Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

Greater public awareness needed after death of woman from rabies

Scientists in the UK who have been looking into the death of a British woman from rabies are now demanding greater public awareness of the very real dangers posed by the infection.

5 Sep 2005

Potential new way to fight HIV

Researchers have confirmed for the first time the benefit of an innate defense system present in the few patients who remain healthy after years of infection with HIV despite receiving no treatment, according to an article published in the September edition of the Journal of Virology.

1 Sep 2005

Chicken pox vaccine associated with shingles epidemic

New research published in the International Journal of Toxicology (IJT) by Gary S. Goldman, Ph.D., reveals high rates of shingles (herpes zoster) in Americans since the government's 1995 recommendation that all children receive chicken pox vaccine.

1 Sep 2005

GenoMed has announced that it successfully treated its thirteenth patient with presumed West Nile virus encephalitis

The patient is a previously healthy man from Aberdeen, South Dakota who developed fever and headache and was diagnosed by his physician as having West Nile virus on Monday of this week. South Dakota has about 50 times higher incidence of West Nile virus this summer than California.

1 Sep 2005

Deadly health crisis imminent in New Orleans

In New Orleans, as a result of hurricane Katrina, health specialists are predicting a vast and potentially deadly crisis for residents.

1 Sep 2005

Study of the 2003 outbreak of SARS reveals fears

A new study of the 2003 outbreak of SARS in Toronto shows how fears of a virulent contagious disease can affect health-care providers and reveals that some of those surveyed who experienced SARS-like symptoms during the outbreak still went to work.

1 Sep 2005

Study suggests cirrhosis and liver disease nearly inevitable for people with hep C

Nearly 80 percent of chronic hepatitis C sufferers who have the disease for several decades will develop cirrhosis or end-stage liver disease later in life, according to a study published today in the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

1 Sep 2005

West Nile virus hits Toronto - two deaths reported

Health officials in Canada have reported that there have been two deaths related to the West Nile Virus, the first for three years in Canada's largest city, Toronto.

31 Aug 2005

Designer molecules that combine metals such as copper with natural organic materials could treat diseases in the body

That's the finding of chemists at Ohio State University, who have successfully tested such molecules against portions of HIV and Hepatitis C virus RNA in the laboratory. They've also created molecules that act like ACE, or angiotensin-converting enzyme, inhibitors - drugs that are used to lower blood pressure.

30 Aug 2005

A far wider range of wildlife species could be at risk from bird flu

Dr Diana Bell, of UEA's School of Biological Sciences, says the discovery that avian flu was responsible for the death of three rare civet cats in Cuc Phuong National Park in Vietnam, raises important questions about the range of wildlife species which could now be at risk from this virus.

30 Aug 2005

Anthrax test receives FDA approval

A method for identifying Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax, has been cleared for diagnostic use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

29 Aug 2005

Indonesia to immunize 24 million children

To combat Indonesia's largest recorded polio epidemic, which now threatens a broad swath of countries across Asia, on 30 August, 24 million children will be immunized during the country's largest-ever mass immunization campaign.

29 Aug 2005

Discovery may significantly advance the treatment of cancers and infectious diseases

Current treatments frequently achieve only limited results with these types of diseases, which affect hundreds of thousands of Canadians.

29 Aug 2005

Immunity - another important function of the mitochondria

Researchers have discovered a surprise lurking inside mitochondria, the power plants that are present in every cell. It turns out that these powerhouses also contain a protein that triggers the immune system to attack viral invaders.

28 Aug 2005

Compound might defeat African sleeping

One of the most devastating diseases in sub-Saharan Africa almost disappeared in the late 1950s.

26 Aug 2005

First clinical trial of a biologic nanoparticle designed to give back to cancer patients the tumor-busting gene they have lost

The phase I clinical study will enroll 20 patients with advanced solid cancers (including most common tumor types), and is the culmination of more than a decade of work by a team of researchers led by Professor Esther H. Chang, Ph.D. at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.

25 Aug 2005

Drug company donates bird flu vaccine to World Health Organization

A donation by Swiss drug maker Roche, of enough of its Tamiflu antiviral drug to treat 3 million people against birdflu, could slow the spread of the outbreak among humans, especially in countries too poor to afford their own stockpile.

24 Aug 2005

Susceptibility to Hepatitis A in patients with chronic liver disease due to Hepatitis C virus infection: missed opportunities for vaccination

A new study examining whether patients with chronic Hepatitis C virus (HCV) were routinely vaccinated against Hepatitis A virus (HAV) found that vaccination rates were low, even though HAV vaccination is recommended for patients with chronic liver disease.

23 Aug 2005

Coronavirus HCoV-NL63 associated with croup

A forthcoming paper in the international, open-access journal PLoS Medicine makes the strongest association yet between a newly identified virus and the pediatric respiratory disease commonly known as croup.

23 Aug 2005

Study examines the incidence and risk factors associated with Hepatitis C infection in rural Egypt

The prevalence of antibodies to Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) in Egypt is among the highest in the world. From the 1950s until 1982 hundreds of thousands were infected during mass campaigns to control schistosomiasis (a parasitic disease) using mass therapy with intravenous antimony compounds, but little is known about current risk factors and rates of transmission.

23 Aug 2005