New Virus Breaks the Rules of Infection

New Virus Breaks the Rules of Infection
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Human viruses are like a fine chocolate truffle: It takes only one to get the full experience.

At least, that's what scientists thought a few days ago. Now a new study published Thursday is making researchers rethink how some viruses could infect animals.

A team at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases has found a mosquito virus that's broken up into pieces. And the mosquito needs to catch several of the pieces to get an infection.

"It's the most bizarre thing," says Edward Holmes, a virologist at the University of Sydney, who wasn't involved in the study. It's like the virus is dismembered, he says.

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