Virology News and Research

Latest Virology News and Research

Common misconception about penicillin allergies

It's time for your primary care check-up, and the doctor asks you to list any known drug allergies. "Penicillin," you say immediately, although you can't remember actually taking the drug or having a reaction to it—it was your parents who said so. According to a Texas A&M Health Science Center allergist, many people who believe they're allergic to this antibiotic may not actually be allergic at all.

5 May 2016

New study shows Ebola survivors may be at risk of severe vision loss

A new study has shown that Ebola survivors may be at risk of severe vision loss or blindness weeks after being declared virus-free. The research is being presented at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology this week in Seattle, Wash.

5 May 2016

Antiviral therapies equal survival rate of HCV-related cirrhosis patients with general population

The survival rate of patients with hepatitis C virus-related cirrhosis who respond well to antiviral therapies equals that of the general population, say investigators in the Journal of Hepatology.

5 May 2016

Unfolding story of Zika virus in the Americas

Health Systems & Reform presents the article "Zika Virus and Health Systems in Brazil: From Unknown to a Menace," a commentary by Professor Marcia C. Castro, Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, on the Zika Virus epidemic in Brazil and the Americas.

4 May 2016

Oral administration of Jakinibs reduces Parkinson's disease pathogenesis in rat model

University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers report the first documentation that suppressing a key cell-signaling pathway in a rat model of Parkinson's disease reduces pathogenesis. Oral administration of AZD1480 — one of the JAK/STAT pathway inhibitors generally known as Jakinibs — lessened the destructive inflammation and nerve cell degradation in the area of the brain affected by Parkinson's.

4 May 2016

Respiratory tract infection in infants linked with increased T1D risk

In a study appearing in the May 3, 2016 issue of JAMA, Anette-Gabriele Ziegler, M.D., of Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen, Munich, Germany, and colleagues examined associations between infection types during the first 2 years of life and between respiratory tract infections in the first 6 months and type l diabetes (T1D). Viral infections, particularly enteroviruses, have been hypothesized to cause T1D. Recent studies suggest that respiratory tract infections are associated with increased T1D risk if they are encountered within the first 6 months.

4 May 2016

Ebola vaccine shows promise in clinical trials

"The results for tolerability, safety, and the immune response to the vaccine candidate are very promising," explains Prof Marylyn Addo. The antibodies which developed against the virus were still detectable after six months. Addo is convinced, "With this, a single vaccine could provide lasting protection against Ebola." The infectious disease specialist, who works for the German Center for Infection Research at the University Medical Center Hamburg Eppendorf in Hamburg, led the trial in Hamburg.

4 May 2016

New investigational inhibitor JQEZ5 can block specific molecular malfunctions driving cancer

In a step forward in the push for targeted treatments that can block the specific molecular malfunctions driving cancer, University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers have demonstrated how a genetic mutation can drive the most common type of lymphoma as well as melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

3 May 2016

Hepatitis B virus screening for Asian American adults can help prevent onset of liver diseases

A community-based hepatitis B virus screening effort led by UC Davis researchers found that targeted outreach to Asian American populations can identify groups at high risk for infection and direct them to appropriate follow-up care to help prevent the onset of liver diseases, including cancer.

3 May 2016

Flu vaccinations for pregnant women reduce newborn’s influenza risk during first six months of life

Babies whose moms get flu vaccinations while pregnant have a significantly reduced risk of acquiring influenza during their first six months of life, a new study shows, leading the authors to declare that the need for getting more pregnant women immunized is a public health priority.

3 May 2016

New project explores role of mosquitoes in transmission of pathogens in Austria

In the wake of climate change and globalisation, non-indigenous mosquito species establish in Europe together with the pathogens they transmit. A project funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF is currently investigating mosquito species found in Austria and their role in the transmission of pathogens.

3 May 2016

LJI study could provide important target for autoimmune disease interventions

Follicular helper T cells (Tfh cells), a rare type of T cells, are indispensable for the maturation of antibody-producing B cells. They promote the proliferation of B cells that produce highly selective antibodies against invading pathogens while weeding out those that generate potentially harmful ones.

