Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

Scientists sheds light on small protein and its role in immune response

The immune system is the body’s defense against disease-causing pathogens. It works by warding off disease and potentially-damaging foreign bodies. Now, a team of researchers have developed a new method to shed light on the basic defense mechanism of the immune system.

27 Nov 2019

What protects killer T cells from accidental death?

White blood cells, which release a toxic potion of proteins to kill cancerous and virus-infected cells, are protected from any harm by the physical properties of their cell envelopes, find scientists from UCL and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne.

27 Nov 2019

Sanitization error might possibly have exposed hundreds to HIV at Indiana hospital

An Indiana hospital is in the news for all the wrong reasons. An accidental failure by one of the seven sterilization technicians working at the hospital was recently discovered. The technician failed to carry out a single step in a protocol concerning the sanitization of surgical equipment at Goshen Hospital, over a period from April 1 to September 30.

26 Nov 2019

Attacking HIV at the source

A new study published on November 26, 2019, in the journal Cell Reports, details a new discovery that may help avert HIV infection right at the start. The virus is known to take a long time to infect a person, and the scientists say they have found a period during which it can be weakened or killed, in the very first hours after it has entered a host. They call this the window of vulnerability.

26 Nov 2019

Research shows how gut microbes affect stomach flu

A new study shows that gut microbes can modulate the severity of norovirus infection (the stomach flu, or the winter vomiting bug), based on the gut location first affected. Published in the journal Nature Microbiology on November 25, 2019, the study indicates new possibilities to treat norovirus infection.

26 Nov 2019

LACV-infected cerebral organoids reveal how to protect neurons from virus-induced death

Scientists have determined that La Crosse virus, which can cause inflammation of the brain, or encephalitis, in children, affects brain cells differently depending on their developmental stage.

26 Nov 2019

New way to thwart HIV infection at early stages

1.7 million. That's how many people are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) each year worldwide. 1.7 million people who are condemned to lifelong antiretroviral therapy (ART) or risk developing fatal AIDS . Out of the 37.9 million people living with HIV (PLWH), 22.3 million have access to ART, allowing them to have an almost normal lifespan.

26 Nov 2019

Key mechanism identified for how antiviral immune responses reprogram liver metabolism

Researchers at the CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences identified a key mechanism for how antiviral immune responses reprogram liver metabolism. Their recent study, which was published in the renowned scientific journal Immunity, investigated the communication between inflammation and liver metabolism during chronic viral infection.

26 Nov 2019

Newly developed personalized vaccine system could delay onset of pancreatic cancer

Researchers from Queen Mary University of London and Zhengzhou University have developed a personalized vaccine system that could ultimately delay the onset of pancreatic cancer. The study provides strong proof-of-concept for the creation of a vaccine for cancer prevention in individuals at high risk of developing this disease and to slow down tumor growth in patients who are affected by it.

26 Nov 2019

New method to separate two variants of common herpes virus linked to multiple sclerosis

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have developed a new method to separate between two different types of a common herpes virus that has been linked to multiple sclerosis.

26 Nov 2019

Gut microbes can tamp down or boost the severity of norovirus infection

The highly contagious norovirus causes diarrhea and vomiting and is notorious for spreading rapidly through densely populated spaces, such as cruise ships, nursing homes, schools and day care centers. Each year, it is responsible for some 200,000 deaths, mostly in the developing world.

25 Nov 2019

HIV diagnosis falls to a record low in NYC, finds report

Reporting of new cases of HIV started in 2001 and since then there has been a steady rise and stability of numbers. In 2018 for the first time in nearly two decades, researchers have reported number of new cases to be below 2,000 over the year. This is a record 67 percent decline in the numbers since 2001, says the report. Further the decline in the numbers has been seen in nearly all age groups between 2017 and 2018.

25 Nov 2019