Enterovirus – The Pandora Report

An out of town visitor and a newly rescued pet have kept me very busy this week. Luckily, the news was very straightforward—the nuclear deal with Iran and ISIS with their chemical weapons. We’ve even got a few stories you may have missed.

Have a great week!

A Historic Deal to Prevent Iran from Acquiring a Nuclear Weapon

After two years in the making, the P5+1 settled negotiations to reach a comprehensive, long-term nuclear deal with Iran this week. Despite satisfaction with the outcome, many say that the deal will not end Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions and will not change Iranian policy towards the US. Dick Cheney responded that the deal makes use of nuclear weapons use more likely and former Senator Jim Webb said the deal weighs in Iran’s favor. Nevertheless, the Obama administration seems pleased with the deal and will work on its passage.

DipNote—“President Obama said “I am confident that this deal will meet the national security interests of the United States and our allies. So I will veto any legislation that prevents the successful implementation of this deal. We do not have to accept an inevitable spiral into conflict. And we certainly shouldn’t seek it.’”

ISIS Has Fired Chemical Mortar Shells, Evidence Indicates

It seems like déjà vu all over again as reports this week said that the Islamic State appears to have manufactured rudimentary chemical weapons and attacked Kurdish positions in Iraq and Syria, evidently multiple times in multiple weeks. Investigators reported that the incidents seemed to involve toxic industrial or agricultural chemicals repurposed as weapons. This could signal “a potential escalation of the group’s capabilities” though, is not without precedent.

The New York Times—“In the clearest recent incident, a 120-millimeter chemical mortar shell struck sandbag fortifications at a Kurdish military position near Mosul Dam on June 21 or 22, the investigators said, and caused several Kurdish fighters near where it landed to become ill.”

Stories You May Have Missed

The Japanese government said this week that they finished destroying World War II era chemical weapons that were abandoned by the Japanese military in the Hubei province of China. Japan will now turn its attention to other weapons left in China in Jilin province.
An ad campaign in Western Europe is using the hashtag #makeachildcry in order to raise money and awareness for pediatric medical supplies in developing countries. Over 4 million children die annually from vaccine preventable diseases.
Speaking of which, I saw multiple stories this week reporting that childhood vaccination rates in Seattle are so low that they’ve fallen behind countries like Zimbabwe, Rwanda, and Algeria.
Lastly, remember the outbreak of a disease with polio-like symptoms among children in the summer of 2014? It had been attributed to Enterovirus D68, but a report this week claims the culprit may actually have been Enterovirus C105.

Image Credit: U.S. Department of State

By Chris Healey

An uncommon and underreported virus has affected children in states across America. State health departments around the country have reported an unusual number of enterovirus D68 infections this season. Many hospitalizations – but no deaths – have been reported.

Enterovirus D68 was first isolated in California in 1962 from four children with pneumonia. Enteroviruses generally inflict a wide range of symptoms, but species D68 almost exclusively affects the respiratory system. D68 also shares genetic similarity with rhinoviruses—the viral species responsible for the common cold.

Past outbreaks of enterovirus D68 have occurred mostly in children. Although health experts aren’t sure why children are vulnerable to the illness relative to other age groups, the answer probably lies with the immune system. Age effects immune function. In prepubescence, the immune system is immature and naïve toward host threats. In old age, deterioration of essential immune system tissues – such as bone marrow – contribute to immune system decline.

Due to dampened immunity in childhood and late adulthood, illness is more common – and more often fatal. However, one historical exception stands out: the Spanish Flu of 1918.

Flu subtypes undergo antigenic drift, a process resulting in subtle genetic changes prompting the need for new flu vaccines each year. However, the Spanish Flu of 1918 was a result of dramatic genetic change called antigenic shift. The result was a new subtype to which the population had no immunity.

Many health experts consider the Spanish Flu of 1918 the worst pandemic in history – with at least 40 million deaths worldwide. By comparison, the Black Death was responsible for 25 million deaths. The Spanish Flu pandemic was caused by a direct transmission of influenza subtype H1N1 from bird to human.

The Spanish Flu of 1918 was unique because of its W-shaped mortality curve. When Spanish Flu mortality among age groups are plotted on an x-y axis – with x as age groups and y as specific death rate – the graph shows there were more deaths among the 18-to-40-age group than any other. That trend is unusual – 18-to-40 age groups typically have the highest immune function of all age groups, providing the greatest defense against pathogens.
For the Spanish Flu, the immune system actually worked against the host. The immune system reacted so violently to the novel Spanish Flu that it damaged the host more than the flu infection itself, leaving those with the strongest immune systems – ages 18-to-40 – most grievously affected.

Image Credit: Fox6Now

Tag: Enterovirus

Pandora Report 7.19.15

Ailments and Age Groups: What Makes Illness Age Dependent?

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