A study done in 1985 on a 16th century Italian mummy suggested that the two year old child had smallpox. Recent sequence analysis of tissues from the mummy now reveal the presence of hepatitis B virus, not smallpox virus. The sequence of the viral genome suggests that HBV entered the human population well before 1500.
The discovery of Mimivirus in a French cooling tower amazed virologists and changed our view of the biology and evolution of giant viruses. Since then, many other giant viruses have been identified, and with three exceptions, they all appear to infect species of Acanthamoeba. Now a new member of the Mimivirus family has been discovered …
Bodo saltans virus, an abundant giant aquatic Mimivirus Read More »
Severe dengue virus disease, also known as dengue hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome (DHF/DSS), is most likely to occur in previously infected individuals experiencing a second encounter with a different serotype. A specific range of serum antibody titers has been shown to enhance viral replication in cell culture and in animal models, and now in humans.
The protein syncytin, which is essential for formation of the placenta, originally came to the genome of our ancestors, and those of other mammals, via a retrovirus infection. Placental structures have also developed in non-mammalian vertebrates. The Mabuya lizard (pictured: image credit), which emerged 25 million years ago, has a placenta very much like those …
Retroviruses turned egg-layers into live-bearers Read More »
The influenza virus vaccine is frequently updated to ensure that it protects against infection with circulating virus strains. In some years the vaccine matches the circulating strains, but in others, there is a mismatch. The result is that the vaccine is less effective at protecting from infection. During the 2014-15 influenza season there was a …
When you are infected with a microbe, pieces of the pathogen are picked up by sentinel dendritic cells and brought to local lymph nodes. There the sentinels present their gifts to lymphocytes – B (pictured; image credit) and T cells – who then decide if they are foreign, in which case an immune response begins. …
