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Other Comments:
This article presents a novel hypothesis. The hypothesis is that prior infection with an H1N1 virus makes a person more susceptible to a severe reaction if infected again with another H1N1 virus.
The hypothesis is worthy of testing. The authors briefly review several topics which vary in relevance to this hypothesis. An interesting finding the authors cite is that prior infection with dengue fever is associated with more severe disease if a person becomes infected with a different serotype. The authors mention “antibody-mediated enhancement”, but do not cite other more comprehensive sources or other empirical examples. It would be useful for the authors to show how widespread this phenomenon is, based on a more extensive search and review of the literature. Such a review might indicate how likely it is to occur for influenza or H1N1 in particular.
The article could also be improved with careful editing for grammar.
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Competing interests:
none
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Invited by the author to review this article? :
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Have you previously published on this or a similar topic?:
No
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References:
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Experience and credentials in the specific area of science:
infectious disease epidemiology
- How to cite: Brewer D D.article presents hypothesis worthy of testing[Review of the article '2009 Pandemic H1N1 Influenza: Previous Infection May Cause Severe And Fatal Cases? ' by Pawitan J].WebmedCentral 2011;2(1):WMCRW00379
Any research consists at least of three steps 1) observation, 2) analysis and 3) theoretical comprehension. For instance the Darwin’s “The descent of man…” and “The origin of species …” contain only the second and third steps. Nevertheless nobody consider these works like reviews.
The discussed article also does not contain the own observations of its author but contains very important analytical results and their original comprehension.
As a reviewer, I would like to put before author attention some comments and advices:
1) The title of the article will sound far better as follow: “May Previous H1N1 Infection Cause Severe And Fatal Cases?”
2) Human immunogenic system consists of at least four subsystems. Author’s analysis is based only on responsive immunogenesis where as genetic (constitutional or hereditary) immunity provides far more influence on the severity and fatality of any infections.
3) The disease either develops or failes in the cases of either congruence or incongruence between virus and attacked organism. Thus the terms “pandemic virus”, “seasonal virus” don’t have any sense.
4) The author’s E-mail address should be provided
Respectfully
Professor
Sergey N. Rumyantsev MD, PhD
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