This Week in Virology

In his weekly clinical update, Dr. Griffin discusses how vaccination and vaccine hesitancy affects public health and disease spread in terms of mpox, the first human death from H5N1 in US, why one should not feed their pets raw pet food and the metapneumonia outbreak in China before reviewing the recent statistics on RSV, influenza and SARS-CoV-2 infections, the WasterwaterScan dashboard, where to find PEMGARDA, how nirmatrelvir-ritonavir/Paxlovid reduces adverse outcomes of COVID in patients with kidney disease, provides information for Columbia University Irving Medical Center’s long COVID treatment center, SARS-CoV-2 infection affects skin conditions including shingles and if long antiviral treatment affects long COVID. Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Mpox vaccination hesitancy, previous immunisation coverage, and vaccination readiness in the African region (eClincial Medicine) Global prevalence and correlates of mpox vaccine acceptance and uptake (Communications Medicine) First case of new mpox variant in France (Reuters) First “Bird flu” death in US (NY Times) Emerging threat of H5N1 to human health (NEJM) Don’t feed your pets raw food (County of Los Angeles Public Health) Oregon, nationwide raw pet food recall (CIRAP) Raw cat food avian flu, is this like raw milk? (CIDRAP) Human metapneumovirus surging in China (The Guardian) Viral video of viral chaos: human metapneumovirus in Chinese hospital (The Economic Times) Human metapneumovirus in China (NY Times) Acute respiratory infections including human metapneumovirus in northern hemisphere (WHO) Waste water scan for 11 pathogens (WastewaterSCan) US respiratory virus activity (CDC Respiratory Illnesses) Weekly surveillance report: clift notes (CDC FluView) RSV: Waste water scan for 11 pathogens (WastewaterSCan) RSV-Network (CDC Respiratory Syncytial virus Infection) US respiratory virus activity (CDC Respiratory Illnesses) Waste water scan for 11 pathogens (WastewaterSCan) COVID-19 deaths (CDC) COVID-19 national and regional trends (CDC) COVID-19 variant tracker (CDC) SARS-CoV-2 genomes galore (Nextstrain) Where to get pemgarda (Pemgarda) EUA for the pre-exposure prophylaxis of COVID-19 (INVIYD) Fusion center near you….if in NY (Prime Fusions) CDC Quarantine guidelines (CDC) NIH COVID-19 treatment guidelines (NIH) Infectious Disease Society guidelines for treatment and management (ID Society) Drug interaction checker (University of Liverpool) The effect of nirmatrelvir-ritonavir on short- and long-term adverse outcomes from COVID-19 among patients with kidney disease (OFID) Paxlovid tied to lower risk of hospital stay, heart problems, death in adults with kidney disease and COVID (CIDRAP) Molnupiravir safety and efficacy (JMV) Convalescent plasma recommendation for immunocompromised (ID Society) What to do when sick with a respiratory virus (CDC) When your healthcare provider is infected/exposed with SARS-CoV-2 (CDC) Managing healthcare staffing shortages (CDC) Steroids, dexamethasone at the right time (OFID) Anticoagulation guidelines (hematology.org) Daniel Griffin’s evidence based medical practices for long COVID (OFID) Long COVID hotline (Columbia : Columbia University Irving Medical Center) Chronic urticaria, vitiligo, alopecia areata, and herpes zoster following COVID-19 infection (Journal of Dermatology) Impact of extended-course oral nirmatrelvir/ritonavir in established Long COVID: (Communications Medicine) Letters read on TWiV 1182 Dr. Griffin’s COVID treatment summary (pdf) Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to [email protected]

TWiV discusses an outbreak of influenza H5N1 that killed over half of the great cats at a Washington sanctuary, origin and cross-species transmission of bat coronaviruses in China, and the diverse and abundant phages that enter cells via receptors encoded on conjugative plasmids. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, and Jolene Ramsey Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Support science education at MicrobeTV ASV 2025 H5N1 virus kills great cats at Washington sanctuary (CNN) Macroevolution of bat coronaviruses in China (Nat Comm) EcoHealth Alliance funding suspended (Science) Conjugative plasmids support diverse and abundant phages (Nat Comm) Letters read on TWiV 1181 Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Weekly Picks Rich – Pareidolia (wiki) Jolene – Pathways to Science database Vincent – Wendy Carlos and Switched-On Bach Listener Picks Arjan – Gutsick Gibbon’s YouTube channel Alan – 2024 Nobel Prize Lectures in Chemistry Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected] Content in this podcast should not be construed as medical advice.

