viroLOGICAL

Junin virus causes Argentine hemorrhagic fever, a disease with a case fatality rate of 20 to 30 percent. Florian Krammer explains why these New World arenaviruses are named after sand (they package host cell ribosomes that look like grains of sand under the electron microscope) and what makes their spike protein unusual: the signal peptide stays part of the glycoprotein complex, something found nowhere else in biology. The virus is carried by field mice, mainly the dryland vesper mouse, and people usually get infected by inhaling dust from dried urine and feces. That's why it mostly affects men working in agriculture, with over 90 percent of the 300 to 500 annual cases occurring in rural areas. Unlike most hemorrhagic fevers, this one has countermeasures: the live attenuated vaccine Candid One with 95 percent efficacy, and convalescent plasma that cuts fatality to one or two percent but causes late neurological symptoms in about 8 to 10 percent of patients. Florian Krammer's own lab is about to publish monoclonal antibodies that could replace plasma therapy.

Information about Junin virus and Argentine hemorrhagic fever from the UK Health Security Agency: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/argentine-haemorrhagic-fever-origins-reservoirs-transmission-and-guidelines

New paper about Junin virus monoclonal antibodies that could be used for treatment: https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mbio.00214-26

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Krammer laboratory information

Krammer Laboratory at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Science Outreach and Pandemic Preparedness

Ignaz Semmelweis Institute

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Conflict of interest statement

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has filed patent applications relating to influenza virus vaccines and therapeutics, SARS-CoV-2 serological assays and NDV-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines which name me as inventor. Mount Sinai has spun out a company, CastleVax, to commercialize NDV-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and I am named as co-founder and scientific advisory board member of that company.

I have previously consulted for Curevac, Merck, Gritstone, Sanofi, Seqirus, GSK and Pfizer and I am currently consulting for 3rd Rock Ventures (US) and Avimex (Mexico).

My laboratory has been collaborating in the past with Pfizer on animal models of SARS-CoV-2 and with GlaxoSmithKline and VIR on the development of influenza virus vaccines and therapeutics and we are currently collaborating with Dynavax, Inspirevax and Inimmune on development of influenza virus vaccines.

My work in the on immunity and infectious diseases in the US is supported by the National Institutes of Health, but also by FluLab and Tito’s Handmade Vodka. In the past I have also received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, PATH and the US Department of Defense.

My work in Austria is supported by the Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft and by the Ignaz Semmelweis Institute through the Medical University of Vienna.

Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is one of the most common respiratory viruses there is, yet few people have heard of it. Florian Krammer explains why this relative of RSV is the second most common cause of respiratory illness in children under five and is behind 8 to 15 percent of pneumonia cases in that age group. Virtually every child has been infected by age five, but immunity doesn't last, so reinfections happen throughout life. The highest risk falls on premature babies, infants between six and twelve months, adults over 65, and people with COPD, asthma or weakened immune systems. HMPV was only discovered in 2001 in Rotterdam but has likely circulated in humans for around 200 years after jumping from birds. Unlike RSV, there are no vaccines or antibody treatments yet, though combination vaccines are in clinical trials.

Human metapneumovirus information from the CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/human-metapneumovirus/about/index.html

Human metapneumovirus information from the WHO: https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/human-metapneumovirus-(hmpv)-infection

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Krammer laboratory information

Krammer Laboratory at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Science Outreach and Pandemic Preparedness

Ignaz Semmelweis Institute

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Conflict of interest statement

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has filed patent applications relating to influenza virus vaccines and therapeutics, SARS-CoV-2 serological assays and NDV-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines which name me as inventor. Mount Sinai has spun out a company, CastleVax, to commercialize NDV-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and I am named as co-founder and scientific advisory board member of that company.

I have previously consulted for Curevac, Merck, Gritstone, Sanofi, Seqirus, GSK and Pfizer and I am currently consulting for 3rd Rock Ventures (US) and Avimex (Mexico).

My laboratory has been collaborating in the past with Pfizer on animal models of SARS-CoV-2 and with GlaxoSmithKline and VIR on the development of influenza virus vaccines and therapeutics and we are currently collaborating with Dynavax, Inspirevax and Inimmune on development of influenza virus vaccines.

My work in the on immunity and infectious diseases in the US is supported by the National Institutes of Health, but also by FluLab and Tito’s Handmade Vodka. In the past I have also received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, PATH and the US Department of Defense.

