All posts tagged: viruses

Multipurpose anti-viral pill may treat colds, norovirus, flu and covid

Multipurpose anti-viral pill may treat colds, norovirus, flu and covid

Published by skeptic

Viral RNA relies on an enzyme to replicate, which offers up a target to protect against a range of pathogens Juan Gaertner/Science Photo Library/Alamy A single drug has been found to inhibit a range of common viruses in lab studies, including coronaviruses, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), norovirus, and influenza and hepatitis viruses. It will be tested in a clinical trial next year, raising hopes that the pill could one day be taken at home to relieve unpleasant symptoms or even limit infections if there were another viral pandemic. “As far as we can tell, this is the first drug that’s ever demonstrated activity across all these viral families,” says Daniel Haders, co-founder of Model Medicines, the California-based company leading its development. If it is approved, Haders envisages it being a pill that people could take if, for example, they have a flu-like illness but don’t know if it is influenza, covid-19, RSV or something else. The drug was originally developed as a breast cancer treatment named ERA-923, but it was abandoned in the early 2000s …

New international study traces plant viruses back to the last Ice Age

New international study traces plant viruses back to the last Ice Age

Published by Jenni Sidey

Recent research findings indicate that many of the plant pathogens affecting agriculture today originated during an earlier era than originally believed. Analysis performed by an international team of scientists found that viruses classified as tymoviruses most likely emerged before the last Ice Age. Evidence indicates that these viruses may have been present in some form among wild plants in Eurasia long before human agricultural practices were developed. In a study published in Plant Disease, researchers reconstructed the evolutionary history of the tymovirus family by comparing the genetic structures of over 100 viral genomes. The results indicate that the origins of the earliest tymoviruses may be traced back approximately 23,000 years, around the time when glaciers were still present in the Northern Hemisphere. Evolution of Viruses in The Tymovirus Family Tymoviruses are known to infect flowering dicots, most commonly brassicaceous plants (e.g., cabbage, radish) and solanaceous plants (e.g., pepper, tomato, eggplant). Many tymoviruses are transmitted to new hosts by leaf-chewing beetles. Others can be spread by seed or through direct contact with infected plants. Patristic distance …

The surprising vaccine side effects that can improve long-term health

The surprising vaccine side effects that can improve long-term health

Published by skeptic

A woman receiving the measles vaccine in Mexico JULIO CESAR AGUILAR/AFP via Getty Images I am currently arranging to get a shingles vaccination. I had shingles at university and still bear the scars, so I really don’t want to risk getting it again. But I also have in mind the fact that the benefits of the shingles vaccine are not limited to preventing shingles. And this isn’t unusual. We’re discovering that many vaccines have benefits that go way beyond protecting against a single virus or bacterium – facts that are not nearly as widely known as they should be. Let’s start with shingles. A study of more than a million people last year reported that those given the Zostavax shingles vaccine were 26 per cent less likely to die from heart disease or experience a stroke, heart attack or heart failure during an average of six years after the shot – a massive reduction in risk for such a simple, cheap and easy intervention. What’s more, people given a newer shingles vaccine called Shingrix were …

New nasal vaccine protects lungs for months against viruses, bacteria, and allergens

New nasal vaccine protects lungs for months against viruses, bacteria, and allergens

Published by Jenni Sidey

A vaccine usually trains your immune system to recognize one target. Here, the target is basically “anything that doesn’t belong in the lungs.” That is the surprising promise behind a new mouse study from Stanford Medicine researchers and collaborators. The team reports an intranasal vaccine formula that protected mice for months against several respiratory viruses, two bacteria that often cause hospital infections, and even an allergen linked to asthma. The findings are published in Science. “I think what we have is a universal vaccine against diverse respiratory threats,” said Bali Pulendran, PhD, the Violetta L. Horton Professor II and a professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford. Haibo Zhang, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar in Pulendran’s lab, is the study’s lead author. Bali Pulendran, Violetta L. Horton Professor, Director, Institute for Immunity, Transplantation and Infection and Professor of Microbiology and Immunology. (CREDIT: Jim Gensheimer) A different bet than “match the antigen” For more than two centuries, vaccine design has leaned on one big idea: antigen specificity. You show the body a harmless version of a pathogen’s …

Giant viruses may be more alive than we thought

Giant viruses may be more alive than we thought

Published by skeptic

Illustration of a mimivirus, a kind of giant virus that infects amoebae Science Photo Library / Alamy Viruses rely on the machinery of their host cells to produce proteins, but some giant viruses encode a key part of this toolkit in their genome, enabling them to direct the host cell to produce more of their own proteins. The discovery adds to the sense that giant viruses blur the boundary between living and non-living things. Giant viruses have drawn growing attention from biologists since 2003, when a mystery microbe found in Bradford, UK, was first identified as a “mimivirus”, which infects amoebae. Some are larger than typical bacteria, display intricate shapes and have hundreds of genes. Some of these genes encode components of the machinery for translation, the step that turns genetic information into proteins. In cells, translation is carried out by structures called ribosomes and is initiated by molecular assemblies called initiation complexes. To determine whether giant viruses possess a comparable system, Max Fels at Harvard Medical School and his colleagues examined what happens inside …

