TWiV 126: Wart’s up, doc?

March 27, 2011

michelle ozbunHosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Michelle Ozbun

Virologist Michelle Ozbun and the TWiV team review the biology of human papillomaviruses.

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Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #126 (69 MB .mp3, 96 minutes).

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Links for this episode:

Weekly Science Picks

Michelle – HIV-1 utilizes chemokine receptor CXCR4 to enter stem cells (PubMed)
Dickson – Bengladesh bans sale of palm sap (NY Times)
Rich – The Medusa and the Snail by Lewis Thomas (“On Warts” – pdf)
Alan – Planting Science – students, teachers, and scientists collaborate on botany experiments
Vincent – CIDRAP – Center for Disease Research and Policy

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@twiv.tv, or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twiv.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Tom-Hays/299500047 Tom Hays

    Thanks for the great (as always) episode this week. I feel like one important point was omitted during the discussion of the rational of vaccinating men against HPV. In addition to serving as a vector for cervical cancer in women, men are susceptible to anal cancer linked to HPV. Rates of anal cancer are particularly high in at-risk populations like men who have sex with men (JAMA. 1982;247(14):1988.) I don’t know if the cost-benefit analysis has been performed for vaccinating to prevent anal cancer, as it was with cervical cancer. But it is an important point that parents and individual patients should consider when thinking about getting vaccinated against HPV.

    Great show though. The HPV vaccine is such an important accomplishment in modern medicine, and I appreciate you highlighting it.

    Thanks,
    Tom Hays
    MD/PhD student, Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

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