TWiV 1317: Dead shrimp walking

This Week in Virology episode 1317 dives into two groundbreaking studies that reveal the hidden viral landscape within human populations and uncover a surprising zoonotic threat from aquatic animals. The first paper, from a massive genomic analysis of nearly a million human samples, maps the DNA virome across blood and saliva, revealing how human genetics, age, sex, time of day, season, and lifestyle factors like smoking shape viral presence. Key findings include the strong influence of the MHC region on viral load, the surprising link between smoking and opposite effects on EBV versus HHV-7, and the discovery that EBV DNA load is a causal factor in Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The second study identifies a previously unknown aquatic virus, covert mortality notovirus (CMNV), as the cause of a rising eye disease called POVAL—persistent ocular hypertension viral anterior uveitis—through a striking epidemiological link to aquaculture and raw seafood consumption. The virus, found in fish, shrimp, and krill worldwide, can infect humans via puncture wounds during food preparation, replicate in mammalian cells, and cause severe eye damage in mice, marking the first known case of a virus from aquatic animals directly causing human disease. The episode also features a passionate critique of the U.S. military’s decision to end mandatory flu vaccination, framed as ideologically driven and dangerous to military readiness, and highlights a range of listener picks including the Wayback Machine, a vaccine advocacy YouTube channel, Stephen King’s writing memoir, and a documentary on the Soviet space program’s failures.