Chikungunya News and Research

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Researchers find that yellow fever mosquitoes contain odor-detecting gene

One of the world's deadliest mosquitoes sustains its taste for human blood thanks in part to a genetic tweak that makes it more sensitive to human odor, according to new research.

13 Nov 2014

Chikungunya outbreak in Caribbean, Central and South America continues to spread

Fall in the United States means residents in most of the country will see fewer mosquitoes and less risk of the diseases they spread. However, the chikungunya outbreak in Caribbean and Central and South American countries continues to spread with no sign of slowing down. Experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are warning that the painful mosquito-borne disease will likely continue to infect travelers to the region during the rest of this year and beyond.

7 Nov 2014

Another threat lies in the spread of Chikungunya virus, say experts

While media attention has been focused recently on coronavirus cases in the Arabian peninsula and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, experts note that another threat lies in the spread of Chikungunya fever, an illness that is transmitted by mosquitoes and can cause fever, joint and muscle pain, headaches, and rashes. While it does not often cause death, the symptoms can be severe and disabling, with no treatment available.

19 Aug 2014

Inovio Pharmaceuticals reports increased revenue in second quarter 2014

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today reported financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2014. Total revenue was $3.8 million and $6.2 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2014, compared to $786,000 and $2.2 million for the same periods in 2013.

11 Aug 2014

Newcomer among arboviruses: The zika virus

In the group of viruses that includes dengue and chikungunya, a newcomer now has people talking about it. Also originating in Africa, zika was isolated in humans in the 1970s. Several years earlier, only a few human cases had been reported.

25 Jul 2014

Increased number of Americans infected with chikungunya, say researchers

In just two weeks, the number of Americans infected with the mosquito-borne virus chikungunya has almost doubled and the virus has now been found in mosquitoes in the United States, something that is very concerning to a Kansas State University professor who is a leading researcher of the virus.

24 Jul 2014

Chikungunya virus transmission occurs in Florida for the first time

The chikungunya virus, which is transmitted to people by mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus), was found for the first time in the Americas on islands in the Caribbean in December 2013. Yesterday, the first case of chikungunya in the continental United States was reported in a man from Florida who had not recently travelled outside the United States.

18 Jul 2014

USAMRIID provides on-site laboratory support to current Ebola outbreak

Analysis of clinical samples from suspected Lassa fever cases in Sierra Leone showed that about two-thirds of the patients had been exposed to other emerging diseases, and nearly nine percent tested positive for Ebola virus.

16 Jul 2014

Chikungunya virus puts some regions at risk of epidemic

For the first time, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers were able to predict further adaptations of the chikungunya virus that recently spread from Africa to several continents that will likely result in even more efficient transmission and infection of more people by this virus strain.

17 Jun 2014

Health tips for global travellers

Nothing ruins a summer vacation faster than getting sick. "Remember that most diseases are transmitted by food, water and insects," says John A. Sellick, Jr., DO, University at Buffalo associate professor of medicine and hospital epidemiologist at Veterans Affairs Western New York Healthcare System. "So get vaccinated, keep insects off you as much as possible and be careful with what you put in your mouth."

11 Jun 2014

Terminix warns about two serious mosquito-borne diseases in Florida

Terminix, the leading provider of termite and pest control services in the United States, today warned of two serious mosquito-borne diseases which are being reported in Florida. The Florida Department of Health this week issued a report confirming 18 cases of chikungunya virus and 24 cases of dengue fever.

6 Jun 2014

Inovio announces positive results on DNA-based monoclonal antibody therapy targeting CHIKV

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that its novel DNA-based therapeutic monoclonal antibody targeting Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) completely protected mice from a lethal CHIKV challenge.

27 May 2014

Researchers warn that chikungunya virus is poised to invade in the Americas

A team of French and Brazilian researchers warn that chikungunya virus is poised to invade, and become epidemic in the Americas according to research published ahead of print in the Journal of Virology.

8 Apr 2014

New national research consortium focuses on better drug therapies for viral infections

Viral infections with limited or no treatment options can pose a major global health threat, but a new national research consortium centered at the University of Alabama at Birmingham is focused on the discovery of new and better drug therapies as these viruses emerge.

24 Mar 2014

Weather may influence transmission of West Nile, chikungunya, and other viral disease

Urban epidemics resulting from viral diseases, such as West Nile fever and chikungunya fever, are transmitted by infected mosquitoes.

4 Jun 2013

Antibodies neutralize mosquito-transmitted chikungunya virus, researchers reveal

Researchers have learned the precise structure of the mosquito-transmitted chikungunya virus pathogen while it is bound to antibodies, showing how the infection is likely neutralized.

3 Apr 2013

Tat-beclin 1 shows promise against infections, neurodegenerative disorders and cancer

UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists have synthesized a peptide that shows potential for pharmaceutical development into agents for treating infections, neurodegenerative disorders, and cancer through an ability to induce a cell-recycling process called autophagy.

10 Feb 2013

Global travel, climate warming could create right conditions for chikungunya outbreaks in the U.S.

Global travel and climate warming could be creating the right conditions for outbreaks of a new virus in this country, according to a new Cornell University computer model.

18 Dec 2012

Newly discovered Eilat virus harmless and potentially valuable

A mosquito sample collected three decades ago in Israel's Negev Desert has yielded an unexpected discovery: a previously unknown virus that's closely related to some of the world's most dangerous mosquito-borne pathogens but, curiously, incapable of infecting non-insect hosts.

24 Sep 2012

Mosquitoes in the U.S. can be infected with Chikungunya virus from Asia

New research from SRI International finds that mosquitoes commonly found in the United States can be infected with a disease-causing virus from Asia. The research findings are from a recent study that modeled how mosquito-borne infections can become introduced.

23 Aug 2012