https://immattersacp.org/archives/2014/10/puzzle.htm
Crossed words | October 2014

Going viral

ACP Internist's puzzle feature challenges readers to find clues placed horizontally in rows to reveal an answer written vertically.

By Justin Vader, MD, ACP Resident/Fellow Member

Answers to clues are placed horizontally in rows to reveal an answer written vertically. Unlike the familiar acrostic puzzle format, the final answer can be in any column.

Horizontal clues

1) MDs en español

2) Epstein Barr nuclear antigen gene determines this

3) Flowery formation of tumor cells in neuroendocrine tumors

4) What the capital femoral epiphysis can do from the femoral neck in SCFE

5) Mercurial purgative/cathartic of yore

6) Name and chemical formula for natural UV blocker

7) Male dermatologist (sic)?

8) The 2 products of the pilosebaceous unit

9) Peripheral blood smear clue for aplastic anemia

10) Device and result of therapy (sic) for cardiac arrest

Find in the vertical columns: 3 viral causes for: a) Saudi respiratory illness; b) African hemorrhagic fever; c) hydrops fetalis (Blank answer Table).

Answer: Merscorona, ebolazaire, and cytomegalo

(Puzzle Table 2)

This digitally colorized scanning electron micrograph depicts numerous filamentous Ebolavirus particles red budding from a chronically infected VERO E6 cell blue under a magnification of 25000 ti
This digitally colorized scanning electron micrograph depicts numerous filamentous Ebolavirus particles (red) budding from a chronically infected VERO E6 cell (blue) under a magnification of 25,000 times. Photo by CDC/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

While most people focus on viruses as pathogens, many viruses are vital to ecosystems. Bacteriophages can protect plants and animals by killing the bacteria that can harm them. Also, viruses in the oceans are key to decomposition, which in turn leads to marine flora consuming about 3 gigatons of carbon dioxide that would have otherwise been released into the atmosphere. And researchers are looking at viruses to deliver therapies in many areas of medicine. (Source: Encyclopedia of Life, accessed online Aug. 27.)