My work in Austria is supported by the Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft and by the Ignaz Semmelweis Institute through the Medical University of Vienna.

The 1918 Spanish flu was the deadliest influenza pandemic on record: between 20 and 100 million people died, from a world population of just 1.8 billion at the time. Florian Krammer explains why this H1N1 virus, with a case fatality rate of two to three percent, was so dangerous, where the misleading name comes from (Spain was neutral and had a free press when warring countries did not) and why mortality peaked among 20 to 40 year olds in a distinctive W-shaped curve. He also lays out his own hypothesis: seasonal influenza may have vanished entirely between 1891 and 1918, leaving a whole generation with no immunity at all. The episode covers cytokine storms, anti-mask leagues, famous victims including Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele, and the reconstruction of the virus from formalin-fixed pathology slides and a body exhumed from Alaskan permafrost. It closes with 2009, when a descendant of the 1918 virus jumped back out of pigs into people.

Link to John Barry’s book ‘The Great Influenza’: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Influenza

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Krammer laboratory information

Krammer Laboratory at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Science Outreach and Pandemic Preparedness

Ignaz Semmelweis Institute

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Conflict of interest statement

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has filed patent applications relating to influenza virus vaccines and therapeutics, SARS-CoV-2 serological assays and NDV-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines which name me as inventor. Mount Sinai has spun out a company, CastleVax, to commercialize NDV-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and I am named as co-founder and scientific advisory board member of that company.

I have previously consulted for Curevac, Merck, Gritstone, Sanofi, Seqirus, GSK and Pfizer and I am currently consulting for 3rd Rock Ventures (US) and Avimex (Mexico).

My laboratory has been collaborating in the past with Pfizer on animal models of SARS-CoV-2 and with GlaxoSmithKline and VIR on the development of influenza virus vaccines and therapeutics and we are currently collaborating with Dynavax, Inspirevax and Inimmune on development of influenza virus vaccines.

My work in the on immunity and infectious diseases in the US is supported by the National Institutes of Health, but also by FluLab and Tito’s Handmade Vodka. In the past I have also received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, PATH and the US Department of Defense.

My work in Austria is supported by the Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft and by the Ignaz Semmelweis Institute through the Medical University of Vienna.

Canine distemper virus is a paramyxovirus and a close relative of measles virus. Florian Krammer explains why the disease is so dangerous for unvaccinated dogs: in puppies between three and six months the case fatality rate is around 80 percent, and roughly 50 percent in adult dogs with no immunity. Once the virus reaches the central nervous system, the outcome is usually fatal. What makes it especially troubling is its host range: wolves, foxes, red pandas, lions, tigers, elephants, bears, raccoons and badgers can all be infected, which turns distemper into a conservation problem. An outbreak in the Serengeti killed around 20 percent of the lion population in 1993, and the related phocine distemper virus killed roughly 18,000 harbour seals in the North Sea in 1998. Humans don't get sick, probably in part because of cross-protection from measles immunity. Good vaccines have existed since the 1960s but need regular boosting.

General information about canine distemper virus: https://www.avma.org/resources-tools/pet-owners/petcare/canine-distemper

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Krammer laboratory information

Krammer Laboratory at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Science Outreach and Pandemic Preparedness

Ignaz Semmelweis Institute

+++++

Conflict of interest statement

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has filed patent applications relating to influenza virus vaccines and therapeutics, SARS-CoV-2 serological assays and NDV-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines which name me as inventor. Mount Sinai has spun out a company, CastleVax, to commercialize NDV-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and I am named as co-founder and scientific advisory board member of that company.

I have previously consulted for Curevac, Merck, Gritstone, Sanofi, Seqirus, GSK and Pfizer and I am currently consulting for 3rd Rock Ventures (US) and Avimex (Mexico).

My laboratory has been collaborating in the past with Pfizer on animal models of SARS-CoV-2 and with GlaxoSmithKline and VIR on the development of influenza virus vaccines and therapeutics and we are currently collaborating with Dynavax, Inspirevax and Inimmune on development of influenza virus vaccines.

My work in the on immunity and infectious diseases in the US is supported by the National Institutes of Health, but also by FluLab and Tito’s Handmade Vodka. In the past I have also received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, PATH and the US Department of Defense.

My work in Austria is supported by the Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft and by the Ignaz Semmelweis Institute through the Medical University of Vienna.