3 May 2016

UGA researcher works to advance effective treatment for infectious mononucleosis

The University of Georgia's Mark Ebell wasn't impressed with research on infectious mononucleosis when he wrote his first published review on it back in the 1990s. He still isn't—a subject he discusses in the April issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

3 May 2016

Study on Zika exposure among HIV-infected patients in Ghana

What many may not know is that the Zika virus is a distant cousin of hepatitis C, a blood borne-virus that attacks the liver and often co-infects HIV patients.

2 May 2016

Small doses of cancer drug may be potential treatment for sepsis and other pandemics

Results from laboratory experiments and mouse studies suggest that small doses of drugs from a specific class of approved cancer medications called topoisomerase 1 (top1) inhibitors may protect against the overwhelming immune response to infection that sometimes leads to sepsis, a bacterial condition that kills as many as 500,000 people in the United States each year.

30 Apr 2016

Novel gene therapy can treat pulmonary hypertension linked with heart failure

Scientists have used a novel gene therapy to halt the progression of pulmonary hypertension, a form of high blood pressure in the lung blood vessels that is linked to heart failure, according to a study led by Roger J. Hajjar, MD, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Cardiovascular Research Center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

30 Apr 2016

Study sheds light on several aspects of Ebola virus flare-ups in Liberia

Ebola virus samples taken from patients in Liberia in June 2015 are strikingly similar in their genetic makeup to other Ebola virus sequences from Western Africa, according to research published online today in the journal Science Advances. The study sheds light on several aspects of the "flare-ups" that have occurred in Liberia since the country was initially declared free of Ebola virus disease.

30 Apr 2016

Pioneering gene therapy may lead to potential cure for common causes of vision loss

Pioneering gene therapy has restored some vision to patients with a rare form of genetic blindness for as long as four years, raising hopes it could be used to cure common causes of vision loss, new University of Oxford research published today shows.

29 Apr 2016

Single bNAb infusion can protect monkeys from HIV-like virus infection

A single antibody infusion can protect monkeys against infection with an HIV-like virus for up to 23 weeks, researchers have found. The study, published in Nature, was led by scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, and The Rockefeller University.

28 Apr 2016

Experimental therapy has over 90% remission rate for advanced leukemia patients

Twenty-seven of 29 patients with an advanced type of leukemia that had proved resistant to multiple other forms of therapy went into remission after their T cells (disease-fighting immune cells) were genetically engineered to fight their cancers.

28 Apr 2016

Virology News and Research

Latest Virology News and Research

Common misconception about penicillin allergies

New study shows Ebola survivors may be at risk of severe vision loss

Antiviral therapies equal survival rate of HCV-related cirrhosis patients with general population

Unfolding story of Zika virus in the Americas

Oral administration of Jakinibs reduces Parkinson's disease pathogenesis in rat model

Respiratory tract infection in infants linked with increased T1D risk

Ebola vaccine shows promise in clinical trials

New investigational inhibitor JQEZ5 can block specific molecular malfunctions driving cancer

Hepatitis B virus screening for Asian American adults can help prevent onset of liver diseases

Flu vaccinations for pregnant women reduce newborn’s influenza risk during first six months of life

New project explores role of mosquitoes in transmission of pathogens in Austria

LJI study could provide important target for autoimmune disease interventions

UGA researcher works to advance effective treatment for infectious mononucleosis

Study on Zika exposure among HIV-infected patients in Ghana

Small doses of cancer drug may be potential treatment for sepsis and other pandemics

Novel gene therapy can treat pulmonary hypertension linked with heart failure

Study sheds light on several aspects of Ebola virus flare-ups in Liberia

Pioneering gene therapy may lead to potential cure for common causes of vision loss

Single bNAb infusion can protect monkeys from HIV-like virus infection

Experimental therapy has over 90% remission rate for advanced leukemia patients

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