Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

AAV-based gene therapy cocktail may help extend lives of children with Canavan disease

Results of a clinical trial that began in 2001 show that a gene therapy cocktail conveyed into the brain by a molecular special delivery vehicle may help extend the lives of children with Canavan disease, a rare and fatal neurodegenerative disorder.

20 Dec 2012

Zoo data show low incidence of animal–human infection

Zoonotic transmission rates are low and the risk for animal–human infection is well managed, show zoo data spanning 19 years.

19 Dec 2012

Harvard scientists shed new light on olfactory feedback mechanism

More than a century after it was first identified, Harvard scientists are shedding new light on a little-understood neural feedback mechanism that may play a key role in how the olfactory system works in the brain.

19 Dec 2012

No evidence for man flu according to preliminary results from UK Flusurvey

Preliminary results from the first month of the UK Flusurvey run by scientists at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine suggest there is no evidence for “man flu” and reveal that reports of flu-like illness are highest among children.

19 Dec 2012

Georgia State researcher discover new process to make one-time flu vaccine

A new process to make a one-time, universal influenza vaccine has been discovered by a researcher at Georgia State University's Center for Inflammation, Immunity and Infection and his partners.

19 Dec 2012

MiR-122 plays a critical role in the life cycle of hepatitis C virus

Hepatitis C virus has evolved to invade and hijack the basic machinery of the human liver cell to ensure its survival and spread. Researchers at the University of North have discovered how hepatitis C binds with and repurposes a basic component of cellular metabolism known as a microRNA to help protect and replicate the virus.

19 Dec 2012

Jagaricin and antifungal drugs: an interview with Prof Christian Hertweck

Most people have already experienced a fungal infection (mycosis) of the outer layer of the skin, athlete’s foot or ringworm. Whereas such infections may be cumbersome and often difficult to cure, usually they are not dangerous. However, in cases where a fungus causes a systemic infection, this is, it infects internal organs such as lungs or brain, the infection may turn into a life-threatening disease. Of course, only pathogenic fungi cause problems and the degree of virulence varies.

18 Dec 2012

International community must keep fighting to end mother-to-child HIV transmission

"Even with the knowledge and medicines to prevent transmission of HIV from mothers to children, there are still babies being born with HIV in the U.S. and around the world," Jake Glaser, Janice McCall, and Cristina Pena -- all persons living with HIV who contracted the virus through mother-to-child transmission and who work as ambassadors for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation -- write in the Huffington Post's "Global Motherhood" blog.

18 Dec 2012

Global travel, climate warming could create right conditions for chikungunya outbreaks in the U.S.

Global travel and climate warming could be creating the right conditions for outbreaks of a new virus in this country, according to a new Cornell University computer model.

18 Dec 2012

Tbx18 gene directs conversion of cardiomyocytes to genuine pacemaker cells

Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute researchers have reprogrammed ordinary heart cells to become exact replicas of highly specialized pacemaker cells by injecting a single gene (Tbx18)-a major step forward in the decade-long search for a biological therapy to correct erratic and failing heartbeats.

18 Dec 2012

GSK receives FDA approval for FLUARIX QUADRIVALENT to treat seasonal flu

GlaxoSmithKline plc announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved FLUARIX QUADRIVALENT (Influenza Virus Vaccine) for the immunisation of children (three years and older) and adults to help prevent disease caused by seasonal influenza (flu) virus subtypes A and type B contained in the vaccine.

17 Dec 2012

Long-term antiviral HBV treatment advocated

Study results support the long-term use of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate for chronic hepatitis B virus, showing that it can suppress the virus and lead to regression of fibrosis and cirrhosis in patients after 5 years’ treatment.

17 Dec 2012

New model of how the capsid of viruses assembles

A new model of the how the protein coat (capsid) of viruses assembles, published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Biophysics, shows that the construction of intermediate structures prior to final capsid production (hierarchical assembly) can be more efficient than constructing the capsid protein by protein (direct assembly).

17 Dec 2012

Efforts to prevent, treat cervical cancer increasing in Africa

The Guardian's "Poverty Matters Blog" examines efforts to prevent and treat cervical cancer in sub-Saharan Africa, where "cervical cancer kills large numbers of women, many of whom are never diagnosed because local hospitals do not recognize the disease until it is too late."

15 Dec 2012

PlusNews reviews AVAC priorities for 2013 HIV prevention agenda

"If the world scales-up HIV treatment and prevention in the next two years, a critical tipping point -- in which those on treatment outnumber those newly infected with the virus -- could be reached, according to the global HIV prevention advocacy organization AVAC," PlusNews reports.

15 Dec 2012

CEL-SCI net loss decreases to $17.6 million for fiscal year 2012

CEL-SCI Corporation reported financial results today for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2012.

14 Dec 2012

Malaria vaccine trial: an interview with Professor Sir Brian Greenwood

Malaria is an infection caused by a parasite called plasmodium, which is transmitted from person to person by females of some species of mosquito. It is primarily a disease of tropical countries.

14 Dec 2012

Scientists discover new evidence about evolution of viruses

Scientists have discovered new evidence about the evolution of viruses, in work that will change our understanding about the control of infectious diseases such as winter flu.

14 Dec 2012

HPV in women at or after menopause may represent an infection acquired years ago

A new study suggests that human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in women at or after menopause may represent an infection acquired years ago, and that HPV infections may exist below limits of detection after one to two years, similar to other viruses, such as varicella zoster, which can cause shingles.

14 Dec 2012

Positive data from Oncolytics’ REOLYSIN Phase III combination study on head and neck cancers

Oncolytics Biotech Inc. today announced initial positive top line data from the first endpoint in its double-blinded randomized Phase III clinical study examining REOLYSIN in combination with carboplatin and paclitaxel in second-line patients with platinum-refractory, taxane-naïve head and neck cancers (REO 018).

13 Dec 2012