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British Medical Bulletin 55:528-533 (1999)
© 1999 The British Council

research-article

Selenium and viral virulence

Orville A Levander and Melinda A Beck

Nutrient Requirements and Functions Laboratory, Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, US Department of Agriculture Beltsville, Maryland and Departments of Pediatrics and Nutrition, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA

Correspondence to: Dr Orville A Levander, USDA, ARS, BHNRC,NRFL: Bldg 307, Rm 201A, BARC-East; Beltsville, MD20705-2350, USA

Abstract

A mouse model of coxsackievirus-induced myocarditis is being used to investigate nutritional determinants of viral virulence. This approach was suggested by research carried out in China which showed that mice fed diets composed of low selenium ingredients from a Keshan disease area suffered more extensive heart damage when infected with a coxsackie B4 virus than infected mice fed the same diet but supplemented with selenium by esophageal intubation. Selenium deficiency in our mice increased the virulence of an already virulent strain of coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3/20) and also allowed conversion of a non-virulent strain (CVB3/0) to virulence. Such conversion of CVB3/0 was accompanied by a change in the viral genome to more closely match that of the virulent virus, CVB3/20. As far as the authors are aware, this is the first report of host nutrition influencing the genetic make-up of an invading pathogen. Nutritionists may need to consider this mechanism of increased viral virulence in order to gain a better understanding of diet/infection relationships.


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