Virology News and Research

Latest Virology News and Research

Rotavirus vaccine significantly cuts child hospitalizations, study says

Developing and developed countries that require children to be vaccinated against rotavirus "have significantly reduced the number of children admitted to hospitals with the disease, a report showed on Thursday," Reuters reports (Kelland, 1/20).

24 Jan 2011

Research findings reveal HIV's hiding spot, new way to stop the virus

HIV adapts in a surprising way to survive and thrive in its hiding spot within the human immune system, scientists have learned. While the finding helps explain why HIV remains such a formidable foe after three decades of research - more than 30 million people worldwide are infected with HIV - it also offers scientists a new, unexpected way to try to stop the virus.

24 Jan 2011

Bird flu outbreak in Japan

After six birds were confirmed to have avian flu, the Miyazaki Prefectural Government has begun culling more than 10,000 chickens at a local poultry farm southwest Japan.

23 Jan 2011

AHF proposes funding solutions to current ADAP crisis

In anticipation of an additional round of cuts to the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) to be implemented in the next few months, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) today proposed three possible funding solutions to the current ADAP crisis—which has left more than 5,000 people on waiting lists to receive lifesaving medications and thousands more scheduled to be disenrolled from the program altogether. Currently,

21 Jan 2011

Initiative to eliminate cervical cancer in North Carolina

Patricia Gregory of Cary was only 24 years old when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Now a mother of an 11-year-old daughter, she considers herself blessed to have a child, as cervical cancer can make women unable to bear children.

21 Jan 2011

WHO executive board meeting addresses agency's policy on counterfeit, substandard medications

According to the news service, WHO "members … raised strong concerns that a working group they mandated last May to address problems with WHO policy on counterfeit and substandard medicines has yet to be formed - with four months remaining before it must report back to members."

21 Jan 2011

IMDx enters multi-year agreement with Abbott Molecular for m2000 instrument system

IMDx today announced that they have signed a multi-year agreement with Abbott whereby IMDx will design, develop, regulatory clear, and manufacture assays for the Abbott Molecular FDA cleared, m2000 instrument system to be distributed worldwide. Financial terms have not been disclosed.

21 Jan 2011

Scientists find ADAR1 enzyme protect against measles virus

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have found that a known enzyme in cells protects against measles virus, likely by altering the virus's genetic material, RNA. Cells lacking the enzyme become highly vulnerable to the virus's destructive effects. The enzyme also protects against several other respiratory viruses, including influenza A.

21 Jan 2011

Routine rotavirus vaccine shows a significant drop in diarrhea cases: Study

A latest study has shown that the rotavirus vaccines have helped drastically reduce hospital visits around the world. Rotavirus can lead to fatal cases of diarrhea in children and causes half a million deaths in kids under five each year around the world. Developing countries are particularly at risk.

20 Jan 2011

Elizabeth Glaser foundation awarded $45M grant to address pediatric HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe

The Government of Zimbabwe's national program to eliminate pediatric HIV/AIDS has received a significant boost with an award by the London-based Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF).

20 Jan 2011

HIV-infected patients three times more likely to suffer strokes

While the overall hospitalization rate for stroke has declined in recent years, the numbers have jumped dramatically for patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), suggesting they may be up to three times more likely to suffer a stroke than people uninfected by the virus that causes AIDS.

20 Jan 2011

BI refuses to offer increased access to AIDS drugs for low-income Americans

AHF issued the following: Despite a growing national AIDS drug crisis, pharmaceutical giant Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, has steadfastly refused to offer increased access to its lifesaving AIDS drugs or to respond in any way to repeated requests by AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the largest global AIDS organization, to do its part in creating a solution.

20 Jan 2011

Koronis' KP-1461 drug causes extra mutations to occur in HIV genome in HIV-infected patients

Recently published Phase 2a clinical trial results show that the frequency of specific, drug-induced mutations in the HIV genome can be significantly increased by administering KP-1461, a drug being developed by Koronis Pharmaceuticals based on its novel Viral Decay Acceleration (VDA) drug mechanism.

20 Jan 2011

Swiss HIV Cohort Study identifies simple method to determine time of infection

Identifying the time of HIV infection. Researchers of the Swiss HIV Cohort Study have identified a simple method to establish when a patient contracted the virus causing . The time of infection can be of importance for the treatment of the illness and it contributes to the understanding of the course of the epidemic.

20 Jan 2011

New research: HIV individuals are more likely to have stroke

New research suggests that people infected with human immunodeficiency virus may be up to three times more likely to have a stroke compared to those not affected with HIV. The study is published in the January 19, 2011, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

20 Jan 2011

Findings could speed use of RNA nanotechnology for treating disease

Scientists are reporting an advance in overcoming a major barrier to the use of the genetic material RNA in nanotechnology - the field that involves building machines thousands of times smaller than the width of a human hair and now is dominated by its cousin, DNA. Their findings, which could speed the use of RNA nanotechnology for treating disease, appear in the monthly journal ACS Nano.

20 Jan 2011

Small molecules may inhibit entry of Ebola into human cells

Ebola, a virus that causes deadly hemorrhagic fever in humans, has no known cure or vaccine. But a new study by University of Illinois at Chicago scientists has uncovered a family of small molecules which appear to bind to the virus's outer protein coat and may inhibit its entry into human cells.

20 Jan 2011

Scientists determine protein structure that delivers genetic material of HIV to human cells

A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and the University of Virginia has determined the structure of the protein package that delivers the genetic material of the human immunodeficiency virus to human cells.

19 Jan 2011

Study finds link between public transport and risk of catching ARI

You are six times more likely to end up at the doctors with an acute respiratory infection if you have recently used a bus or tram — but those who use buses or trams daily might well be somewhat protected compared with more occasional users.

19 Jan 2011

Legionnaires’ disease scare in Bali: Australian tourists warned

Commonwealth chief medical officer Jim Bishop has warned Australians who have returned from Bali on an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease on the popular Indonesian resort island. The Australian health authorities knew of 11 cases of Legionnaires’ disease detected in Victorians and Western Australians after holidays in the Kuta area of Bali between August 2010 and January 2011.

19 Jan 2011