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TWiV 38: Measles

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twiv-200Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Glenn Rall

On episode #38 of the podcast “This Week in Virology”, Vincent and Glenn Rall chat about koi herpesvirus, H1N1 influenza vaccine produced in insect cells, attack by a rabid raccoon, and measles.

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Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #38 (63 MB .mp3, 91 minutes)

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Links for this episode:
Virus suspected in carp die-off: koi herpesvirus
H1N1 influenza vaccine produced in insect cells with baculovirus vectors
Outbreak of measles in Wales
Production of influenza vaccines in cell cultures: MDCK, Vero, PER.C6, EB66, insect (thanks Peter!)

Weekly Science Picks
Glenn Riddled with Life by Marlene Zuk
Vincent All the Virology on the WWW

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@microbe.tv or leave voicemail at Skype: twivpodcast

Virology pop quiz

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BaculovirusThis week’s pop quiz involves analysis of an AFP news article entitled “US company makes first batch of swine flu vaccine“. The article reports that Protein Sciences has been awarded a contract from the US Department of Health and Human Services to produce a vaccine by synthesizing the viral HA protein in insect cells. Here are two paragraphs from the article:

They warned that the virus could mutate during the southern hemisphere’s flu season before returning north in a more lethal form in autumn, in a pattern similar to that seen in the deadly 1918 flu pandemic, which claimed an estimated 20 to 50 million lives around the globe.

The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) sent us a dead virus, which is perfectly safe, and then we extracted genetic information from that virus.

What is wrong with these statements? Post your answers in the comments section.

For extra credit, critique this statement from the same article:

Protein Sciences’ technology is also safer “because these caterpillars don’t have any association with man or other animals, so there’s no chance for their cells to learn how to propagate human viruses,” Adams told AFP.