None of the four human polymaviruses that were known in early 2008 – JC, BK, KI and WU – had been shown to cause cancer. The subsequent identification of a new polyomavirus associated with Merkel cell carcinoma demonstrates the type of evidence that is required to prove that a virus is oncogenic in humans. Merkel …
Merkel cell polyomavirus, a new oncogenic human virus? Read More »
On episode #27 of the podcast “This Week in Virology”, Vincent, Dick, Alan, and Saul Silverstein revisit an ebolavirus needlestick accident, and discuss the role of TLR3 in formation of Negri bodies, a New England college closed by norovirus gastroenteritis, hand, foot, and mouth disease outbreak in China, and the exit of herpes simplex virus …
Many of us have experienced herpesvirus reactivation from latency. Suddenly a sore erupts on the lip, festers for a week, then subsides. Years later, for no apparent reason, it happens again. Did you ever wonder what causes these recurrent blisters? Herpes simplex viruses are associated with latent infections, a type of persistent viral infection that …
Viral replication frequently leads to the accumulation of intracellular masses of virions or unassembled viral components in the cytoplasm or nucleus of the cell. These inclusion bodies often bear the name of the individual who discovered them – such as Guarnieri bodies in the cytoplasm of poxvirus infected cells, intranuclear Cowdry bodies in herpesvirus infected …
Last week on TWiV #26 Rich Condit and I were reminiscing about the possibility that we had received the virus SV40 along with our polio immunizations. That discussion prompted me to examine my immunization record for poliovaccine that my Mother had given to me in the early 1990s. She was cleaning out her house and …
Learning vaccinology from an immunization record Read More »
On episode #26 of the podcast “This Week in Virology”, Vincent, Alan, and Rich Condit converse about induction of polyomavirus replication in multiple sclerosis patients treated with the MS drug Tysabri, the extent of human polyomavirus infection, selection of influenza vaccines for the 2009-10 season, cowpox virus transmission from animals to humans, vaccinia-like virus infecting …
