Portal:Viruses
The Viruses Portal
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Viruses are small infectious agents that can replicate only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all forms of life, including animals, plants, fungi, bacteria and archaea. They are found in almost every ecosystem on Earth and are the most abundant type of biological entity, with millions of different types, although only about 6,000 viruses have been described in detail. Some viruses cause disease in humans, and others are responsible for economically important diseases of livestock and crops.
Virus particles (known as virions) consist of genetic material, which can be either DNA or RNA, wrapped in a protein coat called the capsid; some viruses also have an outer lipid envelope. The capsid can take simple helical or icosahedral forms, or more complex structures. The average virus is about 1/100 the size of the average bacterium, and most are too small to be seen directly with an optical microscope.
The origins of viruses are unclear: some may have evolved from plasmids, others from bacteria. Viruses are sometimes considered to be a life form, because they carry genetic material, reproduce and evolve through natural selection. However they lack key characteristics (such as cell structure) that are generally considered necessary to count as life. Because they possess some but not all such qualities, viruses have been described as "organisms at the edge of life".
Selected disease
Cervical cancer is a tumour of the cervix, the part of the uterus that adjoins the vagina in the female reproductive tract. Certain types of human papillomavirus (HPV) are implicated in more than 90% of these cancers, although the great majority of HPV infections of the cervix are not associated with cancer. HPV is transmitted by vaginal sex, infecting cervical epithelial cells. In a minority of cases, infection persists for years, and pre-cancerous changes called cervical intraepithelial neoplasia can develop, which sometimes progress to cancer. Squamous cell carcinomas are the most common. HPV infection is considered essential for nearly all forms of cervical cancer to develop, but other risk factors are also involved, including smoking, HIV infection and other forms of immune suppression, and long-term use of oral contraceptives.
Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women worldwide. It can be detected by screening; screening every 3–5 years, with appropriate follow-up, can reduce cancer incidence by up to 80%. HPV vaccines protect against high-risk virus strains, and can prevent up to 90% of cervical cancers. Where screening and vaccination are not available, cervical cancer has substantial mortality; worldwide, an estimated 569,000 cases and 311,000 deaths occurred in 2018, with around 85% of cases being in developing countries.
Selected image
This 18th Dynasty Egyptian stele, believed to show a priest with poliomyelitis-associated deformity, is one of the earliest records of a viral disease.
Credit: Unknown (1580–1350 BC)
In the news
26 February: In the ongoing pandemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), more than 110 million confirmed cases, including 2.5 million deaths, have been documented globally since the outbreak began in December 2019. WHO
18 February: Seven asymptomatic cases of avian influenza A subtype H5N8, the first documented H5N8 cases in humans, are reported in Astrakhan Oblast, Russia, after more than 100,0000 hens died on a poultry farm in December. WHO
14 February: Seven cases of Ebola virus disease are reported in Gouécké, south-east Guinea. WHO
7 February: A case of Ebola virus disease is detected in North Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. WHO
4 February: An outbreak of Rift Valley fever is ongoing in Kenya, with 32 human cases, including 11 deaths, since the outbreak started in November. WHO
21 November: The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gives emergency-use authorisation to casirivimab/imdevimab, a combination monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapy for non-hospitalised people twelve years and over with mild-to-moderate COVID-19, after granting emergency-use authorisation to the single mAb bamlanivimab earlier in the month. FDA 1, 2
18 November: The outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Équateur Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, which started in June, has been declared over; a total of 130 cases were recorded, with 55 deaths. UN
Selected article
Reverse transcriptase is an enzyme that generates complementary DNA from an RNA template, in contrast to the usual information flow from DNA to RNA. It was discovered in Rous sarcoma virus and murine leukaemia virus, two retroviruses, by Howard Temin and David Baltimore, working independently in 1970, for which the two shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Reverse transcription is essential for the replication of retroviruses, allowing them to integrate into the host genome as a provirus. The enzyme is a target for reverse-transcriptase inhibitors, a major class of anti-HIV drugs. Reverse transcription is also used by Hepadnaviridae and Caulimoviridae, DNA viruses that replicate via an RNA intermediate, such as hepatitis B. The process is important in the movement of retrotransposons, a type of mobile genetic element, and in the extension of chromosome ends in eukaryotic genomes. The enzyme is widely used in the laboratory for molecular cloning, RNA sequencing, polymerase chain reaction and genome analysis.
