New BMJ Feature:
"Where do viruses hide in the human body?"
doi.org/10.1136/bmj.p1156
#RNA #virus #virology @virology #ViralPersistence
The question of how SARS-CoV-2 persists in the body has refocused scientists on the question of where viruses persist in humans more generally.The BMJ
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How RNA viruses can use their dsRNA intermediate state as a de facto latent state, facilitating viral persistence.
Positive single-stranded #RNA viruses have a replication cycle that includes a double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) intermediate state.
#virology @virology #virus #virome #ViralPersistence #InfectiousDisease
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The authors also found hints of viral "latency" associated with longer infection times.
This would suggest that the rate of viral replication might slow down as the infection proceeds, possibly resulting in a quasi-latent state characterized by very low replication and protein synthesis.
How could this be? How could an #RNA virus slow its rate of viral replication and protein synthesis to help it to persist?
Well, here's just one possible way:
mstdn.science/@pyrrhus/1095079…
#ViralPersistence
If you found the above ☝️ study eye-opening, consider that Deer Tick/Powassan Virus (POWV) may persist in the brain, as studied in this new paper:
"Of Murines and Humans: Modeling Persistent Powassan Disease in C57BL/6 Mice"
doi.org/10.1128/mbio.03606-22
😲 Specifically, the authors found that the #virus may persist in the brain without creating infectious particles, just as non-infectious measles can persist in the brain indefinitely — and be fatal:
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/687900…
#virology #ViralPersistence
Measles can persist in the central nervous system and cause subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), a progressive disease that is almost always fatal.PubMed
