This Week in Virology

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TWiV 873: Pig viruses and big viruses Mar 06, 2022

Show notes

TWiV reviews the six known coronaviruses that infect pigs and what can be learned about human infections, and how the giant Mimivirus DNA genome is organized into a nucleocapsid.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Brianne Barker

Click arrow to play Download TWiV 873 (128 MB .mp3, 107 min) Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS, email

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Links for this episode

ABRCMS ePoster Spring Symposium for Emerging Scientists
Porcine coronaviruses (Virol Sin)
Mimivirus nucleocapsid (bioRxiv)
Letters read on TWiV 873
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks

Brianne – The Dinosaur Age May Have Ended in Springtime Alan – The Track of the Typhoon, and me reading it. Rich – 12 Monkeys Vincent – Anna Mason's Art Channel

Listener Picks

Richard – SARS-CoV-2 in animals: Situation report #9 Jason – Counting App and CountThings from Photos

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 872: COVID-19 clinical update #104 with Dr. Daniel Griffin Mar 05, 2022

Show notes

In COVID-19 clinical update #104, Daniel Griffin reviews effectiveness of mRNA vaccines among children, number of children affected by disease, accuracy of rapid antigen tests, CDC guidance for prevention strategies, monoclonal antibody effectiveness, predicting progression to severe respiratory failure from pneumonia, risk of long COVID after two vaccine doses, and peripheral neuropathy in long COVID.

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Links for this episode

Vaccine effectiveness 5-11 year olds (medRxiv)
Vaccine effectiveness vs ED and UCE 5-12 year olds (medRxiv)
Children affected by COVID (Lancet)
Accuracy of rapid antigen tests (medRxiv)
COVID community levels (CDC)
Therapeutics guidelines (WHO)
Mortality among SOT (Clin Inf Dis)
Long COVID after two vaccine doses (medRxiv)
Peripheral neuropathy in COVID patients (Neurology)
Letters read on TWiV 872
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

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

TWiV 871: If the ACE2 fits, ferret Feb 27, 2022

Show notes

TWiV discusses whether or not Omicron should be designated a new serotype of SARS-CoV-2, and the finding that amino acid changes that adapt SARS-CoV-2 to mink or ferret do not increase fitness in the human airway.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit

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Links for this episode

ABRCMS ePoster Spring Symposium for Emerging Scientists
ASV Annual Meeting Registration (ASV)
Microbiology & Immunology at LSU Health
Is Omicron a new serotype? (Nat Rev Micr)
Adaptation of SARS-CoV-2 to mink/ferret (Cell Rep)
Letters read on TWiV 871
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks

Alan – Which Immune Cell Are You? and Michaeleen Doucleff's article Rich – Vaccinated: One Man's Quest to Defeat the World's Deadliest Diseases by Paul A. Offit Vincent – Ebola on Canvas

Listener Picks

Les – Ologies podcast

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 870: COVID-19 clinical update #103 with Dr. Daniel Griffin Feb 26, 2022

Show notes

In COVID-19 clinical update #102, Daniel Griffin covers immunocompromised people, hospitalization of children, vaccine usage update, Omicron and cross-reactive neutralizing antibodies, reinfection prevents disease in hamsters, repeated infections with endemic coronaviruses, global burden of antimicrobial resistance, ivermectin not protective in hamsters, and Omicron evades therapeutic monoclonals.

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Links for this episode

What does society owe immunocompromised people (Atlantic)
Prevalence of immunosuppression in US (JAME)
Hospitalizations of children (MMWR)
Clinical considerations for vaccines (CDC)
Sanofi seeks vaccine approval (Sanofi)
Omicron triggers cross-reactive neutralization (medRxiv)
Reinfection prevents disease in hamsters (Cell)
Repeated infections with endemic CoV (J Inf Dis)
Global burden of antimicrobial resistance (Lancet)
Ivermectin not protective in hamsters (bioRxiv)
Omicron evades therapeutic monoclonals (bioRxiv)
Letters read on TWiV 870
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

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

TWiV 869: Epstein-Barr virus and MS, a perfect storm Feb 20, 2022

Show notes

TWiV reviews epidemiological and experimental evidence that infection with Epstein-Barr virus leads to the production of antibodies against a viral protein that cross-react with a human protein, leading to multiple sclerosis.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Rich Condit, and Brianne Barker

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Links for this episode

ABRCMS ePoster Spring Symposium for Emerging Scientists
ASV Annual Meeting Registration (ASV)
Microbiology & Immunology at LSU Health
Viremia in human poliomyelitis (J Exp Med)
EBV associated with MS (Science)
MS antibodies Bind EBV EBNA1 and GlialCAM (Nature)
Letters read on TWiV 869
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks

