case, nanomaterials could be used to deliver drugs to the pulmonary system to inhibit interaction between angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptors and viral S protein. Moreover, the concept of "nanoimmunity by design" can help us to design materials for immune modulation, either stimulating or suppressing the immune response, which would find applications in the context of vaccine development for SARS-CoV-2 or in counteracting the cytokine storm, respectively. In addition to disease prevention and therapeutic potential, nanotechnology has important roles in diagnostics, with potential to support the development of simple, fast, and cost-effective nanotechnology-based assays to monitor the presence of SARS-CoV-2 and related biomarkers. In summary, nanotechnology is critical in counteracting COVID-19 and will be vital when preparing for future pandemics. ; L.G.D. acknowledges the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 734381 (CARBOimmap), and the University of Padua (Italy) DOR-2020. A.Y. is thankful to the Turkish Academy of Sciences (TUBA) for financial support under the young investigator programme. A.M. thanks funding by the CERCA programme/Generalitat de Catalunya and the Severo Ochoa Centres of Excellence programme and by the Spanish Research Agency (AEI, Grant No. SEV-2017-0706) given to ICN2. C.M. would like to acknowledge the award of funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No. 819069) and the award of a Royal Society University Research Fellowship (UF160539) by the UK Royal Society. Y.G. was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Grant No. DMR-1740795. M.C. acknowledges the Labex SERENADE funded by the "Investissements d'Avenir" French Government program of the French National Research Agency (Grant No. ANR-11-LABX-0064) through the A*MIDEX project (Grant No. ANR-11-IDEX-0001-02). ; Peer reviewed