Ebola virus infection was reported in Phillipine pigs in 2008. This past week it was revealed that the virus was apparently transmitted from Phillipine pigs to a pig farmer. Why do these events bring Nipah virus to mind? The Ebola virus that was found in 4 of 6,000 pigs in the Phillipines last year is …
On This Week in Virology episode #17, Vincent, Dick, and guest Saul Silverstein talk about discoveries in virology that have had a major impact on the field. By seminal, we mean “strongly influencing later developments”. Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #17
In many viral infections, clinical symptoms such as fever, tissue damage, pain, and nausea are a consequence of the immune response. Damage caused by the immune system is known as immunopathology. For some viruses that do not directly kill cells (non-cytolytic viruses) the immune response is the main cause of disease. Immunopathology may be caused …
The cellular translation machinery is frequently modified in virus-infected cells. Antiviral defense systems or stress responses may be initiated to inhibit protein synthesis and restrict virus replication. On the other hand, many viral genomes encode proteins that modify the cellular translation apparatus to favor the production of viral proteins over those of the cell. One …
I previously discussed the idea that new human virus infections will continue to emerge from animal hosts. Stephen Morse, my colleague here at Columbia, has called this collection of viruses the ‘zoonotic pool’. How many viruses are in this pool? Here are Dr. Morse’s calculations: assume that there are 50,000 vertebrates on earth, each of …
I just heard President Obama, in his inaugural address, say the words “We will restore science to its rightful place”. What does he mean by this? In “The Audacity of Hope”, the book President Obama wrote in 2006 to set forth his thoughts on “reclaiming the American dream”, he suggests that we will need to …