Dickson – Rapid intensification of the emerging southwestern North American megadrought in 2020–2021 Brianne – Which Immune Cell Are You? Rich – Nikola Tesla – 3D Anamorphosis Vincent – Paul's Uncle Doesn't Want to Get Vaccinated

Listener Picks

Bob – The 1969 Apollo Guidance Computer Anne – Decoding the Gurus with Dan Wilson Beth – FrenchGuyCooking

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 868: COVID-19 clinical update #102 with Dr. Daniel Griffin Feb 19, 2022

Show notes

In COVID-19 clinical update #102, Daniel Griffin reviews children and COVID, effectiveness of maternal vaccination, vaccines for immunocompromised, primary care physicians and vaccination rates, booster safety among adults, placentitis, azithromycin, oral Nirmatrelvir, Omicron antibody evasion, EUA for bebtelovimab, IL-1 blocking agents, thromboprophylaxis, effectiveness of vaccines against long COVID, and risks of mental health outcomes.

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Links for this episode

Children and COVID state data (AAP)
Effectiveness of maternal vaccination (MMWR)
Vaccines for immunocompromised (CDC)
PCP and vaccination rates (JAMA)
Booster safety among adults (MMWR)
Placental tissue destruction and placentitis (Arch Path Lab Med)
Azithromycin meta-analysis (J Antimicrob Chemo)
Oral Nirmatrelvir for high-risk, nonhospitalized adults (NEJM)
Omicron antibody evasion (bioRxiv)
EUA for bebtelovimab (FDA)
IL-1 blocking agents (Cochrane)
Thromboprophylaxis (Chest)
Effectiveness of vaccines against long COVID (UK Health)
COVID complications in Australia (Lancet)
Risks of mental health outcomes (BMJ)
Letters read on TWiV 868
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

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

TWiV 867: I love the smell of vaccines in the morning Feb 17, 2022

Show notes

TWiV reviews an experimental, intranasally administered SARS-CoV-2 vaccine that utilizes adenovirus vectors to deliver three viral proteins and induces immunity to ancestral and variant isolates.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Kathy Spindler

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Links for this episode

Dorothy Horstmann (Wikipedia)
Intranasal SARS-CoV-2 experimental vaccine (Cell)
t-SNE (Wikipedia)
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks

Kathy – 477-mile-long megaflash lightning in Seattle Times (originally Washington Post) and extra info from Rich World Meteorological Org Rich – NIAID Global Research (Mali) Alan – New method for recycling electric car batteries Vincent – Q&A with A&V

Listener Picks

Addie – Vaccine Podcast Jennie – Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, aka Your Local Epidemiologist

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 866: EV antibodies rEVolutionize our thinking Feb 13, 2022

Show notes

Amy returns to TWiV to discuss her work on the identification of cross-reactive antibody responses among diverse enteroviruses, and the implications for our understanding of viral pathogenesis and seroprevalence studies.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Rich Condit Brianne Barker, and Amy Rosenfeld

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Links for this episode

ABRCMS ePoster Spring Symposium for Emerging Scientists
Cross-reactive enterovirus antibodies (mBio)
Poliovirus receptor transgenic mice (virology blog)
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks

Dickson – European scientists set new record in production of nuclear fusion energy Amy – Alfredo's Magic Wand Brianne – What Happened After the Chicken-Pox Vaccine? Rich – Year Three of COVID-19: Harsh Truths, Realities, and Glimmers of Hope Vincent – Economists Are Fueling the War Against Public Health

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 865: COVID-19 clinical update #101 with Dr. Daniel Griffin Feb 12, 2022

Show notes

In COVID-19 clinical update #101, Daniel Griffin discusses children and COVID, human challenge study results, effectiveness of mask use, Omicron boost in macaques, mucosal vaccine candidate, long-term cardiovascular outcomes, and global vaccine perceptions.

Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS, email

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Links for this episode

Children and COVID state data (AAP)
Human challenge study (Res Sq)
Effectiveness of mask use (MMWR)
Omicron boost in macaques (bioRxiv)
Mucosal vaccine candidate (Cell)
Long-term cardiovascular outcomes (Nat Med)
Global vaccine perceptions (PLoSNTD)
Letters read on TWiV 865
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

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

TWiV 864: A game of thrones Feb 10, 2022

Show notes

Monica, John, David, and Marc join TWiV to discuss their work on identifying cryptic SARS-CoV-2 lineages in New York City wastewater, and understanding whether they were shed from humans or other animals.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, and Brianne Barker

Guests: John Dennehy, Marc Johnson, Davida Smyth, and Monica Trujillo

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Links for this episode