Selected outbreak
The 1976 Zaire Ebola virus outbreak was one of the first two recorded outbreaks of the disease. The causative agent was identified as a novel virus, named for the region's Ebola River. The first identified case, in August, worked in the school in Yambuku, a small rural village in Mongala District, north Zaire. He had been treated for suspected malaria at the Yambuku Mission Hospital, which is now thought to have spread the virus by giving vitamin injections with inadequately sterilised needles, particularly to women attending prenatal clinics. Unsafe burial practices also spread the virus.
The outbreak was contained by quarantining local villages, sterilising medical equipment and providing protective clothing to medical personnel, and was over by early November. A total of 318 cases was recorded, of whom 280 died, an 88% case fatality rate. An earlier outbreak in June–November in Nzara, Sudan, was initially thought to be linked, but was shown to have been caused by a different species of Ebola virus.
Selected quotation
| “ | There is no question that virology has long outgrown the confines of "Microbiology": it is an important discipline in its own right, a fact that is attested by the numerous high quality journals that are exclusively devoted to it. Further, it is primarily virology that has made possible the rapid rise of molecular cell biology. | ” |
—Bill Joklik on founding a society for virology
Recommended articles
Viruses & Subviral agents: bat virome • elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus • HIV • introduction to viruses
• Playa de Oro virus • poliovirus • prion • rotavirus • virus
Diseases: colony collapse disorder • common cold • croup • dengue fever • gastroenteritis • Guillain–Barré syndrome • hepatitis B • hepatitis C • hepatitis E • herpes simplex • HIV/AIDS • influenza • meningitis • myxomatosis • polio • pneumonia • shingles • smallpox
Epidemiology & Interventions: 2007 Bernard Matthews H5N1 outbreak • Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations • Disease X • 2009 flu pandemic • HIV/AIDS in Malawi • polio vaccine • Spanish flu • West African Ebola virus epidemic
Virus–Host interactions: antibody • host • immune system • parasitism • RNA interference
Methodology: metagenomics
Social & Media: And the Band Played On • Contagion • "Flu Season" • Frank's Cock • Race Against Time: Searching for Hope in AIDS-Ravaged Africa • social history of viruses • "Steve Burdick" • "The Time Is Now" • "What Lies Below"
People: Brownie Mary • Macfarlane Burnet • Bobbi Campbell • Aniru Conteh • people with hepatitis C • HIV-positive people • Bette Korber • Henrietta Lacks • Linda Laubenstein • Barbara McClintock • poliomyelitis survivors • Joseph Sonnabend • Eli Todd • Ryan White
Selected virus
Poliovirus is an enterovirus, an RNA virus in the Picornaviridae family, associated with the paralytic disease polio. The icosahedral virus particle is about 30 nanometres in diameter and lacks an envelope. It contains a relatively short, single-stranded positive RNA genome of around 7500 nucleotides, which encodes about ten viral products. The virus has a fairly high mutation rate even for an RNA virus. Historically there were three serotypes, each with a slightly different capsid protein; PV1 is the most common, and PV2 was declared eradicated in 2015.
The virus only naturally infects humans, although some monkeys can be infected experimentally; 95% of infections are asymptomatic. Infection occurs via the faecal–oral route and viral replication occurs in the alimentary tract. The virus enters the host cell by binding to an immunoglobulin-like receptor, CD155. Fully assembled poliovirus leaves the cell 4–6 hours after initiation of infection. Poliovirus was first isolated in 1909 by Karl Landsteiner and Erwin Popper. Its genome was sequenced in 1981. Among the simplest clinically significant viruses, poliovirus is one of the best-characterised viruses, and has become a useful model for studying RNA viruses.
