During the last few years, Zika virus rapidly spread across Central and South America and in the last months has spread also across Southern States of USA. As the epidemic began in Brazil, an increase of microcephaly cases was registered, causing concern and inducing the World Health Organization to raise an alarm. Certainly, the Zika virus, as many other viruses, has the capacity to induce severe cerebral lesions in foetuses of women infected during the first months of pregnancy. Moreover, more than 80% of cases of craniostenosys that verisimilarly took place in Brazil from September 2015 up to now were registered in few states of North- Eastern Brazil, where peaks of this malformation were registered several years before the appearance of Zika virus. In addition, in none of the 60 Countries where Zika virus is epidemiologically active an increase of the incidence of microcephaly has been reported. This paper intends to analyse some doubts concerning the link between Zika virus and the epidemic of craniostenosys.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.19191/EP16.6.P466.128 | DOI Listing |
J Biol Chem
January 2025
Institute of Virology, Philipps University Marburg, Marburg, Germany. Electronic address:
Orthoflaviviruses are emerging arthropod-borne pathogens whose replication cycle is tightly linked to host lipid metabolism. Previous lipidomic studies demonstrated that infection with the closely related hepatitis C virus (HCV) changes the fatty acid (FA) profile of several lipid classes. Lipids in HCV-infected cells had more very long-chain and desaturated FAs and viral replication relied on functional FA elongation and desaturation.
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Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami/UHealth, Miami, FL 33136, USA.
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January 2025
Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo 5508-900, Brazil.
Dengue fever, caused by the dengue virus (DENV), poses a significant global health challenge, particularly in tropical and subtropical regions. Recent increases in indigenous DENV cases in Europe are concerning, reflecting rising incidence linked to climate change and the spread of mosquitoes. These vectors thrive under environmental conditions like temperature and humidity, which are increasingly influenced by climate change.
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December 2024
Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California, La Jolla, San Diego, CA 92093-0657, USA.
Dengue, West Nile, Zika, Yellow fever, and Japanese encephalitis viruses persist as significant global health threats. The development of new therapeutic strategies based on inhibiting essential viral enzymes or viral-host protein interactions is problematic due to the fast mutation rate and rapid emergence of drug resistance. This study focuses on the NS2B-NS3 protease as a promising target for antiviral drug development.
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December 2024
Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3500, USA.
Flaviviruses are arthropod-borne viruses primarily transmitted through the mosquito or genus of mosquitos. These viruses are predominantly found in tropical and subtropical regions of the world with their geographical spread predicted to increase as global temperatures continue to rise. These viruses cause a variety of diseases in humans with the most prevalent being caused by dengue, resulting in hemorrhagic fever and associated sequala.
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