Virology
TWiV 931: Driven to immunodistraction
By Vincent Racaniello | | This Week in Virology
TWiV reviews the genetic characterization of a new strain of type 2 oral polio vaccine and its implications for eradication, and how a polymorphism in humans comprising a single amino acid change in an antibody molecule regulates vaccine elicitation of broadly neutralizing antibodies against influenza virus HA.
TWiV 930: Clinical update with Dr. Daniel Griffin
By Vincent Racaniello | | This Week in Virology
In his weekly clinical update Dr. Griffin discusses antibody response against nonpoliovirus enteroviruses, clinical presentation and virological assessment of confirmed human monkeypox virus cases in Spain, object and surface contamination with monkeypox virus, monkeypox virus infection in humans across 16 countries, clinical characteristics of ambulatory and hospitalized patients with monkeypox virus infection, compassionate use of Tecovirimat …
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Transmission of Enteric Viruses through Saliva
By Gertrud U. Rey | | Basic virology, Gertrud Rey
by Gertrud U. Rey Norovirus and rotavirus are considered to be enteric pathogens because they are traditionally thought to be transmitted by the fecal-oral route; i.e., when consuming food prepared by someone who did not wash their hands properly after using the bathroom. Unlike rabies virus, which replicates in the salivary glands and transmits through …
Polio in New York
By Vincent Racaniello | | Basic virology
Virologist Vincent Racaniello breaks down the first case of polio in the US in nearly a decade.
TWiV 919: Motivated by volatiles
By Vincent Racaniello | | This Week in Virology
TWiV reviews the FDA decision to update COVID-19 vaccine boosters in the fall, the meaning of fatigue with respect to long COVID, and a skin volatile induced by flavivirus reproduction that attracts mosquitoes to the infected host.
TWiV 918: COVID-19 clinical update #123 with Dr. Daniel Griffin
By Vincent Racaniello | | This Week in Virology
In COVID-19 clinical update #123, Dr. Griffin discusses rapid diagnostic testing in response to the monkeypox outbreak, leading causes of death in the US during the COVID-19 pandemic, antibody evasion by subvariants, broadly-neutralizing antibodies against emerging variants, factors associated with severe outcomes among hospitalized immunocompromised adults, measurement of the burden of hospitalizations during the pandemic, parental vaccine hesitancy in diverse communities, evaluating saliva sampling to improve access to diagnosis in low-resource settings, oral sabizabulin for high-risk hospitalized adults, lower-risk of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, and neurovascular injury with complement activation and inflammation during infection.
David Tuller
Trial By Error: Interview with Karen Hargrave, Co-Founder of #ThereForME
By David Tuller, DrPH Karen Hargrave is co-founder of an advocacy campaign called #ThereForME, which was launched this past summer to draw public awareness to the UK’s lack of care and treatment and to call “for an NHS [National Health Service] that’s there for people with ME and Long Covid.” The campaign has drawn significant …
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Trial By Error: My Letter to BMJ Seeking Correction to Editorial on REGAIN Trial of Mental-and-Physical-Health Rehab for Long Covid
By David Tuller, DrPH I have recovered sufficiently from my post-election coma to send off another of my irritating letters to journals–this one to The BMJ. As I mentioned in a post earlier this week, The BMJ has corrected a major paper: “Clinical effectiveness of an online supervised group physical and mental health rehabilitation programme …
Trial By Error: Professor Chris Ponting on “Replicated Blood-Based Biomarkers” for ME in Big Data Pre-Print Study
By David Tuller, DrPH Along with several colleagues, Professor Chris Ponting, a geneticist at the University of Edinburgh and a leading ME/CFS researcher, recently posted a pre-print called “Replicated blood-based biomarkers for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis not explicable by inactivity.” (A pre-print is a paper that has not yet been formally peer-reviewed.) For this analysis, the investigators …
Trial By Error: The BMJ Corrects REGAIN Study’s Expansive Claims; Results Only Applicable to Post-Hospitalized Long Covid Patients
By David Tuller, DrPH In February, The BMJ published a study called Clinical effectiveness of an online supervised group physical and mental health rehabilitation programme for adults with post-covid-19 condition (REGAIN study): multicentre randomised controlled trial.” (Post-Covid-19 Condition, or PCC, is one of many current definitions for Long Covid.)The study, led by a team from …
Trial By Error: My Tour of Ireland, Through Wind and Rain; Slides of My Talk
By David Tuller, DrPH Last month, I took a quick speaking tour around Ireland at the invitation of the Irish ME/CFS Association. I first became acquainted with Tom Kindlon, the association’s assistant chairperson, about ten years ago. I was beginning to look into the background of the PACE trial, which purported to have proven the …
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Trial By Error: Guardian Columnist George Monbiot on the “Bizarre Cult” at the London-Based Science Media Centre
By David Tuller, DrPH October is a crowdfunding month at University of California, Berkeley. If you’d like to support my work, you can make a donation to the university (tax-deductible for US taxpayers) here. Last week, Guardian columnist George Monbiot wrote another scathing piece about the failure of the UK health care system to address the …