Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

United Kingdom has among the highest reported rates of primary resistance to HIV drugs worldwide

Those infected with HIV in the UK have one of the highest rates of resistance to anti-HIV drugs of anywhere in the world, prompting fears of a second wave epidemic of resistant virus, a new study claims in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

26 Nov 2005

Another case of non-lethal bird flu in Canada

A mild form of avian flu has been discovered at a second farm in southwestern British Columbia, but Canadian officials said the public health risk remains minimal.

24 Nov 2005

Passenger and crew lists on demand will protect America from disease say US health officials

U.S. health officials, using the excuse that they need to protect Americans from bird flu and other diseases, are proposing regulations that will require airlines and shipping firms to hand over passenger and crew lists on demand and expand how they report serious illnesses.

24 Nov 2005

China has another death from bird flu

According to local media the Health Ministry has said that a 35-year-old woman farmer in Anhui province developed fever and pneumonia-like symptoms on Nov. 11 after contact with sick and dead poultry, and she died on Nov. 22.

24 Nov 2005

Personal computers will help fight AIDS

A new project, called FightAIDS@Home, is hoping to tap into the unused power of individual and business computers to help research and identify drugs used to combat the HIV virus.

24 Nov 2005

U.S. bans some of Canada's poultry because of bird flu

Following the discovery of a non lethal strain of the bird flu virus in a duck in British Columbia, the United States has placed an interim ban on poultry from the area.

22 Nov 2005

China to use police in fighting bird flu

China which has had 17 outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 strain of avian flu since the middle of last month, is struggling to control the virus which has now been found in seven provinces over a wide ranging area.

22 Nov 2005

Who gets bird flu vaccine first when there's not enough to go round?

According to the top health official in the U.S., it will be three to five years before the United States can produce enough bird flu vaccine to inoculate its population against a potentially deadly outbreak in humans.

21 Nov 2005

Africa worst hit by AIDS - 2.4m dead, 3.2m infected in sub-Sahara

According to a new UN report, levels of HIV infection in the Middle East and North Africa are increasing and there is an urgent need for better education and prevention strategies.

21 Nov 2005

Mosquito threat to Europe from imported plants

Some experts believe that the importation of tropical plants into Europe may pose a disease risk to European countries because the plants harbour deadly mosquitos which carry the threat of exotic diseases.

21 Nov 2005

Indonesia has bird flu victim no.68

According to reports a 35-year-old man Indonesian is the latest suspected victim of the avian flu virus.

21 Nov 2005

Possible viral cause of Kawasaki disease identified

In an important discovery in infectious disease research, a team of scientists from Northwestern University has identified a possible viral cause of Kawasaki disease, the most common cause of acquired heart disease in children in developed nations.

20 Nov 2005

Two tests in a lifetime will halve cervical cancer numbers in poor countries

Most women in developed countries are regularly screened for cervical cancer, but this is often not the case in poorer countries.

20 Nov 2005

UN says AIDS in India far worse than figures show

According to a UN Aids expert, the number of new HIV cases in India is far more than official data shows and epidemics in some pockets are alarming.

20 Nov 2005

Bird flu early warning system to be set up by UN

According to a United Nations official an early warning bird flu system is to be set up to alert countries of incoming migratory birds which could be carrying the deadly virus.

20 Nov 2005

Bird flu scare in Canada

According to a Canadian health official test results on wild migratory ducks across Canada have not shown any link to the deadly Asian strain of the bird flu virus that has spread from Southeast Asia to Europe.

20 Nov 2005

Bird flu spreads in China while Bush's $ 7.1 billion pandemic fund stalls

As World health experts predicted there will be more human bird flu infections in China, the U.S. Congress has stalled the funding of President George W. Bush's plan to cope with a pandemic.

20 Nov 2005

Human bird flu cases confirmed in China

According to official sources in China, at least one person has died from bird flu, confirming widespread suspicion that the deadly virus has now spread in people in another large Asian country where it might prove hard to contain.

16 Nov 2005

Fury over delay in Libyan Court ruling on children infected with AIDS

A delay by Libya's Supreme Court in reaching a decision on the appeal of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, condemned to death for infecting more than 400 Libyan children with the AIDS virus, has infuriated the children's parents who hurled stones and bottles at police outside the court.

16 Nov 2005

Gene therapy potential of the protein vasostatin for treatment of pancreatic cancer

A gene responsible for the production of a protein called vasostatin may prove a promising new way of treating pancreatic cancer, suggests research published ahead of print in Gut.

15 Nov 2005