Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

The male circumcision debate continues

Much has been written on the controversies and debates on whether males – from infants to adults – have a human right to retain their foreskin. The protestors have helped persuade 18 states to stop paying for circumcisions under their Medicaid health insurance programs.

5 Oct 2011

Hormonal contraceptive shots and risk of HIV in African women

A new study from Africa reveals that using a hormone shot given every three months - the most popular contraceptive for women in eastern and southern Africa, may make it easier for HIV to spread between heterosexual sex partners.

5 Oct 2011

HPV may be responsible for the alarming numbers of oral cancers: Study

Sore throat for a very long time could be an early precursor of a sexually transmitted virus that is fueling a rise in oral cancer suggest researchers. Between 1988 and 2004, head, neck and throat cancers that tested positive for the human papilloma virus rose an astounding 225 percent, according to a new study.

4 Oct 2011

Virus DNA uncoated with aid of host cell

They have been around since the dawn of time and are a model of evolutionary success: viruses. Viruses are extremely adaptable but they have a problem: They cannot reproduce, so they smuggle their genes into suitable host cells. In the case of some viruses, the viral DNA has to enter the cell nucleus to reproduce. This has been known for almost 50 years.

4 Oct 2011

Dramatic rise in U.S. incidence of oropharyngeal cancer can be attributed to HPV infection

A new study of oropharyngeal cancer suggests that dramatic increases in U.S. incidence of the cancer and survival since 1984 can be attributed to infection with the human papillomavirus.

4 Oct 2011

DNA primer vaccine enhances immune response to H5N1 avian influenza vaccine

The immune response to an H5N1 avian influenza vaccine was greatly enhanced in healthy adults if they were first primed with a DNA vaccine expressing a gene for a key H5N1 protein, researchers say.

4 Oct 2011

Lung immune cells orchestrate the body's repair response following flu infection

There's more than one way to mop up after a flu infection. Now, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report in Nature Immunology that a previously unrecognized population of lung immune cells orchestrate the body's repair response following flu infection.

4 Oct 2011

Santaris Pharma to report new clinical data from miravirsen Phase 2a study on HCV

Santaris Pharma A/S, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of microRNA and mRNA-targeted therapies, today announced the Company will report new clinical data results from the miravirsen Phase 2a proof-of-concept study to treat patients infected with the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) in a late-breaking oral presentation session at the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) 2011 annual meeting.

4 Oct 2011

GeoVax completes enrollment for HIV/AIDS vaccine Phase 2a clinical trial

GeoVax Labs, Inc., an Atlanta-based biopharmaceutical firm developing vaccines to prevent and fight Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infections, announced today the completion of enrollment for a Phase 2a clinical trial testing its HIV/AIDS vaccine.

3 Oct 2011

Bristol-Myers to present abstracts on research in liver disease at The Liver Meeting 2011

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company announced today that 22 abstracts on the Company's research in liver disease have been accepted for presentation at The Liver Meeting 2011, the 62nd annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, in San Francisco, November 4 - 8.

1 Oct 2011

Viewpoints: Sebelius on improving care; Samuelson on health costs; Durenberger on exporting U.S. system

Far too many Americans still go without the best care. That's why the Obama administration has joined with Truman Medical Centers and more than 2,500 other hospitals nationwide, along with thousands of employers, health insurers, provider organizations and patient advocates, to launch the Partnership for Patients … Over the next three years, we will reduce preventable injuries in hospitals by 40 percent. And we will cut hospital re-admissions by 20 percent, targeting the return trips that should never have occurred.

1 Oct 2011

New analyses from Phase III studies of VICTRELIS to be presented at AASLD 2011

Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, announced today that several new analyses from Phase III studies of VICTRELIS (boceprevir), the company's first-in-class, oral hepatitis C virus NS3/4A protease inhibitor will be presented at the 62nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

1 Oct 2011

Vertex announces abstracts from hepatitis C program to be presented at The Liver Meeting

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated today announced that abstracts from its hepatitis C program, including two late-breaking posters from studies of INCIVEK (telaprevir) tablets and VX-222, were accepted for presentation at The Liver Meeting, the 62nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) in San Francisco, November 4-8, 2011.

1 Oct 2011

UCSF protein researcher wins NIH's Early Independence Award

James Fraser, PhD, a protein researcher who studies structural biology at the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3) at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), is one of 10 recipients of a prestigious award for young scientists given for the first time by the National Institutes of Health.

1 Oct 2011

Patients with chronic hepatitis C less likely to take medications over time

Patients being treated for chronic hepatitis C become less likely to take their medications over time, according to a new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

30 Sep 2011

Researchers determine structure of RIG-I protein linked with viral infections

Researchers at Rutgers and UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School have determined the structure of a protein that is the first line of defense in fighting viral infections including influenza, hepatitis C, West Nile, rabies, and measles.

30 Sep 2011

Small Phase I trial shows HIV vaccine candidate is most powerful to date

Researchers at the Spanish Superior Scientific Research Council (CSIC) have successfully completed a small Phase I human clinical trial of an HIV vaccine candidate that granted 90 percent of 30 study participants an immunological response against the virus, Gizmag reports.

30 Sep 2011

Powerful HIV vaccine being tested on humans

Spanish researchers have developed a prototype of a vaccine against the AIDS-causing HIV virus that is “much more powerful” than those made to date.

29 Sep 2011

AASLD publishes updated practice guidelines on hepatitis C

On Monday, September 26, 2011, the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases published online at its journal Hepatology's website an update to its practice guidelines for hepatitis C – "An Update on Treatment of Genotype 1 Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection: 2011 Practice Guideline by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases."

29 Sep 2011

Viewpoints: Blocking, replacing health law; a doc's HPV advice; County wellness plan working

Too often, the Republican Party health-care agenda seems to consist of incanting "repeal and replace" and then to stop thinking-;if the thinking ever begins at all. Certainly the current Presidential field is saying little beyond promising to repeal ObamaCare, but in the nick of time Paul Ryan has provided some intellectual guidance in an important speech yesterday at Stanford's Hoover Institution. he said "we cannot simply revert to the status quo."

29 Sep 2011