TWiV rebuts a recent opinion piece which falsely claims that the COVID-19 pandemic began in a lab (it began in Nature). This material has been extracted from TWiV 1121.
TWiV rebuts a recent opinion piece which falsely claims that the COVID-19 pandemic began in a lab (it began in Nature), followed by a discussion of Paride bacteriophage, which has the unsual property of being able to kill dormant, antibiotic-tolerant cells by direct lytic replication.
Richard Webby joins TWiV to review the history of avian H5N1 influenza virus, the recent change in epidemiological patterns, infection of dairy cattle in the US, and the risk of an outbreak in humans.
From ASM Microbe in Houston, Texas, Vincent speaks with Eddie Holmes about the evidence that SARS-CoV-2 spilled over into humans in the Huanan Market in Wuhan, absence of evidence for other origins, and his work on the virosphere.
TWiV notes Ashish Jha’s call for doctors to combat a vacuum of medical information while ignoring our contributions, China CDC’s surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 at the Huanan Seafood Market, and an experimental infectious attenuated COVID-19 vaccine that elicits superior mucosal and systemic immunity in hamsters.
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.
Angela Mingarelli joins TWiV to discuss whether the gut microbiota of bats confers tolerance to influenza virus infection in mice, and primate hemorrhagic fever-causing arteriviruses that can reproduce in human cells and might be capable of infecting humans.
Kathryn Hanley joins TWiV to discuss her career and the research in her laboratory on the molecular biology, evolution and ecology of emerging RNA viruses and their insect vectors.
From The Third International Symposium on Infectious Diseases of Bats in Ft. Collins, Colorado, TWiV speaks with Vincent Munster and Raina Plowright about their careers and their research on bats, bat viruses, bat ecology and spillover events.
TWiV explains a study of how climate change is predicted to increase cross-species viral transmission risk, and increased memory B cell potency and breadth after a SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine boost.
The Hosts of TWiV
Vincent Racaniello, Ph.D.
Brianne Barker, Ph.D.
Rich Condit, Ph.D.
Dickson D.
Despommier, Ph.D.
Alan Dove, Ph.D.
Daniel Griffin, M.D.,
Ph.D., CTropMed CTH
Angela Mingarelli, DVM
Jolene Ramsey, Ph.D.
Kathy Spindler, Ph.D.