TWiV 305: Rhymes with shinola

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Kathy Spindler

Vincent, Alan, and Kathy continue their coverage of the Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, with a discussion of case fatality ratio, reproductive index, a conspiracy theory, and spread of the virus to the United States.

This episode of TWiV is brought to you by the Department of Microbiology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Composed of over 20 virology labs, all centralized in one building in the heart of New York City, this department is a perfect fit for anyone with an interest in pursuing virus research. The Department is presently looking to recruit any prospective graduate students to apply to our program by the December 1st deadline. Interested postdocs are also encouraged to contact faculty of interest. For more information about the Department, please visit www.mssm.edu/MIC.

Links for this episode

• Science communications fellow at ASM
• Can we get AIDS from mosquito bites? (J La State Med Soc)
• Why mosquitoes cannot transmit AIDS
• Isolation of Bundibugyo ebolavirus in Uganda (PLoS Path)
• Ebola virus disease outbreak, Nigeria (MMWR)
• Nigeria contains Ebola virus outbreak (NY Times)
• First Ebola virus case in US (NY Times)
• Ebola virus disease: USA ex Liberia (ProMedMail)
• First imported Ebola virus case in US (CDC)
• Assessing risk of spread of Ebola virus (PLoS Currents)
• How contagious is Ebola virus? (NPR)
• Estimating reproductive index of Ebola virus (PLoS Currents)
• Polio-like illness, EV-D68 suspected (ProMedMail)
• Polio-like illness, North America (ProMedMail)
• Four deaths associated with EV-D68 (NY Times)
• Image credit: Pigott et al eLife
• Letters read on TWiV 305
• Video of this episode - view at YouTube

Weekly Science Picks

Alan - Under the knife, episode 1
Kathy - UCSC Ebola genome portal
Vincent - Annual Review of Virology, volume 1

Listener Pick of the Week

Alan - H5N1
Peter - Vomiting Larry
Dara - I just can't wait for my vaccine!

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@twiv.tv