Recorded in Sapporo, this episode is about a virus causing severe disease across Asia: SFTS virus, officially named Dabie bandavirus. It spreads mainly through the Asian longhorned tick, and in rare cases directly between people via blood and bodily fluids. Florian Krammer explains why the fatality rate of 10 to 30 percent is so alarmingly high, why it's almost exclusively older people in rural parts of China, Japan and South Korea who fall ill, and what lies behind the unwieldy name: severe fever with a dramatic drop in blood platelets. There's also a fascinating American relative, Heartland virus, discovered in Missouri in 2009 and now detected in more than a dozen US states. No vaccine exists and the available drugs barely help, which leaves proper tick protection as the only real defence.

Meta-analysis of SFTSV epidemiology: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11261768/

SFTSV review paper: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12325320/

Information about Heartland virus from the US CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/heartland-virus/hcp/clinical-diagnosis/index.html

Retrospective analysis of the 1996 cluster in Jiangsu: https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0006603

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Krammer laboratory information

Krammer Laboratory at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Science Outreach and Pandemic Preparedness

Ignaz Semmelweis Institute

+++++

Conflict of interest statement

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has filed patent applications relating to influenza virus vaccines and therapeutics, SARS-CoV-2 serological assays and NDV-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines which name me as inventor. Mount Sinai has spun out a company, CastleVax, to commercialize NDV-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and I am named as co-founder and scientific advisory board member of that company.

I have previously consulted for Curevac, Merck, Gritstone, Sanofi, Seqirus, GSK and Pfizer and I am currently consulting for 3rd Rock Ventures (US) and Avimex (Mexico).

My laboratory has been collaborating in the past with Pfizer on animal models of SARS-CoV-2 and with GlaxoSmithKline and VIR on the development of influenza virus vaccines and therapeutics and we are currently collaborating with Dynavax, Inspirevax and Inimmune on development of influenza virus vaccines.

My work in the on immunity and infectious diseases in the US is supported by the National Institutes of Health, but also by FluLab and Tito’s Handmade Vodka. In the past I have also received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, PATH and the US Department of Defense.

My work in Austria is supported by the Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft and by the Ignaz Semmelweis Institute through the Medical University of Vienna.

This time it's a herpes virus that almost all of us carry: human cytomegalovirus (CMV). Florian Krammer explains why this large DNA virus with over 200 proteins is so hard to pin down, how it deposits its genome as an episome inside immune cells and stays hidden there for decades. In healthy people the infection usually goes unnoticed, but in transplant patients or pregnant women it can cause serious harm, from organ inflammation to birth defects. The episode also covers reactivation under stress (including astronauts on the ISS and long COVID), associations with cancer, Alzheimer's and immune ageing, and why decades of vaccine development have so far come up short.

US CDC information about CMV: https://www.cdc.gov/cytomegalovirus/about/index.html

Review article about CMV vaccines (slightly outdated, January 2025): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11684802/

Nature article about CMV (and herpesvirus) reactivation in COVID-19 and Long COVID patients: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42557313/

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You can support the podcast via our German Steady page:

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Krammer laboratory information

Krammer Laboratory at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Science Outreach and Pandemic Preparedness

Ignaz Semmelweis Institute

+++++

Conflict of interest statement

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has filed patent applications relating to influenza virus vaccines and therapeutics, SARS-CoV-2 serological assays and NDV-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines which name me as inventor. Mount Sinai has spun out a company, CastleVax, to commercialize NDV-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and I am named as co-founder and scientific advisory board member of that company.

I have previously consulted for Curevac, Merck, Gritstone, Sanofi, Seqirus, GSK and Pfizer and I am currently consulting for 3rd Rock Ventures (US) and Avimex (Mexico).

My laboratory has been collaborating in the past with Pfizer on animal models of SARS-CoV-2 and with GlaxoSmithKline and VIR on the development of influenza virus vaccines and therapeutics and we are currently collaborating with Dynavax, Inspirevax and Inimmune on development of influenza virus vaccines.

My work in the on immunity and infectious diseases in the US is supported by the National Institutes of Health, but also by FluLab and Tito’s Handmade Vodka. In the past I have also received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, PATH and the US Department of Defense.

My work in Austria is supported by the Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft and by the Ignaz Semmelweis Institute through the Medical University of Vienna.

