The symptoms are primarily high fever, head and muscle pain, abdominal pain, and generally impacted condition. Involvement of the kidneys and lungs are common. There is no dedicated and effective treatment today. As vole fever is a hemorrhagic fever, there is often a pronounced reduction in blood platelets, and bleeding complications occur. Some 30 % of the diagnosed cases are hospitalized. Mortality is 0.5 % owing to bleeding, shock, and multiple organ failure.
The UmeĆ„ researchers, led by assistant professor Clas Ahlm, have used a unique patient cohort to study the expansion of NK cells and their activity in the course of the infection in collaboration with scientists at the Karolinska institute. The material was gathered during and following the major outbreak of vole fever in 2007. There have been few previous studies of NK cells in acute viral infections in humans, even though they are regarded as part of our so-called innate immunity. The Puumala virus itself is not cytopatogenic, i.e. doesnāt kill the infected cells. The UmeĆ„ scientistsā hypothesis is therefore that part of the pathological mechanism in vole fever involves the immune defense against the virus infection, which is further supported by these findings.
The study revealed an expansion of NK cells. This expansion persisted for an extended period after the acute infection, which surprised the researchers. This finding challenges to some extent the previous view that the elevation and activation of NK cells quickly subsides in acute viral infections. The results of the study indicate that some NK cells may have memory-like functions.
Hemorrhagic fevers are best known as exotic diseases with high mortality rates that primarily ravage Africa. They are caused by hantaviruses that often infect humans from animals, so-called zoonos.
The Ebola virus is probably the best-known variant. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola
The Marburg virus is another. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marburg_virus
Viruses that cause hemorrhagic fevers are most often categorized as class 3-4 infectious agents, the class that requires the highest level of security when handled, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosafety_level#Biosafety_level_4 for more information about this.
For more information, please contact Clas Ahlm, assistant professor at the Department of Clinical Microbiology, infectious diseases, at: telephone 046 (0)90-785 23 09; e-mail clas.ahlm@climi.umu.se
8 December, 2021 - UmeƄ universitet
Asymmetric sex chromosomes were independently shaped during evolution in many species, and different strategies evolved alongside to overcome the resulting imbalance in genetic information. Molecular biologist Marie-Line Faucillion has studied this in her dissertation defended at UmeƄ University, Sweden. Her findings can be useful to better understand how sex chromosomes are regulated, but also to
9 March, 2021 - UmeƄ universitet
Large asteroids or comets hitting Earth, massive volcanic eruptions and other single, deadly events are usually the focus for scientists seeking to reconstruct Earthās past mass extinctions. In a new study, researchers from UmeĆ„ University and the University of Florida instead uncovered a new major transition between past marine faunas that could not be explained by a single catastrophic event.
8 December, 2020 - UmeƄ universitet
On 10 December, the Nobel Prize Ceremony will take place at which Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna will be awarded their Nobel Prizes in Chemistry. Emmanuelle Charpentier made the discovery of CRISPR-Cas9 when she worked at UmeƄ University.
22 October, 2020 - UmeƄ universitet
The Wallenberg Centre for Molecular Medicine (WCMM) in UmeƄ has been granted SEK 170 million in operational support and another SEK 68 million for recruitments into data-driven Life Science by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.
Expertsvar, The Swedish Research Council, Hantverkargatan 11B, Stockholm SWEDENPhone +46(0)8 546 44 000
P.O. Box 1035, SE-101 38 Stockholm, expertsvar@vr.se
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