14th International Conference on Virology, Emerging Diseases & Vaccines October 21-22, 2019 Amsterdam, Netherlands

Biography:

Aneta Pluta has completed her MSc from Maria Curie-Sklodowska University and postgraduate studies from Medical University of Lublin. She is employed in Department of Biochemistry in the National Veterinary Research Institute in Pulawy. Her main activity focus on molecular diagnosis of infection with ruminant retroviruses, mainly the bovine leukemia virus. She was involved into many projects aimed molecular analysis of BLV strains collected from different regions of the world, indicating genetic diversity of field isolates of of BLV. She works also  in Department of Omics Analyses at NVRI since 2017, which employs NGS and DNA  microarray. She has published 13 papers in peer reviewed journals and actually she is the research project manager.

Abstract:

Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is a deltaretrovirus infecting bovine B cells and causing enzootic bovine leucosis. Repression of viral expression is a major strategy developed by retroviruses to escape from the host immune response. BLV transcription appears to be regulated by several elements (TxRE, NF-κB, GRE, PU.1/Spi-B, USF, DAS and IRF) located mainly in the U3 region of the Long Terminal Repeats (LTR). The aim of the study was to analyse the mutations in the LTR region of the BLV and determine the associations  between these mutations and transcriptional activity of BLV. Samples were collected from animals represented the cases of the so-called newly emerging infections, noted in herds already having freedom from BLV infection. At first, LTR sequences obtained from one hundred BLV isolates were analyzed for their genetic variability. The variants characterized by the most significant mutations were selected and used for in vitro transcription study. The reporter vectors plasmid containing the luciferase gene under control of the promoter sequence of particular BLV variant and the expression plasmid containing sequence encoded the Tax protein were constructed. Both plasmids were used for co-transfection of HeLa cells and the level of expression of the reporter gene were measured. Remarkably, transcriptional activity of LTR region of BLV variants  having mutation at positions T169G in GRE site and A74G in TRE2 element decreased twice, as compared to wild type virus. These features warrant further exploration as they could be related to proviral load and distinctive down regulation of BLV transcription and its replication.

Biography:

Letícia Oliveira Dias graduated in Medicine at Gama Filho University, Rio de Janeiro - Brazil. She completed medical residency in Pediatrics at the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro – UNIRIO in and is currently doing medical residency in Pediatric Pulmonology at the Fluminense Federal University – UFF.  She is at the last semester of postgraduate course in Tropical Medicine at Oswaldo Cruz Institute - IOC / FIOCRUZ.

Abstract:

Acute febrile illness constitutes a group of common diseases in tropical countries and in Brazil the arboviroses are among the main causes of these diseases. With the objective of investigating the epidemiological characteristics of suspected cases of arboviroses in the state of Rio de Janeiro, we analyzed a dataset of patients suspected of arbovirus who had blood sample collected for etiological diagnosis between 2017 and 2018. This is a cross-sectional and retrospective study that uses the database provided by the Brazilian Laboratory Manager System. The blood samples were tested for Chikungunya, Dengue and Zika virus. Our results show that in 2017 11,159 tests were performed - 21.5% positive for arboviruses and in 2018 24,913 tests - 40.3% positive. Confirmed and negative cases had the period of higher incidence between March and May. The positive and negative cases had the predominance of women (60%) in relation to men (40%,). In relation to age, the higher incidence of confirmed cases to arboviroses were 20-59 years in 2017 and 30-69 years in 2018; the negative cases had a higher incidence among 20-59 years in 2017 and 2018. The pediatric age group had the higher proportion of negative cases. The three most prevalent signs and symptoms are the same in confirmed and negative cases: fever, arthralgia and myalgia. The arboviroses and their differential diagnoses have similar epidemiology and difficult etiological differentiation and as consequence many cases are concluded without etiological definition with injury to the health surveillance in these regions.

Biography:

Mohsen Tabasi is a PhD candidate of Medical Microbiology at the age of 29 years at Pasteur Institute of Iran. He is the resercher of Legal Medicine Research Center. He has published more than 20 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an editorial board member of scintific journals. Patent registration in ELISA detection kits are other activities of him.

