This Week in Virology TWiV 1271: Hokies go viral II
Nov 16, 2025
X.J. Meng is a veterinary virologist known for his work on hepatitis E virus (HEV), while Kylene Kehn-Hall focuses on Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV). They discuss HEV's zoonotic transmission from animals like pigs and the challenges of understanding its chronic infection risks. Kylene dives into RVFV's mosquito transmission, its severe effects on livestock and humans, and the intricate immune evasion tactics of the RVFV NSs protein. The conversation highlights the importance of interdisciplinary research in tackling emerging viral threats.
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HEV Causes Large Global Burden
- Hepatitis E is a small, non-enveloped positive-sense RNA virus causing substantial global disease burden.
- It infects ~20 million people yearly and causes tens of thousands of deaths, mainly in developing countries.
Natural HEV Recombinants Can Gain New Traits
- Natural recombinants of HEV have acquired human sequence insertions in ORF1's hypervariable region.
- Inserted ribosomal protein S17 gives nuclear localization and expanded host range in experimental studies.
HEV Is Increasingly Zoonotic And Foodborne
- Many animal-origin HEV strains infect humans and foodborne transmission is now a major route.
- FAO-WHO ranked hepatitis E among top foodborne pathogens alongside norovirus and hepatitis A.