An Adenovirus is a double-stranded DNA virus that infects animals and humans. Adenoviruses take on a moderate sized structure that is non-enveloped, i.e. naked, icosahedral capsid. The capsid is composed of 240 hexons and 12 pentons. Adenoviruses will attach to their target cells via their antennae’s that protrude from their capsid. The knobs at the end of the antennas bind to receptors on the host cell. Furthermore, adenoviruses mainly cause respiratory illness as these viruses tend to replicate in the epithelial cells of the pharynx. In addition, they also are the culprit for other illnesses such as gastroenteritis, conjunctivitis and even bladder infections. Symptoms of being infected with adenoviruses include those of mild fever, runny
In 1994, a stable in Hendra, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia broke out with an unknown respiratory disease that resulted in thirteen horses and one horse trainer severely ill, resulting in death. [7, 8] This disease was isolated by scientists and later classified as the Hendra virus. The Hendra virus (HeV), previously unknown, is now classified under the family Paramyxoviridae, genus Henipavirus along with its sister viruses the Nipah Virus and Cedar virus.[7, 9] HeV has the capability of causing fatal diseases in several animal species including humans.[1] The primary host of the Hendra virus was identified as the flying fox species from the genus Pteropus[1,2,3] that resides and migrates through Northeastern Australia[8] or more specifically, the East coast of Australia to Melbourne and west across Northern Australia to Darwin[7].
...rticular protein, called MAVS, which is key to our innate ability to fight certain viral infections, acquires a self-perpetuating fibrillar form in cells that have become infected with virus and amplifies the cellular alarm signal. [7] This ultimately induces the production of interferons that recruit macrophages to combat the infection. [7]
Fig. 1. Fine epitope mapping of anti-H5 2A-scFvFc antibody. A. Flow cytometry profiles for immunoreactivity of single-clone HA1-M mutants displayed on the surface of yeast. Single point mutations that abolish yeast surface binding of anti-H5 2AscFvFc were analyzed and mapped to distinct regions of HA1. B. Schematic representation of the epitopes recognized by anti-H5 2AFc to HA1 on the yeast surface. Amino acid positions are designated in H5 numbering. A linear epitopes (aa 206-211) recognized by 2AFc is colored in red. The regions encompassing the receptor-binding domain are colored in cyan.
The Hepatitis A Virus affects many different systems within the body. The first being the digestive system and the gastrointestinal system because Hepatitis A causes an acute liver infection. The liver’s job is to process nutrients, filter the blood and toxin from your body, and fight infections. It produces important blood components, proteins, and bile which helps you digest food. The liver also stores glucose and vitamins. The Hepatitis A Virus causes inflammation that interrupts the liver’s ability to perform these vital functions. Having a healthy liver is crucial to your health because it supports many other body systems. For example, one function of the liver is to produce bile which is needed to break down fats. The body stores bile in the gallbladder and then sends it to the beginning section of the small intestine. Bile is then combined with other digestive
The virus is primarily spherical shaped and roughly 200nm in size, surrounded by a host-cell derived membrane. Its genome is minus-sense single-stranded RNA 16-18 kb in length. It contains matrix protein inside the envelope, hemagglutinin and neuraminidase, fusion protein, nucleocapsid protein, and L and P proteins to form the RNA polymerase. The host-cell receptors on the outside are hemagglutinin and neuraminidase. The virus is allowed to enter the cell when the hemagglutinin/ neuraminidase glycoproteins fuse with the sialic acid on the surface of the host cell, and the capsid enters the cytoplasm. The infected cells express the fusion protein from the virus, and this links the host cells together to create syncitia.
Gene therapy works by introducing new and functioning genetic material to damaged genes to help it function and to produce beneficial proteins. If a gene is inserted directly into a cell, it usually will not function. So to complete this task, a vector, a modified virus is used to carry and deliver the new gene. There are two different categories of vectors than can be utilized in this process; recomb...
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a severe and common virus that has infected ‘more than two billion people alive today at some point in their life.’1 It is a hepadanavirus that interferes with the liver functions as it replicates in the hepatocytes (liver cells) and induces a immune response that is responsible for the inflammation of liver.2 Viruses are not motile, which means that HBV is also sessile and does not form spores. The spherical virion, is called a Dane Particle3 that is 42nm in diameter binds to the surface of hepatocyte.1 The virion itself contains an inner protein core, 27nm thick filled with circular partially double stranded DNA, DNA polymerase and reverse transcriptase.1 It is an enveloped virus, so it also holds an outer lipoprotein envelope4 that is 7nm thick and is comprised of many embedded surface proteins such as surface antigen for viral binding and entry.1 HBV has an average incubation period of three months, which means that it does not start showing symptoms for the first three months that the person is infected and that person can unknowingly infect others.2 ...
