Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

Montefiore Medical Center experts raise awareness about the importance of flu vaccines

Each year, 30,000 people die from influenza infection and its complications. In an effort to get ahead of the upcoming flu season, experts at Montefiore Medical Center are raising awareness about the importance of the flu vaccine, which remains the best option to reduce a person's risk of contracting the virus. The flu season can start as early as late September and usually runs for about 12 to 15 weeks.

8 Oct 2014

Viewpoints: Relatively few face insurance cancellations; new doctor payment site is 'impenetrable'

People are starting to get letters telling them their health insurance plans have been canceled because of the Affordable Care Act. Because the letters will go out just before the midterm congressional elections, they are likely to get a lot of attention. There have been several stories this past week. But the people affected will represent only a small fraction of the population with health insurance (Margot Sanger-Katz, (10/6).

8 Oct 2014

LLNL scientists issued patent for producing antimicrobial compounds to fight superbugs

Superbugs, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, have been on the rise since antibiotics were first introduced 80 years ago. That's because these germ-fighting agents have lost their punch from being overprescribed and misused, allowing bacteria pathogens to develop immunities against them.

8 Oct 2014

Obama administration announces plans to step up airport screening for Ebola virus

Though President Barack Obama did not say exactly how screening procedures would change, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said officials would consider a variety of options.

8 Oct 2014

Two randomized trials examine new vaccination strategies for avian influenza

Two randomized trials in the October 8 issue of JAMA examine new vaccination strategies for the prevention and control of avian influenza, often referred to as "bird flu." This is a theme issue on infectious disease.

8 Oct 2014

New drug discovery tool against Ebola virus

University of Utah biochemists have reported a new drug discovery tool against the Ebola virus. According to a study published in this week's online edition of Protein Science, they have produced a molecule, known as a peptide mimic, that displays a functionally critical region of the virus that is universally conserved in all known species of Ebola.

8 Oct 2014

TRU-D SmartUVC’s Ebola-killing UVC automated disinfection robot to be showcased at IDWeek 2014

TRU-D SmartUVC LLC will feature its Ebola-killing UVC automated disinfection robot at IDWeek 2014 in Philadelphia this week from October 8 to 12 at booth 826.

7 Oct 2014

Penn Medicine to explore therapeutic strategies for HIV positive women at risk of cervical cancer

The introduction of antiretroviral drugs in Botswana over the last two decades has increased the life expectancies of people living with HIV—many of whom are women co-infected with the human papillomavirus virus (HPV)—considerably: from 39 years to the low 60s. As a result, this co-infected group of women is at a much higher risk of developing HPV-associated cervical cancer.

7 Oct 2014

CHLA reports first confirmed case of enterovirus D68 in Los Angeles

In September, Children's Hospital Los Angeles physicians predicted it was a matter of when, and not if, Los Angeles children would become infected with Enterovirus EV-D68, commonly referred to as enterovirus D68. On Oct. 1, that day came. CHLA and public health officials announced that a young patient who had been hospitalized at CHLA with a respiratory illness and later experienced partial limb paralysis had tested positive for enterovirus D68.

7 Oct 2014

Groundbreaking study tracks precise path of rabies to the central nervous system

Rabies causes acute inflammation of the brain, producing psychosis and violent aggression. The virus, which paralyzes the body's internal organs, is always deadly for those unable to obtain vaccines in time. Some 55,000 people die from rabies every year.

7 Oct 2014

Reducing community transmission is key to containing Ebola outbreaks

Reducing community transmission and changing behaviour in communities is key to containing Ebola outbreaks, according to new research into the first known outbreak of the virus in 1976 by researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health.

7 Oct 2014

Viewpoints: Health costs and income inequality; vital matters when approaching life's end

Government data show that health costs are the biggest driver of income inequality in America today. Most employers pay workers a combination of wages and benefits, the most important of which is health coverage. Economic theory says that when employers' costs for benefits like health coverage rise, they will hold back on salary increases to keep total compensation costs in check. That's exactly what seems to have happened: Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that from June 2004 to June 2014 compensation increased by 28 percent while employer health-insurance costs rose by 51 percent. Consequently, average wages grew by just 24 percent (Mark J. Warshawsky and Andrew G. Biggs, 10/6).

