On episode #302 of the science show This Week in Virology, the TWiVers discuss the growing Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, and an epidemic of respiratory disease in the US caused by enterovirus D68. You can find TWiV #302 at www.microbe.tv/twiv.
On episode #287 of the science show This Week in Virology, Matt Frieman updates the TWiV team on MERS-coronavirus, and joins in a discussion of whether we should further regulate research on potentially pandemic pathogens. You can find TWiV #287 at www.microbe.tv/twiv.
A group of virologists lead by Yoshihiro Kawaoka and Ron Fouchier have sent a letter to Nature and Science outlining the experiments they propose to carry out with influenza H7N9 virus. Avian influenza H7N9 virus has caused over 130 human infections in China with 43 fatalities. The source of the virus is not known but …
Virologists plan influenza H7N9 gain of function experiments Read More »
There have been 131 confirmed human infections with avian influenza H7N9 virus in China, but so far there is little evidence for human to human transmission. Three out of four patients report exposure to animals, ‘mostly chickens‘, suggesting that most of the infections are zoonoses. Whether or not the virus will evolve to transmit among …
Inefficient influenza H7N9 virus aerosol transmission among ferrets Read More »
On episode #233 of the science show This Week in Virology, Vincent, Rich, Alan and Kathy review aerosol transmission studies of influenza H1N1 x H5N1 reassortants, H7N9 infections in China, and the MERS coronavirus. You can find TWiV #233 at www.microbe.tv/twiv.
Robert Herriman of The Global Dispatch interviewed me this week on the H1N1 – H5N1 reassortant study that has been in the headlines: There was much written concerning the research published earlier this month in Science, where researchers from China’s Harbin Veterinary Research Institute reported creating an avian H5N1 (highly pathogenic) and pandemic 2009 H1N1 (easily transmissible) hybrid, that according to them, achieved airborne spread between …
Further defense of the Chinese H1N1 – H5N1 study Read More »
