Protect, modify, deprotect, and vaccinate
A method for making vaccines that induce antibodies against a specific epitope could be used to produce a universal influenza vaccine that would not have to be changed every year.
Basic virology
Fatal yellow fever in a transplant recipient
Infection with yellow fever virus caused the death of a patient 25 years after receiving a kidney transplant, illustrating the difficulties associated with some medical vaccine exemptions. The patient had received a kidney transplant at the age of 58 in February 1993. Nearly 25 years later he was admitted to hospital with two days of …
Michael Rossmann, 88
Michael Rossmann, a leader in the use of X-ray crystallography and cry-electron microscopy to solve the structure of viruses, died on 14 May 2019 at the age of 88.
A risky vaccine
by Gertrud U. Rey Dengue fever, caused by dengue virus (DENV), is of substantial public health significance in the tropics, where the virus is spread by Aedes mosquitoes. Last week the FDA announced its approval of a first vaccine for the prevention of dengue disease in endemic areas.
Hepatitis delta-like virus in birds and snakes
Hepatitis D virus is a unique human pathogen. With a circular, negative stranded RNA genome of ~1700 nucleotides, it is the smallest known human virus. Formation of the HDV particle depends on co-infection of cells with a helper virus, hepatitis B virus. Once thought to be specific for humans, related viruses have now been identified …
Complementing neutralization of viruses by antibodies
Viral infection of vertebrates leads to the production of antibodies, and some of these can block virus infection by a process that is called neutralization. Antibodies can neutralize viral infectivity in a number of ways: they may impair virus entry into cells, and even cause degradation of the capsid in the cytoplasm. A newly discovered …
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