This Week in Virology

TWiVsters review off-season epidemics of respiratory syncytial virus in Australia after easing of COVID-19 restrictions, and impaired innate immune responses in upper respiratory tract cells from patients with severe COVID-19. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, Kathy Spindler, and Brianne Barker Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Off-season RSV in Australia (medRxiv) Impaired innate immunity in severe COVID-19 (Cell) Letters read on TWiV 786 Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Weekly Picks Brianne – The Science of Swimming Kathy – Talking to the vaccine hesitant  and covidactnow.org Rich – The Disinformation Dozen | Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH on wiki) Vincent – Russia discards Pirs docking port to clear way for new space station module (IG post) Listener Pick April – Pemberton Aviation (Facebook, YouTube) Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

In this special episode, Daniel Griffin answers listener questions on COVID-19 vaccines, vaccine misinformation, long COVID, masking and distancing, school safety, and much more. Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Letters read on TWiV 785 Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to daniel@microbe.tv

Moriah and Joseph join the nearly complete TWiV team to discuss their work on genetic variation and adaptability in herpes simplex virus, and how rotavirus infection disrupts intracellular calcium homeostasis. Live streamed during the 2021 annual meeting of the American Society for Virology. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Rich Condit, Alan Dove, and Brianne Barker Guests: Joseph Hyzer and Moriah Szpara Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Diversity of HSV2 in neonates (mSphere) Genome of HSV1 from multiple sites in one person (J Inf Dis) Rotavirus disrupts calcium homeostasis (mBio) Rotavirus protein activates calcium sensor (J Virol) Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Weekly Picks Dickson – Inside of Mars is not like Earth Brianne – AlphaFold Rich – Tesla motors Alan – Diving for antique beer Vincent – Dolly Parton Tried. But Tennessee Is Squandering a Miracle Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv  

In COVID-19 clinical update #72, Daniel Griffin covers long term symptoms in children, outcomes for MIS-C, recent guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics, a large well traced outbreak of delta variant, low dose mRNA vaccination generates durable T cell memory and antibodies, protective immunity in recovered patients, assessment of BinaxNOW, no effect of oral azithromycin, post-discharge symptoms in Nigeria, and therapeutics for low and middle income countries. Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Long COVID in children (JAMA) Outcomes after MIS-C (Pediatrics) Guidance for school opening (Amer Acad Ped) Infection in well traced delta outbreak (medRxiv) Immune memory 8 months post-infection (Science) Low dose mRNA vaccine enhances T cells (medRxiv) Protection after infection (Lancet) Assessment of BinaxNOW (Sci Rep) Rapid POC antigen tests (Cochrane Rev) Oral azithromycin ineffective (JAMA) Post discharge symptoms in Nigeria (AJTMH) Therapeutics for low and middle income countries (AJTMH) Letters read on TWiV 783 Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to daniel@microbe.tv

On this episode, broadening of immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 after mRNA vaccine booster to ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, five-fold underestimation of the number of cases in the US during the first six months of the pandemic, and a monoclonal antibody that broadly neutralizes many different sarbecoviruses. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Amy Rosenfeld Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Immune responses after heterologous COVID-19 vaccine boost (Nat Med) Undiagnosed SARS-CoV-2 infections in US (Sci Transl Med) Broadly neutralizing sarbecovirus antibody (Nature) Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

The Team with Invincible Values discusses whether dogs or cats passively carry SARS-CoV-2 on hair and foot pads, maternal to fetal transfer of antibodies in infected or vaccinated pregnant women, and evidence that retroviruses infected cetaceans before and after they moved into the oceans. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, and Brianne Barker Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode SARS-CoV-2 on dogs and cats (Viruses) Maternal to neonatal transfer of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies (J Clin Investîmes) Retroviral evolution in cetaceans and their ancestors (Plos Path( Letters read on TWiV 781 Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Weekly Picks Dickson – Current Map | U.S. Drought Monitor Brianne – A comic strip about immune responses Alan – Superliminal game Vincent – Birds are dying in NJ Listener Picks 2listening1 – Renewal Em – Cognitive Surplus Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

In COVID-19 clinical update #71, Daniel Griffin reviews updated school and child care guidance from CDC, transmission in schools, accuracy of lateral flow assays, update to J&J/Janssen vaccine EUA to include GBS, interim immunogenicity of Ad.26.CoV2.s, effectiveness of mRNA vaccines to prevent hospitalization, Bamlanivimab plus Etesevimab for mild or moderate disease, and a meta-analysis of ivermectin results. Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode School and child care guidance (CDC) Transmission in schools (CDC) Accuracy of lateral flow diagnostics (Lancet) GBS with Ad.26.CoV2.s vaccine (FDA) Ad.26.CoV2.s interim immunogenicity (NEJM) mRNA vaccine effectiveness to prevent hospitalization (medRxiv) Bamlanivimab plus Etesevimab (NEJM) Meta-analysis of ivermectin studies (Clin Inf Dis) Letters read on TWiV 780 Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to daniel@microbe.tv

TWiV reviews evidence that COVID-19 mRNA vaccination of both uninfected and previously infected persons elicits cross-variant neutralizing antibodies, and directed evolution of a bacterial protein to form a virus-like capsid that specifically packages its encoding mRNA. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Brianne Barker Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode mRNA vaccine boosts cross-variant neutralizing Ab (Science) mRNA vaccine boosts variant B and T cell responses (Science) Directed evolution of virus-like nucleocapsid (Science) Letters read on TWiV 779 Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Weekly Picks Brianne – The Science of Chocolate Chip Cookies Alan – Keeping Black students in STEM Vincent – Antiviral Program for Pandemics Listener Pick Mark – Curator on the Loose, Classic Airliners and Vintage Pop Culture, Flying Men, Flying Machines, Thai Flying Club Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

In COVID-19 clinical update #70, Daniel Griffin discusses efficacy of portable air cleaners, vaccine induced serum neutralizing antibodies against variants, prevention and attenuation of disease with mRNA vaccines, ivermectin to prevent hospitalization, IL-6 antagonists and mortality, and impact of vaccination on long COVID. Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Efficacy of portable air cleaners (MMWR) Ad26.COV2.S elicited neutralization of variants (bioRxiv) Prevention of COVID-19 with mRNA vaccines (NEJM) Ivermectin to prevent hospitalization (BMC Inf Dis) IL-6 antagonists and mortality (JAMA) Impact of vaccination on long COVID (Lancet) Letters read on TWiV 778 Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to daniel@microbe.tv

Ron Fouchier explains why increased transmission of SARS-CoV-2-variants has not been demonstrated, and their ability to displace ancestral variants is due to greater fitness, much like influenza virus antigenic variation leads to better fitness and replacement of previously circulating variants. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Kathy Spindler, and Brianne Barker Guest: Ron Fouchier Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Ron Fouchier on TWiV 177, 291, 557 Mutations driving H5N1 airborne transmission in ferrets (Cell) SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 transmission among ferrets (Nat Comm) Avian influenza virus transmission among seals (Cell Host Micr) Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Weekly Picks Brianne – The Science News Cycle Kathy – mRNA Day Kariko & Weissman lectures and Q&A Vincent – Just Planes Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv