Happy Virus Appreciation Day!
Thanks to the people who emailed to remind me that October third is Virus Appreciation Day! Not that I was likely to forget, since this is one of the best holidays of the whole year: the day when everybody gets to get all warm and fuzzy about their favourite viral infection without being looked at funny. Much. (I continue to find it highly appropriate that this day comes at the beginning of California's really nasty cold-and-flu season. I mean, really, way to advertise your holiday, virologists of the world. Everybody currently has something they can appreciate, even if they don't like it very much.)
My favorite virus, for the third year running, is the synthetic fusion of the flu-based rhinovirus created by Dr. Alexander Kellis, and Marburg Amberlee, commonly referred to as 'Kellis-Amberlee' or 'KA.' There are currently at least ten different strains of the virus in circulation, which isn't surprising, given that it's been endemic to the world's mammal populations for over twenty years, but I'm not into discrimination. I love them all. Yay for genetically engineered filovirii!
(In case you missed all of the earlier memos on the subject, and are now becoming concerned, Kellis-Amberlee is the blessedly fictional virus which I created in order to bring about a global zombie apocalypse in Newsflesh. By going for a nearly universal infection rate with no viable cure, but which doesn't kill its hosts under normal circumstances, I've been able to do a pan-generational outbreak that has no visible end. This makes me a very happy girl, and I think that just goes to explain why I don't get out much.)
The epidemiology of Kellis-Amberlee is complicated, elaborate, and makes me happy as a clam, which is really what matters. KA is airborne, with two different forms of live, or 'active' infection, as well as a passively inert viral form during which it remains largely encysted and silent, even inside a living human body. One form of active infection is harmless, even beneficial to the host. The second form of active infection, well...did we miss the part where I said 'zombie apocalypse'? Because I never joke about that sort of thing.
The thing I appreciate most about Kellis-Amberlee is probably the interesting set of 'special cases' called 'reservoir conditions.' These are people who have a Type 2 infection going in some part of their body, yet fail to go into full viral amplification. Depending on where that Type 2 infection is located, they can act as Typhoid Marys for a Type 2 outbreak -- the virus can't live in tears, making an ocular reservoir condition safe, if inconvenient, but it can live in blood, semen, and human waste, making certain other reservoir conditions potentially deadly to everyone around you. Glee. The reservoir conditions form the basis for the second book in the series, The Mourning Edition, because the virology was just too good to waste.
I'm celebrating my fictional virus, because it makes me happy. What's your favourite virus?
My favorite virus, for the third year running, is the synthetic fusion of the flu-based rhinovirus created by Dr. Alexander Kellis, and Marburg Amberlee, commonly referred to as 'Kellis-Amberlee' or 'KA.' There are currently at least ten different strains of the virus in circulation, which isn't surprising, given that it's been endemic to the world's mammal populations for over twenty years, but I'm not into discrimination. I love them all. Yay for genetically engineered filovirii!
(In case you missed all of the earlier memos on the subject, and are now becoming concerned, Kellis-Amberlee is the blessedly fictional virus which I created in order to bring about a global zombie apocalypse in Newsflesh. By going for a nearly universal infection rate with no viable cure, but which doesn't kill its hosts under normal circumstances, I've been able to do a pan-generational outbreak that has no visible end. This makes me a very happy girl, and I think that just goes to explain why I don't get out much.)
The epidemiology of Kellis-Amberlee is complicated, elaborate, and makes me happy as a clam, which is really what matters. KA is airborne, with two different forms of live, or 'active' infection, as well as a passively inert viral form during which it remains largely encysted and silent, even inside a living human body. One form of active infection is harmless, even beneficial to the host. The second form of active infection, well...did we miss the part where I said 'zombie apocalypse'? Because I never joke about that sort of thing.
The thing I appreciate most about Kellis-Amberlee is probably the interesting set of 'special cases' called 'reservoir conditions.' These are people who have a Type 2 infection going in some part of their body, yet fail to go into full viral amplification. Depending on where that Type 2 infection is located, they can act as Typhoid Marys for a Type 2 outbreak -- the virus can't live in tears, making an ocular reservoir condition safe, if inconvenient, but it can live in blood, semen, and human waste, making certain other reservoir conditions potentially deadly to everyone around you. Glee. The reservoir conditions form the basis for the second book in the series, The Mourning Edition, because the virology was just too good to waste.
I'm celebrating my fictional virus, because it makes me happy. What's your favourite virus?