• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.96-103
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• 2016

The influenza A (H1N1) virus, also known as swine flu is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality since 2009. There is a need to explore novel anti-viral drugs for overcoming the epidemics. Traditionally, different plant extracts of garlic, ginger, kalmegh, ajwain, green tea, turmeric, menthe, tulsi, etc. have been used as hopeful source of prevention and treatment of human influenza. The H1N1 virus contains an important glycoprotein, known as neuraminidase (NA) that is mainly responsible for initiation of viral infection and is essential for the life cycle of H1N1. It is responsible for sialic acid cleavage from glycans of the infected cell. We employed amino acid sequence of H1N1 NA to predict the tertiary structure using Phyre2 server and validated using ProCheck, ProSA, ProQ, and ERRAT server. Further, the modelled structure was docked with thirteen natural compounds of plant origin using AutoDock4.2. Most of the natural compounds showed effective inhibitory activity against H1N1 NA in binding condition. This study also highlights interaction of these natural inhibitors with amino residues of NA protein. Furthermore, among 13 natural compounds, theaflavin, found in green tea, was observed to inhibit H1N1 NA proteins strongly supported by lowest docking energy. Hence, it may be of interest to consider theaflavin for further in vitro and in vivo evaluation.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.32.1-32.15
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• 2020

Influenza virus is the major cause of seasonal and pandemic flu. Currently, oseltamivir, a potent and selective inhibitor of neuraminidase of influenza A and B viruses, is the drug of choice for treating patients with influenza virus infection. However, recent emergence of oseltamivir-resistant influenza viruses has limited its efficacy. Morin hydrate (3,5,7,2',4'-pentahydroxyflavone) is a flavonoid isolated from Morus alba L. It has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, and anticancer effects partly by the inhibition of the NF-κB signaling pathway. However, its effects on influenza virus have not been studied. We evaluated the antiviral activity of morin hydrate against influenza A/Puerto Rico/8/1934 (A/PR/8; H1N1) and oseltamivir-resistant A/PR/8 influenza viruses in vitro. To determine its mode of action, we carried out time course experiments, and time of addition, hemolysis inhibition, and hemagglutination assays. The effects of the co-administration of morin hydrate and oseltamivir were assessed using the murine model of A/PR/8 infection. We found that morin hydrate reduced hemagglutination by A/PR/8 in vitro. It alleviated the symptoms of A/PR/8-infection, and reduced the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, such as TNF-α and CCL2, in infected mice. Co-administration of morin hydrate and oseltamivir phosphate reduced the virus titers and attenuated pulmonary inflammation. Our results suggest that morin hydrate exhibits antiviral activity by inhibiting the entry of the virus.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.117-120
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• 2015

Virus-associated immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) can occur following common viruses, but cases of ITP associated with influenza infection has seldom been reported. In this report we describe a previously healthy 5-year-old boy who admitted with fever, flu-like symptoms and a few bruises on both legs. Severe thrombocytopenia were found. Bone marrow aspirates and biopsy showed no abnormalities and results of coagulation tests were all in normal limit. Real-time polymerase chain reaction was positive for influenza B infection. The patient fully recovered with intravenous immunoglobulins and steroid therapy.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.704-713
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• 2014

The highly pathogenic avian influenza A (HPAI) viruses of the H5N1 subtype infect poultry and have also been spreading to humans. Although new antiviral drugs and vaccinations can be effective, rapid detection would be more efficient to control the outbreak of infections. In this study, a phage-display library was applied to select antibody fragments for HPAI strain A/Hubei/1/2010. As a result, three clones were selected and sequenced. A hemagglutinin inhibition assay of the three scFvs revealed that none exhibited hemagglutination inhibition activity towards the H5N1 virus, yet they showed a higher binding affinity for several HPAI H5N1 strains compared with other influenza viruses. An ELISA confirmed that the HA protein was the target of the scFvs, and the results of a protein structure simulation showed that all the selected scFvs bound to the HA2 subunit of the HA protein. In conclusion, the three selected scFVs could be useful for developing a specific detection tool for the surveillance of HPAI epidemic strains.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.150-166
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• 2016

In the aftermath of a recent outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), legal matters on the spread of epidemics have emerged as major social issues in Korea, with the awareness that rampant contagious diseases are disasters in society. Problems arose over damages arising from patients who contract infectious diseases, compensation for people under quarantine and for a partial, or entire, shutdown of hospitals, and information disclosure on infectious diseases. As epidemic-linked problems have never been socially disputed in Korea, the relevant legal issues appear to be studied comparatively less than other areas. As interests are heightened over legal issues on infectious illnesses amid the MERS scare, in-depth, further research on such legal issues should be conducted in an utmost effort to prevent and make preparations for epidemics which potentially become a social disaster, such as new Hong Kong flu, Ebola virus and Zika virus.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.309-318
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• 2020

