This Week in Virology

TWiV 996: Clinical update with Dr. Daniel Griffin

April 1, 2023

In his weekly clinical update, Dr. Griffin discusses how antibiotics don’t reduce risk of death from viral respiratory infections, norovirus infections continue to rise in the US, ABO blood types and SARS-CoV-2 infection assessed using seroprevalence data in a large population-based sample, maternal third dose of BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine and risk of infant COVID-19 hospitalization, association of treatment with Nirmatrelvir and the risk of Post–COVID-19 condition, mechanically ventilated patients with COVID-19 had a higher chance of in-hospital death if treated with high-flow nasal cannula oxygen before intubation, high-flow nasal cannula and outcomes in COVID-19, severe infection and risk of Cardiovascular disease, and the risk factors associated with post−COVID-19 condition.

Click arrow to play Download TWiV 996 (26 MB .mp3, 43 min)

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Links for this episode

Antibiotics don’t reduce risk of death from viral respiratory infections (CIDRAP) 4:28
ABO blood types and SARS-CoV-2 infection (Nature) 11:08
Maternal third dose of BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine and risk of infant COVID-19 hospitalization (Nature Medicine) 12:13
Association of treatment with Nirmatrelvir and risk of post–COVID-19 (JAMA) 16:01, 27:28
Ventilated patients with COVID-19 had a higher chance of in-hospital death with usage of nasal cannula oxygen (IARS) 17:10
High-flow nasal cannula and outcomes in COVID-19 (IARS) 19:55
Severe infection and risk of cardiovascular disease (AHA) 21:58
Risk factors associated with post−COVID-19 condition (JAMA) 25:19
Contribute to our ASTMH fundraiser at PWB 31:50
Dr. Griffin’s treatment guide (pdf)
Letters read on TWiV 996 32:28
Don’t crush Paxlovid (pdf)
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to daniel@microbe.tv

TWiV 995: Viral origin stories

March 26, 2023

TWiV discusses genetic evidence of susceptible wildlife in SARS-CoV-2 positive samples at the Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market, polio cases in African linked to a new polio vaccine that was designed to not cause the disease, and structural conservation of hepatitis B virus capsid proteins over millions of years despite a shift from a naked to an enveloped capsid.

Hosts: Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Brianne Barker, and Angela Mingarelli

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Download TWiV 995 (74 MB .mp3, 123 min)
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Links for this episode

•Register for ASV 2023
•MicrobeTV Discord Server
• More evidence for SARS-CoV-2 spillover (Zenodo) 6:54
•Polio cases linked to nOPV2 (Science; GPEI statement) 26:08
•nOPV2 on TWiV 756 30:17
•Engineering OPV to prevent reversion to neurovirulence (Cell Host Microbe) 30:17
•Stability of nOPV2 in children (npj Vaccines)
•2A changes compensate for 5′-UTR disruptions (Virology) 41:01
•HBV shifts from naked to enveloped (Nat Comm) 54:03
•Letters read on TWiV 995 1:24:14
•Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:42:18

Dickson – Jazz Project: Bass: Ray Brown, Ron Carter, Percy Heath
Angela – The nervous system may play a role in severe allergic reactions through immune cell (mast cells) cross-talk with neurons
Brianne – Science Museums Take Stock of 1.1 Billion Objects from Around the World
Vincent – Architect Breaks Down 5 of the Most Common Skyscraper Styles In New York

Listener Picks

Gary – Tony Fauci on PBS
Stefanie – What Do You Find Beautiful about Viruses? A Post-COVID Assessment Strategy

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 994: Clinical update with Dr. Daniel Griffin

March 25, 2023

In his weekly clinical update, Dr. Griffin discusses the detection of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 story, prior COVID-19 infection associated with increased risk of newly diagnosed erectile dysfunction, adverse maternal, fetal, and newborn outcomes among pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2 infection, correlates of protection against COVID-19 infection and intensity of symptomatic disease in vaccinated individuals exposed to SARS-CoV-2 in households in Israel, effectiveness of Nirmatrelvir–Ritonavir in preventing hospital admissions and deaths in people with COVID-19, projected COVID-19 mortality reduction from Paxlovid rollout, and SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines decouple anti-viral immunity from humoral autoimmunity.

