The SARS pandemic of 2002-2003 is believed to have been caused by a bat coronavirus (CoV) that first infected a civet and then was passed on to humans. The isolation of a new SARS-like coronavirus from bats suggests that the virus could have directly infected humans. A single colony of horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus sinicus) in Kunming, Yunnan …
Bat SARS-like coronavirus that infects human cells Read More »
Hepatitis B virus (HBV, illustrated) is a substantial human pathogen. WHO estimates that there are now 240,000,000 individuals chronically infected with HBV worldwide, of which 25% will die from chronic liver disease or hepatocellular carcinoma. The hepatitis B virus vaccine is highly effective at preventing infection. Because there are no known animal reservoirs of the …
On episode #249 of the science show This Week in Virology, Vincent, Dickson, Alan and Rich discuss an estimate of the number of different mammalian viruses on Earth. You can find TWiV #249 at www.microbe.tv/twiv.
How many different viruses are there on planet Earth? Twenty years ago Stephen Morse suggested that there were about one million viruses of vertebrates (he arrived at this calculation by assuming ~20 different viruses in each of the 50,000 vertebrates on the planet). The results of a new study suggest that at least 320,000 different …
On episode #239 of the science show This Week in Virology, Matt joins Vincent, Alan, and Rich to summarize what we know and what we do not know about the MERS coronavirus. You can find TWiV #239 at www.microbe.tv/twiv.
There have been over 60 human infections with avian influenza virus H7N9 in China, and cases have been detected outside of Shanghai, including Beijing, Zhejiang, Henan, and Anhui Provinces. Information on the first three cases has now been published, allowing a more detailed consideration of the properties of the viral isolates. The first genome sequences reported were …
Avian influenza H7N9 viruses isolated from humans: What do the gene sequences mean? Read More »