7 Oct 2014

Correcting flaws in the Ebola response

How hospital and health workers react to suspected cases of Ebola going forward is the subject of much scrutiny. But, even as public health and many elected officials urge calm, some potential 2016 presidential candidates say President Obama isn't doing enough to keep the disease out of the U.S.

6 Oct 2014

Canada announces deployment of second mobile lab team to West Africa

The Honourable Rona Ambrose, Minister of Health, with Canada's Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Gregory Taylor, announced the deployment of a second mobile lab team to West Africa.

6 Oct 2014

Researchers find potential new way to better control immune-mediated diseases

Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered that T-cells - a type of white blood cell that learns to recognize and attack microbial pathogens - are activated by a pain receptor.

6 Oct 2014

Blackflies infected with Onchocerca volvulus parasite may spread nodding syndrome

Despite decades of research, scientists have yet to pinpoint the exact cause of nodding syndrome (NS), a disabling disease affecting African children. A new report suggests that blackflies infected with the parasite Onchocerca volvulus may be capable of passing on a secondary pathogen that is to blame for the spread of the disease. New research is presented in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases.

3 Oct 2014

Genetic history of HIV finally unravelled

Research, published today, shows that the HIV pandemic almost certainly began its global spread in the 1920s in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

3 Oct 2014

Viewpoints: Another troubled website rollout; insurers fight consumer measures in Calif.

If the federal government's new Open Payments website were a consumer product, it would be returned to the manufacturer for a full refund. Open Payments is the government's site for publishing payments made to doctors and teaching hospitals by drug and medical device manufacturers. It includes 4.4 million payments, worth $3.5 billion, to more than half a million doctors and almost 1,360 teaching hospitals (Charles Ornstein, 10/1).

3 Oct 2014

UPM researchers find way to enhance detection of rotavirus

Researchers at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid have found a way to enhance detection capacity of small concentrations of rotavirus. All this thanks to a new way to assess the biosensing response applied to an interferometric device.

3 Oct 2014

BIDMC receives $20 million grant to evaluate, test monoclonal antibodies for HIV treatment

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has received a four-year, $20 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to evaluate and test broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of HIV.

3 Oct 2014

Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

Montefiore Medical Center experts raise awareness about the importance of flu vaccines

Viewpoints: Relatively few face insurance cancellations; new doctor payment site is 'impenetrable'

LLNL scientists issued patent for producing antimicrobial compounds to fight superbugs

Obama administration announces plans to step up airport screening for Ebola virus

Two randomized trials examine new vaccination strategies for avian influenza

New drug discovery tool against Ebola virus

TRU-D SmartUVC’s Ebola-killing UVC automated disinfection robot to be showcased at IDWeek 2014

Penn Medicine to explore therapeutic strategies for HIV positive women at risk of cervical cancer

CHLA reports first confirmed case of enterovirus D68 in Los Angeles

Groundbreaking study tracks precise path of rabies to the central nervous system

Reducing community transmission is key to containing Ebola outbreaks

Viewpoints: Health costs and income inequality; vital matters when approaching life's end

Correcting flaws in the Ebola response

Canada announces deployment of second mobile lab team to West Africa

Researchers find potential new way to better control immune-mediated diseases

Blackflies infected with Onchocerca volvulus parasite may spread nodding syndrome

Genetic history of HIV finally unravelled

Viewpoints: Another troubled website rollout; insurers fight consumer measures in Calif.

UPM researchers find way to enhance detection of rotavirus

BIDMC receives $20 million grant to evaluate, test monoclonal antibodies for HIV treatment

A new way of characterising biomolecules eBook

How microRNA is transforming science: From discovery to diagnostics

Advancing benzodiazepine detection

The Surgeon-Scientist Pioneering Regenerative Engineering

Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

A new way of characterising biomolecules eBook

How microRNA is transforming science: From discovery to diagnostics

Advancing benzodiazepine detection

The Surgeon-Scientist Pioneering Regenerative Engineering

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