Click arrow to play Download TWiV 994 (26 MB .mp3, 43 min)

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Links for this episode

cVDPV2 detections in Burundi and the DRC (PGEI) 4:52
Novel oral polio vaccine type 2 story (The Lancet) 6:59
Prior COVID-19 infection associated with risk of diagnosed erectile dysfunction (IJIR) 8:17
Adverse maternal, fetal, and newborn outcomes among pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2 infection (BMJ) 13:37
Protection against COVID-19 infection and intensity of symptomatic disease in vaccinated individuals (The Lancet) 15:00
Effectiveness of Nirmatrelvir–Ritonavir in preventing hospital admissions and deaths (The Lancet) 25:30
Projected COVID-19 mortality reduction from Paxlovid rollout (JAMA)
SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines decouple anti-viral immunity (Nature) 30:50
Contribute to our ASTMH fundraiser at PWB
Dr. Griffin’s treatment guide (pdf)
Letters read on TWiV 994 36:15
Don’t crush Paxlovid (pdf)
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to daniel@microbe.tv

TWiV 993: COVID-19 drives autoimmunity

March 19, 2023

TWiV reveals how treatment with remdesivir for COVID-19 resolved a chronic poliovirus infection in an immunocompromised patient, and the finding that infection with SARS-CoV-2 leads to an increase in new and preexisting autoantibodies.

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Download TWiV 993 (65 MB .mp3, 108 min)
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Links for this episode

•Register for ASV 2023 2:20
•MicrobeTV Discord Server
•Janet Sinsheimer on TWiV 653 5:05
•Clearance of chronic poliovirus infection by remdesivir (Front Immunol) 7:47
•Autoimmunity induced by SARS-CoV-2 infection (Nat Comm) 33:08
•Letters read on TWiV 993 1:07:23
•Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:35:41

Brianne – Xkcd: Lymphocytes
Kathy – A brief history of Parafilm with video
Alan – Mapping and exploring the USS Monitor wreck
Vincent – Skype a Scientist

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 992: Clinical update with Dr. Daniel Griffin

March 18, 2023

In his weekly clinical update, Dr. Griffin discusses clearance of longstanding, immune-deficiency-associated, vaccine-derived poliovirus infection following remdesivir therapy for chronic SARS-CoV-2 infection, SARS-CoV-2 exposure in New York City rats, clinical characteristics and outcomes of children with SARS-CoV-2 infection during the Delta and Omicron variant-dominant periods in Korea, exhaled breath aerosol shedding of SARS-CoV-2 variants, outpatient treatment of COVID-19 and the development of long COVID over 10 months, Nirmatrelvir and the risk of post-acute sequelae of COVID-19, assessment of the risk of venous thromboembolism in nonhospitalized patients with COVID-19, and the optimal duration of systemic corticosteroids in COVID-19 treatment.

Click arrow to play Download TWiV 992 (19 MB .mp3, 32 min)

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Links for this episode

Clearance of vaccine-derived poliovirus following remdesivir therapy for SARS-CoV-2 infection (Frontiers) 1:06
SARS-CoV-2 exposure in Norway rats from New York City (mBio) 3:28
Clinical characteristics and outcomes of children with SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Korea (JKMS) 6:54
Exhaled breath aerosol shedding of SARS-CoV-2 variants (CID) 8:37
Outpatient treatment of COVID-19 and the development of Long COVID (The Lancet) 12:28
Nirmatrelvir and the risk of post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (medRxiv) 16:05
Risk of venous thromboembolism in nonhospitalized patients with COVID-19 (JAMA) 18:14
Optimal duration of systemic corticosteroids in COVID-19 treatment (OFID) 21:47
Contribute to our ASTMH fundraiser at PWB 21:43
Dr. Griffin’s treatment guide (pdf)
Letters read on TWiV 992 24:40
Don’t crush Paxlovid (pdf)
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to daniel@microbe.tv

TWiV 991: The cancer mRNA shot

March 12, 2023

On this episode of TWiV, the observation that the 1918 influenza virus is not lethal in nonhuman primates and implications for studies on viral virulence, and mRNA vaccines that control and resolve human papillomavirus-associated cancers in mice.

