The Possible Impact of Vaccination for Seasonal Influenza on Emergence of Pandemic Influenza via Reassortment.

<h4>Background</h4>One pathway through which pandemic influenza strains might emerge is reassortment from coinfection of different influenza A viruses. Seasonal influenza vaccines are designed to target the circulating strains, which intuitively decreases the prevalence of coinfection an...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Xu-Sheng Zhang, Richard Pebody, Daniela De Angelis, Peter J White, Andre Charlett, John W McCauley
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0114637
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850125078803513344
author Xu-Sheng Zhang
Richard Pebody
Daniela De Angelis
Peter J White
Andre Charlett
John W McCauley
author_facet Xu-Sheng Zhang
Richard Pebody
Daniela De Angelis
Peter J White
Andre Charlett
John W McCauley
author_sort Xu-Sheng Zhang
collection DOAJ
description <h4>Background</h4>One pathway through which pandemic influenza strains might emerge is reassortment from coinfection of different influenza A viruses. Seasonal influenza vaccines are designed to target the circulating strains, which intuitively decreases the prevalence of coinfection and the chance of pandemic emergence due to reassortment. However, individual-based analyses on 2009 pandemic influenza show that the previous seasonal vaccination may increase the risk of pandemic A(H1N1) pdm09 infection. In view of pandemic influenza preparedness, it is essential to understand the overall effect of seasonal vaccination on pandemic emergence via reassortment.<h4>Methods and findings</h4>In a previous study we applied a population dynamics approach to investigate the effect of infection-induced cross-immunity on reducing such a pandemic risk. Here the model was extended by incorporating vaccination for seasonal influenza to assess its potential role on the pandemic emergence via reassortment and its effect in protecting humans if a pandemic does emerge. The vaccination is assumed to protect against the target strains but only partially against other strains. We find that a universal seasonal vaccine that provides full-spectrum cross-immunity substantially reduces the opportunity of pandemic emergence. However, our results show that such effectiveness depends on the strength of infection-induced cross-immunity against any novel reassortant strain. If it is weak, the vaccine that induces cross-immunity strongly against non-target resident strains but weakly against novel reassortant strains, can further depress the pandemic emergence; if it is very strong, the same kind of vaccine increases the probability of pandemic emergence.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Two types of vaccines are available: inactivated and live attenuated, only live attenuated vaccines can induce heterosubtypic immunity. Current vaccines are effective in controlling circulating strains; they cannot always help restrain pandemic emergence because of the uncertainty of the oncoming reassortant strains, however. This urges the development of universal vaccines for prevention of pandemic influenza.
format Article
id doaj-art-4a0575ec629146ec8705a9fda55b33d0
institution OA Journals
issn 1932-6203
language English
publishDate 2014-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj-art-4a0575ec629146ec8705a9fda55b33d02025-08-20T02:34:10ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032014-01-01912e11463710.1371/journal.pone.0114637The Possible Impact of Vaccination for Seasonal Influenza on Emergence of Pandemic Influenza via Reassortment.Xu-Sheng ZhangRichard PebodyDaniela De AngelisPeter J WhiteAndre CharlettJohn W McCauley<h4>Background</h4>One pathway through which pandemic influenza strains might emerge is reassortment from coinfection of different influenza A viruses. Seasonal influenza vaccines are designed to target the circulating strains, which intuitively decreases the prevalence of coinfection and the chance of pandemic emergence due to reassortment. However, individual-based analyses on 2009 pandemic influenza show that the previous seasonal vaccination may increase the risk of pandemic A(H1N1) pdm09 infection. In view of pandemic influenza preparedness, it is essential to understand the overall effect of seasonal vaccination on pandemic emergence via reassortment.<h4>Methods and findings</h4>In a previous study we applied a population dynamics approach to investigate the effect of infection-induced cross-immunity on reducing such a pandemic risk. Here the model was extended by incorporating vaccination for seasonal influenza to assess its potential role on the pandemic emergence via reassortment and its effect in protecting humans if a pandemic does emerge. The vaccination is assumed to protect against the target strains but only partially against other strains. We find that a universal seasonal vaccine that provides full-spectrum cross-immunity substantially reduces the opportunity of pandemic emergence. However, our results show that such effectiveness depends on the strength of infection-induced cross-immunity against any novel reassortant strain. If it is weak, the vaccine that induces cross-immunity strongly against non-target resident strains but weakly against novel reassortant strains, can further depress the pandemic emergence; if it is very strong, the same kind of vaccine increases the probability of pandemic emergence.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Two types of vaccines are available: inactivated and live attenuated, only live attenuated vaccines can induce heterosubtypic immunity. Current vaccines are effective in controlling circulating strains; they cannot always help restrain pandemic emergence because of the uncertainty of the oncoming reassortant strains, however. This urges the development of universal vaccines for prevention of pandemic influenza.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0114637
spellingShingle Xu-Sheng Zhang
Richard Pebody
Daniela De Angelis
Peter J White
Andre Charlett
John W McCauley
The Possible Impact of Vaccination for Seasonal Influenza on Emergence of Pandemic Influenza via Reassortment.
PLoS ONE
title The Possible Impact of Vaccination for Seasonal Influenza on Emergence of Pandemic Influenza via Reassortment.
title_full The Possible Impact of Vaccination for Seasonal Influenza on Emergence of Pandemic Influenza via Reassortment.
title_fullStr The Possible Impact of Vaccination for Seasonal Influenza on Emergence of Pandemic Influenza via Reassortment.
title_full_unstemmed The Possible Impact of Vaccination for Seasonal Influenza on Emergence of Pandemic Influenza via Reassortment.
title_short The Possible Impact of Vaccination for Seasonal Influenza on Emergence of Pandemic Influenza via Reassortment.
title_sort possible impact of vaccination for seasonal influenza on emergence of pandemic influenza via reassortment
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0114637
work_keys_str_mv AT xushengzhang thepossibleimpactofvaccinationforseasonalinfluenzaonemergenceofpandemicinfluenzaviareassortment
AT richardpebody thepossibleimpactofvaccinationforseasonalinfluenzaonemergenceofpandemicinfluenzaviareassortment
AT danieladeangelis thepossibleimpactofvaccinationforseasonalinfluenzaonemergenceofpandemicinfluenzaviareassortment
AT peterjwhite thepossibleimpactofvaccinationforseasonalinfluenzaonemergenceofpandemicinfluenzaviareassortment
AT andrecharlett thepossibleimpactofvaccinationforseasonalinfluenzaonemergenceofpandemicinfluenzaviareassortment
AT johnwmccauley thepossibleimpactofvaccinationforseasonalinfluenzaonemergenceofpandemicinfluenzaviareassortment
AT xushengzhang possibleimpactofvaccinationforseasonalinfluenzaonemergenceofpandemicinfluenzaviareassortment
AT richardpebody possibleimpactofvaccinationforseasonalinfluenzaonemergenceofpandemicinfluenzaviareassortment
AT danieladeangelis possibleimpactofvaccinationforseasonalinfluenzaonemergenceofpandemicinfluenzaviareassortment
AT peterjwhite possibleimpactofvaccinationforseasonalinfluenzaonemergenceofpandemicinfluenzaviareassortment
AT andrecharlett possibleimpactofvaccinationforseasonalinfluenzaonemergenceofpandemicinfluenzaviareassortment
AT johnwmccauley possibleimpactofvaccinationforseasonalinfluenzaonemergenceofpandemicinfluenzaviareassortment