It's not just science: challenges for public health intervention in Ebola epidemics in the Democratic Republic of Congo

正The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is suffering from the world’s second largest and most prolonged Ebola virus disease (EVD) epidemic on record (Figure 1). The current prevalence of EVD in the DRC makes this the 10th (and largest) EVD epidemic in the DRC since the first discovery of the Zaire Ebola virus in 1976 (Ilunga Kalenga, 2019).Globally, it is the second worst outbreak in the history of Ebola epidemics, and is only superceded by the EVD epi-     

Potential clinical treatment for Ebola pandemic

<正>West African countries are currently suffering the most severe pandemic of Ebola virus disease ever recorded,with4269 human cases and 2288 deaths(through 6 September2014),and the number of cases in the current outbreak exceeds the number from all previous outbreaks combined.Ebola virus disease was first described in 1976 originating from the Ebola River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.Five Ebola viruses have been reported to cause     

A new chapter for China's public health security——aids offered to Africa to combat Ebola

<正>As one of the most deadly diseases,the outbreak of Ebola virus disease(EVD)is causing panic in West Africa and posing alarms globally.Since the re-emergence of EVD,China authority has been consistently providing support for Africa in its fight against Ebola.On September 16,2014,a laboratory testing team and a medical team,consisting of 59public health experts and medical staffers,were dispatched to assist local hospitals in West African countries to set up lab screening and clinical treatment of EVD(http://www.taiwan.cn/xwzx/Technology/201409/t20140917_7354545.     

May early intervention with intravenous immunoglobulin pose a potentially successful treatment for Ebola virus infection?

<正>Dear Editor,Ebola virus is negative-sense,single stranded RNA virus of the family Filoviridae.Since their discovery in 1976,Ebola viruses have caused numerous outbreaks of severe hemorrhagic fevers in Africa.The emergence of Ebola virus disease(EVD)in Guinea and its spread to urban centers in neighboring West African countries recently has caused international alarm.These filovirus infections are characterized by acute onset of illness after an incubation period of2-21 days,with initial symptoms of fever,chills,myalgia,and malaise.The disease signs and symptoms frequently     

MicroRNAs: the novel targets for Ebola drugs

<正>The re-emergence of Ebola viral disease(EVD)in West Africa has caused an international alarm,even panic.As of August 27th,2014,the Ebola virus(EBOV)has infected3069 people with 1552 death cases starting from December2013(http://www.who.int/csr/don/2014_08_28_ebola/en/).Recently,an outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in the north of Congo(Democratic Republic)has been confirmed     

Mobile laboratory in Sierra Leone during outbreak of Ebola: practices and implications

<正>Dear Editors,Ebola virus disease(EVD)is an acute,serious and fatal illness caused by the Ebola virus.EVD was first identified in 1976 during two simultaneous outbreaks,one in Nzara,Sudan,and the other in Yambuku,Democratic Republic of Congo[1].The latter o ccurred in a village near the Ebola River,from which the disease takes its name.Since its     

Viral diseases meet omics: Time for systems virology

正Emerging and re-emerging viral diseases pose a serious and continuous threat to the human society and place a heavy burden on the ecological system. Because of globalization,endemic viruses could be transmitted quickly across long distances, causing pandemic outbreaks. This has happened during the outbreak of the avian influenza viruses, Ebola virus, and Zika virus in recent years (Gao, 2018). Sudden viral attacks always evoke a large number of questions from the public. People ask what the pathogen is and where it is from, by what mechanism it infects the body, how they can     

Current Status of Deltabaculoviruses, Cypoviruses and Chloriridoviruses Pathogenic for Mosquitoes

There are a variety of viral pathogens that cause disease in mosquitoes with most belonging to three major groups. The most common viruses of mosquitoes are the baculoviruses (DBVs) (Baculoviridae: Deltabaculovirus), cytoplasmic polyhedrosis viruses (CPVs) (Reoviridae: Cypovirus) and the iridoviruses (MIVs) (Iridoviridae: Chloriridovirus). Baculoviruses and iridoviruses are DNA viruses while cypoviruses are the main RNA viruses in mosquitoes. This review presents an overview of the current status and recent advancements in understanding the biology and molecular features of mosquito pathogenic viruses.     

Nanopore sequencing: a rapid solution for infectious disease epidemics

<正>Emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases have given rise to a large number of human infections, morbidity, and heavy economic burden, including the Middle East respiratory syndrome caused by a coronavirus in 2012, global influenza pandemic caused by the H7N9 influenza A virus in2013, Ebola epidemic in West Africa in 2014, and Lassa fever epidemic in Nigeria in 2019. The healthcare war against viruses deserves constant surveillance due to the continuous emergence of new viruses and rapid evolution of     

New strategy for virus discovery: viruses identified in human feces in the last decade

Emerging and re-emerging viruses continue to surface all over the world.Some of these viruses have the potential for rapid and global spread with high morbidity and mortality,such as the SARS coronavirus outbreak.It is extremely urgent and important to identify a novel virus near-instantaneously to develop an active preventive and/or control strategy.As a cultureindependent approach,viral metagenomics has been widely used to investigate highly divergent and completely new viruses in humans,animals,and even environmental samples in the past decade.A new model of Koch’s postulates,named the metagenomic Koch’s postulates,has provided guidance for the study of the pathogenicity of novel viruses.This review explains the viral metagenomics strategy for virus discovery and describes viruses discovered in human feces in the past 10 years using this approach.This review also addresses issues related to the metagenomic Koch’s postulates and the challenges for virus discovery in the future.     

