Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

iBio receives U.S. patent for fusion-protein vaccine technology

iBio, Inc. today announced issuance of a US patent covering the use of iBio's proprietary fusion-protein technology in combination with influenza virus antigens for vaccine product applications.

29 Feb 2012

Breakthrough discovery about Rhizobium radiobacter

A new discovery involving two Simon Fraser University scientists could lead to a little known and benign bacterium becoming a vital new tool in the development of a vaccine against human immunodeficiency virus.

29 Feb 2012

Health indicator reports show more HIV-positive South Africans receiving care but costs increasing

Two new reports from southern Africa's Health Systems Trust show that pregnant women, infants, and people newly diagnosed with HIV infection are receiving more services, but the costs of care are increasing, PlusNews reports.

29 Feb 2012

HPV vaccine now recommended for boys: American Academy of Pediatrics

Pediatricians in the U.S. say it's now time for boys, as well as girls, to be vaccinated against human papillomavirus or HPV. The American Academy of Pediatrics has updated its guidance to parents and doctors in favor of routine immunization for boys against the virus. Earlier the AAP had said it was OK to vaccinate boys against the HPV, but it only became part of the pediatricians' official schedule of recommended vaccines this month.

28 Feb 2012

Scientists find evidence of a ‘different’ flu virus in bats

They were surprised to find genetic fragments of a flu virus in bats. So far, scientists haven't been able to grow it, and it's not clear if — or how well — it spreads. Flu bugs are common in humans, birds and pigs and have even been seen in dogs, horses, seals and whales, among others. About five years ago, Russian virologists claimed finding flu in bats, but they never offered evidence.

28 Feb 2012

Rapid influenza diagnostic tests highly accurate in children than in adults

A new study conducted by researchers from McGill University, the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI MUHC), and Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Centre, Montreal, has put the accuracy of rapid influenza diagnostic tests (RIDTs) under the microscope.

28 Feb 2012

Typhoid on Christmas Island

As of now people seeking asylum on Christmas Island will have to wait to be transferred to mainland Australia, after typhoid fever was detected on the island.

27 Feb 2012

WHO removes India from list of countries with endemic Polio

India is nearly free of deadly paralyzing viral infection polio. Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad says the WHO removed India from the list Saturday after the country passed one year without registering any new cases. This means only three countries with endemic polio — Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan. India must pass another two years without new cases to be declared polio-free.

27 Feb 2012

Flu season starts late but may be just as virulent: CDC

Dr. Joseph Bresee, chief of the epidemiology prevention branch at the influenza division at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said for the third consecutive week this season the percent of respiratory specimen testing positive for flu surpassed 10 percent, which is generally a marker to indicate the flu season has begun. “This is the latest start to a flu season in the past 29 years,” said Dr. Bresee.

27 Feb 2012

Cross-protective vaccines will make a bout with influenza less severe

An emerging class of long-lasting flu vaccines could do more than just save people the trouble of an annual flu shot.

27 Feb 2012

India taken off WHO list of polio endemic countries

"India was taken off a list of polio endemic countries by the World Health Organization on Saturday, marking a massive victory for health workers battling the crippling disease" and "leav[ing] just three countries with endemic polio -- Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria," Agence France-Presse reports (2/26).

27 Feb 2012

Scripps Florida receives NIH grant to create novel HIV inhibitors

A Scripps Florida team has been awarded nearly $1.5 million by the National Institutes of Health to identify and develop novel potent inhibitors of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the cause of AIDS.

27 Feb 2012

New technique effective in jumpstarting defective immune systems against many diseases

In a study published in Nature Medicine, Loyola researchers report on a promising new technique that potentially could turn immune system killer T cells into more effective weapons against infections and possibly cancer.

26 Feb 2012

Bird flu may be more common and less deadly: Study finds

The H5N1 influenza virus commonly called “bird flu” or “avian flu” could be more prevalent and less deadly than health officials had thought, according to a new study published online (Feb. 23) by the journal Science.

26 Feb 2012

Additional discussion needed before final decision made on publication of bird flu studies

Attendees of a recent WHO meeting that discussed the possible publication in the journals Nature and Science of two studies that modified H5N1 bird flu strains to show the virus could be more easily transmissible among humans decided publication of redacted versions would be ineffective and that "a system for distributing the full paper only to selected individuals would be impossible to set up on any relevant timescale," a Nature editorial states.

24 Feb 2012

Scientists identify promising strategy for HIV vaccine design

HIV has eluded vaccine-makers for thirty years, in part due to the virus' extreme ability to mutate. Physical scientists and clinical virologists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Ragon Institute in Cambridge, Mass., have identified a promising strategy for vaccine design using a mathematical technique that has also been used in problems related to quantum physics, as well as in analyses of stock market price fluctuations and studies of enzyme sequences.

24 Feb 2012

Unknown facets of biological mechanism that immune cells use for creating free radicals

Sometimes our immune defence attacks our own cells. When this happens in the brain we see neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. But if the the immune defence is inhibited, the results could be disastrous.

23 Feb 2012

Routine hepatitis C testing of the middle aged could save thousands of lives: CDC report

Increasing number of people are dying of damaged livers due to hepatitis C infection. Federal health officials are considering whether anyone born between 1945 and 1965 should get a one-time blood test to check if they are harboring the dangerous virus. Two-thirds of people with hepatitis C are in this age group, most unaware that a virus that takes a few decades to do its damage has festered since their younger days.

22 Feb 2012

Russian government's censorship of websites with harm reduction methods for drug users helps fuel HIV epidemic, IPS reports

"A recent government crackdown on Russian media, particularly online information portals specializing in health tips and harm reduction methods for drug users, has sparked widespread public opposition, with critics claiming that the 'draconian silencing' of public health advocates could worsen an already perilous health situation in the country," Inter Press Service reports.

22 Feb 2012

WHO meeting decides to extend moratorium on bird flu research, delay full publication of two studies detailing lab-modified strains

A group of 22 public health and influenza experts reached a consensus on Friday at a WHO-convened meeting regarding the work of two research teams that created genetically altered strains of the H5N1 bird flu virus that are easily transmissible among ferrets, a laboratory model for humans, a WHO press release reports.

22 Feb 2012