Coronavirus News and Research

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New Supramap web-based application to track and stop disease outbreaks

Pathogens can now be easily tracked in time and space as they evolve, an advance that could revolutionize both public health and inform national security in the fight against infectious diseases. Developed by researchers that include scientists at the American Museum of Natural History, Supramap is a new, powerful, web-based application that maps genetic mutations like those among the different strains of avian influenza onto the globe.

13 Apr 2010

Genomics can provide insights in understanding emerging infectious disease

This week, the Public Library of Science, an open-access publisher, presents the "Genomics of Emerging Infectious Disease," a collection of essays, perspectives, and reviews that explores how genomics-with all its associated tools and techniques-can provide insights into our understanding of emerging infectious disease.

27 Oct 2009

Dutch researcher sheds new light on coronaviruses

Using novel techniques, Dutch researcher Matthijs Raaben has cast new light on the replication of coronaviruses, a family of viruses including the cause of SARS. He has shown, using luminescent viruses, how coronaviruses use host cells and how we can use the intracellular processes to attack the virus.

21 Oct 2009

Algae may the key to SARS vaccine

A protein from algae may have what it takes to stop Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) infections, according to new research.

20 May 2009

DNA vaccine for SARS achieves neutralizing responses in first U.S. human trial

Vical Incorporated (NASDAQ:VICL) today announced that results from a Phase I clinical trial of a DNA vaccine for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and published in the November 25 issue of Vaccine(1), demonstrated that the vaccine was well-tolerated, and induced neutralizing antibody responses in 80% of the vaccinees and T-cell immune responses in all vaccinees.

10 Dec 2008

Researchers generate synthetic SARS-like bat coronavirus

SARS - severe acute respiratory syndrome - alarmed the world five years ago as the first global pandemic of the 21st century.

25 Nov 2008

Scientists reconstruct bat variant of SARS coronavirus

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Vanderbilt University Medical Center have synthetically reconstructed the bat variant of the SARS coronavirus (CoV) that caused the SARS epidemic of 2003.

25 Nov 2008

Viruses hitch a ride in the cell

Viruses can travel around cells they infect by hitching a ride on a microscopic transport system, according to new research. Cells are exposed to foreign DNA and RNA and it is understood that some of this genetic material can be integrated into the host genome. Using modern microscopic techniques, scientists have been able to see how virus DNA is transported in the cell.

23 Jun 2008

Simple screening chips could speed up detection of livestock viruses

Some of the worst threats to farm workers and farm animals such as bird flu, foot-and-mouth disease and other emerging viruses could soon be quickly identified by using a simple screening chip developed by scientists from the Institute for Animal Health, scientists will hear today (Monday 31 March 2008) at the Society for General Microbiology's 162nd meeting being held this week at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.

31 Mar 2008

Study confirms link between colds and ear infections

A new five-year study at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston confirms the suspected close link between the two most common diseases of young children: colds and ear infections.

14 Mar 2008

Evidence supports bats as SARS virus source

Scientists who have studied the genome of the virus that caused severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) say their comparisons to related viruses offer new evidence that the virus infecting humans originated in bats.

20 Feb 2008

Discovery may lead to fast and cheap method of making vaccines

Researchers may be able to tinker with a single amino acid of an enzyme that helps viruses multiply to render them harmless, according to molecular biologists who say the discovery could pave the way for a fast and cheap method of making vaccines.

29 Aug 2007

Discovery of two effective antibodies for SARS

An international team of investigators has identified the first human antibodies that can neutralize different strains of the virus responsible for outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

4 Jul 2007

Dealing with emerging diseases

The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2002 was a loud wake-up call for researchers studying infectious diseases.

16 May 2007

Fighting influenza with 40,000 blood samples

Four million people die every year from respiratory diseases such as viral influenza. For elderly people in particular, an infection can be dangerous. What is more, the flu vaccine is not as effective with this risk group as it is with younger people.

7 Feb 2007

Treatments used for SARS no benefit to victims

Researchers have found, following a systematic review of all studies done on the 2003 SARS epidemic, that none of the treatments used to treat patients appear to have worked.

13 Sep 2006

Scientists find new lead in hunt for a SARS vaccine

SARS coronavirus protein called "nsp1" causes the breakdown of biochemical messages that normally prompt the production of a protein critical to defending the body against viruses.

8 Aug 2006

Researchers unravel structure of important new drug target that could potentially treat SARS-infected patients

Mesecar said that the knowledge gained from this new atomic structure - the first-ever reported on this class of proteases - has the potential to go beyond the treatment of patients infected with the coronavirus that causes SARS.

11 Apr 2006

Animals diseases jumping to humans faster than ever before

According to scientists in the U.S. and Scotland, 75% of the 38 species of harmful organisms and viruses identified in the past 25 years are believed to have "jumped" from animals to humans.

21 Feb 2006

SARS can infiltrate brain tissue

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), by its very name, indicates a disease of the respiratory tract. But SARS can also infiltrate brain tissue, causing significant central nervous system problems, according to an article in the Oct. 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online.

20 Sep 2005