Tag: infection

  • Mosquitoes, Scents, and Viruses

    Many viral diseases are spread via mosquitoes. Some of the more familiar viral diseases in the Americas that are transmitted by these insects include West Nile, Saint Louis encephalitis (SLE), Zika, and dengue fever. Mosquitoes are typically not the primary host for these viruses and are just vectors that carry the virus from animal to…

  • Viruses and Brain Disease

    Humans may produce upwards of 100,000 proteins. Each different type of protein normally folds into a unique shape (its tertiary structure) that is essential to its function. Proteins can misfold due to mutations that change the amino acid sequence of the protein leading to a defective protein. Alternatively, sometimes a wild-type protein (the normal protein)…

  • In Other Viral News

    While SARS-CoV-2 continues to dominate our news and daily lives, research on other important viruses continues unabated in research labs around the world. An important recent paper in Nature Communications used multiple approaches to decode the genome of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1). HSV-1 causes oral lesions commonly known as “cold sores” or “fever…