From ancient to emerging infections: the odyssey of viruses in the male genital tract
by Le Tortorec et al.The authors review here how viruses, from ancient viruses that integrated the germ line during evolution through old viruses (e.g. papillomaviruses originating from Neanderthals) and more modern sexually-transmitted infections (e.g. simian zoonotic HIV) to emerging viruses (e.g. Ebola and Zika) take advantage of genital tract colonization for horizontal dissemination, viral persistence, vertical transmission and endogenization.
Zika virus infection: an update
by Ferraris et al.Since the ZIKV outbreak in Brazil in 2015, the scientific community has joined efforts to gather more information on the epidemiology, clinical features and pathogenicity of the virus. Here, you can read a summary of the most important advances made recently and the discussion of promising, innovative approaches to understand and control ZIKV infection.
Low Zika Virus Seroprevalence in Vientiane, Laos, 2003–2015
by Pastorino et al.With a low herd immunity in the Vientiane population, ZIKV represents a risk for future large-scale outbreaks. Implementation of a nationwide ZIKV surveillance network and epidemiological studies throughout Laos is needed.
Zika virus epidemiology in Bolivia: A seroprevalence study in volunteer blood donors
by Saba Villarroel et al.The authors conclude that ZIKV has been circulating in Bolivian tropical areas but not in highlands, and that the epidemic has not been limited by previous immunity against dengue. Specific attention should be paid to the region of Santa Cruz, where the seroprevalence is still limited, but the density of Aedes aegypti populations makes plausible further spreading of the disease.
In this study researchers show that ZIKV containing BeH819015 structural proteins is much less efficient in cell-attachment leading to a reduced susceptibility ofepithelial A549 and neuronal SH-SY5Y cells to viral infection.
Recombinant Zika NS1 Protein Secreted from Vero Cells Is Efficient for Inducing Production of Immune Serum Directed against NS1 Dimer
by Viranaicken et al.The authors of this article demonstrated that recombinant ZIKV NS1 expressed in mammalian cells stably transduced with a lentiviral vector is suitable for inducing the production of specific antibody directed against NS1 oligomer. According to the authors, anti-ZIKV immune serum could be a great tool for the specific detection of secreted NS1 hexamer in human cells infected with ZIKV of African and Asia lineages, including contemporary epidemic strains.
African and Asian Zika virus strains differentially induce early antiviral responses in primary human astrocytes
by Hamel et al.This study describes for the first time the specific antiviral gene expression in infected primary human astrocytes, the major glial cells within the central nervous system.