Disease/Infection News

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Information hub on HIV, hep C

The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is hosting the first online database in the country that houses the latest information relating to HIV, hepatitis C and certain other diseases.

1 Mar 2005

HIV-positive women wearing evening gowns and sparkling jewels entered a beauty pageant in Botswana in an attempt to dispel the stigma that surrounds the deadly virus in this AIDS-ravaged southern African country with one of the world's highest rates of HIV infection. 37 percent of its 1.7 million population has tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS.

1 Mar 2005

VIRxSYS novel HIV gene therapy yields exciting results

VIRxSYS Corporation reports unexpected and unprecedented findings in its ongoing Phase I clinical trial of its VRX496 therapy in patients with HIV.

28 Feb 2005

Discovery of a protein JBP2, an important tool for African sleeping sickness research

Sixty million people in 36 countries of sub-Saharan Africa are threatened daily by a deadly parasitic disease known as African sleeping sickness.

28 Feb 2005

Virologists make major step towards understanding the process of HIV infection

A working group of virologists headed by Professor Hans-Georg Kräusslich at Heidelberg University Hospitals, jointly with Professor Hanswalter Zentgraf, Division of Applied Tumor Virology of the Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum (German Cancer Research Center, DKFZ), have been the first to label Human Immunodeficiency Viruses (HIV) for visual investigations without inhibiting the functional characteristics of the virus.

28 Feb 2005

Project targeting the increasing resistance of some viruses to drugs

A new project targeting the increasing resistance of some viruses to drugs is being funded with the help of nine million euros under the Life Sciences, Genomics and Biotechnology for Health area of the EU’s Framework Programme.

28 Feb 2005

Comprehensive sex education is more effective at stopping the spread of HIV infection

It is estimated that more than half of all new HIV infections occur before the age of 25 and most are acquired through unprotected sexual intercourse.

28 Feb 2005

Up to 500,000 Americans will develop lupus-related kidney disease

According to the Lupus Foundation of America, an estimated 300,000 to 500,000 Americans with the autoimmune disease lupus eventually will develop lupus-related kidney disease, known as lupus nephritis. Lupus nephritis is one of the most serious manifestations of lupus and can lead to serious health problems, kidney failure, disability or death.

27 Feb 2005

New HIV screening method, nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT)

Adding a new HIV screening method, called nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT), to standard HIV testing, researchers were able to uncover six percent more cases of HIV infection in urban STD and drug treatment clinics and HIV testing sites in Atlanta than with standard HIV antibody tests alone.

27 Feb 2005

New York City Health statement on rare strain of HIV in a New York City resident

On February 11, 2005, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) reported a case of HIV infection with a strain that is resistant to many drugs in three classes of HIV medications, and which appears to have progressed to AIDS within 4 to 20 months after infection.

27 Feb 2005

Shigella infects cells by using a secretion system to inject proteins into human cells

According to research published in Science, the team from Imperial College London and Institut Pasteur, Paris, found that shigella, the bacteria which causes dysentery, is able to invade cells, while stopping any response from the immune system.

27 Feb 2005

Dual testing better for monitoring new cases of HIV

Johns Hopkins researchers will present results showing that tighter, dual testing standards work better for accurately distinguishing between new and old cases of HIV.

27 Feb 2005

Differences in how HIV virus infects males and females

A genetic analysis of viral RNA from 10 heterosexual couples, in which one partner has sexually transmitted HIV to the other, provides the first documentation of some differences in how the virus infects males and females.

27 Feb 2005

Control and containment key to combating avian influenza

Containing the bird flu virus to the greatest extent possible and reducing the risk of infection in poultry and farmed free-range ducks will help to prevent a global human influenza pandemic, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has announced.

24 Feb 2005

MRSA superbug on the run from Sussex scientist

A groundbreaking new treatment to combat the hospital killer bug MRSA, which is estimated to cause up to 5,000 deaths a year in Britain, is being developed by a University of Sussex scientist.

23 Feb 2005

New information that may help guide design of vaccines for HIV-1

Scientists have uncovered new information that may help guide design of vaccines for HIV-1, the virus that causes AIDS. A new detailed structural analysis of the complex formed by an anti-HIV antibody called 4E10 and its specific target provides insight into why this particular antibody is so broadly effective, a rare characteristic for HIV discovered thus far.

22 Feb 2005

Antibody that neutralizes most HIV strains

A group of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute and several other institutions has solved the structure of a rare human antibody that broadly neutralizes human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

22 Feb 2005

Scientists have replicated hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the laboratory

For the first time, scientists have replicated hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the laboratory. The ability to replicate HCV in cell culture will allow researchers to better study the life cycle and biology of this virus and to test potential antiviral compounds, which may lead to new therapies for the liver disease that results from infection with HCV.

22 Feb 2005

Injections with dirty or contaminated needles are not contributing to the spread of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa

Recently, some scientists have suggested that medical injections with contaminated needles were an important, but ignored, factor in the spread of HIV across sub-Saharan Africa. However, research published today in Public Library of Science Medicine shows that injections with dirty needles are not a major source of HIV transmission in rural Zimbabwe.

22 Feb 2005

Innovative HIV/STD prevention program targets Guinean gold mining camps

A common, yet risky practice among gold miners in rural Guinea to engage in short "marriages" with women working briefly at the mine is the target of an innovative health communication program that educates both women and miners about how to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

22 Feb 2005