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Download TWiV 991 (67 MB .mp3, 112 min)
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Links for this episode

•Register for ASV 2023 2:56
•MicrobeTV Discord Server
•1918 influenza virus not lethal in nonhuman primates (J Virol) 10:33
•mRNA vaccines control HPV-associated tumors (Sci Trans Med) 40:19
•Letters read on TWiV 991 1:16:52
•Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:42:39

Dickson – Jazz Project: Piano: Art Tatum/Thelonius S. Monk/Dave Brubeck/Bill Evans/George Shearing/Herbie Hancock/Chick Corea/Keith Jarret/Diana Krall/Eliane Elias/Horace Silver. Honorable mention: Oscar Peterson/Erroll Garner/Ramsey Lewis/Dr. John/Duke Ellington
Rich – Protein synthesis: an epic on the cellular level
Alan – Thomas Was Alone
Vincent – I called for more research on the COVID ‘lab leak theory.’ Here’s what I found out

Listener Pick

Carol – The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins, MIT, and the fight for Women in Science

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 990: Clinical update with Dr. Daniel Griffin

March 11, 2023

In his weekly clinical update Dr. Griffin discusses confronting the evolution and expansion of anti-vaccine activism in the USA in the COVID-19 era, the effectiveness of maternal Influenza vaccination in Peru, characteristics and predictors of persistent symptoms post-COVID-19 in children and young people, parental nonadherence to health policy recommendations for prevention of COVID-19 transmission among children, community-onset bacterial coinfection in children critically ill with SARS-CoV-2 infection, bivalent booster effectiveness against severe COVID-19 outcomes in Finland, viral kinetics of sequential SARS-CoV-2 infections, risk of COVID-19 associated pulmonary aspergillosis based on corticosteroid duration in intensive care patients, immunomodulators for severe COVID19 in transplant patients: do they increase the risk of secondary infection, long-term cardiovascular outcomes in COVID-19 survivors among non-vaccinated population, cardiac abnormalities in Long COVID 1-year post-SARS-CoV-2 infection, one-year adverse outcomes among us adults with Post–COVID-19 condition vs those without COVID-19 in a large commercial insurance database, and long-term gastrointestinal outcomes of COVID-19.

Click arrow to play Download TWiV 990 (26 MB .mp3, 43 min) Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS, email

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Links for this episode

Confronting the evolution and expansion of anti-vaccine activism (The Lancet) 1:17
Effectiveness of maternal influenza vaccination in Peru (OFID) 2:14
Characteristics and predictors of persistent symptoms post-COVID-19 (BMJ) 4:11
Parental nonadherence to health policy recommendations for prevention of COVID-19 (JAMA) 6:11
Community-onset bacterial coinfection in children ill with SARS-CoV-2 infection (OFID) 7:47
Bivalent booster effectiveness against severe COVID-19 outcomes (medRxiv) 9:56
Viral kinetics of sequential SARS-CoV-2 infections (medRxiv) 10:46
Risk of COVID-19 associated pulmonary aspergillosis based on corticosteroid duration in ICU patients (OFID) 13:50
Immunomodulators for severe COVID-19 in transplant patients (TID) 15:37
Long-term cardiovascular outcomes in COVID-19 survivors among non-vaccinated population (eClinicalMedicine) 17:00
Cardiac abnormalities in Long COVID 1-year post-SARS-CoV-2 infection (BMJ) 18:54
One year adverse outcomes among US adults with post COVID-19 condition vs those without COVID-19 (JAMA) 19:33
Long-term gastrointestinal outcomes of COVID-19 (Nature) 21:04
Contribute to our ASTMH fundraiser at PWB 22:19
Dr. Griffin’s treatment guide (pdf)
Letters read on TWiV 990 22:51
Don’t crush Paxlovid (pdf)
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to daniel@microbe.tv

TWiV 989: Antibody cross-reactivity is metal

March 5, 2023

TWiV to explains a study on presence of COVID-19 vaccine mRNA in the blood, and the isolation of cross-protective monoclonal antibodies against common endemic respiratory viruses.

