by Gertrud U. Rey Public health officials are continuing to monitor the spread of avian H5N1, the strain of influenza virus associated with “bird flu.” Although there is still no evidence that this virus can transmit from one person to another, two recently infected individuals are attracting close attention because the source of their infection …
by Gertrud U. Rey As discussed in my previous post, we first became aware of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the early 1980s. However, when did the virus actually emerge in humans, and where did it come from? There are two strains of HIV – HIV-1 and HIV-2. The vast majority of infections are caused …
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 …