This time it's a virus that has circulated in humans for millennia: mumps virus. Florian Krammer explains why this paramyxovirus is related to measles and the dangerous Nipah virus, how the infection unfolds, and why it's usually mild but can cause serious complications including inflammation of the testicles, brain, or pancreas. The episode traces the history from Hippocrates to its identification as a viral disease in 1934, along with the story of how Merck researcher Maurice Hilleman developed the vaccine still used today from a swab of his own sick daughter. The MMR vaccine brought mumps close to elimination, but vaccine hesitancy, waning immunity, and viral evolution are pushing case numbers back up worldwide.

The Maurice Hilleman biography mentioned in this episode:

Picture of a child with the typical mumps swelling: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumps#/media/File:Mumps_PHIL_130_lores.jpg

US CDC mumps information page: https://www.cdc.gov/mumps/hcp/clinical-overview/index.html

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You can support the podcast via our German Steady page:

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Krammer laboratory information

Krammer Laboratory at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Science Outreach and Pandemic Preparedness

Ignaz Semmelweis Institute

+++++

Conflict of interest statement

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has filed patent applications relating to influenza virus vaccines and therapeutics, SARS-CoV-2 serological assays and NDV-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines which name me as inventor. Mount Sinai has spun out a company, CastleVax, to commercialize NDV-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and I am named as co-founder and scientific advisory board member of that company.

I have previously consulted for Curevac, Merck, Gritstone, Sanofi, Seqirus, GSK and Pfizer and I am currently consulting for 3rd Rock Ventures (US) and Avimex (Mexico).

My laboratory has been collaborating in the past with Pfizer on animal models of SARS-CoV-2 and with GlaxoSmithKline and VIR on the development of influenza virus vaccines and therapeutics and we are currently collaborating with Dynavax, Inspirevax and Inimmune on development of influenza virus vaccines.

My work in the on immunity and infectious diseases in the US is supported by the National Institutes of Health, but also by FluLab and Tito’s Handmade Vodka. In the past I have also received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, PATH and the US Department of Defense.

My work in Austria is supported by the Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft and by the Ignaz Semmelweis Institute through the Medical University of Vienna.

A summer update with four current stories from the world of virology. First stop is Switzerland, where thousands of cows fell ill from a newly discovered orthobunyavirus of the Simbu group, closely related to Schmallenberg virus but with little risk to humans. Next comes a sobering update on the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which with over 4,000 cases is now the second-largest in history, though first clinical trials of treatments and vaccines have begun. There's also a new and probably harmless Andes virus case in a traveller in Europe, unrelated to the earlier cruise ship outbreak. And finally the most controversial item: researchers from Stanford and the Arc Institute used artificial intelligence to generate working viruses (harmless bacteriophages), sparking a major debate about biosecurity and the lack of regulation.

Informations about the new orthobunyavirus in Switzerland: https://www.ivi.admin.ch/en/neues-orthobunyavirus-der-simbu-serogruppe-bei-rindern-entdeckte

Bundibugyo ebola outbreak update: https://www.cdc.gov/ebola/situation-summary/index.html

Information about the new Andesvirus case in France/Spain: https://www.santepubliquefrance.fr/en/news/andes-hantavirus-implementation-epidemiological-investigations-and-contact-tracing-following

Science article about the AI bacteriophage: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aec2657

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Krammer laboratory information

Krammer Laboratory at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Science Outreach and Pandemic Preparedness

Ignaz Semmelweis Institute

+++++

Conflict of interest statement

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has filed patent applications relating to influenza virus vaccines and therapeutics, SARS-CoV-2 serological assays and NDV-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines which name me as inventor. Mount Sinai has spun out a company, CastleVax, to commercialize NDV-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and I am named as co-founder and scientific advisory board member of that company.

I have previously consulted for Curevac, Merck, Gritstone, Sanofi, Seqirus, GSK and Pfizer and I am currently consulting for 3rd Rock Ventures (US) and Avimex (Mexico).

My laboratory has been collaborating in the past with Pfizer on animal models of SARS-CoV-2 and with GlaxoSmithKline and VIR on the development of influenza virus vaccines and therapeutics and we are currently collaborating with Dynavax, Inspirevax and Inimmune on development of influenza virus vaccines.

My work in the on immunity and infectious diseases in the US is supported by the National Institutes of Health, but also by FluLab and Tito’s Handmade Vodka. In the past I have also received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, PATH and the US Department of Defense.

