The Viruses Portal
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Viruses are small infectious agents that can replicate only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all forms of life, including animals, plants, fungi, bacteria and archaea. They are found in almost every ecosystem on Earth and are the most abundant type of biological entity, with millions of different types, although only about 6,000 viruses have been described in detail. Some viruses cause disease in humans, and others are responsible for economically important diseases of livestock and crops.
Virus particles (known as virions) consist of genetic material, which can be either DNA or RNA, wrapped in a protein coat called the capsid; some viruses also have an outer lipid envelope. The capsid can take simple helical or icosahedral forms, or more complex structures. The average virus is about 1/100 the size of the average bacterium, and most are too small to be seen directly with an optical microscope.
The origins of viruses are unclear: some may have evolved from plasmids, others from bacteria. Viruses are sometimes considered to be a life form, because they carry genetic material, reproduce and evolve through natural selection. However they lack key characteristics (such as cell structure) that are generally considered necessary to count as life. Because they possess some but not all such qualities, viruses have been described as "organisms at the edge of life".
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Cervical cancer is a tumour of the cervix, the part of the uterus that adjoins the vagina in the female reproductive tract. Certain types of human papillomavirus (HPV) are implicated in more than 90% of these cancers, although the great majority of HPV infections of the cervix are not associated with cancer. HPV is transmitted by vaginal sex, infecting cervical epithelial cells. In a minority of cases, infection persists for years, and pre-cancerous changes called cervical intraepithelial neoplasia can develop, which sometimes progress to cancer. Squamous cell carcinomas are the most common. HPV infection is considered essential for nearly all forms of cervical cancer to develop, but other risk factors are also involved, including smoking, HIV infection and other forms of immune suppression, and long-term use of oral contraceptives.
Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women worldwide. It can be detected by screening; screening every 3–5 years, with appropriate follow-up, can reduce cancer incidence by up to 80%. HPV vaccines protect against high-risk virus strains, and can prevent up to 90% of cervical cancers. Where screening and vaccination are not available, cervical cancer has substantial mortality; worldwide, an estimated 569,000 cases and 311,000 deaths occurred in 2018, with around 85% of cases being in developing countries.
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Tobacco mosaic virus was the first virus to be identified, as an infectious agent that could pass through porcelain filters, as well as the first to be crystallised. It was among the earliest virus structures to be modelled successfully.
Credit: Thomas Splettstoesser (20 July 2012)
In the news
26 February: In the ongoing pandemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), more than 110 million confirmed cases, including 2.5 million deaths, have been documented globally since the outbreak began in December 2019. WHO
18 February: Seven asymptomatic cases of avian influenza A subtype H5N8, the first documented H5N8 cases in humans, are reported in Astrakhan Oblast, Russia, after more than 100,0000 hens died on a poultry farm in December. WHO
14 February: Seven cases of Ebola virus disease are reported in Gouécké, south-east Guinea. WHO
7 February: A case of Ebola virus disease is detected in North Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. WHO
4 February: An outbreak of Rift Valley fever is ongoing in Kenya, with 32 human cases, including 11 deaths, since the outbreak started in November. WHO
21 November: The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gives emergency-use authorisation to casirivimab/imdevimab, a combination monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapy for non-hospitalised people twelve years and over with mild-to-moderate COVID-19, after granting emergency-use authorisation to the single mAb bamlanivimab earlier in the month. FDA 1, 2
18 November: The outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Équateur Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, which started in June, has been declared over; a total of 130 cases were recorded, with 55 deaths. UN
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Bats host a diverse array of viruses, including all seven types described by the Baltimore classification system. The most common viruses known to infect bats are coronaviruses. Bats harbour many viruses that are zoonotic, or capable of infecting humans, including rabies virus, SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2, MERS-CoV, Nipah virus, Hendra virus and Marburg virus (hosted by the Egyptian fruit bat; pictured), and some bat-borne viruses are considered important emerging viruses. Bats may also play a role in the ecology of the Ebola virus. Most zoonotic bat viruses are transmitted by direct contact with infected bat fluids such as urine, guano and saliva, or through contact with an infected intermediate host; transmission of rabies from bats to humans usually occurs via biting. Butchering or consuming bat meat could potentially lead to viral transmission.
Bats rarely become ill from viral infections, and rabies is the only viral disease known to kill them. They might be more tolerant of infection than other mammals. Their immune systems differ from those of other mammals in their lack of several inflammasomes, which activate the body's inflammatory response, as well as a dampened stimulator of interferon genes response, which helps to control the host response to pathogens.
Selected outbreak
The West African Ebola epidemic was the most widespread outbreak of the disease to date. Beginning in Meliandou in southern Guinea in December 2013, it spread to adjacent Liberia and Sierra Leone, affecting the cities of Conakry and Monrovia, with minor outbreaks in Mali and Nigeria. Cases reached a peak in October 2014 and the epidemic was under control by late 2015, although occasional cases continued to occur into April 2016. Ring vaccination with the then-experimental vaccine rVSV-ZEBOV was trialled in Guinea.
More than 28,000 suspected cases were reported with more than 11,000 deaths; the case fatality rate was around 40% overall and around 58% in hospitalised patients. Early in the epidemic nearly 10% of the dead were healthcare workers. The outbreak left about 17,000 survivors, many of whom reported long-lasting post-recovery symptoms. Extreme poverty, dysfunctional healthcare systems, distrust of government after years of armed conflict, local burial customs of washing the body, the unprecedented spread of Ebola to densely populated cities, and the delay in response of several months all contributed to the failure to control the epidemic.
