Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

New technology to diagnose influenza quickly

A new technology is showing promise as the basis for a much-needed home test to diagnose influenza quickly, before the window for taking antiviral drugs slams shut and sick people spread the virus to others, scientists reported here today. In a presentation at the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), they described how it also could determine the specific strain of flu virus and help select the most effective drug for treatment.

10 Sep 2013

Hepatitis C services in the UK: an interview with Louise Campbell, senior liver nurse at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

Within the UK there are several centres whose nurse specialists work to a best practice model, delivering care and achieving outcomes which are extremely high in areas of patient retention, adherence to medication and completion of the treatment regimen. With this they achieve cure rates which are some of the highest in the World.

9 Sep 2013

Medivir, Daewoong Discontinue HBV Drug Development

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6 Sep 2013

Scientists reveal structure of protein essential for triggering necroptosis

Scientists in Melbourne, Australia, have revealed the structure of a protein that is essential for triggering a form of programmed cell death called necroptosis, making possible the development of new drugs to treat chronic inflammatory diseases such as Crohn's disease and rheumatoid arthritis.

6 Sep 2013

Apoptosis can reactivate latent herpesviruses in dying cell

Researchers have found that apoptosis, a natural process of programmed cell death, can reactivate latent herpesviruses in the dying cell. The results of their research, which could have broad clinical significance since many cancer chemotherapies cause apoptosis, was published ahead of print in the Journal of Virology.

6 Sep 2013

Peru: Liver cancer affects young people and children who do not have related risk factors

Liver cancer is the sixth most common cancer worldwide and the third most deadly. It mainly affects men over the age of 40, most often with cirrhosis or hepatitis B or C. But in Peru, it also uncharacteristically affects young people, even children, who do not have the identified related risk factors.

5 Sep 2013

New influenza vaccine delivered via microneedle avoids pain and side effects

Scientists have developed an influenza vaccine delivered via microneedle patch that provided 100 percent protection against a lethal influenza virus in mice more than one year after vaccination. They report their findings in the September 2013 issue of the journal Clinical and Vaccine Immunology.

5 Sep 2013

Researchers hope to protect humans from another deadly outbreak like HIV

Throughout Asia, humans and monkeys live side-by side in many urban areas. An international research team from the University of Washington, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Jahangirnagar University has been examining transmission of a virus from monkeys to humans in Bangladesh, one of the world's most densely populated countries.

5 Sep 2013

Blocking a protein helps virus to thrive and restore immune function to fight HCV infection

The hepatitis C virus hijacks the body's immune system, leaving T cells unable to function. A new study in animal models suggests that blocking a protein that helps the virus thrive could restore immune function, allowing the body to fight infection. The work, led by teams at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital and Emory University, was published online Aug. 26 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

4 Sep 2013

Precisely designed macromolecule mimics binding of HIV to immune system cells

A precisely designed macromolecule that mimics the binding of HIV to immune system cells could be used to stop the virus from physically entering the body, according to a new study led by a materials scientist at Queen Mary University of London.

4 Sep 2013

Taiwan's HBV immunization program for newborns lowers chronic HBV carriers, incidence of HCC

"Hepatitis B virus infection causes infant fulminant hepatitis, and chronic HBV infection may progress to chronic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma. Taiwan launched a nationwide HBV immunization program for newborns in July 1984, which has successfully lowered the prevalence of chronic HBV carriers, incidence of HCC, and mortality of IFH in vaccinated birth cohorts. The mortality of CLD before and after HBV immunization has never been examined," write Chun-Ju Chiang, Ph.D., of National Taiwan University, Taipei, and colleagues.

4 Sep 2013

New vaccine to protect against four strains of flu virus

For the first time, there will be a vaccine which protects against four strains of the flu virus. Until now, flu vaccines have only protected against three forms of the virus.

4 Sep 2013

Scientists estimate minimum of 320,000 viruses in mammals

Scientists estimate that there is a minimum of 320,000 viruses in mammals awaiting discovery. Collecting evidence of these viruses, or even a majority of them, they say, could provide information critical to early detection and mitigation of disease outbreaks in humans.

3 Sep 2013

Scientists determine new strategy to estimate total viral diversity in mammals

EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit organization that focuses on local conservation and global health issues, and the Center for Infection and Immunity (CII) at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health announced a new strategy to identify the total number of wildlife viruses that could potentially cause emerging disease outbreaks that threaten both public and wildlife health.

3 Sep 2013

Argininosuccinic aciduria (ASA) and gene therapy: an interview with Dr Julien Baruteau, UCL Institute for Women's Health, London

This rare genetic condition can theoretically affect patients at any age but symptoms are more often observed in childhood and even uncommonly during the first days of life.

2 Sep 2013

Researchers develop new model to predict treatment success more accurately

The HI virus is feared, not least, because of its great adaptability. If the virus mutates at precisely the point targeted by a drug, it is able to neutralise the attack and the treatment fails. To minimise these viral defence mechanisms, doctors treat patients with modern combination therapies involving the simultaneous administration of several drugs. This approach forces the virus to run through a series of mutations before it becomes immune to the drugs.

2 Sep 2013

New delivery system for combination of 2 FDA approved drugs to fight HIV

A University of Minnesota research team featuring researchers from the Institute for Molecular Virology, School of Dentistry and Center for Drug Design has developed a new delivery system for a combination of two FDA approved drugs that may serve as an effective treatment for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

31 Aug 2013

AARDA study reveals mothers antibodies may cause autism in babies

A new, large-scale study of more than 2,700 mothers of children with autism shows that about one in 10 mothers have antibodies in their bloodstream that react with proteins in the brain of their babies.

29 Aug 2013

Eight additional cases of MERS-CoV infection confirmed in Saudi Arabia

WHO has been informed of an additional eight laboratory-confirmed cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection in Saudi Arabia.

29 Aug 2013

Viewpoints: Upton says GOP health ideas overlooked; tying insurance to jobs is a bad idea

In a troubling denial of reality, President Obama now claims that Republicans have no ideas when it comes to health care, saying "they don't have an agenda to provide health insurance to people at affordable rates." But Republicans do have answers – a lot of them (Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., 8/27).

29 Aug 2013