2009

Immunopathology: Too much of a good thing

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 …

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Hantavirus protein replaces eIF4F

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 …

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The zoonotic pool

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 …

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