In work published this week in PNAS, scientists used pyrosequencing data to find that corals can get herpes-like viral infections that are made worse by stress. In the study, they used 454 sequencing and real-time PCR across coral samples and found that Porites compressa harbor several eukaryotic viruses, many related to Herpesviridae, and that in response to stressors like increased temperature, more acidic pH, and elevated nutrients, the "viral consortium" shifted.