World’s oldest cold virus found in 18th-century woman’s lungs

World’s oldest cold virus found in 18th-century woman’s lungs

Published by skeptic

Historic anatomical preparations from the late 1700s in the Hunterian Anatomy Museum Anatomy Museum © The Hunterian, University of Glasgow A cold virus that infected a woman in London about 250 years ago has been identified by genetic analysis, making it it the oldest confirmed human RNA virus. DNA sequencing has enabled scientists to find traces of some viruses up to 50,000 years old from ancient human skeletons. But many viruses, including the rhinoviruses that cause common colds, have a genome made from RNA, which is much less stable than DNA and usually degrades within a few hours after death. Our cells also produce RNA as part of the process of reading the genetic code and translating it into proteins. In recent years, scientists have been pushing back the age at which they have been able to recover ancient RNA, with one team recently extracting RNA from a woolly mammoth that died 40,000 years ago. “Until now, most ancient RNA studies have relied on exceptionally well-preserved materials, such as permafrost samples or desiccated seeds, which …

Nipah is a warning the world keeps postponing

Nipah is a warning the world keeps postponing

Published by Sam Flores

In the field of infectious disease epidemiology, the most dangerous pathogens are not always those that dominate newspaper headlines. Often, they are those that remain on the margins of attention, reappearing periodically without ever attracting sustained political or scientific investment. The Nipah virus is a prime example of this overlooked threat. The recent cases reported in India should not be interpreted as an isolated episode, nor as an unexpected development. Nipah has been causing recurrent epidemics for over twenty years, with a well-documented capacity for zoonotic spillover and human-to-human transmission. Its epidemiological profile is already deeply concerning: high mortality rates, frequent involvement of healthcare workers, and a lack of approved vaccines or targeted antiviral therapies. From a scientific point of view, Nipah is not an unknown enemy. Its reservoirs are identified, its transmission routes widely understood, and its clinical progression well described. What remains insufficient is the translation of this knowledge into lasting preparedness. Surveillance systems continue to be activated only once cases are detected. Research funding remains sporadic. The development of countermeasures proceeds slowly, …

Asian countries tighten borders over Nipah outbreak in India

Asian countries tighten borders over Nipah outbreak in India

Published by Sam Flores

Sri Lankan health officials said they were monitoring the regional situation carefully following the detection of the Nipah cases in India. In Britain, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is responsible for managing infectious disease risks at ports of entry into the country and is understood to be monitoring the outbreak. Like Thailand, the UK is a top destination for travellers from India, with the Delhi to Heathrow route alone accounting for approximately 164,000 seats per month, according to data from the Official Airline Guide. While the UK has not suffered an outbreak of Nipah before, it could theoretically be brought in and then spread from person to person. Health officials in India are continuing to investigate the outbreak, which is centred on the private Narayana Multispeciality Hospital in Barasat, West Bengal, 16 miles from the capital city Kolkata. Both nurses caught the virus while treating a patient with severe respiratory symptoms who later died before testing could be carried out, said a senior health official involved in West Bengal’s Nipah surveillance efforts. “That patient …

Let’s learn about viruses

Let’s learn about viruses

Published by skeptic

antibiotic: A germ-killing substance, usually prescribed as a medicine (or sometimes as a feed additive to promote the growth of livestock). It does not work against viruses. bacteria: (singular: bacterium) Single-celled organisms. These dwell nearly everywhere on Earth, from the bottom of the sea to inside other living organisms (such as plants and animals). Bacteria are one of the three domains of life on Earth. bacterial: Having to do with bacteria, single-celled organisms. These dwell nearly everywhere on Earth, from the bottom of the sea to inside animals. cell: (in biology) The smallest structural and functional unit of an organism. Typically too small to see with the unaided eye, it consists of a watery fluid surrounded by a membrane or wall. Depending on their size, animals are made of anywhere from thousands to trillions of cells. Most organisms, such as yeasts, molds, bacteria and some algae, are composed of only one cell. COVID-19: A name given to the disease that erupted into a massive global pandemic in 2020. It first emerged in 2019 and is caused …

Health experts scramble to contain outbreak of deadly Nipah virus

Health experts scramble to contain outbreak of deadly Nipah virus

Published by Sam Flores

India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare issued a nationwide alert, urging states to strengthen surveillance, detection, and preventive measures to reduce risk and prevent any further spread. India has faced sporadic outbreaks of Nipah in recent years. The virus lives in bats and can be passed to humans through contaminated food or by contact with the bodily fluids of infected animals. It can also jump from bats to pigs, opening up another route for onward transmission to people, where it spreads from person to person through droplets and saliva. The virus has a fatality rate of up to 75 per cent and causes a range of symptoms, beginning with a fever, vomiting and fatigue before developing into respiratory issues and swelling of the brain. Neurological issues like encephalitis can appear months or years after an initial infection In response to the new cases, several Indian states have directed their health authorities to strengthen surveillance for Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), a broad term for brain inflammation that can be caused by Nipah infection. “Persons admitted …