Measuring infectious virus: the plaque assay
The amount of virus contained in a sample is crucial information for anyone working with viruses. But how can you quantify viruses? One method is the plaque assay, which specifically measures infectious virus particles. The assay involves adding viruses to permissive...
Is Virus Research Safe?
In light of the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, throughout the past 2 years, the question of whether virus research is safe has been widely discussed in the mainstream media, on social media, and indeed by the scientific community. Eminent scientists worldwide have...
The virus of the month: Zika
Zika virus (ZIKV) was first identified in monkeys in Uganda in 1947. Later, in 1952, it was also found in humans in Uganda and Tanzania. Yet it was only in 2007 that the first Zika outbreak was reported, and the disease only became known worldwide in 2016, during a...
The virus of the month: norovirus
Norovirus was first reported in 1929 when it was singled out as the cause of a winter vomiting disease. In 1968, the virus was named Norwalk virus, and many of its symptoms and incubation times were described as part of investigations of a large outbreak. In the...Page 7 of 29