In episode #21 of This Week in Virology, Vincent, Dick, and Alan are joined by Max Gottesman, who has researched viruses of bacteria - bacteriophages - for many years. They discuss an unusual wasp-virus symbiosis, influenza transmission and absolute humidity, how mosquitoes survive Dengue virus infection, and bacteriophages. Click the ...

The entry of HIV-1 into lymphocytes requires two cellular proteins, the receptor CD4, and a co-receptor, either CXCR4 or CCR5. Individuals who carry a mutation in the gene encoding CCR5, called delta 32, are resistant to HIV-1 infection. This observation was the basis for giving an AIDS patient a bone ...

The cute guinea pig returns for another installment on why influenza is prevalent during winter months in temperate climates. We previously discussed work by Palese and colleagues in which a guinea pig model for influenza virus transmission was used to conclude that spread of influenza virus in aerosols is dependent upon ...

The rapid clearance of acute viral infections is a consequence of robust host defenses. Survivors of acute infections are usually immune to infection with the same virus. If the immune response is so effective, why do some viral infections - such as the common cold or influenza - occur repeatedly? ...

Endoparasitic wasps inject their eggs into moth or butterfly larvae, which are cannibalized as the eggs mature and develop into adult wasps. The wasp larvae survive in the caterpillars because the eggs are injected together with virus particles called polydnaviruses. These viruses replicate in cells of the caterpillar, and their ...