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Article: EGYPTIAN VIRUS KILLS CELLS, NOT PEOPLE MUTATING OUT ITS CYTOTOXICITY TURNS VIRAL PATHOGEN INTO POTENTIAL CONTROLLED GENE- DELIVERY VECTOR By David N. Leff Science Editor.
- Article from:
- BIOWORLD Today
- Article date:
- November 3, 1998
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 A Thomson Healthcare Company. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Most of the viruses in the news these days seem to have "Out of Africa" on their nameplates. Field virologists tend to christen a new virus after the place where they discovered it - for example: Lassa, Ebola, Rift Valley, Semliki Forest and Sindbis. But Africa doesn't have a viral monopoly. Take Coxsackie virus, named after a town in upstate New York, Powassan (Canada), Hantavirus (Korea), Marburg (Germany) and Sendai (Japan). Sendai, Semliki and Sindbis viruses are not on the most-wanted list of dangerous viral pathogens. Rather, scientists use them in research. To be sure, Sindbis virus - named for a village in Egypt - can cause mild fever and musculoskeletal pain, as ...