According to ProMED mail, Chikungunya is rapidly spreading in Sri Lanka. Chikungunya virus is a togavirus in the alphavirus genus. The infection is spread by mosquitos, mainly Aedes aegypti. The viral disease has been known for more than 50 years in the tropics and savannahs of developing countries of Asia and Africa, but never has …
In October 2003, the Vatican published a paper claiming that the HIV virus can pass through latex condoms and cause infection. I have not seen the original paper, but have read about some of its points in various online newsreports, such as this one from BBC News World Edition. In this report, Cardinal Alfonso Lopez …
Our latest paper has just been published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The title of the paper is “Poliovirus tropism and attenuation are determined after internal ribosome entry”. This is the work of a Ph.D. student in my laboratory, Steven Kauder. If you would like a nice summary of this work, there is an …
Scientists who conduct research on viruses depend heavily on outside sources of funding to staff and supply their laboratories. One of the major sources of funding for independent research is the National Institutes of Health. Funds for research are allocated through a grant mechanism in which investigators submit detailed proposals for the work they wish …
Let’s first define life. According to the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary, life is “an organismic state characterized by capacity for metabolism, growth, reaction to stimuli, and reproduction.” Viruses are not living things. Viruses are complicated assemblies of molecules, including proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, and carbohydrates, but on their own they can do nothing until they enter …
