Virology News

Laura Sandys, a Conservative MP for Kent, has called for a ban on the export of UK livestock due to a recent outbreak of the Schmallenberg virus.

Sandys argues that quick action now could prevent the virus from spreading. The BBC quoted her as saying, "There is no treatment or preventative vaccine available, nor are we are clear on how the virus is being transmitted."
To date, 92 UK farms have reported cases of Schmallenberg. The virus is named after the area in Germany where early cases were first reported. Schmallenberg is thought to be spread by biting insects like ticks and mosquitoes, and experts believe the virus entered the UK via small insects that were blown with the winds across the Channel. The first cases were identified in the UK in January.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/320628#ixzz1oF81hPmi

UK health experts believe sun-dried tomatoes could be the cause of a recent outbreak of hepatitis A.  Four of the patients in this latest outbreak in England said they had consumed sun-dried tomatoes.  Officials are on the alert for further cases. But they say they do not know which brands of sun-dried tomatoes might be involved. This is because there is no reliable test to find the virus in food.

Welcome to the developing world, folks...B-)

Using a new culture technique developed by Claude’s Rockefeller colleague, Keith Porter, the team prepared chicken fibroblasts that were stretched thin enough to be penetrated by the microscope’s electron beam, but that were not distorted or greatly altered by the process. In 1945 the trio published a description of their technique along with the first electron micrograph of an intact cell in the Journal of Experimental Medicine

Great slideshow of early EM

The engineered bird flu virus may not be as lethal as originally reported, a conference is told.

Ron A.M. Fouchier of Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam... said the team infected six ferrets with wild virus and six with engineered virus by spraying the bug directly down their throats into their windpipes. All of the animals in both groups died. The team then sprayed an unusually high dose of each virus into the nasal passages of ferrets. Two animals that got the wild virus by this route died, but the engineered virus was fatal to only one in eight animals. The team then put ferrets infected with the engineered virus next to caged, uninfected animals. Seven animals became infected, but none died....

And round and round we go, again.  I thank Russell Kightley Media for the image.

Although in its sixth year of publication, this year's barometer is the first to include data on early infant HIV testing for babies born to HIV-positive mothers and shows that about half of all babies born to HIV-positive mothers are now being tested for the virus at six weeks of age, an important step to ensuring they access the early HIV treatment recommended for all children younger than one under national guidelines. In 2009, only about a quarter of such babies were being tested using the sensitive polymerase chain reaction - tests that confirm whether HIV-exposed infants are HIV-positive.

The report also found that almost all pregnant women are now tested for HIV, which has helped lower mother-to-child HIV transmission to below 4 percent in the country.

Scientists from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have discovered evidence of a new influenza type A virus in Guatemalan fruit bats.

"...for reassortment to occur, the bat flu virus would have to be capable of infecting a different animal, such as a pig, horse or dog, at the same time as a human flu virus.

So far, the bat flu virus has only been found in little yellow-shouldered bats. These fruit bats are not native to the US, but quite common in Central and South America. The bats don't bite people, but it is feasible they could shed the virus onto foods like fruit and vegetables that are then eaten by humans and other animals."

And if you watched "Contagion", you will remember the bulldozer knocking down the tree, which disturbed the bat, which roosted in a pigpen, where pigs ate the faeces, and - recombination occurred!

The smallpox vaccine was the first, and arguably most successful, vaccine ever put into practice, and it was scratched into the skin of individuals. With the invention of syringes and hypodermic needles, vaccination shifted toward administration directly into the muscle, under the assumption that it is better to get a vaccine straight into the body. But it turns out scientists may have had it right the first time.

There is a substantial body of evidence showing that HIV causes AIDS—and that antiretroviral treatment (ART) has turned the viral infection from a death sentence into a chronic disease.1 Yet a small group of AIDS denialists keeps alive the conspiratorial argument that ART is harmful and that HIV science has been corrupted by commercial interests.

Cape Town's own Nicoli Nattrass!

Meta-analyses of the few studies providing effects with adjustment for confounders suggest that in high-risk populations, oral oseltamivir may reduce mortality (odds ratio, 0.23 [95% CI, 0.13 to 0.43]; low-quality evidence), hospitalization (odds ratio, 0.75 [CI, 0.66 to 0.89]; low-quality evidence), and duration of symptoms (33 hours [CI, 21 to 45 hours]; very low–quality evidence) compared with no treatment. Earlier treatment with oseltamivir was generally associated with better outcomes. Inhaled zanamivir may lead to shorter symptom duration (23 hours [CI, 17 to 28 hours]; moderate-quality evidence) and fewer hospitalizations (odds ratio, 0.66 [CI, 0.37 to 1.18]) but more complications than no treatment. Direct comparison of oral oseltamivir and inhaled zanamivir suggests no important differences in key outcomes. Data from 1 study suggests that oral amantadine may reduce mortality and pneumonia associated with influenza A. No included study evaluated rimantadine.

Image courtesy of Russell Kightley Media