Fighting Ebola with ZMapp: spotlight on plant-made antibody

<正>Currently,a large Ebola endemic is ongoing in West Africa.According to the World Health Organization,as of August19,the viral outbreak has led to 2240 suspected and confirmed cases and 1229 deaths in four countries:Guinea,Liberia,Nigeria,and Sierra Leone(http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/guinea/index.html).     

The variable codons of H5N1 avian influenza A virus haemagglutinin genes

We investigated the selection pressures on the haemagglutinin genes of H5N1 avian influenza viruses using fixed effects likelihood models. We found evidence of positive selection in the sequences from isolates from 1997 to 2007, except viruses from 2000. The haemagglutinin sequences of viruses from southeast Asia, Hong Kong and mainland China were the most polymorphic and had similar nonsyn-onymous profiles. Some sites were positively selected in viruses from most regions and a few of these sites displayed different amino acid patterns. Selection appeared to produce different outcomes in vi-ruses from Europe, Africa and Russia and from different host types. One position was found to be positively selected for human isolates only. Although the functions of some positively selected posi-tions are unknown, our analysis provided evidence of different temporal, spatial and host adaptations for H5N1 avian influenza viruses.     

Are developing countries prepared to face Ebola-like outbreaks?

<正>Ebola virus disease has caused havoc in West Africa,with 11,162deaths and more than 27,181 cases(as of May 31,2015)being reported since the virus emerged in early2014 in Guinea.The maximum number of cases has been reported in Sierra Leone(12,827),while most of the reported deaths have occurred in Liberia(4,806),according to the Center for Disease Control and     

Medical Virology in Malaysia

Virology is a branch of biological science dealing with the study of viruses, and medical virology focuses on the study and control of diseases due to viruses that is of medical importance. The development of medical virology in Malaysia has its beginning in the Institute for Medical Research （IMR）, following the establishment of the Division of Medical Zoology and Virus Research in the institute on 23 March 1953. The second institution in the country to establish diagnostic and research work in medical virology was Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University Malaya. This was followed by University Kebangsaan Malaysia, University Sains Malaysia and University of Sarawak Malaysia. The National Public Health Laboratory （NPHL） is the latest institution to establish a laboratory in 2003 for virus isolation and services to support country surveillance and outbreak investigation of infectious diseases due to viruses. In the field of medical virology, Malaysia contributed substantially in the areas of virus diagnostic services, development and research ranging from survey and documentation on the existence and prevalence of viruses causing diseases in Malaysia, clinical presentation and epidemiological features of virus diseases, evaluation of new diagnostic tests to pathogenesis of viral diseases. Malaysia contributed to the discoveries of at least 12 new viruses in the world. ASEAN plus Three （China, Japan, Republic of Korea） Emerging Infectious Programme was established to overcome the challenges and impact of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases in this region. Malaysia as the co-ordinator of the laboratory component of the programme, contributed to strengthen the regional laboratory capability, capacity, laboratory-based surveillance and networking. The future of medical virology in Malaysia in terms of integration of diagnostic, reference and research to support the country＇s need will be enhanced and strengthened with the on-going development of the National Centre fo     

Understanding SARS with Wolfram approach

Stepping acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) as another type of disease has been threatening mankind since late last year. Many scientists worldwide are making great efforts to study the etiology of this disease with different approaches. 13 species of SARS virus have been sequenced. However, most people still largely rely on the traditional methods with some disadvantages. In this work, we used Wolfram approach to study the relationship among SARS viruses and between SARS viruses and other types of viruses, the effect of variations on the whole genome and the advantages in the analysis of SARS based on this novel approach. As a result, the similarities between SARS viruses and other coronavirusxes are not really higher than those between SARS viruses and non-coronaviruses.     

Molecular advances in severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV)

The sudden outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2002 prompted the establishment of a global scientific network subsuming most of the traditional rivalries in the competitive field of virology. Within months of the SARS outbreak, collaborative work revealed the identity of the disastrous pathogen as SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV). However, although the rapid identifi-     

On the Centenary of the Spanish Flu: Being Prepared for the Next Pandemic

正Influenza is one of the oldest infectious diseases affecting humans. Every influenza pandemic in history has ended with disastrous outcomes regarding public health and the social economy. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Spanish flu (H1N1) outbreak of 1918, which is recognized as the most lethal natural event in recent history. In     

Recent Advances in Biological Control of Pest Insects by Using Viruses in China

Insect viruses are attractive as biological control agents and could be a feasible alternative to chemical insecticides in the management of insect infestations. This review describes recent advances in the development of wild-type and genetically modified viruses as insecticides. A new strategy of application of insect viruses in China is reviewed. Also, the assessment of biosafety of genetically modified Helicoverpa armigera Nucleopolyhedovirus (HearNPV) is emphasized as a case-study.     

Raman spectroscopic study on structure of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hypericin-induced photosensitive damage of HIV

Viruses are agents of some of the most destruc- tive diseases afflicting plants and animals[1]. Viruses also play a central role in experimental methods of molecular and cellular biology, especially in modern genetic engineering[1]. Raman spectroscopy is a pow-erful tool for studying the structure of the whole virion. A number of researches are limited to the conforma-tion of viruses, involving only nucleic acid (RNA or DNA) and its coat protein[1]. Literatures can be found concerning Raman…     

Diversity and connectedness of brine shrimp viruses in global hypersaline ecosystems

Brine shrimp(Artemia) has existed on Earth for 400 million years and has major ecological importance in hypersaline ecosystems. As a crucial live food in aquaculture, brine shrimp cysts have become one of the most important aquatic products traded worldwide. However,our understanding of the biodiversity, prevalence and global connectedness of viruses in brine shrimp is still very limited. A total of 143batches of brine shrimp(belonging to seven species) cysts were collected from six continents i...