TY  - JOUR
A1  - von Kries, Rüdiger
A1  - Weiss, Susanne
A1  - Falkenhorst, Gerhard
A1  - Wirth, Stephan
A1  - Kaiser, Petra
A1  - Huppertz, Hans-Iko
A1  - Tenenbaum, Tobias
A1  - Schroten, Horst
A1  - Streng, Andrea
A1  - Liese, Johannes
A1  - Shai, Sonu
A1  - Niehues, Tim
A1  - Girschick, Hermann
A1  - Kuscher, Ellen
A1  - Sauerbrey, Axel
A1  - Peters, Jochen
A1  - Wirsing von Koenig, Carl Heinz
A1  - Rückinger, Simon
A1  - Hampl, Walter
A1  - Michel, Detlef
A1  - Mertens, Thomas
T1  - Post-Pandemic Seroprevalence of Pandemic Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Infection (Swine Flu) among Children < 18 Years in Germany
JF  - PLoS ONE
N2  - Background: 

We determined antibodies to the pandemic influenza A (H1N1) 2009 virus in children to assess: the incidence of (H1N1) 2009 infections in the 2009/2010 season in Germany, the proportion of subclinical infections and to compare titers in vaccinated and infected children. 

Methodology/Principal Findings: 

Eight pediatric hospitals distributed over Germany prospectively provided sera from in-or outpatients aged 1 to 17 years from April 1(st) to July 31(st) 2010. Vaccination history, recall of infections and sociodemographic factors were ascertained. Antibody titers were measured with a sensitive and specific in-house hemagglutination inhibition test (HIT) and compared to age-matched sera collected during 6 months before the onset of the pandemic in Germany. We analyzed 1420 post-pandemic and 300 pre-pandemic sera. Among unvaccinated children aged 1-4 and 5-17 years the prevalence of HI titers (>= 1:10) was 27.1% (95% CI: 23.5-31.3) and 53.5% (95% CI: 50.9-56.2) compared to 1.7% and 5.5%, respectively, for pre-pandemic sera, accounting for a serologically determined incidence of influenza A (H1N1) 2009 during the season 2009/2010 of 25,4% (95% CI : 19.3-30.5) in children aged 1-4 years and 48.0% (95% CI: 42.6-52.0) in 5-17 year old children. Of children with HI titers >= 1: 10, 25.5% (95% CI: 22.5-28.8) reported no history of any infectious disease since June 2009. Among vaccinated children, 92% (95%-CI: 87.0-96.6) of the 5-17 year old but only 47.8% (95%-CI: 33.5-66.5) of the 1-4 year old children exhibited HI titers against influenza A virus (H1N1) 2009. 

Conclusion: 

Serologically determined incidence of influenza A (H1N1) 2009 infections in children indicates high infection rates with older children (5-17 years) infected twice as often as younger children. In about a quarter of the children with HI titers after the season 2009/2010 subclinical infections must be assumed. Low HI titers in young children after vaccination with the AS03(B)-adjuvanted split virion vaccine need further scrutiny.
KW  - Hemagglutination inhibition
KW  - Vaccine
KW  - Age
KW  - Immunogenicity
KW  - Prevalence
KW  - Antibody
KW  - Viruses
KW  - England
KW  - Safety
KW  - Risk
Y1  - 2011
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-141698
VL  - 6
IS  - 9
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Schwede, Angela
A1  - Jones, Nicola
A1  - Engstler, Markus
A1  - Carrington, Mark
T1  - The VSG C-terminal domain is inaccessible to antibodies on live trypanosomes
JF  - Molecular & Biochemical Parasitology
N2  - In the mammalian host, the Trypanosoma brucei cell surface is covered with a densely packed protein coat of a single protein, the variant surface glycoprotein (VSG). The VSG is believed to shield invariant surface proteins from host antibodies but there is limited information on how far antibodies can penetrate into the VSG monolayer. Here, the VSG surface coat was probed to determine whether it acts as a barrier to binding of antibodies to the membrane proximal VSG C-terminal domain. The binding of C-terminal domain antibodies to VSG221 or VSG118 was compared with antibodies recognising the cognate whole VSGs. The C-terminal VSG domain was inaccessible to antibodies on live cells but not on fixed cells. This provides further evidence that the VSG coat acts as a barrier and protects the cell from antibodies that would otherwise bind to some of the other externally disposed proteins.
KW  - Trypanosome
KW  - VSG
KW  - Trypanosoma brucei
KW  - Cell surface
KW  - Antibody
Y1  - 2011
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-142746
VL  - 175
IS  - 2
ER  -