The first US case of Marburg hemorrhagic fever was reported last month in Colorado. Will there be more? The patient had traveled to Uganda in December 2007 and visited a python cave, which houses thousands of bats - some of which might be reservoirs for Marburg virus. Two weeks after ...

The other day I learned that a friend's relative had recently succumbed to Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (CJD). He told me that he had been diagnosed with the 'infectious' form of the disease. What does this mean? CJD is one of several neurological diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). These diseases ...

One of the most widely used continuous cell lines for virology is the HeLa cell line, which was derived in 1951 from Henrietta Lacks. What is the origin of this amazing cell line? In early 1951, Ms. Lacks, a 31-year old mother of five children, was found to have a ...

On This Week in Virology #19, Vincent and Alan discuss cap-snatching by the hantavirus N protein and the influenza virus endonuclease, HIV-1 and Ebola virus antagonism of tetherin, and influenza pneumonia. Of course, they also name their picks of the week for science blog, science podcast, and science book. Click the ...

Influenza virus undergoes continuous antigenic variation, necessitating production of a new vaccine each year. This is not a trivial task. Six to nine months before the flu season begins, the viral strains for inclusion in the vaccine must be selected. High-yielding recombinant strains are produced and grown in embryonated chicken ...