by Gertrud U. Rey Have you ever wondered what would happen if you were infected with two different viruses at the same time? A recent study aimed at addressing this question has produced some astounding new findings. The authors of the study wanted to observe the interactions between respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza A …
Influenza B viruses, unlike influenza A viruses, do not cause pandemics. There are many non-human animal reservoirs of influenza A viruses which provide gene segments that go towards making reassortant viruses that can infect humans. Influenza B viruses do not appear to have an animal reservoir other than humans – they have been isolated from …
The League of Extraordinary Virologists celebrate the eradication of wild poliovirus type 3, and consider the effectiveness of an influenza vaccine produced in insect cells, and how small RNAs are protecting the Koala germline from retroviral invasion. Click arrow to play Download TWiV 571 (64 MB .mp3, 105 min) Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Show notes …
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 …
The 1918 influenza pandemic was particularly lethal, not only for the very young and the very old (as observed for typical influenza), but unexpectedly also for young adults, 20 to 40 years of age (pictured). It has been suggested that the increased lethality in young adults occurred because they lacked protective immunity that would be conferred …
Unusual mortality pattern of 1918 influenza A virus Read More »
To the collection of avian influenza viruses known to sporadically infect humans – H5N1, H7N9, H7N2, H7N3, H7N7, H9N2, and H10N7 – we can now add H10N8, recently found in two individuals in China. Avian influenza virus H10N8 was first detected in tracheal aspirates from a 73 year old woman who was hospitalized in November …
Yet another avian influenza virus, H10N8, infects humans Read More »
