I didn't know they each had apps! It'll look into that next time I'm expecting to unfreeze my credit.

Great answer. The serotypes, in a way, are a phenotype - one that is "seen" by the host's antibody response. Like a negative image, perhaps. The genotype codes for that "phenotype" in a way that we haven't quite figured out yet (ie, there aren't commonly PCR tests, or MALDI data for serotypes, but there are groups working on them almost tirelessly).

Just to circle this back to the initial comment, HPV is a DNA virus, but yes, the vaccine is effective and greatly reduces the risk of awful cancers in both men and women. I plan to have both my children vaccinated when they are old enough.

There's been decades of work on an HIV vaccine, obviously. One of the most promising a bit over a decade ago was able to stimulate antibodies quite well just like the one in the story - maybe event the one u/redrightreturning got, who knows. Sadly, it turned out that individuals who had been vaccinated were more likely to get HIV. Why?, and the perpetual problem with HIV vaccines - HIV targets white blood cells. When you vaccinate someone, you're potentially instructing the immune system to find the virus, and at the same time the virus now has a backdoor access key to get into those white blood cells (the antibodies you made with the vaccine).

Making vaccines for most viruses is not overly complicated - we have many of the tools and approaches hammered out pretty well now, but there's still areas that can be improved (targeting CD4 vs. CD8 T-cell responses for one). mRNA vaccines were the next frontier for covid, but there are other, more tried approaches that work OK too - the ChAdOx approach is pretty common, and Sinovac is as simple as it gets. One virus, a DNA virus in fact, that has been especially problematic is African swine fever. No direct concern to you or me, but one of the most economically important viruses of agriculture out there. All sorts of new tech has been tried with that virus, with mRNA vaccines under development now...but I'm not incredibly hopeful.

Some viruses, though rarely, just don't respond to any of the vaccine approaches we've come up with.

Except that's not really correct. Disclaimer - I am a clinical virologist.

While it is true that RNA viruses mutate faster than DNA viruses, not all RNA viruses are the same. Some mutate almost out of control - HIV, for example, which lacks a "proof-reading " enzyme found in some RNA viruses like... You guessed it, covid-19. Those proof-reading enzymes really help minimize the mutation rates of RNA viruses that carry them; coronaviruses in general are pretty stable. The mutation rate we've seen globally over 3yrs with covid-19 is on par with the mutation rate of HIV in a single host !!!

Another RNA virus without those proof-reading enzymes, one you may have heard of? Measles virus - which is considered one of the most infectious viruses we know about, yet also one for which we have a damn good vaccine. Its genome is remarkably stable in the wild.

Yet another RNA virus you may have heard of? (I'd forgive you, since it's on the verge of being eradicated). Poliovirus. Nearly eradicated because of two very effective vaccines.

I'd post links, but all of this is publicly available knowledge on pubmed and some subs flag posts with actual science links. If you want links I'd be happy to send them by pm.

Just A Little Light as sung by the late, great Brent Mydland and the Grateful Dead.

Also, Right Down the Line by Gerry Rafferty.

Watch these MFers cry foul when hundreds of white people are stuck in line waiting to vote on Tuesday for one reason or another.

I loved that your young daughter got to tag along for some of the studies! (E to add that I caught part of the show with my 5yo daughter, who is big into wild cats!)

What was your career path, have you always wanted to pursue wildlife biology and have you always had an interest in ocelots specifically?

Do you find that the private property... situation... in Texas makes ocelot conservation more challenging?

Alternatively, the roommates are suspects.

In my field, rankings are based on a survey sent out to graduates: which university do you think is the best for your degree?

Lost the feeling of prestige I had graduating from a top 5 when I learned that.

Sure! Remember during the COVID vaccine roll-out, the vaccines had to be kept frozen, and could only sit for 15-30min when removed from the freezer? It's been updated a bit based on field experience and trials, but you can find more info here.

Essentially, mRNA is fragile at room temp. It needs to be kept frozen or cold for long periods of storage. Developing areas won't necessarily have the equipment to keep the vaccines cold.

It's why the oral poliovaccine, which is stable at room temperature (though runs the risk of reverting to a virulent form of the poliovirus) is used so commonly in sub-Saharan Africa and India, whereas the rest of the world uses an inactivated poliovaccine that isn't as stable at room temperature.

Lyssa, but yes. I'd have to do some research, but perhaps they're hoping for longer duration immunity with lower risk of side effects (there aren't many to begin with and immunity is pretty long-lived already).

The most vexing thing is that mRNA vaccines so far have needed very good cold chains. Most of the human cases of rabies, where the most benefit from vaccination would be, are in developing areas where cold chains are much less practical.

Various species of scorpions maybe?

https://www.sciencealert.com/til-baby-scorpions-ride-around-on-their-mums-back-and-i-m-both-impressed-and-terrified

All the more vexing because we left KS to get away from the political BS. And moved to AZ.

Out of the frying pan, into the fire. Figuratively and literally.

It's still early there yet.

It's odd that it hasn't, there's enough movement of people from endemic areas into Southern California.

Aedes aegypti, an important vector for Dengue and the subject of the study, was brought to the New World during the slave trade 500yrs ago. Seems like the New World had been doing fine in its absence before then.

Since the 1950s, the United States has made efforts to eliminate Cochliomyia hominivorax, the fly responsible for new world screw worm, throughout North America. How? By releasing millions of sterile male flies in Central America throughout the year. As recently as 2016, the species somehow made its way to the Florida Keys, jeopardizing populations of endangered Key deer. Sterile male flies were released en masses along the Florida Keys to eradicate the fly again, at a cost of millions of dollars.

There are more mosquito species out there than most people are aware of. Targeting one that plays an important part in transmitting diseases that cost human populations billions of dollars each year may not have the sort of downstream effects you're predicting.

Great example.

You may have seen the recent hypothesis that evolution towards resistance to the plague bacterium has influenced our susceptibility to autoimmune diseases.

https://www.sciencealert.com/the-black-death-shaped-human-evolution-and-were-still-in-its-shadow

Not humans, but I'm not sure that matters based on how you framed the question. Ultimately you want an example of mammalian evolution in the face of an infectious agent. Here's some background on selection in rabbits for resistance to myxoma virus in Australia and France, where the virus was used to try to eradicate rabbit populations (unsuccessfully, obviously).

https://www.science.org/content/article/seventy-years-ago-humans-unleashed-killer-virus-rabbits-heres-how-they-beat-it

I think you're a little confused. The vaccine is protective and provides outstanding immunity, though it's standard protocol to get a booster if there's suspected exposure.

For those who are unvaccinated when exposed, there's a more involved post-exposure prophylaxis that involves vaccination +/- immunoglobulin injections. That, again, provides excellent protection.

Typically every 2yrs for titers.

The only problem? No one knows what titers specifically are protective; the "less than" level requiring a booster is somewhat arbitrary.

For obvious reasons, the experiments necessary to determine the appropriate level - exposing people with varying antibody titers to rabies - have never been done :)

Source - I've gone through full post-exposure prophylaxis. There's no concern for developing rabies further down the road and boosters are only necessary for those who continue to be at high risk for exposure.

Chicago gets "The Ghost and the Darkness," a pair of lions that killed dozens of people.

Cleveland gets..."Balto," a sled dog.

Sounds about right.

>got his covid booster

Well there you go. 5G reception: on. Must be how they found him. ^s

My little buddy has been sick for two weeks now, it hit him way harder than I expected. Ear infection, croup, teething, and this SOB all at once. Not a fun time.

>I’m dipping my toes into totalitarian dystopias.

Aren't we all, these days.