Did you know?
- ...that agnoprotein (pictured) is found in two polyomaviruses that can cause human disease, JC virus and BK virus?
- ...that the immunology professor Mary Collins studies ways to use genetically engineered HIV as a vaccine?
- ...that the Alternanthera mosaic virus, a type of Potexvirus, has been misdiagnosed as the closely related Papaya mosaic virus?
- ...that though once thought to be sterile, the uterine microbiome contains at least 14 commensal microorganisms in healthy women?
- ...that a form of encephalitis that killed three people is believed to have been caused by a virus carried by their pet variegated squirrels?
Selected biography
Rosalind Elsie Franklin (25 July 1920 – 16 April 1958) was a British biophysicist and X-ray crystallographer who made critical contributions to the understanding of the fine molecular structures of DNA, RNA and viruses.
Franklin led pioneering research on the structure of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), a rod-like RNA virus, using X-ray crystallography. She first showed that, contrary to contemporary opinion, TMV virus particles were all of the same length. With Kenneth Holmes, she showed the virus's coat is composed of protein molecules arranged in helices. She designed and built a model of the virus to be exhibited at the 1958 World's Fair. She speculated that the virus is hollow, and correctly hypothesized that the RNA of TMV is single-stranded. Her work, together with that of Donald Caspar, revealed that the viral RNA is wound along the inner surface of the hollow virus. Her laboratory, which also included Aaron Klug, studied other plant viruses, including turnip yellow mosaic virus and viruses infecting potato, tomato and pea. Franklin also worked on icosahedral animal viruses, including poliovirus.
Franklin is commemorated in the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science.
In this month
5 June 1981: First report of HIV/AIDS (symbol pictured) appeared in medical literature
6 June 1997: Gene silencing in plants shown to be a viral defence mechanism
7–13 June 1962: Donald Caspar and Aaron Klug proposed the quasi-equivalence principle of virus structure
7–13 June 1962: André Lwoff proposed a viral classification scheme based on nature of genome, type of symmetry and presence of envelope
7–13 June 1962: George Hirst proposed that the influenza virus genome is segmented
9 June 1981: The American Society for Virology was founded
13 June 2012: First case of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) occurred in Saudi Arabia
18 June 1981: A vaccine against foot-and-mouth disease was the first genetically engineered vaccine
21 June 1996: Nevirapine approved, first NNRTI for HIV/AIDS
26 June 1993: Clinical trial of hepatitis B virus drug fialuridine terminated; the drug caused several fatalities due to lactic acidosis
28 June 2011: FAO declared rinderpest eradicated
30 June 1985: Ryan White was denied re-admittance to his school after an AIDS diagnosis, in a case that changed public perceptions of the disease
Selected intervention
Nevirapine (also Viramune) is an antiretroviral drug used in the treatment of HIV/AIDS caused by HIV-1. It was the first non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor to be licensed, which occurred in 1996. Like nucleoside inhibitors, nevirapine inhibits HIV's reverse transcriptase enzyme, which copies the viral RNA into DNA and is essential for its replication. Unlike nucleoside inhibitors, it binds not in the enzyme's active site but in a nearby hydrophobic pocket, causing a conformational change in the enzyme that prevents it from functioning. Mutations in the pocket generate resistance to nevirapine, which develops rapidly unless viral replication is completely suppressed. The drug is therefore only used together with other anti-HIV drugs in combination therapy. The HIV-2 reverse transcriptase has a different pocket structure, rendering it inherently resistant to nevirapine and other first-generation NNRTIs. A single dose of nevirapine is a cost-effective way to reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and has been recommended by the World Health Organization for use in resource-poor settings. Other protocols are recommended in the United States. Rash is the most common adverse event associated with the drug.
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