My work in Austria is supported by the Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft and by the Ignaz Semmelweis Institute through the Medical University of Vienna.

The final part of the summer series on vacation viruses is one you can catch without going anywhere: West Nile virus. Florian Krammer explains why this flavivirus is closely related to Japanese and St. Louis encephalitis virus, how it mysteriously showed up in New York in 1999 - most likely via mosquitoes on a container ship and spread across the entire US within a few years. It has since reached Austria too, mainly in the east (Vienna, Lower Austria, Burgenland). Birds are the real reservoir, while humans and horses are dead-end hosts. The good news: 80% of infections are symptomless. The bad news: in rare cases the virus invades the nervous system, and then the fatality rate is around 10%. A striking detail: the very CCR5 mutation that protects against HIV raises the risk of severe West Nile disease. There's no vaccine for humans, only mosquito protection helps.

West Nile virus information from the US CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/west-nile-virus/index.html

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You can support the podcast via our German Steady page:

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Krammer laboratory information

Krammer Laboratory at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Science Outreach and Pandemic Preparedness

Ignaz Semmelweis Institute

+++++

Conflict of interest statement

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has filed patent applications relating to influenza virus vaccines and therapeutics, SARS-CoV-2 serological assays and NDV-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines which name me as inventor. Mount Sinai has spun out a company, CastleVax, to commercialize NDV-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and I am named as co-founder and scientific advisory board member of that company.

I have previously consulted for Curevac, Merck, Gritstone, Sanofi, Seqirus, GSK and Pfizer and I am currently consulting for 3rd Rock Ventures (US) and Avimex (Mexico).

My laboratory has been collaborating in the past with Pfizer on animal models of SARS-CoV-2 and with GlaxoSmithKline and VIR on the development of influenza virus vaccines and therapeutics and we are currently collaborating with Dynavax, Inspirevax and Inimmune on development of influenza virus vaccines.

My work in the on immunity and infectious diseases in the US is supported by the National Institutes of Health, but also by FluLab and Tito’s Handmade Vodka. In the past I have also received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, PATH and the US Department of Defense.

My work in Austria is supported by the Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft and by the Ignaz Semmelweis Institute through the Medical University of Vienna.

Part three of the summer series on viruses you can pick up on vacation. After Italy and Scandinavia, it's off to the tropics. Oropouche virus causes Oropouche fever and is spread not by mosquitoes but mainly by tiny midges — the same bloodsuckers that transmit bluetongue disease. Florian Krammer explains why it's related to more dangerous viruses like Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever and Rift Valley fever virus, how it moves between a rainforest cycle (involving sloths, monkeys and birds) and a more troubling urban human-to-human cycle, and why the symptoms often come in two waves — they fade, then return after seven to ten days. Most infections are mild, but in rare cases it can cause meningitis, Guillain-Barré syndrome, or serious harm to an unborn child. There's no vaccine and no treatment — avoiding bites is the only protection.

Oropouche virus review: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11945866/

US CDC Oropouche overview: https://www.cdc.gov/oropouche/hcp/clinical-overview/index.html

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You can support the podcast via our German Steady page:

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Krammer laboratory information

Krammer Laboratory at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Science Outreach and Pandemic Preparedness

Ignaz Semmelweis Institute

+++++

Conflict of interest statement

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has filed patent applications relating to influenza virus vaccines and therapeutics, SARS-CoV-2 serological assays and NDV-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines which name me as inventor. Mount Sinai has spun out a company, CastleVax, to commercialize NDV-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and I am named as co-founder and scientific advisory board member of that company.

I have previously consulted for Curevac, Merck, Gritstone, Sanofi, Seqirus, GSK and Pfizer and I am currently consulting for 3rd Rock Ventures (US) and Avimex (Mexico).

My laboratory has been collaborating in the past with Pfizer on animal models of SARS-CoV-2 and with GlaxoSmithKline and VIR on the development of influenza virus vaccines and therapeutics and we are currently collaborating with Dynavax, Inspirevax and Inimmune on development of influenza virus vaccines.

My work in the on immunity and infectious diseases in the US is supported by the National Institutes of Health, but also by FluLab and Tito’s Handmade Vodka. In the past I have also received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, PATH and the US Department of Defense.

My work in Austria is supported by the Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft and by the Ignaz Semmelweis Institute through the Medical University of Vienna.