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Download TWiV 989 (67 MB .mp3, 112 min)
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Links for this episode

•Register for ASV 2023 2:11
•MicrobeTV Discord Server
•Paul Berg obituary 3:44
•Spike mRNA in blood (J Path Micro Imm) 12:21
•Spike mRNA in blood (Biomedicine) 27:37
•Cross-protective mAbs against respiratory viruses (Nat Comm) 31:21
•RSV prefusion F protein vaccine in older adults (NEJM) 1:06:31
•Ad26.RSV.preF–RSV preF protein vaccine (NEJM) 1:09:16
•Letters read on TWiV 989 1:17:33
•Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:32:08

Dickson – Jazz Project: Drums: Sunny Payne (Count Basie Orchestra); Buddy Rich (Count Basie Orchestra); Rufus Jones (Maynard Ferguson Orchestra); Joe Morello (Dave Brubeck Quartet).
Brianne – A Scientific Investigation of ‘The Last of Us’ Fungal Pandemic
Kathy – “That’s What They Say” podcast about pronunciation of “primer.”
Rich – Slow motion art: 1 and 2
Vincent – Grammarly

Listener Pick

Charles – Psychologist Daniel Levitin dissects Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 988: Clinical update with Dr. Daniel Griffin

March 4, 2023

In his weekly clinical update Dr. Griffin discusses FDA authorizing the first over-the-counter at-home test to detect both influenza and COVID-19, monoclonal antibody for the prevention of respiratory syncytial virus infection in infants and children, epidemiologic characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 recombinant variant XBB.1.5, COVID-19 vaccines vs pediatric hospitalization, maternal SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and infant protection against SARS-CoV-2 during the first six months of life, immunoglobulin, glucocorticoid, or combination therapy for multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, fatal fulminant cerebral edema in six children with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2 infection in Taiwan, certifying deaths due to COVID-19, efficacy of first dose of COVID-19 vaccine vs no vaccination on symptoms of patients with long COVID, and the effect of COVID-19 vaccination on long COVID.

Click arrow to play Download TWiV 988 (26 MB .mp3, 43 min) Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS, email

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Links for this episode

FDA authorizes over-the-counter at-home test to detect both Influenza and COVID-19 (FDA) 3:07
Monoclonal antibody for the prevention of RSV in infants and children (JAMA) 8:06
Epidemiologic characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 variant XBB.1.5 (CDC) 15:13
COVID-19 vaccines vs pediatric hospitalization (Cell) 17:56
Maternal SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and infant protection during the first six months of life (Nature) 18:15
Immunoglobulin, glucocorticoid, or combination therapy for MIS in children (The Lancet) 20:21
Fatal Fulminant Cerebral Edema in children with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2 infection (JPID) 21:22
Certifying deaths due to COVID-19 (CDC) 29:02
Efficacy of first dose of COVID-19 vaccine vs no vaccination on patients with Long COVID (BMJ) 29:55
Effect of COVID-19 vaccination on long COVID (BMJ) 30:08
Contribute to our ASTMH fundraiser at PWB 30:55
Dr. Griffin’s treatment guide (pdf)
Letters read on TWiV 988 31:43
Don’t crush Paxlovid (pdf)
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to daniel@microbe.tv

TWiV 987: Convalescing with Casadevall

February 26, 2023

Arturo Casadevall returns to TWiV to explain the use of convalescent plasma to treat COVID-19 patients, and the need to support virology at a time when more regulation of experiments is envisioned.