Abstract:

The spread of microbial agents by a cadaver donor organ can result not only in loss of the allograft but also causes of death among some recipients. Despite the shortage of cadaver organ donors, each donor must be assessed thoroughly for the potential transmission of infectious disease, because the consequences of the organ donor events can have a remarkable effect on the transplant outcome.

Testing of blood specimens from deceased donors who may donate tissue has traditionally been carried out with immunoassays to identify microbial antibodies or antigens. Usually, ELISA test is the first screening test widely used for monitoring of microbial contamination in donated tissues (Cornea, femur, tendon, heart and …) in forensic medicine organization and it present extensive information about the source of infection. Serological screening for HIV, HBs, HBc, HCV and HTLV is routinely performed after death on cadaveric serum samples yet they are not validated for this aim and may produce a considerable number of false positives. On the other hand, a large percentage of cadaveric samples are hemolyzed due to biological processes that occur immediately post-mortem and this phenomenon can interfere with the ELISA assay. Moreover, in ELISA assay infections may be missed due to early infections and low viral load that cause false-negative test results.

 In this investigation, we focused on usefulness of a novel multiplex real-time PCR assay for the microbial monitoring of tissues from cadaver donors for transplantation. Recent developments in multiplex PCR make it possible to rapidly identify, genotype and quantify multiple DNA targets simultaneously in a single reaction. Multiplex qPCR is particularly well suited to applications such as gene expression analysis, SNP genotyping, copy number variation (CNV), genetically modified organism (GMO) detection, pathogen detection, and monitoring the efficacy of drug treatment. The advantages of multiplex qPCR include increased through-put, reduced reaction cost, and conservation of limited sample material. Multiplex qPCR often requires considerable optimization and individual assays must be validated prior to multiplexing. Careful assay design is critical to avoid primer complementarity and to ensure efficient amplification of each target amplicon.

Biography:

Abstract:

Viroporins like influenza A virus M2, hepatitis C virus p7, HIV-1 Vpu and picornavirus 2B associate with host membranes, and create hydrophilic corridors, which are critical for viral entry, replication and egress. The 6K proteins from alphaviruses are conjectured to be viroporins, essential during egress of progeny viruses from host membranes, although the analogue in Chikungunya Virus (CHIKV) remains relatively uncharacterized. Using a combination of electrophysiology, confocal and electron microscopy, and molecular dynamics simulations we show for the first time that CHIKV 6K is an ion channel forming protein that primarily associates with endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membranes. The ion channel activity of 6K can be inhibited by amantadine, an antiviral developed against the M2 protein of Influenza A virus; and CHIKV infection of cultured cells can be effectively inhibited in presence of this drug. Our study provides crucial mechanistic insights into the functionality of 6K during CHIKV-host interaction and suggests that 6K is a potential therapeutic drug target, with amantadine and its derivatives being strong candidates for further development.

Biography:

Abstract:

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the 5th commonest malignancy and leading second most common cause of cancer associated deaths worldwide and each year the death ratio is about 662,000 people across the globe. The WHO has provided the statistics and registries of cancer, which claims the estimation of about 564,000 new cases of HCC identification every year. The highest risks have been reported in accordance to people found living in Eastern Asia, central Africa, and Western Africa. HCC is a form of liver cancer and about 80% of cases are correlated  with chronic viruses infections. In 80%–90% patients of HCC it has been observed that the initiation of cirrhosis is due to HBV and HCV. Different types of gene mutations are also involved HCC pathogenesis. RNASE L has one of the most significant role in antiviral response. Which is regulated by interferon and involved in the cleavage of viral RNA therefore the aim of this study is to identify RNASE L ANK and RNASE domain mutation/s in patients and correlate it with viral load of HCV

Biography:

Abstract:

Background: The diversity of RNA viruses dictates their evolution in a particular host, community or environment. Here, we reported within- and between host pH1N1virus diversity at consensus and sub-consensus levels over a three-year period (2015-2017) and the implications of this diversity on disease severity.

Method: A total of 90 nasal samples positive for pH1N1 virus were deep sequenced using NGS technology and analysed to detected low-frequency variants (LFVs) and haplotypes.

