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Abstract
Annual Review of Nutrition
Vol. 18: 93-116 (Volume publication date July 1998)
(doi:10.1146/annurev.nutr.18.1.93)


DIETARY OXIDATIVE STRESS AND THE POTENTIATION OF VIRAL INFECTION1

Melinda A. Beck and *Orville A. Levander*
Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center, University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-8180;

Nutrient Requirements and Functions Laboratory, Beltsville Human
Nutrition Research Center, Beltsville, Maryland 20705-2350; e-mail:
melinda_beck@unc.edu and levander@307.bhnrc.usda.gov

Oxidative stress is implicated in the pathogenesis of several viral
infections, including hepatitis, influenza, and AIDS. Dietary oxidative
stress due to either selenium or vitamin E deficiency increases cardiac
damage in mice infected with a myocarditic strain of coxsackievirus B3.
Such dietary oxidative stress also allows a normally benign (i.e.
amyocarditic) coxsackievirus B3 to convert to virulence and cause heart
damage. This conversion to virulence is due to a nucleotide sequence
change in the genome of the benign virus, which then resembles more
closely the nucleotide sequence of virulent strains. Although it has
been known for many years that poor nutrition can affect host response
to infection, this is the first report of host nutrition affecting the
genetic sequence of a pathogen. Further research is needed to determine
whether poor host nutrition plays any role in the emergence of new
viral diseases via alterations in the genotype of an infectious agent.

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