JGI-led team significantly expands the global diversity of large and giant viruses While the microbes in a single drop of water could outnumber a small city’s population, the number of viruses in the same drop–the vast majority not harmful to humans–could be even larger. Viruses infect bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes,Read More →
Emerging viral infections—from bird flu to Ebola to Zika infections—pose major threats to global public health, and understanding their origins can help investigators design defensive strategies against future outbreaks. A new study provides important insights on the potential origins of the most recent outbreak of viral pneumonia in China, whichRead More →
Certain bacteria can override a defence mechanism of the immune system, so-called programmed cell death, through inhibition of death effector molecules by their outer membranes components. Shigella bacteria, which cause diarrhoea, use lipopolysaccharides (LPS) on their surface to block the effector caspases. Lipopolysaccharides are a component of the bacterial outerRead More →
There are two types of human immunodeficiency virus: type 1 (HIV-1) and type 2 (HIV-2). HIV–1 is the most widespread type and accounts for 95% of all infections worldwide. HIV is a virus that damages the immune system and, without treatment, a person infected with HIV can develop acquired immunodeficiencyRead More →
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a virus spread through certain body fluids that attacks the body’s immune system, specifically the CD4 T cells. If left untreated, HIV infection eventually progresses until leading to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), being one of the world’s most serious public health challenges. Since the beginningRead More →
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) damages the cells in the immune system, reducing the number of some of the white blood cells (CD4+ T cells) in the body and weakening the ability to fight everyday infections and disease. If left untreated, HIV infection eventually progresses until the immune system is tooRead More →
If you think you don’t have viruses in our body because you are not sick you are totally wrong because many viruses chronically infect us without inducing any disease. The viruses living in and on the human body is known as the human virome and may infect both human cellsRead More →
Ebola disease is a severe disease caused by infection with the Ebola virus and leading to severe and often fatal hemorrhagic fever in humans. Ebola virus belongs to the genus Ebolavirus and its genome is a single-stranded RNA approximately 19,000 nucleotides long, encoding seven structural proteins which assemble with the genomic RNA to form one ofRead More →
Mycoplasma is an atypical bacterial genus which main characteristic is that naturally lacks cells walls and are the smallest and simplest self-replicating bacteria. The presence of sterols in the plasma membrane helps in regulation of membrane fluidity and protects from osmotic lysis so they don’t need a wall. Some mycoplasma species are pathogenic inRead More →
