During breastfeeding, mothers provide the infant with nutrients, beneficial bacteria, and immune protection. Fluids from the infant may also enter the mammary gland through retrograde flux of the nipple. Studies in a ferret model reveal that influenza virus replicates in the mammary gland, is shed in breast milk and transmitted to the infant. Virus may …
By David Tuller, DrPH David Tuller is academic coordinator of the concurrent masters degree program in public health and journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2010, the BMJ published the results of the Fatigue Intervention by Nurses Evaluation, or FINE. The investigators for this companion trial to PACE, also funded by the Medical …
On episode #362 of the science show This Week in Virology, the virus virtuosos, with their usual verve, illuminate a new method to identify all the viral nucleic acids in a sample, and regulation of viral gene expression by codon usage. You can find TWiV #362 at www.microbe.tv/twiv.
The high mutation rate of RNA viruses enables them to evolve in the face of different selection pressures, such as entering a new host or countering host defenses. It has always been thought that the sources of such mutations are the enzymes that copy viral RNA genomes: they make random errors which they cannot correct. Now …
A huge host contribution to virus mutation rates Read More »
By David Tuller, DrPH David Tuller is academic coordinator of the concurrent masters degree program in public health and journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. First, some comments: When Virology Blog posted my very, very, very long investigation of the PACE trial two weeks ago, I hoped that the information would gradually leak out …
On episode #361 of the science show This Week in Virology, the TWiVsters discuss Frederick Novy’s return from retirement to recover a lost rat virus, and evidence for persistence of Ebolavirus in semen. You can find TWiV #361 at www.microbe.tv/twiv.
