This Week in Virology

The TWiVites discuss seroevidence for human infection with avian influenza H5N1, and the discovery of a new influenza virus in Guatemalan bats. Links for this episode: Seroevidence for human H5N1 infection (Science) Mammalian-transmissible H5N1 (mBio) New information about ferret-adapted H5N1 (NY Times, virology blog) New influenza virus from fruit bats (PNAS) Elsevier abandons open access assault (The Scientist) Le virus le plus dangereux? TWiV on Facebook Letters read on TWiV 173 Weekly Science Picks Ashlee – AskScience (Reddit)Michael - HealthMap (iPhone and Android app)Rich – H5N1 research discussion at ASMBiodefenseAlan – El Yunque National ForestVincent – The Journal of Global Health Listener Pick of the Week Judi – NSF visualization challenge Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@twiv.tv, or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss atmicrobeworld.org and tag them with twiv.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Kathy Spindler Vincent and Kathy discuss how a virus may cause disease distant from its replication site, then review a day in the life of a senior microbiology professor. Links for this episode: Celsius vs Centigrade Neuropathogenesis during polymicrobial infection (PLoS Pathogens) Tetramer staining (pdf) One TWiV on Facebook Letters read on TWiV 172

Matt joins the TWiVarians to review virus production in single cells and single virion genomics. Links for this episode: H5N1 results will be published (NY Times) Virus production in single cells then and now Single virion genomics (PLoS One) Multiple displacement amplification (Wikipedia) Ranavirus killing turtles, tadpoles in Maryland (Washington Post) Three Dog Night TWiV on Facebook Letters read on TWiV 171

Alan, Rich, and Dickson discuss Edward Jenner's paper on cowpox vaccine, then move 200 years later to modern vaccines against norovirus, influenza H5N1, and more. Links for this episode: Norton Zinder, 83 (Reuters) Jenner's cowpox vaccine paper (Bartleby, Gutenberg) Norovirus VLP vaccine (NEJM) Plant-grown H5N1 VLP vaccine (Reuters, PLoS One) Plant-grown norovirus VLP Hexavalent pediatric vaccine TWiV on Facebook Letters read on TWiV 170

Michael and the TWiV team review epidemiology basics, including fatality ratios. Links for this episode: Michael's blog and podcast Epidemiology literature critique (PowerPoint) Seven mistakes in epidemiology (ETE) Snow cholera map TWiV on Facebook Letters read on TWiV 169

Welkin joins the TWiV team for a discussion of HIV prophlaxis using vectored antibodies, and the influenza H5N1 virus studies in ferrets that were not redacted. Links for this episode: Vectored HIV immunoprophylaxis (Nature) Vectored immunoprophylaxis - the Movie (YouTube) Adeno-associated virus (Wikipedia) In vitro evolution of H5N1 towards human receptor specificity (Virology) Endogenous viral genes non-essential in chicken (Nature) Rates of HIV transmission per coital act (J Inf Dis) TWiV on Facebook Letters read on TWiV 168

The complete TWiVome deconstructs the movie Contagion.

Vincent, Dickson, Rich, and Alan review cell proteins essential for entry of hepatitis C, Ebola, and measles viruses. Links for this episode: Niemann-Pick C1 is entry factor for HCV (Nature Med) Ebola virus entry requires Niemann-Pick C1 (Nature one, two) Nectin-4 is measles virus epithelial receptor (Nature, PLoS Pathogens) An exit strategy for measles virus (Science) On this day in history TWiV on Facebook Letters read on TWiV 166

Vincent, Dickson, Rich, and Alan answer listener questions about XMRV, cytomegalovirus, latency, shingles vaccine, myxomavirus and rabbits, and more.

Vincent, Alan, and Rich review ten compelling virology stories of 2011.