Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

HIV rate drops among needle-drug users

About 1 in 10 needle drug users tested positive for HIV in 2009, a steep drop from the rate recorded in the 1990s, which was 1 in 5.

3 Mar 2012

Roundup: Iowa lawmaker urges waiting on exchange bill until court rules; Calif. group finds way to recycle medicine

Democrats and Republicans disagree about whether the Legislature needs to approve a health insurance exchange this spring. At a Statehouse forum on the issue Thursday, state Sen. Brad Zaun noted that the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule this summer on whether major portions of the health reform law are constitutional. Zaun, an Urbandale Republican who opposes the overall law, said it makes sense to wait until after that decision before deciding whether to move ahead with the exchange.

3 Mar 2012

WHO criticized for not efficiently communicating recommendations on HIV, contraception to African women, PlusNews reports

"HIV organizations, researchers and activists have criticized the WHO and UNAIDS for not clearly communicating guidelines on HIV and hormonal contraception to African women, who remain the most affected by the continent's high HIV prevalence rates," PlusNews reports.

3 Mar 2012

Critical new details about structure of enterovirus 71

Researchers have discovered critical new details about the structure of a virus that causes potentially fatal brain swelling and paralysis in children, pointing toward designs for antiviral drugs to treat the disease.

3 Mar 2012

EC grants marketing authorization for Baxter's VEPACEL to treat influenza A

Baxter International Inc. announced today that the European Commission (EC) has granted marketing authorization for VEPACEL in all European Union (EU) Member States, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

From Baxter International Inc. 2 Mar 2012

Quadrivalent flu vaccine that fights against four strains of Influenza approved

The FluMist Quadrivalent vaccine from AstraZeneca's MedImmune unit protects against two strains of influenza A and two strains of influenza B, and is approved for people ages 2 to 49. Similar to the previously approved FluMist, the new vaccine is a nasal spray that delivers weakened strains of the virus. The vaccine, FluMist Quadrivalent (MedImmune), will be available for the 2013-2014 flu season.

2 Mar 2012

HIV among injection drug users declines

U.S. health officials say the rate has dropped by half since the 1990s. The decline may be related to a growth in needle exchange programs. For the report more than 10,000 drug users in 20 metropolitan areas were surveyed and tested for HIV in 2009. About 1 in 10 tested positive for the virus. In the '90s, roughly 1 in 5 did. Addicts who inject heroin, cocaine or other drugs have been one of the groups hit hardest by AIDS.

2 Mar 2012

WHO, PAHO release new guidelines on mosquito-borne chikungunya virus

The Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), a regional arm of the World Health Organization (WHO), on Tuesday "unveiled new guidelines to help countries throughout the Americas detect and prevent transmission of the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus -- a disease which has already infected more than two million people around the world," the U.N. News Centre reports.

2 Mar 2012

Ten symptoms and signs that a child may need a doctor

Unfortunately, kids get sick. Fighting a virus or common cold is good for a child's immune system and can help build antibodies that protect them from dangerous illnesses. Still, there are times when that tummy ache or cough may require medical attention.

2 Mar 2012

Longer looks: Romney's evolution on abortion; The birth of the HIV epidemic

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney began his political career as a pro-choicer. In the story he tells, he had an epiphany, a flash of insight, and committed himself thereafter to protecting life. But that isn't what happened. The real story of Romney's conversion-;a series of tentative, equivocal, and confused shifts, accompanied by a constant rewriting of his past-;paints a more accurate picture of who he is.

2 Mar 2012

U.S. panel may re-evaluate bird flu research after scientists present new data about risks to humans

Speaking at the American Society for Microbiology's (ASM) Biodefense and Emerging Diseases Research meeting in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Ron Fouchier, the leader of the team at Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands that genetically altered the H5N1 bird flu virus, making it transmissible among ferrets and "touching off public fears of a pandemic, said that the virus he created was neither as contagious nor as dangerous as people had been led to believe, prompting the United States government to ask that the experiments be re-evaluated by a government advisory panel that recommended in December that certain details of the work be kept secret and not published," the New York Times reports.

1 Mar 2012

CD4 T cells can directly kill HIV-infected cells

A subpopulation of the immune cells targeted by HIV may play an important role in controlling viral loads after initial infection, potentially helping to determine how quickly infection will progress. In the February 29 issue of Science Translational Medicine, a team of researchers from the Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), MIT and Harvard describe finding a population of HIV-specific CD4 T cells - cells traditionally thought to direct and support activities of other immune cells - that can directly kill HIV-infected cells.

1 Mar 2012

Glucose meter could be adapted to monitor DNA

An inexpensive device used by millions of people with diabetes could be adapted into a home DNA detector that enables individuals to perform home tests for viruses and bacteria in human body fluids, in food and in other substances, scientists are reporting in a new study.

1 Mar 2012

NKT cells may reduce monocytes accumulation, prevent lung injury in severe flu

While some scientists report engineering a super virulent strain of the H5N1 influenza virus, which could potentially wipe out a significant percentage of the human population, another group of researchers from the United Kingdom now reports a discovery that may one day help mitigate the deadly effects of all flu strains.

1 Mar 2012

HPV and smear tests offer more effective approach for cervical screening

Testing for the human papillomavirus (HPV) - a virus most women will encounter at some point in their lives - followed by a smear test if they are HPV positive, provides the most effective approach for cervical screening, new research shows today.

1 Mar 2012

Ultrasound-based TE more accurate in detecting hepatic fibrosis

Researchers from the Mayo Clinic confirm that ultrasound-based transient elastography (TE) provides excellent diagnostic accuracy for detecting cirrhosis due to recurrent infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection following liver transplantation.

1 Mar 2012

First clinical assessment of how interferon fights infections in people

A drug once taken by people with HIV/AIDS but long ago shelved after newer, modern antiretroviral therapies became available has now shed light on how the human body uses its natural immunity to fight the virus—work that could help uncover new targets for drugs.

1 Mar 2012