Cytomegalovirus Infection News and Research

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Study reveals the long-term effects of smoking on immunity

Like other factors such as age, sex and genetics, smoking has a major impact on immune responses. This is the finding recently made by a team of scientists at the Institut Pasteur using the Milieu Intérieur cohort of 1,000 healthy volunteers, established to understand variability in immune responses.

14 Feb 2024

Pre-existing CMV immunity protects mothers and babies from transmission and birth defects

Researchers at Tulane University have shown for the first time that mothers are much less likely to transmit a common virus known to cause miscarriages and birth defects if they are exposed to the virus prior to becoming pregnant.

6 Oct 2023

Genetics and environment influence immune responses to SARS-CoV-2

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the clinical spectrum observed among people infected with SARS-CoV-2 ranged from asymptomatic carriage to death.

24 Aug 2023

What is the association between acute lymphoblastic leukemia and congenital cytomegalovirus infection?

Researchers evaluated the relationship between congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) infection and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

11 Jan 2023

Infections during pregnancy may not pose great risk to the baby's brain, study shows

Infections in pregnant women have been linked to an increased risk of neurodevelopmental conditions, such as autism, in the child later in life. But it does not seem to be the infections themselves that cause autism, researchers from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden show in a study published in The Lancet Psychiatry.

8 Sep 2022

COVID-19 and lung cancer have a common pathway, say researchers

A new preprint on the bioRxiv* server describes the common features COVID-19 shares with lung cancer.

19 Feb 2021

Fetal and neonatal therapy combination may lessen the aftereffects of congenital CMV infection

A cross-institutional research group has revealed for the first time in the world that infants with symptomatic congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection who were treated with a combination of immunoglobulin fetal therapy and neonatal therapy with antiviral drugs were less likely to experience the severe aftereffects associated with the infection than those who only received the neonatal therapy.

28 Jan 2021

Early neuroimaging essential for Zika-exposed infants

Seventy-one of 110 Brazilian infants at the highest risk for experiencing problems due to exposure to the Zika virus in the womb experienced a wide spectrum of brain abnormalities, including calcifications and malformations in cortical development, according to a study published July 31, 2019 in JAMA Network Open.

31 Jul 2019

Researchers gain insight into possible origins of 'ancient' immunological memory

Natural killer cells are part of the innate immune system. Their role is to detect virus-infected cells and destroy them.

4 Jun 2019

CU Anschutz researchers identify new immunodeficiency disease

A new immunodeficiency disease caused by a novel genetic mutation has been identified by researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus providing unique insights into cell biology.

6 May 2019

HIV-infected infants more likely to acquire congenital cytomegalovirus infection

Infants born to HIV-positive mothers had high rates of congenital cytomegalovirus, or CMV. Infants who also were infected before birth by the virus that causes AIDS were especially prone to CMV infection.

16 Oct 2018

Researchers find link between common 'harmless' virus and cardiovascular damage

Researchers from Brighton and Sussex Medical School have found an unexpectedly close link between a herpes virus and the occurrence of immune cells damaging cardiovascular tissue.

13 Aug 2018

Scientists explore factors that most affect our immune system

Why do we respond differently to infections or vaccines? Why are some people allergic to pollen? These are still unanswered questions in biological and medical science.

28 Feb 2018

Study provides insights into how HCMV infection causes birth defects

Fresh insights into how a common virus replicates could pave the way for new therapies to stop its spread.

15 May 2017

Research findings identify protein as potential new drug target for HCMV infections

Scientists have demonstrated that a human protein known as valosin containing protein (VCP) is essential for replication of human cytomegalovirus. The findings, published in PLOS Pathogens, identify VCP as a potential new treatment target.

11 May 2017

Genetic mutation may increase susceptibility to cytomegalovirus infection

Experimenting with human cells and mice, Johns Hopkins researchers have found that a genetic mutation that alters a protein called NOD1 may increase susceptibility to human cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection.

20 Dec 2016

New study to explore outcomes of pregnancy in Brazilian women with Zika virus

An observational study of pregnant women in Brazil to further understand Zika virus and its impact on reproductive health and fetus development have been launched. William Britt, M.D., professor of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, leads the study, which complements his current research in Brazil on cytomegalovirus infection during pregnancy.

18 Apr 2016

Study: Chickenpox vaccination increases incidence of shingles in younger adults

Vaccinating one-year-olds against chickenpox could temporarily nearly double the incidence of shingles in the wider population, but in younger adults than previously thought.

12 Aug 2015

Cambridge professor to speak about nature of viruses at free public lecture at University of Leicester

Former Regius Professor of Physic at the University of Cambridge to deliver public lecture on Monday 21 October

17 Oct 2013

Cytomegalovirus employs a novel trick to hide from immune detection

A virus that most people have probably never heard of, yet most of us carry, is the number 1 infectious cause of congenital birth defects. One in 750 children are born with, or develop, permanent disabilities such as hearing loss or brain damage as a result of CMV (cytomegalovirus) infection in the womb.

17 Mar 2013