Human Respiratory Infections in Nigeria: Influenza and the Emergence of SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic.

The increasing outbreak of zoonotic diseases presents challenging times for nations and calls for a renewed effort to disrupt the chain of events that precede it. Nigeria's response to the 2006 bird flu provided a platform for outbreak response, yet it was not its first experience with Influenza. This study describes the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on Influenza surveillance and, conversely, while the 1918 Influenza pandemic remains the most devastating (500,000 deaths in 18 million population) in Nigeria, the emergence of SARS CoV-2 presented renewed opportunities for the development of vaccines with novel technology, co-infection studies outcome, and challenges globally. Although the public health Intervention and strategies left some positive outcomes for other viruses, Nigeria and Africa's preparation against the next pandemic may involve prioritizing a combination of technology, socioeconomic growth, and active surveillance in the spirit of One Health.

An international, interlaboratory ring trial confirms the feasibility of an extraction-less "direct" RT-qPCR method for reliable detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in clinical samples.

Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) is used worldwide to test and trace the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). "Extraction-less" or "direct" real time-reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is a transparent and accessible qualitative method for SARS-CoV-2 detection from nasopharyngeal or oral pharyngeal samples with the potential to generate actionable data more quickly, at a lower cost, and with fewer experimental resources than full RT-qPCR. This study engaged 10 global testing sites, including laboratories currently experiencing testing limitations due to reagent or equipment shortages, in an international interlaboratory ring trial. Participating laboratories were provided a common protocol, common reagents, aliquots of identical pooled clinical samples, and purified nucleic acids and used their existing in-house equipment. We observed 100% concordance across laboratories in the correct identification of all positive and negative samples, with highly similar cycle threshold values. The test also performed well when applied to locally collected patient nasopharyngeal samples, provided the viral transport media did not contain charcoal or guanidine, both of which appeared to potently inhibit the RT-PCR reaction. Our results suggest that direct RT-PCR assay methods can be clearly translated across sites utilizing readily available equipment and expertise and are thus a feasible option for more efficient COVID-19 coronavirus disease testing as demanded by the continuing pandemic.

Metabolic Implications of Oxidative Stress and Inflammatory Process in SARS-CoV-2 Pathogenesis: Therapeutic Potential of Natural Antioxidants.

COVID-19 is a zoonotic disease with devastating economic and public health impacts globally. Being a novel disease, current research is focused on a clearer understanding of the mechanisms involved in its pathogenesis and viable therapeutic strategies. Oxidative stress and inflammation are intertwined processes that play roles in disease progression and response to therapy via interference with multiple signaling pathways. The redox status of a host cell is an important factor in viral entry due to the unique conditions required for the conformational changes that ensure the binding and entry of a virus into the host cell. Upon entry into the airways, viral replication occurs and the innate immune system responds by activating macrophage and dendritic cells which contribute to inflammation. This review examines available literature and proposes mechanisms by which oxidative stress and inflammation could contribute to COVID-19 pathogenesis. Further, certain antioxidants currently undergoing some form of trial in COVID-19 patients and the corresponding required research gaps are highlighted to show how targeting oxidative stress and inflammation could ameliorate COVID-19 severity.

The potential of putative zinc-binding motifs of haemagglutinin (HA) protein for categorization and prediction of pathogenicity of H5 subtypes of avian influenza virus.

In the present study, we used the potential of bioinformatics and computational analysis to predict the existence and biological relevance of zinc finger (ZF) motifs in heamagglutinin (HA) protein of Avian Influenza (AI) virus. Sequence data of Avian Influenza (AI) viruses were retrieved from accessible databases (GenBank, GISAID, IRD) and analyzed for the existence, as well as functional prediction of the putative zinc finger or ''zinc-binding'' motif(s) of HA protein. It is hypothesized that the ZF motif(s) in HA of AI virus can be used as a ''novel'' biomarker for categorization of the virus and/or its virulence. As a model for analysis, we used the H5 subtypes of highly pathogenic, non-pathogenic and low pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI, NPAI and LPAI) viruses of H5N1 and H5N2 of avian and human origins. Interestingly, our method of characterization using the zinc-finger agrees with the existing classification in distinguishing between highly pathogenic and non-pathogenic or low pathogenic subtypes. The new method also clearly distinguished between low and non-pathogenic strains of H5N2 and H5N1 which are indistinguishable by the existing method that utilizes the sequence of the polybasic amino acids of the proteolytic cleavage site for pathogenicity. It is hypothesized that zinc through the activities of zinc-binding proteins modulates the virulence property of the viral subtypes. Our observation further revealed that only the HA protein among the eight encoded proteins of influenza viruses contain high numbers of Cys-His residues. It is expected that the information gathered from the analysis of the data will be useful to generate more research hypotheses/designs that will give further insight towards the identification and control of avian influenza virus through the molecular manipulation of zinc finger motifs present in viral HA protein.