Virology News and Research

Latest Virology News and Research

SARS: Systematic review of treatment effects

The SARS virus set alarm bells ringing across the world when it first appeared in 2002, but now a review of the effectiveness of the treatments used against it has found no evidence that any of them worked.

12 Sep 2006

When inequality pays dividends

When there are limited treatments for serious diseases, such as bird flu and HIV-AIDS, city residents should be first in line for the drugs ahead of those in rural areas to most effectively contain the risk to the community, according to research led by a University of New South Wales (UNSW) academic.

12 Sep 2006

Hand gel kills bird flu virus and Indonesian update

A company in the UK has come up with a hand gel which has the ability to kill the H5N1 bird flu virus in under a minute.

11 Sep 2006

Why H5N1 bird flu is so lethal

Researchers in Vietnam have discovered why the H5N1 bird flu virus currently at large is so lethal to humans.

11 Sep 2006

Colchicine delays development of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with hepatitis virus-related liver cirrhosis

Colchicine, an anti-inflammatory drug most often used to treat gout, prevented liver cancer in patients with hepatitis virus-related end-stage liver disease, according to a new study.

11 Sep 2006

New Indonesian case of human infection with the H5N1 virus

The case is a 14-year-old female from Makassar, South Sulawesi Province. She developed symptoms on 18 June, was hospitalized on 23 June and died on 24 June.

11 Sep 2006

Coalition drive to eradicate polio from Horn of Africa

Countries in the Horn of Africa are increasing their level of planning, coordination and streamlining their polio eradication strategies to cut the corridor of transmission of the poliovirus.

11 Sep 2006

Trial shows H5N1 vaccine safe and effective

A vaccine in development against the H5N1 influenza virus can produce a safe immune response in healthy people at low doses, according to an article published by The Lancet.

7 Sep 2006

Please go Tshabalala-Msimang!

HIV/AIDS advocates and scientists, including a U.S. Nobel laureate, on Tuesday in a letter to South African President Thabo Mbeki called for Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang to step down and protested the government's response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the Wall Street Journal reports.

7 Sep 2006

HIV needs human protein - potential therapy target

Mayo Clinic virologists have discovered that a specific human protein is essential for HIV to integrate into the human genome.

7 Sep 2006

China appears to have beaten the world to a bird flu vaccine

Scientists in China have developed a potential vaccine against the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus currently sweeping across Asia.

7 Sep 2006

Fewer deaths from cancer in the U.S.

According to a new report fewer Americans are dying of cancer even though the rates of new cancers remains the same.

7 Sep 2006

GPS the latest tool in fight against avian influenza

Wearing light solar-powered GPS satellite transmitters, wild swans from Mongolia are winging their way across Eurasia, while land-bound scientists tracking the birds' journeys on computers say that these unique studies will shed light on how wild birds may be involved in the spread of avian influenza.

6 Sep 2006

Libyan retrial of foreign medics stalls yet again

The retrial of six foreign medics accused of infecting hundreds of Libyan children with the virus that causes AIDS has been adjourned yet again until September 12th.

6 Sep 2006

H5 and N1 avian influenza found in Pennsylvania wild bird samples

The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Interior today announced that the presence of the H5 and N1 avian influenza subtypes in samples from wild mallard ducks in Pennsylvania.

5 Sep 2006

Iraqis allegedly infected with HIV in 1980s through contaminated blood products file civil lawsuit

Three groups in Iraq -- including about 35 Iraqis who allegedly contracted HIV through contaminated blood products in the 1980s -- have filed a civil lawsuit against the country's Ministry of Health and two companies that sold blood products, the New York Times reports.

5 Sep 2006