Category: Uncategorized

EARLY DISEASE FOCUS. “Since the late 1800s, the discovery of new viruses was a gradual process. Viruses were described one by one using a suite of techniques such as (electron) microscopy and viral culture. Investigators were usually interested in a disease state within an organism, and expeditions in viral ecology were rare.” https://lnkd.in/g35Hmrp View in LinkedIn

DARK AGES. “Our best guess is that there are 10 million living species, more or less, excluding the single-celled bacteria and Archaea. Of these, fewer than two million are known to science. And of documented species, most are known by little more than a few diagnostic features and a name.” Characteristically, and sadly, this perspective omits to even mention of the most numerous and diverse group of creatures on Planet Earth, namely, viruses. https://lnkd.in/giV3WBx View in LinkedIn

130 HUMAN DISEASE VIRUS CURATED DATABASE, (Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics). 130 out of millions of species are pathogenic. Here is the updated list of all the bad guys. https://lnkd.in/gCk2PYC View in LinkedIn

THE FLAMMARION ENGRAVING of 1888 shows a pilgrim peering under the mantle of the heavens to learn of the hidden workings of the world. Little has changed since this date. Despite all our self-congratulatory efforts, even our descriptive knowledge to simple catalogue and enumerate our world is only less than 1% of the total biological diversity, when viruses are figured into the equation. A Martian arriving at planet earth might indeed be surprised by this state of affairs. https://lnkd.in/gmMe6gB View in LinkedIn

DROP IN THE BUCKET. “An updated literature survey identified 1,407 recognized species of human pathogen, 58% of which are zoonotic. Of the total, 177 are regarded as emerging or reemerging.” A drop in the bucket compared to the millions of species of viruses estimated. https://lnkd.in/gJzt_vK View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE concerns our monumental ignorance about our universe and our planet, as exemplified by our almost non-existent documentation of the most prevalent creature on earth, the mighty virus. Humans have completely missed the boat on this tiny creature, and continue to do so. Many scientists exclude it from the tree of life and deny that it is living, but it probably had and still has more impact on life on this planet than any other single entity. Pedants and ostriches beware: professorships will be castigated when the full extent of our misreadings become widely known. https://lnkd.in/gkwpqWi View in LinkedIn

SILENT MAJORITY. “Whether they are host-associated or free-living, we now know that most viruses (like microbes in general) are not pathogenic to humans, plants, or animals.” https://lnkd.in/g35Hmrp View in LinkedIn

The Guardian view on pesticides: give bees a chance View in LinkedIn

BAD GUY VIRUSES that have caused pandemics get the popular attention, and have killed hundreds of millions of people over the centuries. The 1918 explosive influenza pandemic killed more people than than the first world war. These have been fixed in the public imagination as the portrait of viruses, just nasty germs. https://lnkd.in/gtZ2Tfk View in LinkedIn

GLOBAL CYCLING IMPACT. “Viruses are the most abundant entities across all habitats, and a major reservoir of genetic diversity affecting biogeochemical cycles and ecosystem dynamics.” https://lnkd.in/gGriiyJ View in LinkedIn