Influenza Viruses
In 2015, a highly pathogenic avian influenza A virus (H5N2) wiped out 5 million turkeys in Minnesota. Turkey farms in Iowa, South Dakota, and Wisconsin were also hit hard. Chicken…
Host Resistance to Viral Infections
Samaritan’s Purse medical missionary Dr. Kent Brantly survived Ebola virus disease. He was infected with Ebola virus while treating and caring for patients in Liberia during the 2014 Ebola epidemic…
Epidemiology
Veterinarian Hasan Alkaf draws a blood sample from a camel after the first reported case of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in Haramout, Yemen, in April 2014. Yemeni participants in…
Viruses and Cancer
Multiphoton fluorescence image of HeLa cells containing a fluorescent protein targeted to the Golgi apparatus (orange). HeLa cells are the oldest and one of the most commonly used human cell…
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
Hopes are high that there will someday be an end to the HIV epidemic. Activism, research, and global commitment are paving the way. Today, the need is urgent to fill…
New and Reemerging Viruses
Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), dressed in personal protective equipment (PPE). He is following the required decontamination protocol in order to exit…
Hepatitis Viruses
Some studies have found a correlation between tattooing and hepatitis C virus infection in very selected populations, such as prisoners using makeshift tattooing devices. © Charles Knox/Shutterstock. “Love is like…
Herpesviruses
Vaccines available in the United States to prevent infections caused by varicella zoster virus (VZV), a herpesvirus that causes chickenpox and shingles. (a) The measles, mumps, rubella, varicella (chickenpox), or…
Poxviruses
(a) Photograph of Dr. Donald A. Henderson standing in front of a “Smallpox Zero” sign at an unknown location. Dr. Henderson headed the international efforts in the 1960s to eradicate…
Infectious Molecules: prions and Viroids
Some deer are tested for chronic wasting disease, a prion disease of cervids. © Teri Shors. “It has just stopped me cold from eating another burger!” —Oprah Winfrey, during a…
