by Gertrud U. Rey This post was written in honor of Virus Appreciation Day, which occurs annually on October 3. Public awareness of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) began in the early 1980s when separate clusters of infected individuals were identified in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York. These individuals all shared a group of …
by Gertrud U. Rey Recent news headlines have featured a mysterious and presumably new illness termed “sloth fever.” More aptly named Oropouche fever, the disease is caused by Oropouche virus (OROV), an arthropod-borne virus that is transmitted primarily through the biting midge Culicoides paraensis. OROV typically circulates in sloths, non-human primates, and birds, but it …
by Gertrud U. Rey It is well known that stress and exposure to UV radiation can reactivate replication of latent herpes simplex virus type 1 and/or type 2 (HSV-1 and/or HSV-2), and the painful lesions associated with these infections. But why is that? During a primary infection, HSV-1 and HSV-2 replicate within the epithelial cells …
by Gertrud U. Rey During the first few months of life, residual maternal antibodies that crossed the placenta during gestation and antibodies from breast milk protect infants from infection with various microbes. This type of immune protection is known as “passive immunity,” and differs from “active immunity,” which develops in an individual following vaccination or …
by Gertrud U. Rey Multiple recent outbreaks of “bird flu” in U.S. dairies are raising concerns about whether milk from infected cows is safe to drink. H5N1, the strain of influenza virus causing the outbreaks, is typically transmitted among birds but occasionally spreads to non-avian animals, including mammals. Prior to distribution, commercially sold milk is …
by Gertrud U. Rey Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder and the most common form of dementia. Although its exact cause is unclear, an increasing body of evidence suggests that an infection with herpes simplex virus (HSV) may contribute to onset of AD later in life. Both types of HSV (HSV-1 and HSV-2) infect …
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