Structure of a hantavirus protein as a promising model for drug design
Friday, February 26, 2016 - 16:30
in Health & Medicine
Left: Hexameric rings form a tube of viral capsid. Right: view from the other side of the protein oligomer. Bank voles are small rodents that are not dangerous by themselves, but their excreta can contain one of the dangerous hantaviruses. While bank voles are unaffected by the infection, hantaviruses can cause potentially fatal diseases in humans for which no treatments exist. In central and northern Europe, infection is accompanied by fever, headache, or even renal failure. The strain that occurs in East Asia -- the Hantaan virus -- is even more dangerous: up to five percent of infected patients die of hemorrhagic fever, renal failure, or severe respiratory disorders.