{"id":250421,"date":"2017-12-19T17:50:24","date_gmt":"2017-12-19T19:50:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/?p=250421\/"},"modified":"2017-12-19T18:29:16","modified_gmt":"2017-12-19T20:29:16","slug":"from-villain-to-hero-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/from-villain-to-hero-2\/","title":{"rendered":"From villain to hero"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virus is a noun that typically keeps bad company: the AIDS virus, the Zika virus, dengue, influenza. Perhaps because of this, when it abandons the work of being a villain and becomes (a candidate for) hero, that microscopic particle takes on another name.\u00a0 Bacteriophages, or simply phages, are viruses capable of identifying and destroying specific bacteria, and therefore can represent an alternate treatment option to the use of antibiotics.\u00a0 In order to find and identify them, and thus do the work of basic science that can lead to innovative applications in biotechnology, we need to go where the bacteria are\u2013namely, in the composting heap of the S\u00e3o Paulo Zoo.\u00a0 The intriguing account is the subject of this issue\u2019s cover story<\/a>\u00a0that also describes an approach known as synthetic biology, which involves programming DNA as if it were computer code.\u00a0 While synthetic biology is based on the greatest advances in science, the use of phages represents the harnessing of some of the most fundamental (and truthfully, most efficient) evolutionary mechanisms there are.<\/p>\n

In returning to its best-known role, the HPV virus<\/a>\u00a0and a group that is quite aggressive, the arboviruses, which includes the Zika virus, are also found in this issue.\u00a0 One potential piece of good news comes from recent studies published about the Zika virus<\/a>, an epidemic this magazine has covered systematically since its 2015 outbreak. The suspicion that humans and monkeys contaminated by the dengue virus might present more severe cases of Zika has not been confirmed, suggesting just the opposite: by becoming infected with Zika after having had dengue, a patient could present a less severe case of the disease.\u00a0 In that case, the previous infection by the dengue virus would have the effect of attenuating the Zika virus.<\/p>\n

U.S. physician Robert Tesh has been studying the global diversity of the arboviruses\u2013those that like Zika and dengue, are transmitted by mosquitos and ticks, among other arthropods\u2013for five decades, several of which have been spent as the head of the WHO\u2019s World Reference Center for Emerging Viruses and Arboviruses.<\/p>\n

In Brazil, in an interview with the magazine<\/a>, Tesh appeared skeptical with regard to the possibility of eradicating the Aedes Aegypti<\/em> mosquito and the pathogenic viruses it transmits.\u00a0 The versatility of the transmitter and the viruses are quite a match for any attempt at human interference.\u00a0 Throughout his career, the virologist has made numerous trips to Brazil and its neighbors to collect samples of the virus, contributing to the fact that the largest number of arboviruses known today originate in South America.<\/p>\n

Latin America is the topic of the interview with historian Maria Ligia Prado<\/a>, who has also spent nearly five decades studying the region\u2019s history and interpretations of its development.\u00a0 The researcher believes Latin America\u2019s identity, an issue that has plagued the region since it gained independence, is a sensitive topic.\u00a0 It is an intellectual construct, but is loaded with emotion and affects the lives and choices of its peoples, and it must not be ignored.\u00a0 The building of an identity, whatever it may be, easily obscures contradictions, allowing the \u201cother\u201d to be viewed as the enemy.\u00a0 The antidote, according to Maria Ligia, is critical thinking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From villain to hero","protected":false},"author":586,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[158],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1549],"class_list":["post-250421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/586"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250421\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250421"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=250421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}