Antibodies to dengue virus enhance infection by Zika virus
Model of Zika virus particle. E glycoprotein dimer is expanded at left.
It has been speculated that the development of neurological disease and fetal abnormalities after Zika virus infection may be due to the presence of antibodies against other flaviruses that enhance disease. In support of this hypothesis, it has been shown that antibodies to dengue virus enhance infection of cells by Zika virus.
There are four serotypes of dengue virus, and infection with one of the serotypes generally leads to a self-resolving disease. When a different serotype is encountered, antibodies to the first serotype bind virus but do not bl...
Source: virology blog - April 28, 2016 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information ADE antibody mediated enhancement dengue virus Guillain-Barré microcephaly myelitis viral viruses zika virus Source Type: blogs
The Paradigm of the Paradox: Women, Pregnant Women, and the Unequal Burdens of the Zika Virus Pandemic
by Lisa H. Harris, Neil S. Silverman, and Mary Faith Marshall
The inequalities of outcome are, by and large, biological reflections of social fault lines (Paul Farmer)
Three paradoxes characterize the Zika virus pandemic and clinical and policy responses to it:
Zika virus has been shown to cause severe developmental anomalies in the fetuses of infected women. As a result, both women and men in endemic areas are asked to avoid or delay pregnancy. However, access to effective contraception and safe pregnancy termination is either not available (especially for those living below the poverty line) or a crime for many women i...
Source: blog.bioethics.net - April 27, 2016 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Bonsai Klugman Tags: Featured Posts Health Disparities Public Health Reproductive Medicine Source Type: blogs
“These images from 1911 depict Aedes Aegypti, AKA Yellow...
"These images from 1911 depict Aedes Aegypti, AKA Yellow Fever Mosquito. In 1793 a yellow fever epidemic literally decimated the population of Philadelphia; 5k deaths were recorded of the city's 50k population at the time. These same mosquitoes are also known carriers of the Zika virus. There is currently a major outbreak of Zika in the Americas and the CDC has issued guidance and warnings for travel to affected areas. How much of a risk is Zika to the US…really? How did it become so widespread? And is there a Zika vaccine on the horizon? To answer these questions and more, we are hosting a free public event with two exp...
Source: Kidney Notes - April 26, 2016 Category: Urology & Nephrology Authors: Joshua Schwimmer Source Type: blogs
Zika virus in Brazilian non-human primates
Zika virus RNA has been detected in New World monkeys from the Northeast region of Brazil. This finding suggests that primates may serve as a reservoir host for the virus, as occurs in Africa.
The results of numerous serological surveys have shown that different Old World monkeys in Africa and Asia, including Rhesus macaques, Grivets, Redtail monkeys, and others, have antibodies that react with Zika virus. In these areas Zika virus is probably transmitted among monkeys in what is called a sylvatic cycle. Periodic outbreaks (epizootics) of Zika virus infections in nonhuman primates have been documented.
Where monkey rese...
Source: virology blog - April 26, 2016 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information Brazil capuchin marmoset microcephaly mosquito New World monkey reservoir host viral virus viruses Zika zika virus Source Type: blogs
Is Pornography Creating a Public Health Crisis?
By STEVEN FINDLAY
Well, it’s not Zika and it won’t kill you, but pornography is being discussed—seriously—as a public health problem, even a “crisis.”
The path to this claim is a long one, with a slow burn over many years. It was kicked into higher gear in recent months with:(a) legislative action in one state;(b) a coverstory in TIME magazine (April 11 issue);(c) a Washington Post op-ed piece by anti-porn advocate Gail Dines; (d) a response to that in Atlantic Monthly; and (e) the publication of two books that discuss at length the effect of porn and the new sexual culture on teen girls—American Girls-Soci...
Source: The Health Care Blog - April 21, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Simon Nath Tags: Featured OP-ED Tech THCB Steve Findlay Source Type: blogs
CDC Concludes Zika Causes Microcephaly and Other Birth Defects
“Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have concluded, after careful review of existing evidence, that Zika virus is a cause of microcephaly and other severe fetal brain defects…”
“The report [in the New England Journal of Medicine] notes that no single piece of evidence provides conclusive proof that Zika virus infection is a cause of microcephaly and other fetal brain defects. Rather, increasing evidence from a number of recently published studies and a careful evaluation using established scientific criteria supports the authors’ conclusions.”
Read the complet...
Source: BHIC - April 20, 2016 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Annette Parde-Maass Tags: Public Health Source Type: blogs
Zika virus comics: Zanzare
Dr. Susan Nasif is a virologist and part of the team at Cimaza Comics that produces science-themed comics. In their latest creation, Zanzare, we are plunged head-first into the global mystery of Zika virus. We meet the mosquitoes (in Italian: zanzare) implicated in its spread; but the insects plead their innocence, saying it’s all a misunderstanding. They lay their case before the gods and demons of Zika’s victims, and ask for divine help. Will the mosquitoes be vindicated? Or will it all turn out that the zanzare are to blame after all?
Not even the authors know where Zanzare is heading. The comics follow we...
Source: virology blog - April 16, 2016 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Information comics mosquito viral virology virus viruses Zanzare zika virus Source Type: blogs
Zika virus, like all other viruses, is mutating
Not long after the appearance of an outbreak of viral disease, first scientists, and then newswriters, blame it all on mutation of the virus. It happened during the Ebolavirus outbreak in West Africa, and now it’s happening with Zika virus.
The latest example is by parasitologist Peter Hotez, who writes in the New York Times:
There are many theories for Zika’s rapid rise, but the most plausible is that the virus mutated from an African to a pandemic strain a decade or more ago and then spread east across the Pacific from Micronesia and French Polynesia, until it struck Brazil.
After its discovery in 1947 in Uganda...
Source: virology blog - April 15, 2016 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Commentary Information genome microcephaly mutation pandemic transmission viral virulence virus viruses zika virus Source Type: blogs
CDC Says Zika Virus Could Have Greater Impact on U.S. Than Originally Thought
The CDC is growing increasingly concerned about the Zika vrius. The government organization says it could have a bigger impact on the U.S. than originally thought.Read more on sciencespacerobots.com (Source: HealthNewsBlog.com)
Source: HealthNewsBlog.com - April 14, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: cdc zika-virus Source Type: blogs
CDC Says Zika Virus Could Have Greater Impact on U.S. Than Originally Thought
The CDC is growing increasingly concerned about the Zika vrius. The government organization says it could have a bigger impact on the U.S. than originally thought.
Read more on sciencespacerobots.com (Source: HealthNewsBlog.com)
Source: HealthNewsBlog.com - April 14, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: cdc zika-virus Source Type: blogs
Ethics & Society Newsfeed: April 8, 2016
Can we trust robots to make moral decisions? Last week, Microsoft inadvertently revealed the difficulty of creating moral robots. Why Bioethics Has a Race Problem Moral imagination in bioethics has largely failed African Americans. The disturbing reason some African American … Continue reading → (Source: blog.bioethics.net)
Source: blog.bioethics.net - April 8, 2016 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Ethics and Society Tags: Health Care abortion pill aging population bioethics FDA HIV IRS medical costs Newsfeed opioids pain racism robots syndicated vaccine Yelp Zika Source Type: blogs
Structure of Zika virus
Six months after Zika virus became a household word, we now know the three-dimensional structure of the virus particle. And it looks like very much like other flaviviruses, such as West Nile and dengue viruses.
In the old days, solving a virus structure was a big deal. A virus is, after all, a very large assembly of many proteins. To solve the structure of a virus – which will tell us the location of the amino acid chains in three dimensional space – was a technical tour de force. It was necessary to purify large amounts of virus particles, and then find the conditions to produce crystals, a hit and miss a...
Source: virology blog - April 6, 2016 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information capsid cryo-EM glycoprotein symmetry viral virus virus structure viruses X-ray crystallography zika virus Source Type: blogs
MedlinePlus Health Topic: Chikungunya
MedlinePlus has published a new health topic page on chikungunya virus.
From MedlinePlus:
“Chikungunya is a virus that spread by the same kinds of mosquitoes that spread dengue and Zika virus. Rarely, it can spread from mother to newborn around the time of birth. It may also possibly spread through infected blood. There have been outbreaks of chikungunya virus in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.”
Chikungunya (English): http://1.usa.gov/1PQFtUD
Chikungunya (Spanish): http://1.usa.gov/1TwHj45 (Source: BHIC)
Source: BHIC - April 4, 2016 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Kate Flewelling Tags: National Library of Medicine News Public Health Regional Information Source Type: blogs
Keep up to date with Zika
Information available about Zika Virus transmission, prevention and treatment is changing rapidly. To keep up to date, go to the Centers for Disease Control’s Zika site. On the bottom of the main page, you can sign up for email updates.
Zika Virus (CDC): http://www.cdc.gov/zika/ (Source: BHIC)
Source: BHIC - April 4, 2016 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Kate Flewelling Tags: Emergency Preparedness Environmental Health Public Health Source Type: blogs
TWiV 383: A zillion Zika papers and a Brazilian
Esper Kallas and the Merry TWiXters analyze the latest data on Zika virus and microcephaly in Brazil, and discuss publications on a mouse model for disease, infection of a fetus, mosquito vector competence, and the cryo-EM structure of the virus particle. All on episode #383 of the science show This Week in Virology.
Audio and full show notes for TWiV #383 at microbe.tv/twiv or listen below.
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Download TWiV 383 (90 MB .mp3, 125 min)
Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - April 3, 2016 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: This Week in Virology Aedes agepytii Aedes albopictus cryoEM fetus microcephaly mosquito mouse model saliva sexual transmission urine viral virus viruses Zika zika virus Source Type: blogs
