Virology News and Research

Latest Virology News and Research

Hong Kong and China's Guangdong province will increase joint HIV surveillance and prevention efforts

According to Yu Dewen, spokesperson for the Guangdong health authority, because many new HIV cases are transmitted sexually, the two health departments will "launch a series of education campaigns to increase public awareness" about HIV/AIDS.

22 Mar 2007

AACR's Sixth Annual Landon Awards recognize Richard Kolodner, Douglas Lowy and John Schiller

Scientists whose discoveries have led to fundamental advances in the science and treatment of cancer are the recipients of two prestigious international prizes offered by the Kirk A. and Dorothy P. Landon Foundation and the American Association for Cancer Research.

22 Mar 2007

Microbix granted Canadian patent for vaccine technology

Microbix Biosystems has announced that it has been granted a patent by the Canadian Patent Office for its Vaccine Technology. This technology holds the promise of significantly boosting global production of influenza vaccines.

22 Mar 2007

Scientists discover new approach for treating virus-induced lymphomas

Kaposi's sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV) is a human tumor virus and an etiological agent for Kaposi's sarcoma and primary effusion lymphoma (PEL). PELs are aggressive lymphomas with reported median survival time shorter than six months after diagnosis.

19 Mar 2007

Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B cases at lowest levels ever reported

The three most common forms of acute viral hepatitis in the United States -- hepatitis A, B and C -- declined dramatically between 1995 and 2005, with hepatitis A and B at the lowest levels ever recorded since the government began collecting surveillance data more than 40 years ago, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Hepatitis B and C are diseases that can lead to liver cancer and death.

15 Mar 2007

Researchers use poliovirus to destroy neuroblastoma tumors in mice

The cause of one notorious childhood disease, poliovirus, could be used to treat the ongoing threat of another childhood disease, neuroblastoma.

15 Mar 2007

New method for identifying viruses and bacteria that cause common infections in children

Infectious disease specialists at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found a new method for identifying suspect viruses and bacteria that cause some of the most common acute infections in children.

13 Mar 2007

$20 million boosts AIDS treatment, vaccine research in Rochester

The University of Rochester Medical Center will continue to play a leading role in the nation’s effort fighting AIDS, with more than $20 million to be directed to Rochester doctors and researchers who are working on new treatments for the disease and on finding a vaccine to prevent it altogether, Federal officials announced today.

12 Mar 2007

Bird flu doing the rounds in Egypt

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed that a Egyptian 4-year-old boy has tested positive for bird flu; he is the country's 24th case.

12 Mar 2007

Caribbean Broadcast Media partnership launches HIV/AIDS education campaign in conjunction with cricket world cup

The Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV/AIDS on Thursday in advance of the Cricket World Cup opening launched LIVE UP -- the first pan-Caribbean campaign led by broadcasters to encourage and empower youth to learn about HIV and take action to fight the spread of the virus in the region -- the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation reports

11 Mar 2007

New drug target for herpes viruses

Scientists in the lab of Whitehead Institute Member Hidde Ploegh and the Harvard University lab of Rachelle Gaudet have solved the complex structure of a recently discovered protein that is found in a wide range of herpes viruses. This protein may prove to be a potential drug target.

11 Mar 2007

New drug target for herpes viruses

11 Mar 2007

Second bird flu death in Laos - 11th country to fall victim to H5N1

The death of a 15-year-old girl from Laos from the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, is the country's first officially confirmed victim of the disease.

11 Mar 2007

AIDS and circumcision - the jury's still out

According to preliminary results of a study in Africa, although circumcision offers men some protection from the AIDS virus, if they are already-infected, unless they let the penis heal completely they may put women at an even higher risk of contracting the virus.

8 Mar 2007

California Sen. Carole Migden introduces bill to allow HIV-positive men to use reproductive services

California Sen. Carole Migden (D) recently introduced a bill (SB 443) that would allow HIV-positive men to use reproductive services, including artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization, under certain guidelines, the MediaNews/San Jose Mercury News reports.

8 Mar 2007

HIV-positive men who have sex before circumcision wounds are healed could increase female partners' infection risk

HIV-positive men undergoing circumcision might be more likely to transmit the virus to their female partners if they have sex before the circumcision wounds have healed, according to preliminary results from a study being conducted in Uganda and presented on Tuesday to 75 officials from the World Health Organization and UNAIDS at a meeting in Montreux, Switzerland, the Washington Post reports

8 Mar 2007

Debate over HPV vaccine 'clouded' by worries about promiscuity

The debate over the Merck's human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil has been "clouded" by "worries about promiscuity," New York Times reporter Denise Grady writes in a column

8 Mar 2007

China's southern Guangdong Province found to be source of H5N1

A team of scientists at the University of California, Irvine, who have been conducting a genetic analysis of the H5N1 bird flu virus, have found that China's southern Guangdong Province is the source of the deadly strain.

7 Mar 2007

Health Protection Agency updates on Holton avian flu outbreak

Britain's Health Protection Agency (HPA) has now completed the first stage of the public health follow up in relation to the outbreak of avian flu on a poultry farm in Holton, Suffolk.

6 Mar 2007

Children under stress develop more fevers

Children whose parents and families are under ongoing stress have more fevers with illness than other children. Published this month in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, the study also shows the unanticipated conclusion that children's natural killer cell function, part of the body's innate immune system, increases under chronic stress, unlike adults, whose function is decreased.

6 Mar 2007