Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

GSK reports significant advance in H5N1 pandemic flu vaccine programme

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) today announced headline data showing that its H5N1 pandemic flu vaccine achieved a high immune response at a low dose of antigen.

26 Jul 2006

Irradiation preserves T-Cell responses in bacterial vaccine

Findings could result in more potent vaccines that are relatively inexpensive to produce, easy to store, and that can be transported without refrigeration.

25 Jul 2006

Lassa fever reported in Germany

German health authorities have reported to WHO an imported case of Lassa fever, confirmed by laboratory tests at the Bernhard-Nocht-Institute of Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany.

25 Jul 2006

Which came first, nucleic acids or proteins?

Which came first, nucleic acids or proteins? This question is molecular biology's version of the "chicken-or-the-egg" riddle.

24 Jul 2006

Latest sequencing targets for NHGRI

The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) has announced several new sequencing targets including the Northern white-cheeked gibbon (Nomascus leucogenys).

19 Jul 2006

Neuraminidase inhibitors for preventing and treating influenza in healthy adults

A class of drugs commonly used to treat typical influenza symptoms such as fever, headache and cough do not prevent people from becoming infected with the flu virus.

19 Jul 2006

Highly active antiretroviral therapies associated with reduced infections in HIV-infected children

Since the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapies, there has been a substantial reduction of opportunistic infections and other infections in HIV-infected children, such as pneumonia and tuberculosis.

19 Jul 2006

Canada ready to vaccinate against human papillomavirus

Canadian women will soon be able to access the first vaccine to protect against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer.

19 Jul 2006

FDA approves fully automated screening tests for hepatitis B surface antigen

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced the approval of the first fully automated product that combines both screening and confirmatory tests for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg).

18 Jul 2006

Clinton Foundation seals deal in Nigerian AIDS fight

The Clinton Foundation, an AIDS charity set up by former U.S. President Bill Clinton, has signed a deal with Nigeria to make cheap AIDS drugs available to fight the disease in Africa's most populous nation.

18 Jul 2006

India develops local bird flu vaccine

Officials in India say they have successfully produced a vaccine against bird flu in poultry.

17 Jul 2006

77 die from rare tropical disease on island paradise

Travellers to an exotic island in the Indian Ocean have been issued with warnings against a rare tropical disease.

17 Jul 2006

Indonesia struggles as death toll from bird flu reaches 42

The death of a 44-year-old man four days ago from bird flu has put Indonesia on a par with Vietnam when it comes to confirmed human deaths from the deadly virus.

17 Jul 2006

Suspect chicken smuggled in from China may have been eaten

Health officials in Michigan in the U.S. are working to track down frozen Chinese poultry smuggled into the United States and found in a warehouse in Oakland County.

13 Jul 2006

Defra invites tenders for avian influenza vaccine

Tenders to supply a further 10 million doses of avian influenza vaccine for potential use in poultry and other captive birds have been welcomed by Defra.

13 Jul 2006

Predicted Hantavirus risk in 2006 for the Southwestern U.S.

The Four Corners region of the United States (where Ariz., N.M., Colo. and Utah meet) will be at greater risk for hantavirus outbreak this year than in 2005, say scientists at Johns Hopkins University, the University of New Mexico, and other institutions.

12 Jul 2006

FDA approves Atripla three-drug combination tablet for treatment of HIV-1

FDA approves Atripla Tablets, a fixed-dose combination of three widely-used antiretroviral drugs.

12 Jul 2006

Being a whistle-blower in China could mean going to jail

According to Chinese media sources a farmer who reported bird flu outbreaks to the central government has been jailed for three-and-a-half years for fraud and blackmail.

12 Jul 2006

Anti-herpes drug reduces need for Caesarean sections in infected women

Giving an anti-viral drug to pregnant women who have a history of genital herpes significantly lowers the rate of Caesarean sections needed to protect the infant from becoming infected with the virus, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

11 Jul 2006

West Nile virus makes its 2006 arrival in Arizona

West Nile Virus has made its first appearance of 2006 in Arizona, and state and local health officials are encouraging everyone to take precautions against the disease.

10 Jul 2006