Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

Researchers reveal transmission rate of MERS coronavirus

The MERS coronavirus has caused disease outbreaks across the Arabian Peninsula and spread to Europe several times. The severe pneumonia virus has claimed the lives of several hundred people since its discovery in 2012.

29 Aug 2014

First Edition: August 29, 2014

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about the Obama administration and Pennsylvania reaching an agreement to expand Medicaid in that state.

29 Aug 2014

International consortium to accelerate collaborative multi-site trials of potential Ebola vaccine

A candidate Ebola vaccine could be given to healthy volunteers in the UK, The Gambia and Mali as early as September, as part of an series of safety trials of potential vaccines aimed at preventing the disease that has killed more than 1,400 people in the current outbreak in West Africa.

29 Aug 2014

NIH to start initial human testing of investigational Ebola vaccine next week

Initial human testing of an investigational vaccine to prevent Ebola virus disease will begin next week by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health.

29 Aug 2014

New treatment fights respiratory syncytial virus

The New England Journal of Medicine published research results on Aug. 21 from a clinical trial of a drug shown to safely reduce the viral load and clinical illness of healthy adult volunteers intranasally infected with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

29 Aug 2014

Researchers develop potential antibody therapy for Sudan ebolavirus

Researchers from Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and other institutions have developed a potential antibody therapy for Sudan ebolavirus (SUDV), one of the two most lethal strains of Ebola.

29 Aug 2014

Respiratory infection control measures being adopted for Ebola patients are unnecessary and may heighten public panic

Respiratory infection control measures – which have been adopted by most health agencies to deal with the Ebola epidemic in west Africa – are unnecessary, and may heighten panic and fear among the public, according to the authors of a new letter, published in The Lancet, and written by Professor Jose M. Martin-Moreno from the University of Valencia in Spain, and colleagues.

28 Aug 2014

Researchers report possible therapy that could help treat patients infected with SUDV

Ebola is a rare, but deadly disease that exists as five strains, none of which have approved therapies.

28 Aug 2014

Study: Many HIV infected African-Americans may not be receiving effective doses of maraviroc drug

Many African-Americans may not be getting effective doses of the HIV drug maraviroc, a new study from Johns Hopkins suggests. The initial dosing studies, completed before the drug was licensed in 2007, included mostly European-Americans, who generally lack a protein that is key to removing maraviroc from the body.

28 Aug 2014

Zebrafish and virus help scientists map the living brain

A virus and a zebrafish are helping scientists map the living brain. "You can kinda draw a diagram and see how cells within it are connected in a functioning brain," said Dr. Albert Pan, neuroscientist at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University.

26 Aug 2014

Viewpoints: Spreading Ebola treatments; Dems can win running on health law

A radical but promising proposal to help treat victims of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa appears to be gaining support among knowledgeable experts.

26 Aug 2014

TIM-family proteins also have ability to block release of HIV and other viruses

A family of proteins that promotes virus entry into cells also has the ability to block the release of HIV and other viruses, University of Missouri researchers have found.

26 Aug 2014

FDA approves ViiV Healthcare's Triumeq tablets for treatment of HIV-1 infection

ViiV Healthcare announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration has approved Triumeq (abacavir 600mg, dolutegravir 50mg and lamivudine 300mg) tablets for the treatment of HIV-1 infection.

23 Aug 2014

CHEST issues new expert guidance while global health-care community cares for Ebola patients

The American College of Chest Physicians announces the immediate release of Care of the Critically Ill and Injured During Pandemics and Disasters: CHEST Consensus Statement today in the Online First section of the journal CHEST while the global health-care community cares for patients with the Ebola virus.

22 Aug 2014

Viewpoints: Threat to drug development; GOP's Obamacare criticism tempered; finding doctors for seniors

An invasive species has been introduced into the U.S. health innovation ecosystem, with a growing danger of permanent damage to the development of specialty drugs.

21 Aug 2014

Some states angered about lack of authority over Medicare advantage plans

Elsewhere, Medicare officials consider offering HIV tests for all Medicare beneficiaries. Swanson turned to CMS because state regulators lack the legal authority to impose sanctions on Medicare Advantage carriers.

21 Aug 2014

Study: 15,000 pregnant women show decreased amount of prevalence of HSV type 2

In a study that included approximately 15,000 pregnant women, seroprevalence of herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 2 decreased substantially between 1989 and 2010 while there was no overall decrease for HSV type 1, but a slight increase among black women, according to a study in the August 20 issue of JAMA.

20 Aug 2014

New antibodies could pave way for more effective drugs to combat influenza infection

Research toward developing new antibodies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Faculty of Medicine could pave the way for more effective drugs to combat influenza infection.

20 Aug 2014

Viewpoints: Va. GOP's 'Medicaid charade'; Paul Ryan's health Rx for poverty; giving the sick unapproved drugs

Virginia lawmakers will convene in a special session next month to address the question of expanding Medicaid and, more broadly, the fact that hundreds of thousands of poor and disabled people in the state have no health insurance coverage. Democrats and some moderate Republicans have advanced a variety of ideas to tackle that problem. Conservative Republicans, who control the legislature in Richmond, have rejected those solutions while proposing no alternative. Does the GOP intend for the special session to be anything more than a charade at taxpayers' expense? (8/15).

19 Aug 2014

Another threat lies in the spread of Chikungunya virus, say experts

While media attention has been focused recently on coronavirus cases in the Arabian peninsula and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, experts note that another threat lies in the spread of Chikungunya fever, an illness that is transmitted by mosquitoes and can cause fever, joint and muscle pain, headaches, and rashes. While it does not often cause death, the symptoms can be severe and disabling, with no treatment available.

19 Aug 2014