Taiwanese and US researchers have found a link between the incidence and severity of influenza infection and the genome of the H3N2 subtype in a joint 10-year study that was published in The Lancet Microbe last month.
A team at Chang Gung University in Taoyuan in 2014 initiated the collaboration with researchers at Johns Hopkins University to study the influenza virus’ infection rate and its effect on humans by assessing changes in genome segments, said Chen Kuan-fu (陳冠甫), a professor at the university’s Clinical Informatics and Medical Statistics Research Center.
“We have the flu season each year, although at varying severity. The collaboration with the US deployed new DNA sequencing tools, together with artificial intelligence [AI] for learning and modeling,” the head of the Chang Gung research team said on Thursday.
Photo: Lin Chih-yi, Taipei Times
“When we started working with Johns Hopkins University, the US had a very serious outbreak of H3N2 virus infection from 2017 to 2018. The US research team collected 411 virus samples from that period for the database, which we used to conduct full DNA sequencing, and carried out a phylogenetic tree analysis to study this virus strain’s evolution,” Chen said.
Genetic reassortment, the swapping of gene segments in cells infected with two different influenza viruses, can make a new genetic sequence known as a recombinant.
“Results from our studies provided proof that the reassortment of genome segments in the human influenza virus H3N2 has strong links to the severity of infection, and the serious symptoms exhibited by patients,” Chen said.
He recommended that the Centers for Disease Control and other medical-related agencies, or patients with severe symptoms, conduct or undergo a full virus DNA sequencing, instead of only select genome segments, to verify the reassortment of genome segments.
Applying AI learning to generate new infection severity models can help medical authorities adopt swift measures for prevention and treatment during the early stage of a flu season, he added.
Infection by H3N2 and other human flu virus strains can have debilitating effects and lead to complications, Chen said.
Complications such as pneumonia, meningitis, myocarditis and other serious diseases, and severe symptoms, are most pronounced in children and elderly people, as well as people with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and immunodeficiency, he said.
“The H3N2 virus has strong affinity for mutation, and undergoes DNA recombination during infection. The WHO has made regular sampling of this strain and other human flu viruses each year,” he said.
However, it is still not easy to predict which strain would result in higher risks, he said.
Despite these limitations, the study, “Effect of human H3N2 influenza virus reassortment on influenza incidence and severity during the 2017-18 influenza season in the USA: a retrospective observational genomic analysis,” has important applications for epidemiological studies, and to provide guidance for public health policymakers, he said.
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