Virology Podcast by Karolina Karolína Štaflová

Maybe you noticed media reports talking about ancient viruses found in permafrost. Sometimes even using catchphrases like "zombie virus revived from the ice". And I am not exaggerating, even CNN used the term zombie virus in a headline. Today I would like to talk about where these stories are coming from and what research was done on viruses or their fragments conserved in permafrost. 

On viruses that were discovered in permafrost samples as old as 50,000 years. 

On viruses that can sometimes still be infectious, even after all this time.

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If you enjoyed this episode and want to stay updated on more virology stories, please follow @virology_podcast or @karolina_science on Instagram :). The podcast is also available in Czech as “Podcast o virech”.

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Sources:

R. Wu, 2022: RNA Viruses Linked to Eukaryotic Hosts in Thawed Permafrost • J. Alempic, 2023: An Update on Eukaryotic Viruses Revived from Ancient Permafrost • M. Legendre, 2014: Thirty-thousand-year-old distant relative of giant icosahedral DNA viruses with a pandoravirus morphology; 2015: In-depth study of Mollivirus sibericum, a new 30,000-y-old giant virus infecting Acanthamoeba • S. Rigou, 2022: Metagenomic survey of the microbiome of ancient Siberian permafrost and modern Kamchatkan cryosols • The Guardian, 2024: Arctic zombie viruses in Siberia could spark terrifying new pandemic, scientists warn (online, accessed 21/04/2024) • S. Malavin, 2020: Frozen Zoo: a collection of permafrost samples containing viable protists and their viruses • Z. Zhong, 2021: Glacier ice archives nearly 15,000-year-old microbes and phages • K. Hueffer, 2020: Factors Contributing to Anthrax Outbreaks in the Circumpolar North • V. Timofeev, 2019: Insights from Bacillus anthracis strains isolated from permafrost in the tundra zone of Russia • P. Biagini, 2012: Variola virus in a 300-year-old Siberian mummy

It probably wouldn't surprise you if I told you that someone lied to make money. But today I would like to talk about a lie that changed the world we live in. It is a story of a doctor, who claimed that the MMR vaccine causes autism. He published a study detailing 12 children who allegedly developed autism after receiving the MMR vaccine. However, it was later revealed that the results were falsified, and the doctor in question was likely trying to fabricate evidence for a planned lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies. So, lets talk about the study in question and also about the subsequent research that was done to either confirm or refute this alarming claim, and in which there wasn't observed link between autism and MMR.

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If you enjoyed this episode and want to stay updated on more virology stories, please follow @virology_podcast or @karolina_science on Instagram :). The podcast is also available in Czech as Podcast o virech.

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Sources:

B. Deer, 2011: How the case against the MMR vaccine was fixed; 2020: The Doctor Who Fooled the World • F. DeStefano, 2019: The MMR Vaccine and Autism • S.E. Coffin, 2002: MMR and autism: moving from controversy toward consensus • N.S. Ashmani, 2022: Early Prediction and Evaluation of Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorders • F. Rafiee, 2022: Brain MRI in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Narrative Review and Recent Advances • M.L.B. Novilla, 2023: Why Parents Say No to Having Their Children Vaccinated against Measles • A. Jain, 2015: Autism occurrence by MMR vaccine status among US children with older siblings with and without autism • A. Hviid, 2019: Measles, Mumps, Rubella Vaccination and Autism: A Nationwide Cohort Study • WHO measles, mumps, rubella fact sheets (online, accessed 24/02/2024)

How do you look for something invisible? Today, I would like to go to the very beginning of the virology field. To the time when people only started to realize that viruses exist and can cause diseases. Because this required a whole shift in how people thought about infection. 

So, let me tell you a story, about the first virus ever discovered.

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If you enjoyed this episode and want to stay updated on more virology stories, please follow @virology_podcast or @karolina_science on Instagram :).

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Sources:

M. Zaitlin, 1998: The Discovery of the Causal Agent of the Tobacco Mosaic Disease 

KBG Scholthof, 2008: Tobacco Mosaic Virus: The Beginning of Plant Virology

MH Van Regenmortel, 2008: Tobacco Mosaic Virus

M. Karamanou, 2012: From miasmas to germs: a historical approach to theories of infectious disease transmission

ANH Creager, 2022: Tobacco Mosaic Virus and the History of Molecular Biology

Usually, we think about viruses as the enemies that threaten our health. But this episode talks about a time when scientists decided to turn the tables and take advantage of a virus.

More specifically, we explore the time when Australia struggled with overpopulated rabbits that were damaging the local ecosystem and causing extinctions of heritage species. So finally, the Australian authorities decided to use the rabbit myxoma virus to eliminate the rabbits by lethal epidemics. Let's see what followed!

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If you enjoyed this episode and want to stay updated on more virology stories, please follow @virology_podcast or @karolina_science on Instagram :).
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Sources:

F. Fenner, 2010: Deliberate introduction of the European rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus, into Australia

P. J. Kerr, 2021: Viruses for landscape-scale therapy: biological control of rabbits in Australia

B. Spiesschaert, 2011: The current status and future directions of myxoma virus, a master in immune evasion

P. J. Kerr, 2012: Myxomatosis in Australia and Europe: A model for emerging infectious disease

J. M. Alves, 2022: A single introduction of wild rabbits triggered the biological invasion of Australia