In their Feb. 7, 2010 TWiV podcast [2] Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Vincent Racaniello, PLoS Pathogens [3] Community Editor, consider ‘recent outbreaks of mumps in the UK, US, and Israel, protection of mice against 2009 H1N1 influenza A virus by 1918-like and classical swine H1N1 vaccines, and a virus-like particle vaccine for chikungunya virus.’

On the Dec. 6th TWiV podcast, Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier discuss the symbiotic bacterium Wolbachia, the origin of the 2009 influenza H1N1 virus, and 'the lure of original antigenic sin.'

A recent study [8] in PLoS Computational Biology has been milking the presses this week...

On August 21st, Matthew Rogers and colleagues published an article [11]in PLoS Pathogens [12] which shows that the parasite Leishmania tricks host immune defense cells into feeding it rather than killing it. This development may help in the search for an effective vaccine against leishmaniasis, a painful, disfiguring, potentially fatal disease that afflicts approximately 12 million people worldwide.

The PLoS Pathogens editors and staff are thrilled to announce the debut of “Pearls,” a new series in the journal that will begin publishing monthly, starting with this June’s issue.

Each Pearl will be a concise primer on a topic of importance, meant to fill the gap between research articles and textbooks. Pearls will be tailored for graduate students and post-docs, while providing a format accessible to a general readership.