What does Plum Island's Douglas Gregg know about African Swine Fever and its connection to AIDS, HHV-6/7/9 and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?
The following is a post from Douglas Gregg,
an expert on African Swine Fever Virus
https://www.mail-archive.com/histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu/msg36275.html
Hello, > I have not been on this forum for some time, but still follow it. I am a > retired veterinary pathologist. Last year I posted an idea for a freshman > in high school who wants to do a serious science fair project. He is > already beyond high school science level. His father found me because I > have been a science fair judge for many years at a nearby school district. > At first, I declined, citing that I was retired and did not have a good > project for him. Later I thought about a recent study I read about honey > bees being infected with an Iridovirus. That caught my attention because I > did my dissertation and worked for about 10 years on African swine fever > (ASF) caused by an Iridovirus (now renamed but only moved to a branch > classification by itself). It is the only mammalian Iridovirus disease. > Through mass spectrograph studies, and subtraction analysis of normal bee > data from collapsed colony bees, the US Army found the fingerprint of a > likely Iridovirus infection in colony collapse syndrome. No one has yet > confirmed this by other methods that are more conventional and it has not > been fully accepted due to the new technology used to find it. > > So I suggested to Joe, that he could attempt to identify the virus in bee > larva tissues using histology to find inclusions and immunostaining using > Vector staining system. I used immunostaining through most of my career and > was one of the first to identify a virus infection (ASF) with Vector > staining systems back in the early 80s. > > I have a microtome and a few paraffin mold trays and a few plastic > paraffin tissue holders left over from a consulting project 6 years ago. > What he will need is some paraplast, more plastic molds, a few metal trays, > Harris hematoxylin, eosin, slides, coverslips, permount and later PBS, Tris > and a Vector ABC AP kit which I am very hopeful can be donated by Vector > when we get that far. I know histo labs often have lots of old unused > supplies around that don't necessarily fit into current routines or > machines. If any of you have such supplies that could be used for very > manual processing of tissues, they would be greatly appreciated. A warm > water bath is needed too but we can improvise, if necessary. > > Having reviewed the literature on honeybee colony collapse syndrome and > comparing the pathogenesis with African swine fever, an Iridovirus > infection of bees is a very good fit. I think there is a very high > likelihood that this could be a big breakthrough in the honey bee collapse > problem that thus far has not been answered with the many hypotheses > suggested. This is a worldwide problem that threatens the world food supply > and must be understood and controlled soon. As a onetime bee keeper, it is > close to my heart. I hope some of you can help Joe get into histology. He > is very eager and this could possibly lead to a scholarship or at least a > workstudy position during college in a histolab someday. Due to the > recession, his family can't support this project. He has gotten some small > monetary support from a local bee keeper as well as help acquiring bee > larva from colonies. I am giving him space to set up a lab in my basement > and the necessary solvents, etc and lots of training. This is a very > ambitious project but I think it can be accomplished. He has 2 or 3 years > to get it finished, and hopefully published. Any help would be appreciated. > > Any ideas for crowdsource funding would also be appreciated. > > Douglas Gregg DVM, PhD