Viruses

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

9:17 AM

Viruses - why are sometimes not included?

Don't have characteristics we associate with living things
Don't metabolize
Don't take energy in to do things that need to be done
No cells
Can be crystallized - in solid form and exist indefinetly
Can't reproduce on their own
Parasitic - only reproduce in host
Fairly species specific
Virus can effect cat won't affect you
What is virus
Basically a genome (dna or rna) genetic material
Enclosed in a protective protein coat (capsid)

Screen clipping taken: 11/24/2015 9:19 AM

More properly reffered to as infectious particles

Very small
Certain type of virus - attacts bacterium
Virus attacks bacterium
Eukaryotic cell much larger
Virus - small as ribosome - thousands in eukaryotic cell

Screen clipping taken: 11/24/2015 9:20 AM

Different structures
One thing in common - have some kind of protein protected coat
Contains genetic material - dna or rna
See common structures of viruses
Left - first viruses identified
Tobaco mosiac
2nd - common cold
Influenza - flu
Right - bacteriofague - attack bacteria

Screen clipping taken: 11/24/2015 9:21 AM

Once inside cell - rids itself of protein cell

Genome - dna
Commondere cell and get cell to use various types of enzymes to replicate viruses
dna
It can also commendere ceullular machinery to make new protein to serve parts of
new capsuls
New dna - virus dna replicated
Put together with protein elements
New made and can leave cell

Types of reproduction
Two general ways viruses can operate
Lytic cycle - virus enters cell, takes over, has host cell make new viruses and then
typically cell dies as new virus particles released
Along the lines of example previously

Lysogenic cycle - enters cell, inserts its dna into the dna of host, dna is part of the
host cell, host cell goes to do various things of dna, also makes gene products
useful for virus
In this case, virus doesn't kill the host cell, allows host cell to keep replicating like
normal cell
Each time it replicates carries copy of virus dna as well as normal dna
These cells have virus dna - are dormant and become active
Produce more virus
Latent infections
Become infected - some time before symptoms shown up
Hiv shows up
Dormant period
Herpes - viral infection
Periods of time - lying dormanti nside host cells and sometimes it becomes active
Retroviruses - rna as genome rather than dna
Require special enzymes to turn rna into dna
Hiv retrovirus

Screen clipping taken: 11/24/2015 9:25 AM

Structure of virus - lunar landing module

Feet of virus - can detect receptor proteins on surface of bacteria
Synrine mechanism dna is inserted into host cell
At that point, viral dna takes over, directs cell to make new viral dna and new
proteins that can be put together to make another structure to house dna
Some point - lisosyme produced
Breaks down cellular materials
This lisosyme - causes cell to burst
Viral particles - now released and ready to do infection of new cells

Screen clipping taken: 11/24/2015 9:26 AM

Virus called lamda - similar to virus we were just looking at

Can infect host cell in same way as bacteriofague
By inserting dna
What can happen - typical litic cycle dna takes over and instructs cell to make new
dna for virusas well as proteisns to enclose virus genome
Or into another phase
Where dna instead of taking over causes its own dna inserted at specific point in
bacterial chromosome
Lays low - does not kill cell
Cell not killed
Cell - reproduce
Host cell makes many more host cells
All contain silent intruder

Virus genome
At some point - environmental trigger
Causes virus to turn on and start taking over cell and directing it to make new virus
particles
Lambda - lysogenic and lidic stage
Attack plants, animals, fungi, bacteria
Viral diseases - most interested in ones that effect humans
Viral diseases - cannot be cured
No anditiotics that can destroy it once it affects cell
Problems - goes inside cell
Very difficult to get at virus without killing cell itself or recognize infected cell by non
infected cell
Raise body's immune system
Exposed to viral diseases can stop it from taking over
Viral diseases common - polio - vaccination gone but exists in some parts
Used to be fairly common now dissapeared
Colds - very common
True flu - flue shots for - viral disease, warts, smallpox (historically killed 60 million
people, now gone from planet, vaccination program worldwide - eliminated it),
measles, mumps
Rabies, chickenpox, hiv, vaccine for chickenpox
Might be whiped out as well
Some are difficult to develop vaccine for
Virus changes quite frequently
Can't have vaccine for common cold
Vaccines you have - for one type but another type comes along

Hiv mutates very rapidly

Screen clipping taken: 11/24/2015 9:31 AM

Virus - has lysogenitc cycle

Can lay dormant and appear at later period of time
When individual is stressed or other infection

Screen clipping taken: 11/24/2015 9:33 AM

Not always deadly, but many times

Poxes - blister things
Eventually - complete rupter of membranes - individual dies, very painful
Only smallpox that still exists - in laboratories
Some concern of smallpox gets out in hands of terrorists and infects large amounts
of people
Vacinations lapsed - older person, vaccination not good anymore
Not vaccinating against smallpox - no smallpox to have
Human populations - thousands of years - other viral diseases very recently emerging viruses
First identified in 1981, very familiar with - hiv - human immuno difficiency
Ebola virus - not too common, errupts perioditcally in many places
Very contagious and lethal
Those contract it in short period of time, all blood vessils errupt and hemerogic
fever

Not major pandemic - contained

Another virus not gotten into human population yet
Just a matter of time - bird flue
What this will do is hard to say
Virus rampent in domesticated bird populations and in wild birds
Few cases when it affected humans
Where do viruses come from?
New emerging viruses
How come they are associated with it now
How do they appear
Came from - other species - non human species
Jumped - transmitted from non human to human species
Diseases move from one species to another species
When they get to another species - cause more damage than in original species
Original species - adapted to virus in some way
New species - not adapted to yet
Hiv - came from chimps
Thing like hiv in chimp population
In 1930s
Chimps because eaten by native people in africa
Chimp blood - chimp form of virus - got into humans and spread through human
population
Hiv and aids Hiv - human immuno ifficenty virus
Aids - caused by virius

