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The theme of SensUs 2021 is acute respiratory viruses. The current Covid-19 pandemic has made it apparent that large virus outbreaks can cause immense harm to human health and can disrupt society as a whole. The most common respiratory virus is influenza A. Therefore, the influenza virus serves as an interesting biomarker for this year’s Competition.
The influenza A virus is known to cause influenza in birds and some mammals, like humans. Different subtypes of the influenza A virus have been isolated from wild birds. Some subtypes of the influenza A virus can cause severe symptoms both in domestic poultry and (rarely) in humans and can even lead to death. Occasionally, viruses can be transmitted from wild birds to domestic animals, like chickens or pigs. This may give rise to human influenza. <ref name="Arti2">Transmission of Avian Influenza A Viruses Between Animals and People, CDC, 2015, https://www.cdc.gov/flu/avianflu/virus-transmission.htm</ref>
Influenza A viruses are negative-sense, single-stranded RNA viruses. Different subtypes of influenza A exist, these are characterized by proteins on the outermost membrane of the virus, called hemagglutinin (H or HA) and neuraminidase (N or NA). H and N are the antigens of the virus, and play an important role in the interaction between the host’s immunological response and the virus. Recently, researchers have reported the discovery of an antibody which is generally effective against all subtypes of the influenza A virus.<ref name="Arti3">Super antibody' fights off flu, BBC, 2011, James Gallagher, https://www.bbc.com/news/health-14324901</ref>
