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Document<br />

18<br />

The <strong>Design</strong> of Anti-Influenza Virus <strong>Drug</strong>s from the X-ray Molecular<br />

<strong>Structure</strong> of Influenza Virus Neuraminidase<br />

Joseph N. Varghese<br />

Biomolecular Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia<br />

I. Introduction<br />

Page 459<br />

Influenza has plagued humankind since the dawn of history and continues to affect a significant<br />

proportion of the population irrespective of age or previous infection history. These periodic epidemics<br />

that reinfect otherwise healthy people have devastated communities world wide. Some pandemics like<br />

the 1917–1919 “Spanish flu” were responsible for the death of tens of millions of people throughout the<br />

world. The origins, spread, and severity of influenza epidemics have been a puzzle that has only in the<br />

last two decades been adequately addressed. In early times it was thought that the disease was the evil<br />

influence (sic) of the stars, and other extraterrestial objects. At present it is generally accepted that the<br />

disease is of viral origin, spread <strong>by</strong> aerosols produced <strong>by</strong> infected animals, and the continual production<br />

of new strains of the virus results in reinfection of the disease (reviewed in Reference 1).<br />

There are three types of influenza virus classified on their serological cross-reactivity with viral matrix<br />

proteins and soluble nucleoprotein (A, B, and C). Only type A and B are known to cause severe human<br />

disease. Type B is only found in humans, while type A has a natural reservoir in birds and some<br />

mammals like pigs and horses [2]. Influenza, an orthomyxovirus, is a 100 nm lipid-enveloped virus<br />

(Figure 1) containing an eight-segment negative single-stranded genome [3]. Two of the segments code<br />

for the surfaces glycoproteins, hemagglutinin (which binds to terminal sialic acid), and neuraminidase<br />

(which<br />

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