The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would like to know what the public feels about the impending H1N1 influenza vaccination program this fall. The agency plans to conduct ten meetings in different parts of the United States to learn if the public would like a massive vaccination campaign, or ...

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dick Despommier In episode 43 of the podcast "This Week in Virology", Vincent and Dick explain virus classification, and revisit the 1976 swine flu immunization campaign and Guillain-Barre syndrome. [powerpress url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/twiv/TWiV043.mp3"] Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #43 (32 MB .mp3, ...

A few weeks ago I asked readers to find the errors in the following statement concerning an experimental influenza vaccine produced by Protein Sciences which involves synthesis of the viral HA protein in insect cells. They warned that the virus could mutate during the southern hemisphere's flu season before returning north ...

There are two glycoproteins embedded in the influenza viral membrane: the hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). The NA, shown in yellow in the illustration, is an enzyme that removes sialic acids from the surface of the cell, so that newly formed virions can be released. The NA protein is composed ...

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dick Despommier, Alan Dove, and Delthia Ricks In episode #42 of the podcast "This Week in Virology", Vincent, Dick, Alan, and Delthia Ricks discuss a new influenza virus-like particle vaccine, dog flu, ultrasensitive pen-sized virus detector, imported rabies in the US, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, and next season's flu vaccines. ...