Acute Respiratory Infection Consortium

Recently, the emergence and rapid global dissemination of novel swine-origin influenza A virus (H1N1) with unique epidemiologic characteristics has heightened awareness and concern of this viral pathogen, and its potential for major disruption of both civil and military stability. Although advances in medical and scientific technologies have improved our basic understanding of respiratory disease, many questions about the epidemiology and immunology of ARI remain unanswered. This study plans to initiate a multi-site, multi-disciplinary research collaboration, termed the Acute Respiratory Infection Consortium (ARIC) for the purpose of studying the etiology, epidemiology and immunology of influenza-like illness (ILI) in order to describe the natural history and risk factors for disease, as well as the characteristics of the host immune response. At the core of the ARIC is the proposed observational, longitudinal study of the Natural History Study of ILI among active duty military members, healthy retirees, and their dependents recruited from both inpatient and outpatient settings of military treatment facilities (MTF) in the continental US to be followed for a total of four (4) visits over a 28-day period. Additionally, the investigators also propose to conduct a household-based study of influenza (Family Transmission Study) in which individuals who have a laboratory-confirmed influenza illness will be recruited and enrolled along with their family members for the purpose of studying transmission of influenza within households. Taken together, these studies will establish a longitudinal cohort of ILI among active duty members and their families, as well as a repository of biological specimens relevant to the epidemiology and immunology of infection. Ultimately, these studies will serve as a solid foundation on which future investigations of ARI epidemiology, treatment and prevention can be based.