TWiV 1297: Spillover squirrel

This Week in Virology

Vincent Racaniello

Virology, Science & Medicine, Pathogen, Infection, Virus, Racaniello, Twiv, Vincent, Microbe, Medicine, Infectious, Microbiology

4.8 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 15 February 2026

⏱️ 109 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

TWiV explains the observation that filamentous virions act as non-infectious interfering particles to modulate papillomavirus infection, and transmission of monkeypox virus from fire-footed rope squirrels to sooty mangabeys. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Kathy Spindler, and Brianne Barker Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Support science education at MicrobeTV Positions in Rosenfeld Lab (email) FDA refuses to review Moderna flu mRNA vaccine (CIDRAP) Oz measles vaccine call, too little too late? (dw.com) Defective human papillomavirus interfering virus particles (J Virol) Fire-footed rope squirrel potential MPXV reservoir (Nature) Squirrels could be MPXV reservoir (Nature) Letters read on TWiV 1297 Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks! Weekly Picks Brianne – Silo TV series Kathy – Ancient RNA expression profiles from the extinct woolly mammoth and Ancient host-associated microbes obtained from mammoth remains Alan – Ubik, by Philip K. Dick Vincent – Starry Messenger by Neil deGrasse Tyson Listener Pick Beth – Iceland crime fiction authors Yrsa Sigurdardottir and Ragnar Jonasson Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv Content in this podcast should not be construed as medical advice.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This Week in Virology, the podcast about viruses, the kind that make you sick.
0:10.1	From MicrobTV, this is Twiv, this week in Virology.
0:14.9	Episode 1297 recorded on February 13th, 2026.
0:23.8	Yep, it's Friday.
0:25.4	And I'm Vincent Frackeniello and you're listening to the podcast,
0:28.7	All About Viruses.
0:30.6	Joining me today from Madison, New Jersey, Brianne Barker.
0:34.5	Hi.
0:35.6	It's great to be here.
0:37.3	Things are actually going pretty well on the Friday the 13th around here, so I guess I'll knock on some wood for that.
0:44.3	And it's, you know, above freezing again, which is novel recently.
0:50.7	So it's 38 Fahrenheit or 3 Celsius, which is lovely compared to how it was, you know, only a week ago.
0:58.8	Yeah, it's above freezing now during the day. It's really nice. It's 3C and sunny here in Chelsea.
1:05.7	Also joining us from Western Massachusetts, Alan Dove.
1:09.3	Good to be here. And it is also tropical here in Western Massachusetts by comparison to the previous week.
1:14.7	36 Fahrenheit 2C.
1:17.3	Just a couple of clouds.
1:19.6	Actually, I can't even see them anymore.
1:21.4	Mostly sunny.
1:22.6	Lovely day.
1:23.6	It's just coincidental.
1:24.5	That was Groundhog Day recently?
	...

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