In his weekly clinical update, Dr. Griffin discusses the recent increase in norovirus outbreaks, human cases of H5N1 avian influenza, before reviewing the recent statistics on RSV, influenza and SARS-CoV-2 infections, the WasterwaterScan dashboard, where to find PEMGARDA, how effective Molnupiravir is and provides information for Columbia University Irving Medical Center’s long COVID treatment center. Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Norovirus: Waste water scan for 11 pathogens (WastewaterSCan) Adolescent with Influenza A H5N1 infection (NEJM) Highly pathogenic avian Influenza A ( H5N1) virus infections in humans (NEJM) Emerging threat of H5N1 to human health (NEJM) US respiratory virus activity (CDC Respiratory Illnesses) In-hospital outcomes of healthcare-associated Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Omicron) versus healthcare-associated Influenza (CID) Waste water scan for 11 pathogens (WastewaterSCan) US respiratory virus activity (CDC Respiratory Illnesses) Weekly surveillance report: cliff notes (CDC FluView) RSV: Waste water scan for 11 pathogens (WastewaterSCan) RSV-Network (CDC Respiratory Syncytial virus Infection) US respiratory virus activity (CDC Respiratory Illnesses) Waste water scan for 11 pathogens (WastewaterSCan) COVID-19 deaths (CDC) COVID-19 national and regional trends (CDC) COVID-19 variant tracker (CDC) SARS-CoV-2 genomes galore (Nextstrain) Where to get pemgarda (Pemgarda) EUA for the pre-exposure prophylaxis of COVID-19 (INVIYD) Fusion center near you….if in NY (Prime Fusions) CDC Quarantine guidelines (CDC) NIH COVID-19 treatment guidelines (NIH) Infectious Disease Society guidelines for treatment and management (ID Society) Drug interaction checker (University of Liverpool) Molnupiravir safety and efficacy (JMV) Real clinical effectiveness of Molnupiravir against 30-day mortality (OFID) Convalescent plasma recommendation for immunocompromised (ID Society) What to do when sick with a respiratory virus (CDC) When your healthcare provider is infected/exposed with SARS-CoV-2 (CDC) Managing healthcare staffing shortages (CDC) Steroids, dexamethasone at the right time (OFID) Anticoagulation guidelines (hematology.org) Daniel Griffin’s evidence based medical practices for long COVID (OFID) Long COVID hotline (Columbia : Columbia University Irving Medical Center)Post-COVID Condition Risk Factors and Symptom Clusters and Associations with Return to Pre-COVID Health (CID) Letters read on TWiV 1180 Dr. Griffin’s COVID treatment summary (pdf) Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to [email protected]

TWiV reviews RFK Jr’s demand to revoke polio vaccine, Wuhan lab samples do not include close relatives to SARS-CoV-2, using artificial intelligence to discover the RNA virosphere, and biomarkers that discriminate early and late phases of respiratory virus infections from a SARS-CoV-2 human challenge study. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, Kathy Spindler, and Angela Mingarelli Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Support science education at MicrobeTV ASV 2025 RFK Jr lawyer wants revocation of polio vaccine (CNN) Wuhan lab has no samples close to SARS-CoV-2 (Nature) Using AI to discover RNA virosphere (Cell) SARS-CoV-2 human challenge reveals biomarkers (Nat Comm) Does this challenge study pass the smell test? (TWiV 863) Letters read on TWiV 1179 Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Weekly Picks Angela – Science’s 2024 breakthrough of the year, Lenacapavir  “the long shot”.  NEJM papers with Lenacapavir trials: one and two. Kathy – Bach Toccatta and Fugue on floor piano Rich – Never Cry Wolf Vincent – Common Raven and American Crow Listener Pick Jaan – Meute (one, two, three) Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]