viral

Virologists plan influenza H7N9 gain of function experiments

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 …

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Pandoravirus, bigger and unlike anything seen before

The discovery of the giant Mimivirus and Megavirus amazed virologists (and also many others). Their virions (750 nanometers) and DNA genomes (1,259,000 base pairs) were the biggest ever discovered, shattering the notions that viruses could not be seen with a light microscope, and that viral genomes were smaller than bacterial genomes. Now two even bigger viruses have been discovered, …

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TWiV 243: Live from ASV at Penn State

On this episode of the science show This Week in Virology, which was recorded before a large enthusiastic audience at the annual meeting of the American Society for Virology, Vincent, Rich, and Kathy speak with Rebecca and Christiane about their work on metapneumoviruses and noroviruses. You can find TWiV #243 at www.microbe.tv/twiv.

Poliovirus silently (and not so silently) spreads

Poliovirus has been found in sewage in Israel. The virus detected is not vaccine-derived poliovirus; it is wild-type 1 poliovirus, the strain that occurs naturally in the wild and which the World Health Organization is trying very hard to eradicate from the planet. As part of the global effort to eradicate poliovirus, environmental samples from …

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