How the kissing disease virus hijacks human cells

A component of the Epstein Barr (EBV) virus takes over our cells gene regulating machinery, allowing the virus to replicate itself, researchers have discovered. The EBV virus causes a variety of diseases such as Hodgkin’s lymphoma and Burkitt’s lymphoma, with the most prevalent disease being infectious mononucleosis commonly known as “kissing disease” because of its mode of transmission between humans. It turns out that the diseases begin with kiss of a molecular sort; a viral protein contacting the molecules that control our genes.

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