The Norwegian Institute of Public Health recently identified a mutation in 2009 H1N1 influenza virus isolated from two patients who died and one with severe disease. It has been suggested that this mutation, which causes a change from the amino acid aspartic acid to glycine at position 225 of the viral HA protein (D225G), could …
The D225G change in 2009 H1N1 influenza virus is not a concern Read More »
Recently I began experiments to understand how zinc inhibits rhinovirus replication, and I promised to document my findings on the pages of this blog. Here are the results of the second plaque assay. In the last experiment I confirmed the finding that 0.1 mM ZnCl2 inhibits plaque formation by rhinovirus type 1A. Based on the …
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, Gustavo Palacios, and Mady Hornig A TWiV panel of five considers the finding of Streptococcus pneumoniae in fatal H1N1 cases in Argentina, hysteria in the Ukraine over pandemic influenza, and human vaccinia infection after contact with a raccoon rabies vaccine bait. [powerpress url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/twiv/TWiV059.mp3″] Click the arrow above to …
As week 46 of 2009 comes to a close, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that influenza has peaked in the US. That conclusion is based on the agency’s influenza surveillance program, summarized in this figure: Does this mean that pandemic influenza is over? Absolutely not. This is just the second wave, sparked …
The finding that a retrovirus, XMRV, is associated with chronic fatigue syndrome has lead to the suggestion that the disease might be treated with some of the antiviral drugs used to treat AIDS. The integrase inhibitor Raltegravir has been found to block the replication of murine leukemia virus, which is highly related to XMRV. But …
Raltegravir inhibits murine leukemia virus: implications for chronic fatigue syndrome? Read More »
A number of readers have asked when we would have information about the safety of the influenza 2009 H1N1 vaccine. The World Health Organization has just released briefing note #16 “Safety of pandemic vaccines” in which they summarize vaccination information from 16 countries in which 80 million doses of vaccine have been administered. Side effects …
