We tend to just think of viruses in terms of their damaging impacts on human health and lives. The 1918 flu pandemic killed around 50 million people. Smallpox claimed 30% of those who caught it, and survivors were often scarred ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 10, 2024
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1
Many astonishingly creative people have lived lives cut tragically short by illness. Johannes Vermeer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Jane Austen, Franz Schubert and Emily Brontë are some famous examples.
Molecular & Computational biology
Mar 26, 2023
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291
Ludwig van Beethoven's genome has been sequenced for the first time by an international team of scientists using five genetically matching locks of the well-known composer's hair.
Molecular & Computational biology
Mar 22, 2023
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199
The hepatitis B virus (HBV) is responsible for one of the most serious and common infectious diseases. Transmitted through biological fluids, it attacks the liver cells. The chronic form of the disease can lead to serious ...
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 4, 2022
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8
A physicist at the University of California, Riverside, and her former graduate student have successfully modeled the formation of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that spreads COVID-19, for the first time.
Molecular & Computational biology
Oct 3, 2022
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130
A new study compares and assesses eight de novo genome assembly software tools on actual viral next-generation sequencing data. The study, which includes the whole genome sequence data of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes ...
Biotechnology
Jul 20, 2022
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48
Scientists at Swansea University, Biovici Ltd and the National Physical Laboratory have developed a method to detect viruses in very small volumes.
Bio & Medicine
May 12, 2022
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42
Viruses such as HIV or the pathogen that causes hepatitis C can overwhelm the immune system. One approach to developing vaccines for these chronic infections has until now been aimed exclusively at what are known as the memory ...
Cell & Microbiology
Dec 13, 2021
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In a new paper in the journal Science, researchers uncover the evolution of the hepatitis B virus since the Early Holocene by analyzing the largest dataset of ancient viral genomes produced to date.
Evolution
Oct 7, 2021
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96
With up to 2.4 million U.S. cases and over 250 million chronic cases globally, hepatitis B infection persists despite the availability of a vaccine. Vaccines work by immunizing the body against a virus to prevent infection; ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Sep 7, 2021
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39
Hepatitis B is a disease caused by HBV hepatitis B virus which infects the liver of hominoidae, including humans, and causes an inflammation called hepatitis. Originally known as "serum hepatitis", the disease has caused epidemics in parts of Asia and Africa, and it is endemic in China. About a third of the world's population, more than 2 billion people, have been infected with the hepatitis B virus. This includes 350 million chronic carriers of the virus. Transmission of hepatitis B virus results from exposure to infectious blood or body fluids containing blood.
The acute illness causes liver inflammation, vomiting, jaundice and—rarely—death. Chronic hepatitis B may eventually cause liver cirrhosis and liver cancer—a fatal disease with very poor response to current chemotherapy. The infection is preventable by vaccination.
Hepatitis B virus is an hepadnavirus—hepa from hepatotrophic and dna because it is a DNA virus—and it has a circular genome composed of partially double-stranded DNA. The viruses replicate through an RNA intermediate form by reverse transcription, and in this respect they are similar to retroviruses. Although replication takes place in the liver, the virus spreads to the blood where virus-specific proteins and their corresponding antibodies are found in infected people. Blood tests for these proteins and antibodies are used to diagnose the infection.
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