Viruses versus Humans

25/02/2026

TWiV 1299: Moth balls and blood clots 〰️ TWiV explains how vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia develops from antibodies to adenovirus and somatic hypermutation, and castration by a viral protein tyrosine phosphatase that targets a host cell cycle checkpoint protein. 📺 bit.ly/4tPHsVe

25/02/2026

At GVN’s Annual International Scientific Meeting, “Pandemic Preparedness?”, the session Innate Immunity will take place on March 5, 2026, during International Science Innovation Week 2026.

Chaired by Robert Gallo, the session will feature presentations on “BCG in Children” and “Trained Immunity: Role In Anti-Viral Host Defense.”

Learn more:
https://ow.ly/Zz1h50Yhe2k

USF Health-University of South Florida Institute for Translational Virology & Innovation; Tampa General Hospital Cancer Institute; OUH Odense Universitetshospital - Svendborg Sygehus; Radboud University

25/02/2026

At GVN’s Annual International Scientific Meeting, “Pandemic Preparedness?”, the Special Lecture Antiviral Therapeutics — Present & Future will take place on March 6, 2026, during International Science Innovation Week 2026.

Learn more: https://ow.ly/sy8250Yhfjf

Gilead Sciences

19/02/2026

In a report in Cell today, researchers identify a clump of proteins in a giant virus that closely resembles part of its host’s proteinmaking machinery and lets the invader wrest control. Even in a field with frequent “cool new discoveries … this paper was one of the most important ones recently that I’ve seen,” says Frederik Schulz, a microbiologist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute who was not involved in the work.

Researchers identify a complex that hands mimivirus control of protein synthesis in infected amoebae

31/01/2026

linked to a stream of diseases in a large study 👇

31/01/2026

A 1998 study falsely claimed there was a link between the measles, mums and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism. Nearly three decades later, the consequences of those bad decisions by doctors and journalists are still reverberating around the world.

Due to low vaccination rates driven at least in part by the anti-vax movement, fuelled by that fraudulent paper, six countries have lost their measles-free status, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), including the UK (for the second time), Spain and Austria.

Meanwhile, the US is battling its worst outbreak in many decades, and would have lost its own measles-free status soon, had it not withdrawn from the WHO.

Read more here on how Michael Le Page thinks we can fight misinformation: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2513398-to-halt-measles-resurgence-we-must-fight-the-plague-of-misinformation/

Image: Robin Utrecht/Shutterstock

10/01/2026

TWiV 1286: Clinical update with Dr. Daniel Griffin 🩺 Dr. Griffin and Vincent Racaniello are bewildered and dismayed by RFK Jr’s announced changes in the routine childhood immunization schedule, though not unpredicted, and highlight the science and evidence which eviscerate these changes. They then deep dive into recent statistics on the measles epidemic (in particular in South Carolina), benefit of maternal COVID-19 vaccination, where to find PEMGARDA, how to access and pay for Paxlovid, long COVID treatment center, where to go for answers to your long COVID questions, neurodevelopmental consequences of in-utero SARS-CoV-2 infection, and contacting your federal government representative to stop the assault on science and biomedical research. 📺 bit.ly/3L92jlb

10/01/2026

Novel cholera vaccine shows promise in phase 1 trial

Investigators believe the genetically modified live attenuated vaccine could provide more potent immunity to cholera than the killed, whole-cell vaccines used in endemic areas and outbreak settings.

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cholera/novel-cholera-vaccine-shows-promise-phase-1-trial

17/12/2025

More evidence-based disease mechanisms = less for Long COVID patients! identify a causal link between abnormal blood clotting and 👇👇👇👇
"Human genetics implicate thromboembolism in the pathogenesis of Long COVID in individuals of European ancestry." published in Nature Cardiovasc Res

Schuermans et al. discovered that genetic predisposition to thromboembolism is associated with a greater risk of post-acute sequelae after SARS-CoV-2 infection, including long COVID, and downstream analyses implicated PAR-1 as a potential contributor to long COVID.

17/12/2025

TWiV 1278: Clinical update with Dr. Daniel Griffin 🩺 Dr. Griffin and Vincent Racaniello discuss the rise in norovirus infections, contamination of infant formula and botulism outbreak, confusion and response to the CDC’s ACIP decision to reverse the recommendation for a birth dose of the hepatis B virus vaccine, and how states in the Northwest and Northeast are responding as well as some insurance companies. Then Dr. Griffin deep dives into recent statistics on the measles epidemic, RSV, influenza, and SARS-CoV-2 infections, Johns Hopkins measles tracker, South Carolina’s imposed quarantine of individuals due to their accelerated measles outbreak, neurotropism of H1N1, benefits of the RSV and COVID vaccines, where to find PEMGARDA, how to access and pay for Paxlovid, long COVID treatment center, where to go for answers to your long COVID questions, and contacting your federal government representative to stop the assault on science and biomedical research. 📺 bit.ly/3KXxqzS

17/12/2025

Fever is an evolutionary conserved response to pathogens. In this Perspective, Ryan Langlois hypothesizes that antiviral genes are selected for their function at fever temperatures yet are commonly studied at basal temperatures. It is therefore possible that there is currently a blind spot in our understanding of antiviral gene mechanisms. https://hubs.la/Q03XS79_0

17/12/2025

Qian Zhang, Jean-Laurent Casanova et al. (The Rockefeller University) report a fatal case of avian influenza H5N1 infection caused by autoantibodies neutralizing type I IFNs. These rogue autoantibodies are common, especially in elderly people. They are found to underlie a growing range of severe infections of emerging and circulating viruses, including seasonal influenza viruses and SARS-CoV-2. https://hubs.la/Q03X40Xp0