Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome News and Research

Latest Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome News and Research

Officials in China sacked over pig disease cover-up

According to Xinhua the government news agency in China, four officials have been sacked for trying to cover up the trail of dead pigs, early in an outbreak of a swine-borne disease that has killed 39 people in southwest China.

8 Aug 2005

Flu medication VIRA 38 inhibits SARS virus

PRB Pharmaceuticals and Lee's Pharmaceuticals have announced that a recent study by Taiwan researchers from the National Health Research Institutes demonstrates TF2b and TF3, two components of v38 AMF-1, inhibit the 3C-like protease encoded by SARS-CoV. v38 AMF-1, a fraction of the flu medication VIRA 38, is best known for its ability to inhibit bird flu virus (H5N1) infections.

4 Aug 2005

Swine flu figures rise as China gets tough

As the numbers rise from the swine flu outbreak, China authorities swear they will punish officials who falsify or delay reports on the deadly disease that has now infected 198 people and killed 36.

2 Aug 2005

Inhibitors of cellular enzymes could be developed for SARS treatment

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found that inhibitors of an enzyme called cathepsin L prevent the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) virus from entering target cells. SARS is caused by an emergent coronavirus. There is no effective treatment at this time.

1 Aug 2005

Pig disease in China now claims 24 lives and renders 117 sick

The death toll from an outbreak, of what is now thought to be a pig-borne disease, in the southwest Chinese province of Sichuan, has risen to 24, with another 117 thought be sick.

27 Jul 2005

Models may risk making overly optimistic predictions about the levels of public health interventions needed to bring a disease under control

Mathematical models have become invaluable decision-making tools for public health officials. As demonstrated during the United Kingdom's foot-and-mouth epidemic of 2001, models can be useful in two ways: they can reveal the underlying characteristics of an infection and they can allow the comparison of alternative control measures.

26 Jul 2005

Seventeen now dead from mystery disease in southwest China

The state media in China says that a mysterious disease has now killed 17 farm workers and left 41 others sick, in southwest China, after they handled sick or dead livestock.

25 Jul 2005

For influenza experts, the question is not whether the world is going to have a new flu pandemic, but when

This isn't easy to communicate to the public. Bird flu and the potential for a human flu pandemic have been making headlines in recent weeks, but the subject presents more uncertainties than certainties.

19 Jul 2005

Blood pressure enzyme linked to SARS virus, could help fight diseases that cause lung failure

Researchers in Austria say that an enzyme that regulates blood pressure is also involved in the SARS virus, and the discovery could lead to new ways of treating diseases that cause lung failure.

11 Jul 2005

Vaccine against Lassa fever works in monkeys

Scientists say that a genetically engineered virus may possibly offer the first effective vaccine against Lassa fever.

28 Jun 2005

Drug for schizophrenia can prevent and treat SARS

Chinese and European experts at a conference of the Sino-European Project on SARS Diagnostics and Antivirals in China say that a drug normally used to treat schizophrenia has been shown to prevent and treat Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

20 Jun 2005

Pandemics such as Ebola, SARS, and avian influenza demands a more holistic approach to disease control

The threat of potential pandemics such as Ebola, SARS, and avian influenza demands a more holistic approach to disease control, one that prevents diseases from crossing the divide between humans, their livestock, and wildlife, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in the most recent issue of the journal Foreign Affairs.

16 Jun 2005

Vical receives $12 Million HIV vaccine order

Vical Incorporated announced today the receipt of approximately $12.1 million in production orders for multiple clinical lots of DNA vaccines against HIV for the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, under a subcontract managed by SAIC-Frederick, Inc.

16 Jun 2005

SARS vaccine produced from plants

According to new research, a vaccine has been produced in genetically engineered tomato and tobacco plants, which triggers anti-SARS antibodies in mice.

15 Jun 2005

New technology developed at Cornell University could make it just as easy to identify genes

A supermarket checkout computer can identify thousands of different items by scanning the tiny barcode printed on the package. New technology developed at Cornell University could make it just as easy to identify genes, pathogens, illegal drugs and other chemicals of interest by tagging them with color-coded probes made out of synthetic tree-shaped DNA.

14 Jun 2005