Our gut microbes and parasites are protecting us against viral lung infections - a podcast by MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research

Welcome to Contagious Thinking, the podcast from the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research. In this episode 20, we’re discussing the respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, a virus which will infect all of us before we’re three years old and can be deadly in the very young or old. Moreover, RSV has a particularly high burden of disease across the developing world.

Jack Hirst(influenza virology PhD student in the Hutchinson lab) and Connor Bamford (postdoc in the McLauchlan lab) are joined by Professor Jürgen Schwarze of the University of Edinburgh - following his seminar at the centre, who explains what RSV is, how it could be tricking our immune systems, and why parasitic worms and our gut microbes may hold the key to preventing damage from RSV infections.

For information check out the accompanying blog post here: http://cvr.academicblogs.co.uk/our-gut-microbes-and-parasites-are-protecting-us-against-viral-lung-infections/

Picture (An x ray of a child with RSV showing the typical bilateral perihilar fullness.) courtesy of James Heilman, MD. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_respiratory_syncytial_virus#/media/File:RSV.PNG)

Music: Noahs Stark by krackatoa (http://freemusicarchive.org/music/krackatoa/krackatoa_-_Singles_1002/Krackatoa_-_Noahs_Stark)

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