We previously discussed infection of zoo elephants with endotheliotropic elephant herpesvirus in This Week in Virology episode #7. A recent report in Emerging Infectious Diseases indicates that another herpesvirus, equine herpesvirus 9, is also infecting zoo animals. In July 2007, a polar bear in the San Diego Zoo developed encephalitis and was subsequently euthanized. Polymerase chain reaction …
My co-host for the netcast This Week in Virology, Dick Despommier, is featured in a Time magazine article entitled “Vertical Farming”. As listeners of TWiV may know, Dick has developed the idea of constructing hydroponic farms in multistory urban buildings as a way of avoiding the food crunch that will likely occur in 50 years. …
This Week in Virology #11 has been posted at www.microbe.tv/twiv. [powerpress url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/twiv/TWiV011.mp3″] Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #11 In this episode, Vincent, Alan, and guest Jeremy Luban discuss why certain AIDS patients, called ‘elite controllers’ or ‘long-term non-progressors’, do not develop disease, why mosquitoes infected with Sindbis virus remain …
TWiV #11 – Elite controllers, mosquitoes, and winter vomiting Read More »
The term emerging virus was coined by scientists in the 1990s to describe the agent of a new or previously unrecognized infection. The term implies that emerging viruses are new; however this assumption is incorrect. New virus infections have been emerging for thousands of years, at least since the rise of agriculture 11,000 years ago. …
This Week in Virology #8 has been posted at www.microbe.tv/twiv. <span data-mce-type=”bookmark” style=”display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;” class=”mce_SELRES_start”></span><span data-mce-type=”bookmark” style=”display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;” class=”mce_SELRES_start”></span>&lt;span data-mce-type=”bookmark” style=”display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;” class=”mce_SELRES_start”&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;span data-mce-type=”bookmark” style=”display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;” class=”mce_SELRES_start”&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/span&amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span data-mce-type=”bookmark” style=”display: inline-block; width: 0px; …
Vaccines have provided considerable success in preventing viral disease, but they have modest or no therapeutic effect for individuals who are already infected. Consequently, our second arm of antiviral defense has been the development and use of antiviral drugs: they can stop an infection once it has started. However, despite 50 years of research, our arsenal of antiviral drugs is dangerously …
