COVID-19 has plagued the world since it was first identified in December 2019. Previous systematic reviews and meta-analysis were limited by various factors such as the usage of non-peer reviewed data and were also limited by the lack of clinical data on a global scale.

The ongoing circulation of influenza A H5N1 in the United States has raised concerns of a pandemic caused by highly pathogenic avian influenza. Although the United States has stockpiled and is prepared to produce millions of vaccine doses to address an H5N1 pandemic, currently circulating H5N1 viruses contain multiple mutations within the immunodominant head domain of hemagglutinin (HA) compared to the antigens used in stockpiled vaccines. It is unclear if these stockpiled vaccines will need to be updated to match the contemporary H5N1 strains. Here we show that a replicating RNA vaccine expressing the HA of an H5N1 isolated from a US dairy cow confers complete protection against homologous lethal challenge in mice. A repRNA encoding the HA of a clade 1 H5 from 2004 (A/Vietnam/1203/2004) as utilized by some stockpiled vaccines, confers only partial protection. Our data highlight the utility of nucleic acid vaccines to be rapidly updated to match emergent viruses of concern while demonstrating that contemporary bovine H5N1 viruses can evade immunity elicited by historical HA antigens.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the utility of serological tests for the diagnosis of COVID-19 during the first week of symptom onset in patients confirmed with the real-time RT-PCR. ...

The highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b viruses, responsible for the current outbreak in dairy cows in the United States, pose a significant animal and public health threat. In this study, we compare disease progression and pathology of three recent clade 2.3.4.4b isolates derived from a cow, a mountain lion, and a mink to a human HPAI A(H5N1) isolate from Vietnam in mice. Inoculating C57BL/6J and BALB/c mice with all four HPAI A(H5N1) isolates results in comparable levels of virus replication in the lung inducing significant local pro-inflammatory cytokine responses and severe respiratory disease. Infecting C57BL/6J mice with the bovine isolate yields high viral titers in the brain, a significant pro-inflammatory cytokine response and neurologic disease. Our findings suggest the recent bovine isolate possesses enhanced neuroinvasive/neurovirulent disease causing fatal respiratory and neurologic disease in C57BL/6J mice.