Influenza

Influenza viruses are the cause of Acute Respiratory Disease (ARD) knows as “flu” in human and animals. The influenza virus genome consists of 7-8 unique segments of single-stranded RNA which have negative polarity. The three virus types (A, B, C) can be distinguished from each other based on the antigenic differences between their nucleoproteins (NPs) and matrix proteins (MAs). Two surface glycoproteins haemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) determine the subtypes, such as influenza A virus (H1-H16 and N1-N9).