New technique promises to reveal a person’s history of viral infections

Science Focus

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Even before we became aware of emerging diseases like HIV and Ebola, there seemed to be plenty of viruses around. It felt like childhood was a blur of various illnesses—and these were the ones we hadn't been vaccinated for. So just how many types of viruses does a typical human get exposed to?

Ten, if a study in this week's issue of Science is to be believed. The study introduces a new way of getting a global history of all the viruses a person's immune system has had the pleasure of knowing. The technique has some significant limitations, but it still has the potential to provide new perspectives on how the human immune system functions.

First, the technique, which its creators are calling "VirScan." It relies on the fact that, after a person's immune system mounts an attack against a pathogen, a small collection of B cells, called memory B cells, continue to produce antibodies that recognize the invader. These allow the immune system to mobilize rapidly if the same pathogen is ever encountered again. But the memory B cells also allow us to study the antibodies they produce.

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