This Week in Virology TWiV 1271: Hokies go viral II
Nov 16, 2025
X.J. Meng is a veterinary virologist known for his work on hepatitis E virus (HEV), while Kylene Kehn-Hall focuses on Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV). They discuss HEV's zoonotic transmission from animals like pigs and the challenges of understanding its chronic infection risks. Kylene dives into RVFV's mosquito transmission, its severe effects on livestock and humans, and the intricate immune evasion tactics of the RVFV NSs protein. The conversation highlights the importance of interdisciplinary research in tackling emerging viral threats.
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Natural HEV Recombinants Can Gain New Traits
- Natural recombinants of HEV have acquired human sequence insertions in ORF1's hypervariable region.
- Inserted ribosomal protein S17 gives nuclear localization and expanded host range in experimental studies.
Viremic Pigs At Slaughter And Exposed Veterinarians
- Meng's study with USDA found ~6% of pigs at slaughter were still viremic, posing food supply risk.
- He also found pig veterinarians had higher HEV seropositivity than controls.
Research Targets: Pregnancy, Neurology, Host Range
- Meng's group studies why HEV causes severe pregnancy mortality and extrahepatic disease like neurologic complications.
- They focus on viral genetic elements (hypervariable ORF1 region) and host factors for cross-species infection and pathogenesis.