Type A influenza: Postmortem virus isolations from different organs in human lethal cases

Abstract

Trachea, lung, liver, spleen, pancreas and brain of 77 heman patients who had died in the course of clinically diagnosed influenza were subjected to virological and histopathological examination. Type A influenza viruses closely related to the virus variants contemporarily in circulation were isolated from 12 of the lethal cases. In 10 of them, virus was demonstrated in organs other than respiratory, most often the brain. Influenza antigen was also demonstrated in brain tissue by immunofluorescence.

Influenza A Encephalopathy, Cerebral Vasculopathy, and Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome: Combined Occurrence in a 3-Year-Old Child

“…10 Acute influenza-associated encephalopathy/encephalitis usually affects children younger than 5 years of age, with neurologic deterioration occurring 1-3 days after onset of influenza symptoms (typically H3N2 or H1N1). 5 Moderate/severe brain edema is commonly reported at postmortem, 3,4,10,11 and CT/MR imaging findings are abnormal in up to 70% of cases. 5,6 Imaging studies have demonstrated bilateral thalamic lesions, variable diffuse/focal hemispheric edema, and reversible lesions in the thalami, splenium, and centrum semiovale.…”

“…4,5 Histology has demonstrated lymphocyte trafficking in the perivascular spaces and meninges without distinct parenchymal accumulation. 17,18 Endothelial infection by influenza has been demonstrated extensively in vitro, [19][20][21] and while viral genetic material has been identified in brain parenchyma, 11,15,20,22 infectious virus has rarely been recovered. 11,20 PRES has been reported in association with severe infection, sepsis, or shock.…”

“…17,18 Endothelial infection by influenza has been demonstrated extensively in vitro, [19][20][21] and while viral genetic material has been identified in brain parenchyma, 11,15,20,22 infectious virus has rarely been recovered. 11,20 PRES has been reported in association with severe infection, sepsis, or shock. 9,23 A characteristic watershed-like pattern of reversible vasogenic edema is most commonly identi- fied in the cerebral hemispheres and cerebellum, with focal edema also seen in the basal ganglia, thalami, pons, and medulla.…”

Evaluation of the Olfactory Nerve Transport Function by SPECT-MRI Fusion Image with Nasal Thallium-201 Administration

“…Correspondence to: Hideaki Shiga; e-mail: shigah@kanazawa-med.ac.jp of influenza-related encephalopathy [1]. Latent herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) DNA has been detected in olfactory bulbs, gyrus rectus, amygdala, hippocampus, medulla, and pons in people who died from non-neurological causes [2].…”

The Effects of Antipyretics on Influenza Virus Encephalitis in Mice and Chicks

“…The dosage levels of the antipyretics in the present experiments were far beyond the therapeutic dosage of the drugs. In addition, histological and immunohistological changes seen in this study were different from the syndrome, in which encephalopathy without viral antigen in the brain and severe fatty degeneration of hepatocytes are hallmarks [5,13,19].…”