Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

Infection with hepatitis C virus may increase pancreatic cancer risk

A new study shows that infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) increases a person's risk for a highly fatal cancer of the biliary tree, the bile carrying pathway between the liver and pancreas.

13 Jan 2009

Open plan offices a health hazard!

Australian researchers have found evidence which supports the sneaky suspicion held by many that working in an open plan office could be a health hazard.

13 Jan 2009

Blood type - new weapon in battle against HIV infection

Researchers have discovered a potentially important new resistance factor in the battle against HIV: blood types.

12 Jan 2009

Researchers solve structure of key Ebola protein

Research led by Iowa State University scientists has them a step closer to finding a way to counter the Ebola virus.

12 Jan 2009

Less than seven hours of sleep may mean more colds

Individuals who get less than seven hours of sleep per night appear about three times as likely to develop respiratory illness following exposure to a cold virus as those who sleep eight hours or more, according to a report in the January 12 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine , one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

12 Jan 2009

Bristol-Myers Squibb and ZymoGenetics to collaborate on hepatitis C compound

Bristol-Myers Squibb and ZymoGenetics, Inc. have announced a global collaboration for PEG-Interferon lambda, a novel type 3 interferon currently in Phase Ib development for the treatment of Hepatitis C, and its related development program.

12 Jan 2009

A new mechanism regulates type I interferon production in white blood cells

A study from a team of researchers led by Dr. Andrew P. Makrigiannis, Director of the Molecular Immunology Research Unit at the IRCM, has identified a new mechanism regulating interferon production.

12 Jan 2009

Discovery of better treatment for bacterial pneumonia

Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have demonstrated a more effective treatment for bacterial pneumonia following influenza.

9 Jan 2009

New nasal spray vaccine shown to be effective against botulism

A preclinical study found a new nasal spray vaccine to provide complete protection against a major botulism toxin, according to a study published today in the Nature journal Gene Therapy .

8 Jan 2009

Pap test procedure facts

January is Cervical Cancer Awareness Month and The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center shares important information about the cervical cancer screening exam, the Pap test.

7 Jan 2009

Widespread antiviral drug use can accelerate the evolution of drug resistance in viruses

Influenza's ability to resist the effects of cheap and popular antiviral agents in Asia and Russia should serve as a cautionary tale about U.S. plans to use the antiviral Tamiflu in the event of widespread avian flu infection in humans, scientists say.

7 Jan 2009

Discovery of more efficient way to create induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) cells

A Boston University School of Medicine-led research team has discovered a more efficient way to create induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) cells, derived from mouse fibroblasts, by using a single virus vector instead of multiple viruses in the reprogramming process.

7 Jan 2009

Bird flu becoming more resistant to antivirals

A new University of Colorado at Boulder study shows the resistance of the avian flu virus to a major class of antiviral drugs is increasing through positive evolutionary selection, with researchers documenting the trend in more than 30 percent of the samples tested.

7 Jan 2009

Genetic mutation causes familial susceptibility for degenerative brain disease acute necrotizing encephalopathy

Mutation of a gene that helps proteins migrate in and out of the cell's genetic command center - the nucleus - puts some families at higher risk for the degenerative brain disease acute necrotizing encephalopathy (ANE).

6 Jan 2009

Chimerix completes phase I study and starts phase II multi-dose trial for CMX001

Chimerix, Inc., a biotechnology company developing orally available antiviral therapeutics, has announced that the Company has completed a single and multi-dose Phase I study of CMX001 in healthy volunteers.

6 Jan 2009

Hepatitis B and C in U.S.

In the last decade, more than 60,000 patients in the United States were asked to get tested for hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) because health care personnel in settings outside hospitals failed to follow basic infection control practices, according to a new study by the CDC.

6 Jan 2009

Biologist finds plant polymerases IV and V are really variants of polymerase II

It's a little like finding out that Superman is actually Clark Kent. A team of biologists at Washington University in St. Louis has discovered that two vital cellular components, nuclear RNA Polymerases IV and V (Pol IV and V), found only in plants, are actually specialized forms of RNA Polymerase II, an essential enzyme of all eukaryotic organisms, including humans.

6 Jan 2009

Apolipoprotein D protects against Alzheimer's

Do Carmo and her collaborators have successfully demonstrated the protective and reparative role of apolipoprotein D, or ApoD, in neurodegenerative diseases. Their discovery suggests interesting avenues for preventing and slowing the progression of this type of illness.

6 Jan 2009

Experts warn Australia is surrounded by a ring of disease hot-spots

Australian biosecurity experts have warned that Australia is surrounded to its north by a 'ring of fire' where new human and animal plagues could appear with very little warning and with potentially dire consequences.

6 Jan 2009

Prolonged nevirapine in breast-fed babies prevents HIV infection but leads to drug-resistant HIV

Babies born to HIV-positive mothers and given the antiretroviral drug nevirapine through the first six weeks of life to prevent infection via breast-feeding are at high risk for developing drug-resistant HIV if they get infected anyway, a team of researchers report.

5 Jan 2009