Liam is a previously healthy boy who has experienced rhinorrhoea, intermittent cough, and poor feeding for the past four days. His positive result of nasopharyngeal aspirate for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) indicates that Liam has acute bronchiolitis which is a viral infection (Glasper & Richardson, 2010). “Bronchiolitis is the commonest reason for admission to hospital in the first 6 months of life. It describes a clinical syndrome of cough tachypnoea, feeding difficulties and inspiratory crackles on chest auscultation” (Fitzgerald, 2011, p.160). Bronchiolitis can cause respiratory distress and desaturation (91% in the room air) to Liam due to airway blockage; therefore the infant appears to have nasal flaring, intercostal and subcostal retractions, and tachypnoea (54 breathes/min) during breathing (Glasper & Richardson, 2010). Tachycardia (152 beats/min) could occur due to hypoxemia and compensatory mechanism for low blood pressure (74/46mmHg) (Fitzgerald, 2011; Glasper & Richardson, 2010). Moreover, Liam has fever and conjunctiva injection which could be a result of infection, as evidenced by high temperature (38.6°C) and bilateral tympanic membra...
The virus has direct impact on the immune system, and it is known to infect macrophages. It has been hypothesized that infection of macrophages is one of the causes for development of hemorrhage. The virus also causes high production of cytokines. Due to infection, lymphocytes die in large numbers, causing reduction of T-cells and natural Killers (Hensley, Jon...
I. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Health and Economic Burdens of Norovirus Disease – The health burden of foodborne norovirus is significant (Painter et al., 2013). Norovirus causes a significant morbidity in terms of the number of outbreaks and associated illnesses each year in the United States. Hall et al. (2013) analyzed surveillance data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and derived estimates for AGE (acute gastroenteritis) associated with norovirus and found that about 19 to 21 million AGE illnesses, 400,000 emergency room visits, 1.7 to 1.9 million outpatient visits, 56,000 to 71,000 hospitalizations, and 570 to 800 deaths are caused by norovirus disease (Hall et al., 2013). ). There is an estimated 1 million pediatric cases requiring health provider intervention, 1 out of every 14 children will require emergency room intervention and 1 out of every 6 children will require outpatient intervention (Wikswo & Hall, 2012; Hall et al., 2013).
The influenza virus is an enveloped virus that contains a genome of eight genes that define what the virus is. Everything begins when the virus enters the airways. Here, influenza viruses specifically attach to the surface of epithelial cells. The viral membrane envelope contains the neuraminidase (NA) protein, which is important for the efficient release of newly produced viruses. It also contains the matrix 2 (M2) ion channel that promotes viral structural changes during cellular entry as well as the influenza hemagglutinin (HA) protein, the key player for viral internalization, which facilitates viral binding to sialic acid decorated receptors on host cells, causing adsorption to the host cell (Samji, p. 3). Barry compares the HA proteins to little spikes and the NA proteins to tiny trees that both protrude all around the surface of the virus (p. 103). When the HA protein spikes come into contact with the sialic acid molecules, both structures bind to one another. Once this binding holds the virus and host cell together, the virus has achieved its first task of adsorption. Next, the virus particles are internalized into endosomes by clathrin mediated endocytosis. The pH of the endosomes drops tr...
“This knowledge will help us design drugs that mimic the viral effects on these proteins to either activate a host’s immune response or shut it down,” said Dr. Michael Gale, associate ...
Gastroenteritis can be caused by a number of different microorganisms and viruses. Viruses that are capable of causing such symptoms include the rotavirus, norovirus, and the adenovirus. But according to the CDC, “50% of all food borne outbreaks of gastroenteritis are caused by the norovirus (cite book).” The norovirus differs from other gastroenteritis viruses. This virus comes from the family Calicivirdae. The viral genome of the norovirus is made up of single stranded RNA. The capsid, which protects the virus genetic material, is formed in a spherical shape called icosahedral. Some viruses contain envelops made up of host derived bilipid layer. But the norovirus lacks this outer component which makes them part of viruses classified as unenveloped or naked viruses. The norovirus is a strong virus that is capable of enduring harsh environments and withstanding changes in ph and heat. According to ABC’s chief correspondent, Dr. Richard Besser, “The virus cannot be killed by alcohol sanitizer.” This can be very problematic when it comes to trying to contain the virus. The route of transmission is either direct o...
"Studies from University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute for Clinical and Molecular Virology in the Area of Cytomegalovirus Described." Science Letter 2409 (2011): n. pag. Print.
In 1918-19 approximately 50 million deaths were a detriment of the Spanish H1N1 virus pandemic; a respiratory virus. According to the World Health Organization, the second Influenza A H1N1 pandemic in 2009 spread to more than 200 countries causing more than 18 000 deaths. Before the World Health Organization had announced the official end of the pandemic in August 2010, in July 2009 the World Health Organization sent out a phase 6 warning that H1N1 could soon be a global pandemic. It is important to recognize that the 2 different outbreaks had different A/H1N1strains effecting the world population; this suggests A/H1N1has a high ability for mutation, severely complicating the human body’s natural immune mechanism of antigenic drift. (Qi-Shi Du et al., 2010)