Finidings: Parallel evolution of LFVs was seen in hemagglutinin and neuraminidase genes across three scales: among patients, across years and at global scale. Remarkably, investigating the emergence of LFVs at consensus level demonstrated that within host virus evolution recapitulates many evolutionary dynamics observed at the global scale. This was most obvious in HA gene, where 22% of LFVs emerged successfully at consensus level globally, compared to 7% in NA gene. Analysis of intra and inter host genetic diversity at HA haplotype level revealed the clustering of low-frequency haplotypes from early 2015 with dominant strains of 2016, indicating rapid haplotype evolution. In all years, haplotype clustering pattern was not always patient specific, strongly suggesting the transmission of haplotypes among patients infected during a specific flu season and parallel evolution of virus in independent hosts. Finally, factors such as patient age, haplotype diversity, and the existence of certain mutations in HA haplotypes should be considered when interpreting illness severity

Biography:

Joyce Appiah- Kubi completed her MPhil at the age of 29 years from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, School of Medical Science. She is a principal research assistant in the virology department of the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research. She has published one paper and has been acknowledged in several published papers.       

Abstract:

Background: Acute respiratory tract infections of viral origin remain a leading cause of morbidity, mortality and economic loss regardless of age or gender. A small number of acute respiratory tract infection cases caused by enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) have been reported regularly to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since 1987 by countries in North America, Europe and Asia. However, in 2014 and 2015, the number of reported confirmed EV-D68 infections was much greater than in previous years. The National Influenza Centre (NIC), Ghana carries out surveillance of respiratory infections, focusing on those caused by influenza virus; however, there is inadequate information on other viruses causing respiratory infections in Ghana, including EV-D68.

Objectives: To investigate the association of EV-D68 with Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI) and Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) in Ghana.

Methods: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study which involved archived human respiratory specimens stored at –80 °C at the NIC from 2014 to 2015. Using a random sampling method, oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal swabs from patients with SARI and ILI that were negative by real-time PCR for human influenza viruses were screened for EV-D68 using real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR).

Results: Enterovirus D68 was detected in 4 (2.2%) out of 182 SARI samples tested. EV-D68 was detected in children younger than 5 years (4 – 100% of positives) and was not detected in children older than 5 years. Enterovirus D68 was detected more frequently in SARI cases (3%) than in ILI cases (1.2%).

Conclusion: This study has shown for the first time the presence of EV-D68 in acute respiratory infections in Ghana. The results confirmed minimal EV-D68 circulation in the Ghanaian population.

Biography:

Abstract:

Algae are photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms ranging from unicellular such as chlorella to multicellular forms like giant kelp. Possessing chlorophyll as primary photosynthetic pigments. The aim of the study was to use probiotics bacteria Lactobacillus (L. acidophilus and L. plantarum) and Rhodobacter capsulatus for protection and productive enhancement in algal biomass in two algal species such as Chlorella vulgaris and Scenedesmus obliquus. Freshwater samples were collected for isolation and screening of microalgae. Probiotic bacteria such as Lactobacillus and Rhodobacter bacteria was revived from bacterial culture which already present in the lab. Isolation and identification of bacteria was done by microscopic and cultural characterization. Process optimization was performed by three factors optimization i.e. inoculum size of probiotics (25, 50, 75%), pH (6, 7, 8) and incubation period (1-10days) by applying response surface methodology (RSM). The Probiotics bacteria (L. acidophilus, L. plantarum, and Rhodobacter capsulatus) were applied on the two algal species i.e. Chlorella vulgaris and Scenedesmus obliquus to enhance the biomass production. The results showed that Lactobacillus acidophilus had higher growth on the algal species of Chlorella and produce large biomass production as compared to all other types of probiotic bacteria. Further, Lactobacilus acidophilus was applied on the algal species of Chlorella vulgaris by optimizing the parameter by applying response surface methodology (RSM). After incubation, the Lactobacillus acidophilus increase the algal biomass 54% at inoculum size of 50%, pH 7 and incubation periods of 5.5 days and were found significantly (P<0.05) high. The results of this experiment showed that the probiotic was significant effect for the enhancement of the algal biomass.