Infectious Diseases

Cholesterol plays a critical role in hantavirus infection
Viruses mutate fast, which means they can quickly become resistant to anti-viral drugs. But viruses also depend on proteins and nutrients provided by their hosts, and therefore one strategy to identify new anti-viral drugs is to identify and target such host-cell components. A paper published on February 6th in PLOS Pathogens reports that proteins involved in the regulation of cholesterol are essential for hantavirus entry into human host cells. MedicalXpress

Chikungunya Gaining Foothold in Western Hemisphere
Chikungunya virus has infected roughly 3700 people in the eastern Caribbean since showing up on the French side of St. Martin in December 2013, the New York Times reports. It's the first time the virus has taken hold in the Western Hemisphere. Journal Watch

Young, unvaccinated adults account for severest flu cases
A snapshot of patients who required care at Duke University Hospital during this year's flu season shows that those who had not been vaccinated had severe cases and needed the most intensive treatment.

In an analysis of the first 55 patients treated for flu at the academic medical center from November 2013 through Jan. 8, 2014, Duke Medicine researchers found that only two of the 22 patients who required intensive care had been vaccinated prior to getting sick. The findings were published online in Monday, Feb. 10, 2014, in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Eurekalert!

Long distance signals protect brain from viral infections
The brain contains a defense system that prevents at least two unrelated viruses—and possibly many more—from invading the brain at large. The research is published online ahead of print in the Journal of Virology.

The research explains a long-standing mystery. The olfactory mucosa in the nose can serve as a conduit for a number of viruses to enter the brain including rabies, polio and influenza viruses. Yet infections in the central nervous system rarely occur. The mechanism responsible for protecting the brain from viruses that successfully invade the olfactory bulb (OB), the first site of infection in nasal mucosa, remains elusive. Eurekalert!