Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

Gilead receives FDA approval for Truvada to reduce risk of sexually acquired HIV-1 infection

Gilead Sciences, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved once-daily oral Truvada (emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate), in combination with safer sex practices, to reduce the risk of sexually acquired HIV-1 infection in adults at high risk.

17 Jul 2012

Positive results from Alnylam’s ALN-TTR02 Phase I trial on TTR-mediated amyloidosis

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today the achievement of positive clinical results from its Phase I trial with ALN-TTR02, an RNAi therapeutic targeting the transthyretin (TTR) gene for the treatment of TTR-mediated amyloidosis.

16 Jul 2012

Polio eradication: an interview with Dr. Kathleen O’Reilly

Polio is a disease caused by a virus and results in paralysis, usually in the legs, of those affected. The paralysis is irreversible. In some extreme cases the virus spreads to the nerve cells of the brain reducing breathing capacity and this rarer form can be fatal.

16 Jul 2012

Researchers discover HVEM’s unknown role in fighting off E. coli infections

Despite ongoing public health efforts, E. coli outbreaks continue to infiltrate the food supply, annually causing significant sickness and death throughout the world. But the research community is gaining ground. In a major finding, published today in the scientific journal Nature, researchers from the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology have discovered a molecule's previously unknown role in fighting off E. coli and other bacterial infections, a discovery that could lead to new ways to protect people from these dangerous microorganisms.

16 Jul 2012

Special issue of AIDS and Behavior looks at latest behavioral interventions research

HIV prevention must be better targeted, according to David Holtgrave from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the US, and colleagues. Health care professionals need a more detailed analysis and understanding of the interplay between HIV risk behavior, access to treatment and treatment success among those living with HIV. The authors discuss their proposed framework in a study in a special issue of Springer's journal AIDS and Behavior.

16 Jul 2012

College-age children also need immunizations, says UMDNJ professor

Most parents take their young children regularly for immunization shots that protect against polio, diphtheria, measles, mumps and other diseases. But many do not consider that their college-age children also need immunizations.

14 Jul 2012

New paper documents discovery of novel lipids, including MC3

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, a leading RNAi therapeutics company, and collaborators announced today the publication of a scientific paper documenting the discovery of novel lipids used in second generation lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) for systemic delivery of RNAi therapeutics.

14 Jul 2012

Chica and Heinz Schaller Foundation supports work of five new C.H.S. research groups

Five new research groups for young scientists, the C.H.S. research groups, have taken up their work in basic biomedical research. To mark the occasion, the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) will hold a ceremony on 20 July 2012.

14 Jul 2012

Studies show success, highlight challenges of PrEP strategy

The results of three clinical trials published on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine show that the antiretroviral drug Truvada, a combination of tenofovir and emtracitabine, can be "highly effective at preventing infection in HIV-free individuals -- as long as those individuals take the drug every day as prescribed," CNN's "The Chart" reports (7/11).

13 Jul 2012

Discovery sheds light on why human body is unable to fight off HIV infection

University of Washington researchers have made a discovery that sheds light on why the human body is unable to adequately fight off HIV infection.

13 Jul 2012

High-risk HPV may increase chances of second malignancy in oral cancer

The proportion of oral squamous cell carcinoma patients infected with the human papillomavirus could be around a third, with high-risk versions of the virus accounting for almost three-quarters of those affected, indicate Taiwanese study results.

12 Jul 2012

SRI receives NIAID grant to develop HIV vaccine

The Scripps Research Institute has been awarded a grant expected to total more than $77 million from the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

12 Jul 2012

Thrombopoietin mimetic offers aplastic anemia hope

Eltrombopag significantly improves blood counts in some patients with refractory severe aplastic anemia, suggests research published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

11 Jul 2012

OncoSec establishes UCSF as second enrolling site for OMS-I110 Phase II Merkel cell carcinoma trial

OncoSec Medical Inc., a company developing the advanced-stage OncoSec Medical System (OMS) ElectroOncology therapies to treat solid tumors, announces it has established the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) as the second enrolling site for its Phase II Merkel cell carcinoma clinical trial (OMS-I110).

11 Jul 2012

HIV infection risk reduced by same drugs that treat HIV

People at high risk of HIV infection can reduce their risk of acquiring the disease by taking antiretroviral drugs, according to Cochrane researchers. In an update of a systematic review first published in 2009, the researchers found that uninfected people in relationships with HIV-infected partners, men who have sex with men and those in other high risk groups are at a lower risk of becoming infected with the virus if they regularly take drugs that are normally prescribed to treat people with HIV.

11 Jul 2012

Fatal outcome from HFMD is rare, says LUHS pediatric infectious disease specialist

A mysterious disease that has killed nearly 60 children in Cambodia has been identified by the World Health Organization as enterovirus 71. This virus is one among a family of viruses that cause a variety of illnesses, including a common childhood illness called hand, foot and mouth disease, but Andrew Bonwit, MD, pediatric infectious disease specialist at Loyola University Health System, says a fatal outcome from such illness is rare.

11 Jul 2012

Former UNAIDS executive director discusses progress in AIDS fight ahead of AIDS 2012 conference

The 2012 International AIDS Conference, which will take place in Washington, D.C., from July 22-27, "will highlight a sense of optimism among top HIV researchers about stemming the spread of the virus around the globe," according to PRI's "The World."

11 Jul 2012

Liver failure, cancer and mortality in cirrhotic patients coinfected with HIV/AIDS and HCV predicted by liver stiffness

Researchers from Spain established that liver stiffness, measured by transient elastography (TE), is an independent predictor of liver failure, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and mortality in cirrhotic patients coinfected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), and hepatitis C virus (HCV).

10 Jul 2012

Hepatitis C levels higher among males and African Americans

Epidemiologists have determined that levels of hepatitis C virus (HCV) found among injection drug users (IDUs) were higher in individuals who are male or African American even after differences in other factors were considered.

10 Jul 2012

Poor vaccine uptake blamed for polio rise in Pakistan, Afghanistan

The number of cases of poliomyelitis per year in Pakistan and Afghanistan has more than doubled since 2006 despite improvements in available vaccine efficacy, show study findings in The Lancet.

10 Jul 2012