Encephalitis News and Research

Latest Encephalitis News and Research

India's success in fighting polio shows what country is capable of with proper funding, accountability

"India's successful war on polio shows what can happen when its government sets clear policy goals backed with proper funding and real accountability," journalist and author Dan Morrison writes in an opinion piece in the New York Times' "Latitude" blog.

5 Feb 2013

Measles: an interview with Dr. Robert Perry, World Health Organization

Measles is a disease marked by fever, rash, and cold symptoms (red eyes, cough, runny nose) that results in a temporary suppression of the immune system and a drop in vitamin A levels.

4 Feb 2013

Scientists identify cause of certain forms of epilepsy in cats

There is something sinister about epilepsy: the disease affects the very core of our being, our brain. Epileptic attacks can lead to seizures throughout the body or in parts of it. Clouding of consciousness or memory lapses are also possible. The causes are still only partially understood but in some cases brain tumours, infections, inflammations of the brain or metabolic diseases have been implicated.

2 Feb 2013

Acute schizophrenia shows increased NMDA-R antibody prevalence

Patients with acute schizophrenia have an increased prevalence of N-methyl-D-aspartate glutamate receptor antibodies that is distinct from that seen in NMDA-R encephalitis, scientists have found.

31 Jan 2013

Biophysical Society Annual Meeting to highlight innovations in medicine, physics, and more

Honeybee silk-inspired materials; a deconstruction of the Ebola virus; how microbes evolve resistance to antibiotics; and a possible connection between Alzheimer's disease and type II diabetes are just some of the intriguing topics that will be presented at the 57th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society (BPS).

22 Jan 2013

Sanofi Pasteur’s IMOJEV vaccine against Japanese encephalitis is now available in Australia

Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of Sanofi, announced today that IMOJEV vaccine against Japanese encephalitis (JE) is now available in Australia.

10 Dec 2012

C-reactive protein levels increased in schizophrenia

Patients with schizophrenia have elevated levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein compared with mentally healthy individuals, US researchers report.

6 Dec 2012

C-reactive protein levels increased in schizophrenia

Patients with schizophrenia have elevated levels of high sensitivity C-reactive protein compared with mentally healthy individuals, US researchers report.

6 Dec 2012

Broad range of human activities affects spread of vector-borne zoonotic diseases, experts say

West Nile virus, Lyme disease, dengue fever, and plague are examples of "vector-borne zoonotic diseases," caused by pathogens that naturally infect wildlife and are transmitted to humans by vectors such as mosquitoes or ticks.

30 Nov 2012

Tdap well tolerated in over-65s

Off-label use of tetanus–diptheria–acellular pertussis vaccine in senior patients results in no more adverse events than the tetanus and diphtheria vaccine, a US study shows.

30 Nov 2012

New method of testing for West Nile virus

While the United States has largely been spared the scourge of mosquito-borne diseases endemic to the developing world-including yellow fever, malaria and dengue fever-mosquito-related illnesses in the US are on the rise. One pathogen of increasing concern in the U.S. is an arbovirus known as West Nile.

24 Oct 2012

Study links PI3Kgamma molecule with multiple sclerosis

A University of Adelaide researcher has published results that suggest a possible new mechanism to control multiple sclerosis (MS).

5 Oct 2012

CJD presents major diagnostic problems

Most patients with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease are initially misdiagnosed, with most not receiving a correct diagnosis until they are two-thirds of the way through their disease course, show findings in the Archives of Neurology.

27 Sep 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

BMJ examines emergence of China as 'major new player' in global vaccine production

"The Chinese drug industry is on the verge of getting the green light to manufacture the Japanese encephalitis vaccine for the developing world, an event that will signal the emergence of a major new player in global vaccines," BMJ reports.

20 Sep 2012

Akonni receives NSF's Phase 2 SBIR Grant to develop Lab-on-a-Film microarray

Akonni Biosystems, a life science tools / molecular diagnostics company that develops, manufactures, and plans to market molecular testing devices for diagnosing infectious diseases and human genetic disorders, announced today the receipt of a $498,780 Phase 2 SBIR Grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

6 Sep 2012

Study identifies how RNA viruses hijack a host cell to multiply

By discovering how certain viruses use their host cells to replicate, UC Irvine microbiologists have identified a new approach to the development of universal treatments for viral illnesses such as meningitis, encephalitis, hepatitis and possibly the common cold.

23 Aug 2012

Musical memory organized at least partially independent of the hippocampus

Together with his team, Prof. Christoph Ploner, director of the Department of Neurology at the Virchow campus, examined a professional cellist who suffered from encephalitis caused by a herpes virus. As a result of the inflammation, the patient developed serious disturbances in memory. Both his memory for the past (retrograde amnesia), as well as the acquisition of new information (anterograde amnesia) were affected.

22 Aug 2012

Curcumin shows promise in fighting devastating viruses

The popular spice turmeric packs more than just flavor - it shows promise in fighting devastating viruses, Mason researchers recently discovered.

17 Aug 2012

Breakthrough vaccine against deadly Nipah virus

A major breakthrough in the development of a highly effective vaccine against the deadly Nipah virus has been reported by a team of federal and university scientists. The results of their study, "A Hendra virus G glycoprotein subunit vaccine protects African green monkeys from Nipah virus challenge," will appear in Science Translational Medicine online.

10 Aug 2012