Tony Breu Profile picture
25 Oct, 14 tweets, 8 min read
1/14
Why is secondary dengue infection more likely to cause hemorrhagic fever than primary infection?

Not all infections confer immunity, but why would prior exposure lead to WORSE outcomes?

To answer these questions, we'll need to discuss "Original Antigenic Sin".

Let's go!
2/
Dengue is caused by any of the four dengue virus serotypes (DENV 1-4).

Dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) is a severe form of dengue characterized by vascular leakage, hemorrhage, and thrombocytopenia.

This can lead to organ failure and death.

apps.who.int/iris/bitstream…
3/
The biggest risk factor for DHF is secondary infection (i.e. patients with DHF have been infected with dengue once before).

Multiple cohorts have shown that DHF is rare the first time someone is infected.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23471635/
4/
Importantly, the second infection must be from a different serotype than the one that caused the primary infection (aka "heterotypic infection").

The order of infection most likely to cause DHS is:

◾️Primary DENV-1, followed by
◾️Secondary DENV-2

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6496446/
5/
To understand why heterotypic secondary infection is a risk factor for DHS we must discuss "Original Antigenic Sin"(OAS).

OAS was proposed in 1953 by Thomas Francis as a way to explain unexpected patterns of antibody response to influenza.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/13109114/
6/
Francis and others observed that sequential exposure to new viral variants induces preferential antibody response to the FIRST virus strain encountered.

As some have put it, someone's "First Flu is Forever".

jstor.org/stable/985534?…
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27846592/
7/
Our immune system will respond to subsequent - heterotypic - infections by creating the best response to someone's "original" serotype (even though this isn't the current one).

A lesser response is seen against the newer variant.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/13345965/
8/
In influenza, repeated heterotypic infection leads to a POOR response to new strains. In dengue, heterotypic infection leads to a WORSE response (i.e. DHS).

These different responses can be explained by something called antibody-dependent enhancement.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21760609/
9/
Antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) proposes that at some concentrations, heterotypic antibodies bind but do not neutralize virions of the secondary infecting viral type.

ADE requires enough antibody to bind but not so much as to promote killing.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20153282/
10/
That a narrow range of anti-dengue antibody titers is a risk factor for DHS was shown in a study of 6684 children with antibodies titers against Dengue.

<1:21 = mildly increased mortality
1:21-1:80 = HIGHEST mortality
>1:1280 = lowest mortality

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29097492/
11/
How does ADE work in dengue?

Virion/antibody complexes are recognized by Fc-receptors that facilitate virus entry and replication in target cells.

Antibodies help the virus "sneak" into cells!

Result: high viral loads and increased risk of DHF.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21760609/
12/
OAS and ADE are seen in some (e.g. Zika), but not all (e.g. yellow fever) flaviviruses.

Why not yellow fever? It has just one serotype!

These phenomena have also been described in other viruses (e.g. HIV) and even bacteria (e.g. malaria).

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28479213/
13/
Unsurprisingly, these mechanisms have also been offered as an explanatory model in COVID-19.

Given that multiple coronaviruses are circulating, could priming by one lead to ADE with SARS-CoV-2?

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32582200/
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32092539/
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32908214/ (pic)
14/14 SUMMARY
➢ The greatest risk factor for dengue hemorrhagic fever is secondary infection with a different serotype
➢ Original antigenic sin and antibody dependence enhancement may explain this finding
➢ Both phenomena are seen in other pathogens with antigenic variability

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More from @tony_breu

20 Sep
1/5
Why is meperidine (Demerol) particularly good at treating rigors?

This is another association I learned early in training without hearing a potential mechanism.

For the second installment in my fevers, chills, and rigors tweetorial follow-up, let's have a brief look.
2/
The ability of meperidine to treat fevers and rigors associated with amphotericin B was demonstrated in 1980 in a SMALL randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

Percent with cessation of side effects with 30 minutes:
☞ Meperidine: 100%
☞ Placebo: 30%

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7362377/ Image
3/
Meperidine is able to treat rigors (and post-anesthesia shivering) by lowering the shivering threshold.