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| “ | A virus is not an individual organism in the ordinary sense of the term, but something which could almost be called a stream of biological patterns. | ” |
Recommended articles
Viruses & Subviral agents: bat virome • elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus • HIV • introduction to viruses
• Playa de Oro virus • poliovirus • prion • rotavirus • virus
Diseases: colony collapse disorder • common cold • croup • dengue fever • gastroenteritis • Guillain–Barré syndrome • hepatitis B • hepatitis C • hepatitis E • herpes simplex • HIV/AIDS • influenza • meningitis • myxomatosis • polio • pneumonia • shingles • smallpox
Epidemiology & Interventions: 2007 Bernard Matthews H5N1 outbreak • Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations • Disease X • 2009 flu pandemic • HIV/AIDS in Malawi • polio vaccine • Spanish flu • West African Ebola virus epidemic
Virus–Host interactions: antibody • host • immune system • parasitism • RNA interference
Methodology: metagenomics
Social & Media: And the Band Played On • Contagion • "Flu Season" • Frank's Cock • Race Against Time: Searching for Hope in AIDS-Ravaged Africa • social history of viruses • "Steve Burdick" • "The Time Is Now" • "What Lies Below"
People: Brownie Mary • Macfarlane Burnet • Bobbi Campbell • Aniru Conteh • people with hepatitis C • HIV-positive people • Bette Korber • Henrietta Lacks • Linda Laubenstein • Barbara McClintock • poliomyelitis survivors • Joseph Sonnabend • Eli Todd • Ryan White
Selected virus
Poliovirus is an enterovirus, an RNA virus in the Picornaviridae family, associated with the paralytic disease polio. The icosahedral virus particle is about 30 nanometres in diameter and lacks an envelope. It contains a relatively short, single-stranded positive RNA genome of around 7500 nucleotides, which encodes about ten viral products. The virus has a fairly high mutation rate even for an RNA virus. Historically there were three serotypes, each with a slightly different capsid protein; PV1 is the most common, and PV2 was declared eradicated in 2015.
The virus only naturally infects humans, although some monkeys can be infected experimentally; 95% of infections are asymptomatic. Infection occurs via the faecal–oral route and viral replication occurs in the alimentary tract. The virus enters the host cell by binding to an immunoglobulin-like receptor, CD155. Fully assembled poliovirus leaves the cell 4–6 hours after initiation of infection. Poliovirus was first isolated in 1909 by Karl Landsteiner and Erwin Popper. Its genome was sequenced in 1981. Among the simplest clinically significant viruses, poliovirus is one of the best-characterised viruses, and has become a useful model for studying RNA viruses.
Did you know?
- ...that despite being unaffected by rabies or pseudorabies, the sea urchin Tripneustes depressus (pictured) contains antivirals to these diseases?
- ...that although Indian cassava mosaic virus does indeed infect cassava crops in India, the actual origin of the virus is unknown?
- ...that Egyptian-American physician Adel Mahmoud oversaw the development of the Gardasil HPV vaccine?
- ...that of the initial cluster of people confirmed to have been infected by a novel coronavirus in China, two-thirds had been directly exposed to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan?
- ...that Shahid Jameel and his group were the first to identify subtype C strain as the most common HIV-1 infection among Indians?
Selected biography
Randy Shilts (8 August 1951 – 17 February 1994) was an American journalist, author and AIDS activist. The first openly gay reporter for a mainstream US newspaper, Shilts covered the unfolding story of AIDS and its medical, social, and political ramifications from the first reports of the disease in 1981. New York University's journalism department later ranked his 1981–85 AIDS reporting in the top fifty works of American journalism of the 20th century. His extensively researched account of the early days of the epidemic in the US, And the Band Played On Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic, first published in 1987, brought him national fame. The book won the Stonewall Book Award and was made into an award-winning film. Shilts saw himself as a literary journalist in the tradition of Truman Capote and Norman Mailer. His writing has a powerful narrative drive and interweaves personal stories with political and social reporting.
He received the 1988 Outstanding Author award from the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the 1990 Mather Lectureship at Harvard University, and the 1993 Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists' Association. He died of AIDS in 1994.
In this month
7 November 1991: Magic Johnson announced his retirement from basketball because of his infection with HIV
14 November 1957: Kuru, the first human prion disease, described by Daniel Gajdusek and Vincent Zigas
16 November 2002: The first case of severe acute respiratory syndrome (virus pictured) recorded in Guangdong, China
17 November 1995: Lamivudine approved for treatment of HIV
22 November 2013: Simeprevir approved for treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus infection
23 November 1978: Structure of tomato bushy stunt virus solved by Stephen Harrison and colleagues, the first atomic-level structure of a virus
24 November 2007: Outbreak of new Ebola species, Bundibugyo virus
26 November 1898: Martinus Beijerinck coined the term contagium vivum fluidum to describe the agent causing tobacco mosaic disease
Selected intervention
Several human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines, including Cervarix and Gardasil, have been approved to protect against infections with particular types of HPV, associated with cervical and other cancers. All vaccines protect against the high-risk HPV types 16 and 18. Gardasil is a quadrivalent vaccine that additionally protects against low-risk HPV-6 and -11, which are associated with most cases of genital warts. A second-generation nine-valent Gardasil vaccine protects against five additional high-risk HPV types. It is estimated that the vaccines may prevent 70% of cervical cancer, 80% of anal cancer, 60% of vaginal cancer, 40% of vulvar cancer and possibly some oropharyngeal cancers. Protection lasts for at least 8–9 years. Some advocate giving Gardasil to men and boys with the primary aim of protecting their female sexual partners; others consider vaccinating only women and girls to be more cost effective. The licensed vaccines are subunit vaccines, containing only the L1 capsid protein of the virus, which self-assembles into virus-like particles. They are not effective in people already infected with HPV. Research is ongoing into therapeutic HPV vaccines including the viral oncoproteins, E6 and E7, but none has yet been licensed.
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