Virology News

A host of infectious and deadly diseases have hopped from animals to humans, and the other way.

The delightfully sinister side of microbiology...B-)

Study results presented today by Mark Cotton, M.D., Ph.D., of Stellenbosch University in South Africa, showed that infants could safely stop ART after 1 to 2 years and continue to fare significantly better than those infants in whom the initiation of therapy was delayed until signs of illness or a weakened immune system appeared. Importantly, very few infants who received immediate ART had significant disease progression or died after treatment was stopped.

News from our neighbours: good one, Mark C!

Picture courtesy Russell Kightley Media

While research on the lab-altered H5N1 virus that can be transmitted between mammals in laboratories is put on hold, scientists are debating how to balance biosecurity with the need for research that could help thwart a pandemic.

The issue: What biosafety containment level (BSL) should be used for the viruses?
The levels range from BSL-1 to BSL-4, which are designated in ascending order by degree of protection provided to lab personnel, the environment and the community. Biosafety levels apply to labs dealing with infectious microbes.
Currently, studies with these viruses, which were engineered to spread via respiratory droplets between ferrets, are being done at BSL-3 or higher facilities. However, Canada has already moved to institute the highest level of biosafety containment research for these viruses....

Meanwhile, farmers in Indonesia and Vietnam continue to breathe 'em in....

We conclude that the early control of HIV-1 replication by immunodominant CD8+ T cell responses may be substantially influenced by rapid, low frequency viral adaptations not detected by conventional sequencing approaches, which warrants further investigation. These data support the critical need for vaccine-induced CD8+ T cell responses to target more highly constrained regions of the virus in order to ensure the maintenance of immunodominant CD8 responses and the sustained decline of early viremia.

So: it's the luck of the draw, then.  And T-cell-stimulating vaccines are the way to go?

"...the E1-defective HPV16 genome became established in human keratinocytes only as episomes in the presence of exogenous E1 expression. Once established, it could replicate with the same efficiency as the wild-type genome, even after the exogenous E1 was removed. However, upon calcium-induced keratinocyte differentiation, once again amplification was dependent on exogenous E1. These results demonstrate that the E1 protein is dispensable for maintenance replication but not for initial and productive replication of HPV16."

Always a good idea to check whether or not your virus is actually susceptible when you think it is....

Image by Russell Kightley Media

At least 50 people have died of rabies in the recent weeks in a reported outbreak in the south west district of Indonesia's Maluku province, local officials said on Monday [5 Mar 2012]. "Rabies has killed at least 50 people, and hundreds of others have been infected [that is, exposed to the risk of the disease]," Bernabas Orno said, adding that the outbreak has been reported to Maluku governor Karel Albert Ralahalu.

The deadly virus has hit this remote province hard in recent weeks.  The rabies virus is spread through contact with infected animals, who carry the virus in their saliva. Those bitten by an infected animal can avoid contracting the deadly disease if they clean the wound and receive a rabies vaccination within hours of contact. But rabies  vaccine supplies in the remote Southwest Maluku district have run out, Barnabas said. No hospitals in the district have the vaccine, and efforts to control the spread of the virus have failed to make an impact, he added. "We are badly in need of the provincial government's help," Barnabas said. Without help, Barnabas feared that the rabies epidemic in the Southwest Maluku district would only get worse.

Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease—the immune system mistakenly attacks its own body, causing red, itchy, scaly patches on the skin. But there may be a hidden upside. People with psoriasis are more likely to have gene variants that protect them against the effects of HIV-1.

Researchers had noticed that some psoriasis patients had the same gene variants as people known as "HIV-1 controllers." Such people have HIV-1, but they naturally maintain low levels of the virus and generally do not develop any obvious symptoms of AIDS.

Interesting trade-off...!

M2 protein of influenza A viruses is a tetrameric transmembrane proton channel, which has essential functions both early and late in the virus infectious cycle. Previous studies of proton transport by M2 have been limited to measurements outside the context of the virus particle. We have developed an in vitro fluorescence-based assay to monitor internal acidification of individual virions triggered to undergo membrane fusion. We show that rimantadine, an inhibitor of M2 proton conductance, blocks the acidification-dependent dissipation of fluorescence from a pH-sensitive virus-content probe. Fusion-pore formation usually follows internal acidification but does not require it. The rate of internal virion acidification increases with external proton concentration and saturates with a pKm of ~4.7. The rate of proton transport through a single, fully protonated M2 channel is approximately 100 to 400 protons per second. The saturating proton-concentration dependence and the low rate of internal virion acidification derived from authentic virions support a transporter model for the mechanism of proton transfer.

(Reuters) - Two more patients in a 10-patient segment of a mid-stage trial testing Gilead Sciences Inc's experimental hepatitis C drug GS-7977 had the virus return within four weeks of treatment, researchers...