The same temperature that would typically result in rigors isn't low enough after the use of meperidine.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9158353/ Image
Read 7 tweets
17 Sep
1/4
Why does amphotericin B lead to rigors and fever?

I learned about his side effect by the moniker "shake and bake" (thank you First Aid).

Let's have a brief look at this commonly tested side-effect.
2/
Amphotericin B was introduced in the 1950s.

It was clear early on that fevers and chills were common side effects.

More contemporary data show lower - though still relevant - rates of both side effects.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/13749466/ - 1960
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10072411/ - 1999
3/
When thinking back to the mechanism of fever, recall that PGE₂ is a key mediator.

Amphotericin B leads to an increase in PGE₂. This is likely the mechanism of chills and fever.

As this study shows, amphotericin B acts in a similar way to LPS!

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3309074/
Read 5 tweets
14 Sep
1/14
Why do we feel cold (i.e., experience "chills") when we have a fever? Shouldn't we feel hot?

And what are rigors?

Answers to these questions will help us better understand when we should obtain blood cultures.

When do you think is the best time to draw them?
2/
Bacteremia exposes us to exogenous pyrogens. For example, the cell wall of gram-negative rods contains lipopolysaccharide (LPS; endotoxin).

When injected into humans LPS induces fever. But, there is a 3-5 hour delay between exposure and peak fever.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/4897836/
3/
The delay between clinical bacteremia and fever was demonstrated in 1932 by Weiss and Ottenberg.

Their conclusion: Obtain blood cultures BEFORE fever. If only it were easy to predict future fevers!

[Maybe we can as you'll see in tweet 10 below.]

academic.oup.com/jid/article-ab…
Read 14 tweets
1 Sep
1/6
Does hemochromatosis (HH) protect against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infection?

If so, how could that be?

◾️MTB needs iron and HH is associated with overload
◾️MTB resides within macrophages, a site of iron storage

It seems that MTB should thrive in HH. Does it?
2/
It turns out that the distribution of iron overload in HH is not uniform. It preferentially accumulates within parenchymal (e.g., heart, liver, pancreas) cells.

One place it remarkably spares?

Macrophages of the reticuloendothelial system!

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1115031/
3/
How is this discrepancy explained?

Monocytes from patients with HH release twice as much iron as normal human monocytes after RBC phagocytosis.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9746792/
Read 7 tweets
29 Aug
1/13
Why is ferritin elevated in anemia of chronic inflammation?

If the evolutionary point was/is to keep iron away from bacteria, why is our main maker of iron stores elevated?
2/
Let's start by reviewing a few key features of iron. First, recall that it has high redox potential. As a result, it is:

🔳Beneficial: Utilized for myriad cellular functions

And

🔳Potentially harmful: Creates damaging reactive hydroxide radicals

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10787336/
3/
Based on its role in cellular functions and its ability to cause cell and tissue damage, it is unsurprising that >99% of iron is intracellular.

And the iron that's extracellular is bound to proteins (e.g., transferrin).

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10787336/
Read 14 tweets
15 Aug
1/
Why is our thirst immediately quenched after the ingestion of water?

As we'll note, it takes ~10 minutes for serum osmolarity to change. And yet thirst drops far more rapidly.

Something must be bypassing the blood...
2/
Though I suspect we all agree that thirst is quenched rapidly after a sip of water, some of you will demand data.

If you infusion 5% saline, thereby increasing osmolarity, thirst shoots up. But, as soon as drinking is allowed, thirst drops.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19523569/ Image
3/
Notice that in the experiment in tweet 2, the serum osmolarity had NOT dropped when thirst plummeted.

This is because it takes 10+ minutes for ingested water to be fully absorbed into the bloodstream, decreasing osmolarity.

link.springer.com/article/10.375… Image
Read 8 tweets

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