Besides respiratory infection, COVID-19 has many neurological symptoms not only loss of smell and taste but also fatigue and brain fog. But it is a challenge to treat the neurological symptoms especially of anosmia and ageusia. In order to search for the therapeutic methods, the geographical diversity and pathological mechanisms of the COVID-19 and two symptoms were investigated from the latest clinical studies. Because the environmental conditions of the monsoon climate zone of East Asia and the Mediterranean and Oceanic climate zone of Italy, Britain, United States and tropical Brazil are different, each of diverse etiology and internal milieu should be considered differently in the treatment. SARS-CoV-2 exhibits the dampness-like characteristics and the olfactory and gustatory disorders are particularly more common than other flu or cold. and it tends to show features of damaging the lung qi of olfaction and heart-spleen qi of gustation. The mechanisms of olfactory and gustatory loss are various according to precursory, inflammatory, non-inflammatory and sequelar forms, so the therapeutic method should be designed for each period and pathology. If the process of inflammation arises from nasal and respiratory, olfactory epithelium to the central nervous structure by way of blood brain barrier, the treatment should be corresponded with the stage and depth of pathogen place. And if the olfactory loss is asymptomatic or in the initial stage, it can be applied intranasal topical scent therapy to relieve temporary locking of qi movement, but maybe also used in parallel together with herbs of relieving dampness toxin latent in the lung parenchyma.

• International Journal of Knowledge Content Development & Technology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.101-111
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• 2021

The world is going through the most unprecedented time with the outbreak of novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which has become a threat to millions. A Coronavirus is a group of viruses that cause a variety of diseases in mammals and birds leading to a range of illnesses in humans including common cold and more severe forms like severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV), Middle East respiratory syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and COVID-19, which are life-threatening. The virus gets its name from its shape which takes the form of a crown with protrusions around it. In December 2019, a pneumonia outbreak was reported in the Wuhan City of China, which was later traced to a novel strain of Coronavirus and termed as Novel COVID-19. It typically causes flu-like symptoms including fever, cough and shortness of breath and is transmitted through human-to-human and there is no cure for it till now. Thus, this bibliometric study has been carried out to analyze the research progress in Coronavirus and literature published during a period of 30 years (1989-2019). Data for the study were fetched from Web of Science(WoS) multidisciplinary database and the publication trends in terms of total articles, productive countries, institutions, journals, productive authors, most cited articles and authors, etc have been analyzed. In total, 4917 articles were retrieved; these were from 711 sources and were contributed by 14442 authors. The collaboration index was 3.11, which clearly indicates that there has been a lot of collaboration in this field. The most preferred journal for the study period was "Journal of Virology" and the maximum contribution has been from the University of Hong Kong.

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.1087-1095
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• 2015

Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by the influenza virus. We consider, in this paper, regression models as a prediction model of influenza disease. While most of previous researches use mainly the meteorological variables as a predictive variables, we consider social media information in the models. As a result, we found that the contributions of two-type of informations are comparable. We used the medical treatment data of influenza provided by Natioal Health Insurance Survice (NHIS) and the meteorological data provided by Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). We collect social media information (twitter buzz amount) from Twitter. Time series model is also considered for comparison.

• Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.42-53
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• 2013

Timely access to quality healthcare information during an outbreak plays an important role in curtailing its spread. The aim of this study was to investigate the information needs and seeking behavior of the general public in Singapore during the H1N1 pandemic. A pre-tested questionnaire was used for data collection. The convenience snowball sampling method was used and 260 working adults and tertiary-level students participated in this study. The most crucial information needs of a majority of the participants were: symptoms of H1N1, causes of the infection, preventive measures, and possible treatments. Data analysis also revealed that mass media such as television, newspapers, and radio were most frequently used for seeking the needed information. The use of human information sources was also quite high while only a small number of the respondents accessed online news and healthcare websites. About three-quarters of the participants indicated that the gathered information helped them to stay vigilant and take necessary precautionary measures. A major problem identified by the participants in using H1N1 information was the lack of understanding of certain terms used in public communications. This paper suggests certain measures for strengthening health information communication during future outbreaks.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.194-204
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• 2020

The detrimental impact of air pollution as a result of frequent exposure to fine particles posed a global public health risk mainly to the pulmonary disorders in pediatric and geriatric population. Here, we reviewed the current literature regarding the role of ginseng and/or its components as antimicrobials, especially against pathogens that cause respiratory infections in animal and in vitro models. Some of the possible mechanisms for ginseng-mediated viral inhibition suggested are improvements in systemic and mucosa-specific antibody responses, serum hemagglutinin inhibition, lymphocyte proliferation, cell survival rate, and viral clearance in the lungs. In addition, ginseng reduces the expression levels of proinflammatory cytokines (IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8) and chemokines produced by airway epithelial cells and macrophages, thus preventing weight loss. In case of bacterial infections, ginseng acts by alleviating inflammatory cytokine production, increasing survival rates, and activating phagocytes and natural killer cells. In addition, ginseng inhibits biofilm formation and induces the dispersion and dissolution of mature biofilms. Most clinical trials revealed that ginseng, at various dosages, is a safe and effective method of seasonal prophylaxis, relieving the symptoms and reducing the risk and duration of colds and flu. Taken together, these findings support the efficacy of ginseng as a therapeutic and prophylactic agent for respiratory infections.