RenoVous

  A cruise ship disembarked from Argentina carrying some hantavirus. Reports indicate a couple went bird watching in the Tierra del Fuego National Park.  It's a popular site to see the Magellenic Woodpecker, Andean Condor, and this beautiful white-bellied seedsnipe. However, this outing may have taken them across a landfill, where the travelers may have been exposed to infected rodents.  Authorities say there has never been a recorded case in Ushuaia. Three people have died, but the WHO emphasizes there is little risk to the general public.  Those who have been evacuated are being monitored and the remaining passengers appear to be asymptomatic.

Vampire Virus! For the first time ever, a virus has been observed attaching to another virus. The satellite virus (purple) literally bites the neck of the helper virus, on which it relies to complete its life cycle. A team of undergraduates were analyzing the sequences of bacteriophages when they saw what they thought was a contamination.  They repeated the experiment and found the same, and upon further inspection found the presence of these helper viruses, 80% of which had a satellite. They also found some without a satellite had bite marks, suggesting previous attachment. Additional bioformatics done on a particular pair suggests their interaction is ancient, co-evolving for at least 100 million years.

  Researchers from the Queensland Brain Institute have explored how viruses alter the function of the nervous system.  The findings provide a potential explanation for persistent neurological effects, such as those seen in "long COVID" cases. The team discovered that infection leads to the fusion of neurons, which affects their firing patterns and overall function.  These malfunctions could be a major contributor to neurological diseases and clinical symptoms. It was previously believed only one of two things could happen: cell death or inflammation. "Our research reveals a new mechanism for the neurological events that happen during viral infection.  These viruses include HIV, rabies, Japanese encephalitis, measles, herpes simplex, and Zika." Neuroscience News

  Conceptual image of a neuron affected by multiple sclerosis (Stocktrek) It has long been suspected, but difficult to prove, that the Epstein-Barr virus is connected to multiple sclerosis.  We know that it is the primary cause of mononucleosis and that 95% of adults carry it. But MS is relatively rare. In the disease, inflammation damages the myelin sheath that insulates nerve cells, ultimately disrupting signals to and from the brain and causing a variety of symptoms, including numbness and pain to paralysis. Researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School ran an "experiment of nature."  Using two decades of blood samples from more than 10 million young adults on active duty in the military, they found about 5% were negative for Epstein-Barr, while 955 eventually developed MS. They determined that the risk of MS increased 32-fold after infection with Epstein-Barr but not after infection with other viruses. Immunologists William Ro...

  This is what I think of every time this new variant is mentioned. So let's take a look. "Omicron's very emergence is another reminder that although many of us might think we are done with COVID-19, it is not done with us," says WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The variant was discovered by researchers in South Africa and Botswana, showing mutations that help the virus enter and infect cells.  It has now been found in Israel, the UK, Hong Kong and Australia.  Earlier this week, a case was reported in California. Scientists are concerned when looking at the molecular level, as it shows 30 changes in the spike protein, which is how the virus breaks in.  There are about 20 changes in other proteins that would assist in replication and interfering with early immune responses. A specific mutation, called P681H, shared with the alpha variant, which is believed to help the virus transmit from person to person. But we don't actually know yet if it is mor...

 We're dropping the "Fun" again as we look at some info regarding the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. Researchers in London analyzed the organs of 41 patients who died of Covid-19 between February and April 2020 at the University Hospital of Trieste. They found just under 90% showing characteristics typically seen in pneumonia death, and this could explain why many who recover from the virus have lingering symptoms. What they're seeing is extensive blood clotting in the lung's blood vessels, and a study released earlier this week suggests the virus itself triggers the release of autoimmune antibodies that cause blood clotting. They've also found evidence of syncytia - the fusion of different cells into single large cells.  Lung cells were found to be abnormally large with many nuclei. Further, they discovered RNA of the virus still lurking in the single-celled layer that lines the blood vessels and the surface epithelial cells of the lungs, which might explain l...

Scientists have been working around the clock to understand COVID-19, including how it was initially transmitted.  Snakes have been suggested as the link between bats and humans, but a recent study suggests it was actually pangolins. Most experts agree that bats are a natural reservoir for SARS-CoV-2, but an intermediate host was needed for the transmission. By studying the virus' genome and a sequence of the spike protein - a key protein responsible for getting the virus into mammalian cells - they were able to find similarities in pangolin tissues that are 91% identical to the human virus' proteins. The sequence comparison between human and pangolins showed only 5 different amino acids, versus 19 differences between human and bats. In Chinese medicine, pangolin scales are used for a variety of treatments, including: to promote blood circulation, to stimulate lactation, to drain pus, and to relieve skin diseases.  This trade is part of the reason the ...

We're dropping the "Fun" this week since we're going to look at the very serious situation of the Coronavirus. Locations with confirmed cases. At this time in the United States, there have been 1,629 reported cases and 41 deaths. Washington alone has 457 cases, the highest in the country. There's a lot of information flying around the internet so I'm only sourcing from the CDC and WHO. Coronavirus itself is not new, but we are currently experiencing a new strain which has been named SARS-CoV-2.  COVID-19 is an abbreviation for Coronavirus 2019.  This, and other so called "betacoronaviruses" originate in bats and it is believed that this new emergence came from an animal reservoir in the Wuhan region of China.  This is the first pandemic of a coronavirus, so there was little research on hand - previous pandemics have been novel influenza viruses. From the National Institute of Health COVID-19 is a respiratory disease, and symp...