Bug bite saliva hijacks immune cells to spread virus

A victim’s immunological defenses may rush to puncture sites and help carry pathogens throughout the body. Depending on your perspective, one of nature’s perverse ironies—or exquisite feats—is that some mosquito-borne viruses appear to benefit from their victims’ immune responses to bug bites. Simply put, the body’s defensive reaction to pathogens, including dengue or West Nile, acts as a handmaiden for the viruses themselves. The first glimpses into exactly how these pathogens manage to hijack the body’s defense systems to enhance disease were revealed in a new mouse study. A research paper in Immunity suggests that when immune cells travel to the itchy, red site of a mosquito bite, they may inadvertently be infected with a mosquito-borne virus and then help spread the infection throughout the body. The resulting higher viral loads make the recipient sicker than would be the case if the virus were introduced without a bite. This revelation points to...