Viral Disease News and Research

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Discovery of new human retrovirus

Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers and their colleagues have discovered a new retrovirus in humans that is closely related to a cancer-causing virus found in mice. Their findings describe the first documented cases of human infection with a retrovirus that is native to rodents.

10 Apr 2006

Multi-site vaccinations could protect against all four dengue viruses

An innovative new study explains, for the first time, the failure of previous attempts to vaccinate against the four known Dengue viruses, and it suggests a very simple solution - injecting the four vaccines simultaneously at different locations on the body.

4 Apr 2006

Study on fruit flies offers new approach to understand human response to viral infections

A research team led by UC Riverside scientists has shown that the common fruit fly can serve as an excellent model for studying the immunity animals are born with for fighting viral infections.

28 Mar 2006

Ocean Vesivirus found in human blood samples

A virus of ocean origin that can cause a range of diseases in several animal species has been found in human blood samples. The virus, or antibodies to it, was found most often in the blood of individuals with liver damage, or hepatitis of unknown cause related to blood exposure.

28 Mar 2006

It's 2006 and two hundred children are crippled by polio in Somalia

The World Health Organization (WHO) says that since the re-emergence of the disease in July last year, 200 children in Somalia have been paralyzed with polio.

27 Mar 2006

Factor B and H genes found to play role in the development of age-related macular degeneration

A new study, led by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center, pinpoints the role that two genes - Factor H and Factor B - play in the development of nearly three out of four cases of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a devastating eye disease that affects more than 10 million people in the United States.

7 Mar 2006

Parents lose court battle over future of gravely ill child

A high court in the UK has ruled that doctors treating a seriously ill two-year-old girl can let her die naturally.

27 Feb 2006

Purdue biologists visualize protein interaction that may initiate viral infection

Biologists at Purdue University have taken a "snapshot" of a Velcro-like protein on a cell's surface just after it attached to the dengue virus, a linkup thought to initiate the early stages of infection.

16 Feb 2006

Causes of type 1 diabetes

Scientists are casting a wide, tightly woven net with the goal of catching the causes of type 1 diabetes.

16 Feb 2006

Call for public health intervention to treat young injection drug users infected with the hepatitis C virus

In a recent study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, scientists from New York City, Baltimore, Seattle, and San Diego called for an immediate public health intervention to treat young injection drug users infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV).

7 Feb 2006

Village in China under quarantine following outbreak of foot and mouth disease

According to officials in China strict quarantine measures are being imposed in a village in east China's Jiangsu Province, which has experienced an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

18 Jan 2006

Study explains complex infection fighting mechanism

Yale School of Medicine researchers report in Nature Immunology how infection fighting mechanisms in the body can distinguish between a virus and the healthy body, shedding new light on auto immune disorders.

11 Jan 2006

Cerebral Palsy linked to viral infection at birth

A new Australian study has found that exposure to certain viral infections shortly before and after birth, the perinatal period, is associated with cerebral palsy.

9 Jan 2006

New technique points to safer, more efficient vaccination

Researchers have demonstrated a technique that has the potential to reduce the toxicity of vaccines and to make smaller doses more effective, according to a study published in PLoS Pathogens.

6 Jan 2006

Exposure to infections at birth can trigger brain damage and the development of cerebral palsy

Exposure to certain viral infections shortly before and after birth (the perinatal period) is associated with cerebral palsy, finds a study published online by the British Medical Journal.

6 Jan 2006

Molecular finding will help better understand measles and mumps

A team of Northwestern University researchers has solved the structure of a molecule that controls the ability of viruses of the paramyxovirus family, including the viruses that cause measles, mumps, and many human respiratory diseases, to fuse with and infect human cells.

5 Jan 2006