Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

Scientists create genetically-altered neurons that light up as they fire

In a scientific first that potentially could shed new light on how signals travel in the brain, how learning alters neural pathways, and might lead to speedier drug development, scientists at Harvard have created genetically-altered neurons that light up as they fire.

30 Nov 2011

Cases of two AIDS patients renew hope of AIDS cure for many scientists, New York Times reports

The New York Times profiles two AIDS patients whose cases "suggest to many scientists that curing AIDS may be achievable," according to the newspaper. "One man, the so-called Berlin patient, apparently has cleared his HIV infection, albeit by arduous bone marrow transplants," and the other, "a 50-year-old man in Trenton, N.J., underwent a far less difficult gene therapy procedure. While he was not cured, his body was able to briefly control the virus after he stopped taking the usual antiviral drugs, something that is highly unusual," the newspaper writes.

29 Nov 2011

Shots reduce risk of chicken pox

Infants below the age of one may be too young to get the chicken pox vaccine but far fewer of them got the itchy rash after the U.S. started routinely vaccinating older children in 1995, according to a new study.

29 Nov 2011

New trends in HIV/AIDS prevalence

According to a latest report released this Monday, Toronto has more HIV and AIDS cases than ever before, with an estimated one in 120 adults in the city now HIV-positive. In all of Ontario, the number of people living with HIV-AIDS grew by 31 per cent between 2003 and 2008 and that number continues to expand.

29 Nov 2011

Enrollment complete in Alnylam's ALN-RSV01 Phase IIb study for RSV infection

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today that it has completed patient enrollment in its Phase IIb study with ALN-RSV01, an RNAi therapeutic for the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection.

29 Nov 2011

Seizure drug slows spread of uveal melanoma

A drug commonly used to treat seizures appears to make eye tumors less likely to grow if they spread to other parts of the body, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

29 Nov 2011

Serotonin instructs scar forming cells to switch off regeneration in chronic liver disease

In liver disease, extent of tissue damage depends on the balance between the generation of scar tissue and the regeneration of new liver cells. In a significant minority of people who get injury to their organs instead of repairing them, they form scars.

29 Nov 2011

New swine flu virus alarms health officials

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), three cases of a new flu virus have been confirmed. These originated in pigs but apparently spread from person to person, in three Iowa children.

28 Nov 2011

Inviragen commences DENVax Phase 2 trial for dengue

Inviragen, Inc. today announced the initiation of a Phase 2, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of DENVax, the Company's investigational dengue vaccine.

28 Nov 2011

Suppressing mosquitoes - the only way of controlling dengue

There is no vaccine against dengue, an emerging tropical disease regularly also hitting tourists, so the only way of controlling it is by suppressing the mosquitoes transmitting the disease.

28 Nov 2011

Mass immunization with cervical cancer vaccine switched to a more effective variety

Cervarix is currently offered to girls aged 12 and 13 years to protect against strains of the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes most cases of cancer of the cervix, the neck of the womb. Cervarix was picked by the Labour government for the first four-year phase of the NHS programme in 2008 because it offered ‘best overall value’ and more than five million doses have been given.

27 Nov 2011

IPS reports on child poverty in Lesotho

"The triple threat of HIV, poverty and food insecurity is increasingly exposing children to abuse, exploitation and other human rights violations" in Lesotho, Inter Press Service reports in an article examining child poverty in the small southern African country.

24 Nov 2011

NIH-led study advances HIV vaccine research

HIV is coated in sugars that usually hide the virus from the immune system. Newly published research reveals how one broadly neutralizing HIV antibody actually uses part of the sugary cloak to help bind to the virus. The antibody binding site, called the V1/V2 region, represents a suitable HIV vaccine target, according to the scientists who conducted the study. In addition, their research reveals the detailed structure of the V1/V2 region, the last part of the virus surface to be visualized at the atomic level.

24 Nov 2011

University of Rochester receives U.S. patent for HPV vaccine research

The University of Rochester has been awarded a U.S. patent for research essential to both human papillomavirus vaccines on the market.

23 Nov 2011

George W. Bush to travel to Africa to raise awareness about cervical, breast cancer

Former President George W. Bush will travel next month with former first lady Laura Bush and officials with the George W. Bush Institute to Tanzania, Zambia and Ethiopia "where they'll visit clinics and meet with governmental and health care leaders ... to raise awareness about cervical and breast cancer, an effort he calls a 'natural extension' of" the PEPFAR program launched during his presidency, the Associated Press reports.

23 Nov 2011

University of Liverpool introduces HEP i-chart for HCV patients

The University of Liverpool has launched an iphone app, HEP i-chart, that provides Hepatitis C (HCV) patients with quick and easy access to the latest information about drug interactions.

23 Nov 2011

IPS examines HIV in the Caribbean, highlights challenges in addressing at-risk populations

Inter Press Service examines HIV in the Caribbean, where "the HIV burden varies considerably among and within countries" in the region. "'I think the prevention programs in many countries are not reaching the right people,' Michel de Groulards, regional program adviser of the UNAIDS Caribbean Regional Support Team, told IPS," the news service writes, adding, "One factor, de Groulards believed, may be that after 25 years of providing treatment, some countries have reached a plateau.

23 Nov 2011