Aquired immuno difficeincy syndrome

By bodily fliuids , blood semen, vaginal secretion, breast milk
1 - exposure of uninfected to infected fresh bodily fluids
Virus doesn't survive more than few minutes outside body
Infected blood - dried on surface
Virus in blood - no longer alive
Fresh bodily fluids
Can't get hiv from a toilet seat
Too much time between one person and another for virus to survive
Exposed to these bodily fluids
Virus - get into bloodstream
Opening on surface tissues into bloodstream
Exposed - exposed area - llittle cuts and sores - virus moves into blood stream

Number of modes of transmission

Most common Sexual transmission
Seminal and female bodifly fluids
Can contain hiv
Know that in term of sexual transmission
Increased risk
If those infected or uninfected have other stds
Herpes, gonerea, syphalis
Increases risk

Those diseases
Associated with open sores in genital area
Infected more likely to produce fluids
Uninfected pick up infection - exposed to
Easier transmitted from one person to another
Talk about sexual transmission
Can be either through homosexual ex or heterosexual sex
Discovered in homosexual male populations - first discovered
Most people infected by homosexual males
Not disease restricted to homosexual males
Look at possibility of transmission through homosexual act
Homosexual act - through anal sex - higher risk of transmission
Higher risk activity
Increased likelyhood - breakage of blood vessels and virus moving from one
individual to another
Woman twice likely to woman get from indefted man to man get it from infected
woman
Blood - transfusions - screen blood supply for hiv
Transfusion now from stranger - little chance of hiv infection
Store own blood - to make sure
Number of cases where before this whole disease well known
Did get into blood supply
Needed repeated transfusion got aids because of that
Contact with fresh blood another way of transmitting it
Sports events - sit out for a while till it stops

Needle use - at risk group - consits of iv drug users that share needles
Pulling up blood when you inject and those get blood who others iject with needles
Infected mothers transmit to children - utero, at birth, during breast-feeding - virus
is in breast milk
Can pass on infection onto cihld
Hiv - real nasty thing - virus attacks certain cells in immune system
It attacks in specific way
One way that virus can infect cells - insert their genes into genome of host cell
This particular virus - retrovirus - way it propogates
Genes in host cell genes and in this case - cells in immune system targeted
Cells in immune system - the genes for making this virus
Virus can come near these immune system cells
Make copies of themselves if infection is incurring
In response to hiv
At same time, hidden, genetic message to make more of virus
Eventually immune system breaks down
Aids - individual immune system very suseptical to infections, and cancer
No treatment - 10 years of infection
In time infected with hiv? Cures?
No cure
No cures for virual infection in immune system
Do have some powerful antiretroviral drugs
Slow down progress of disease
Hiv levels become very low
Individuals treated with these drugs (azt) life expenctancy - 24 years

Possible even longer

Costs 25,000 dollars per year - various medications
Coctail of various different things
Viral levels reduced to low
Virus still in system
One things it can hide - inserted into genome of host cells
Hiv can't be cleared from system
And ultimately
Deteriorating immune system or drugs itself result in death
Scope hiv problem
2006 - about 1.2 million currently infected with hiv
Many tested - 300,000 who unaware infected
500,000 have already died from disease from time it was first infected
Mentioned before - initially this deasese - ravaging population of homosexual men
Becoming more frequent in heterosexual men and women
40,000 new infections per year
Somewhat stable
Haven't turned tide on infections in united state
Relatively low level, but number is still large
Male homosexual, very dispropotionate to effect
50% newly effected are homoesxuals 50% re heterosexuals
50% - blacks
20% hispanic
Worldwide (as of 2006)

40 million currently infected

4.2 million new infections last year
25 million have already died from aids
Almost 3 million died last year
Most infectious results from heterosexual sex
Equal numbers of men and woman infected
Epidemic
Also influenza epidemic - 20 million people - probably more than that
Aids up to that level and exceed it at some point
Worldwide - heterosexual sex
Worldwide distribution
Certain parts of world - disproportionally hit by disease
65% of worlds population living with disease
Living in subsaharan africa
25 million people
South africa more than 10% of population infected
Botswana, zimbabwe over 20% of population infected
That high level - difficult for people to avoid
High frequency of hiv in this part of world
Lack of education about disease
Misconceptions about disease
Some cases - techniques for controling disease - this cause of disease as opposed to
something to protect disease
Vaccination for every day diseases - get hiv from vaccination
Sexual practices - casual sex

Individuals married go off to work casual sex there

Poor government infrastructure to provide education and health facilities
Slowed in some african countries
Kenya and uganda
Government gets involved and provides education and healthcare programs
Death rate very high
Low percent have access to retroviral drugs
Drugs expensive
Difficult for poor people to pay for drugs
And not available
Besides african countries
Also spreading fairly rapidly in easert europe and central asia
Prospects for turning this around in some way No cure for hiv/aids
Keep people with hiv alive longer
One thing we can do better is make those drugs available to those who do not have
access
Slow disease down - through prevention
One way we dealt with these diseases in past - through vaccination program
Given to individuals who don't have dissease - puts immune system up
No vaccine - won't be able to same reason - no good vaccines against common cold
Mutates very frequently
One vaccine against one form
Time they got it - mutated into another form - vaccine wouldn't work
Major ways for prevention

Individuals who might have disease - get tested

Hiv testing pretty good in us
Low level elsewhere
Number 1 thing that can be done
Engage in safe sex practices
Particularly condom use - number one way to do this