Henipaviruses are a genus of RNA viruses in the Paramyxoviridae family. The variably shaped, 40–600 nm diameter, enveloped capsid contains a single-stranded, negative-sense RNA genome of 18.2 kb, with six genes. The cellular receptor is in the ephrin family. The natural hosts are predominantly bats, mainly the Pteropus genus of megabats (flying foxes) and some microbats. Bats infected with Hendra virus develop viraemia and shed virus in urine, faeces and saliva for around a week, but show no signs of disease. Henipaviruses can also infect humans and livestock, causing severe disease with high mortality, making the group a zoonootic disease. Transmission to humans sometimes occurs via an intermediate domestic animal host.

The first henipavirus, Hendra virus, was discovered in 1994 as the cause of an outbreak in horses in Brisbane, Australia. Nipah virus was identified a few years later in Malaysia as the cause of an outbreak in pigs. Three further species have since been recognised: Cedar and Kumasi viruses in bats, and Mòjiāng virus in rodents. Their emergence as human pathogens has been linked to increased contact between bats and humans. Human disease has been confined to Australia and Asia, but members of the genus have also been found in African bats. A veterinary vaccine against Hendra virus is available but no human vaccine has been licensed.

• ...that modified mRNA (mRNA translation depicted) is a key technology in the Moderna and BioNTech/Pfizer vaccines against COVID-19?
• ...that Derrick Tovey recognised early cases of smallpox during an outbreak in Bradford in 1962?
• ...that Nkosi's Haven is a South African care centre created to address HIV-related discrimination, including the separation of infected mothers from their children?
• ...that American physician Max C. Starkloff used social distancing to fight the 1918 flu pandemic in St. Louis?
• ...that following his research for Epidemiology in Country Practice, William Pickles observed that "studies in epidemiology sometimes reveal romances"?

Randy Shilts (8 August 1951 – 17 February 1994) was an American journalist, author and AIDS activist. The first openly gay reporter for a mainstream US newspaper, Shilts covered the unfolding story of AIDS and its medical, social, and political ramifications from the first reports of the disease in 1981. New York University's journalism department later ranked his 1981–85 AIDS reporting in the top fifty works of American journalism of the 20th century. His extensively researched account of the early days of the epidemic in the US, And the Band Played On Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic, first published in 1987, brought him national fame. The book won the Stonewall Book Award and was made into an award-winning film. Shilts saw himself as a literary journalist in the tradition of Truman Capote and Norman Mailer. His writing has a powerful narrative drive and interweaves personal stories with political and social reporting.

He received the 1988 Outstanding Author award from the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the 1990 Mather Lectureship at Harvard University, and the 1993 Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists' Association. He died of AIDS in 1994.

February 1939: First virology journal, Archiv für die gesamte Virusforschung, appeared

8 February 1951: Establishment of the HeLa cell line from a cervical carcinoma biopsy, the first immortal human cell line

12 February 1892: Dmitri Ivanovsky (pictured) demonstrated transmission of tobacco mosaic disease by extracts filtered through Chamberland filters; sometimes considered the beginning of virology

19 February 1966: Prion disease kuru shown to be transmissible

23 February 2018: Baloxavir marboxil, the first anti-influenza agent to target the cap-dependent endonuclease activity of the viral polymerase, approved in Japan

27 February 2005: H1N1 influenza strain resistant to oseltamivir reported in a human patient

24 February 1977: Phi X 174 sequenced by Fred Sanger and coworkers, the first virus and the first DNA genome to be sequenced

28 February 1998: Publication of Andrew Wakefield's Lancet paper, subsequently discredited, linking the MMR vaccine with autism, which started the MMR vaccine controversy

Nevirapine (also Viramune) is an antiretroviral drug used in the treatment of HIV/AIDS caused by HIV-1. It was the first non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor to be licensed, which occurred in 1996. Like nucleoside inhibitors, nevirapine inhibits HIV's reverse transcriptase enzyme, which copies the viral RNA into DNA and is essential for its replication. Unlike nucleoside inhibitors, it binds not in the enzyme's active site but in a nearby hydrophobic pocket, causing a conformational change in the enzyme that prevents it from functioning. Mutations in the pocket generate resistance to nevirapine, which develops rapidly unless viral replication is completely suppressed. The drug is therefore only used together with other anti-HIV drugs in combination therapy. The HIV-2 reverse transcriptase has a different pocket structure, rendering it inherently resistant to nevirapine and other first-generation NNRTIs. A single dose of nevirapine is a cost-effective way to reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and has been recommended by the World Health Organization for use in resource-poor settings. Other protocols are recommended in the United States. Rash is the most common adverse event associated with the drug.

Subcategories of virology: