Virology News and Research

Latest Virology News and Research

Taking precautions to protect health during summer

Summer is a time for enjoying warm weather, but spending time outside also increases the risk of contracting serious conditions like Lyme disease, poison ivy rashes, West Nile virus and allergic reactions to bee stings.

31 May 2013

Scientists move closer to understanding HIV-1 infection

Scientists have long been unable to fully explain how infections attack the body, but now a team of researchers, including one from the University of Central Florida, has taken a step closer to understanding how the process works in HIV-1. The results mean that one day that knowledge may prevent infection.

31 May 2013

Researchers show interleukin-22 guards against bacterial superinfections that can arise after influenza

Researchers from the Pasteur Institute, Lille, France have shown in a mouse model that interleukin-22 protects against bacterial superinfections that can arise following influenza.

31 May 2013

Researchers develop new gene therapy to thwart potential influenza pandemic

Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania have developed a new gene therapy to thwart a potential influenza pandemic. Specifically, investigators in the Gene Therapy Program, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, directed by James M. Wilson, MD, PhD, demonstrated that a single dose of an adeno-associated virus expressing a broadly neutralizing flu antibody into the nasal passages of mice and ferrets gives them complete protection and substantial reductions in flu replication when exposed to lethal strains of H5N1 and H1N1 flu virus.

30 May 2013

Global call to combat cervical cancer

Cervical cancer kills an estimated 275,000 women each year, and most of these deaths could be prevented with prophylactic HPV vaccination, routine cervical cancer screening and continuity to treatment. At the Women Deliver Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, delegates and experts from around the world announced a global call to action to combat this preventable disease through collaboration with and information sharing by the world's governments and health agencies on May 27, 2013.

30 May 2013

Coronavirus incubation period may be longer than previously thought

A detailed clinical description of two cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in France, published online in The Lancet today, suggests that the incubation period for the virus may be longer than previously thought, and longer quarantine periods may be required to rule out infection among patient contacts.

29 May 2013

New suppository developed for treatment of cervical pre-cancer

Infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV) can lead to cervical cancer via a preliminary stage - that of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). In Europe 205,000 women every year are affected by this condition, most of them are aged between 25 and 30 years. Since in many cases slight manifestations of the disease (CIN 1) heal spontaneously, mostly no treatment is given but self-healing monitored by means of rigorous and continuous check-ups.

29 May 2013

Columbia University, Chinese Center for Disease Control to open joint pathogen discovery lab in Beijing

The Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and the National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention within the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention will open a Joint Research Laboratory for Pathogen Discovery to conduct surveillance, identify new infectious microbes, establish novel platforms for diagnostics, and develop drugs and vaccines to treat diseases in humans and animals.

29 May 2013

Highly-infectious sickness bug can be killed by copper and copper alloys

New research from the University of Southampton shows that copper and copper alloys will rapidly destroy norovirus - the highly-infectious sickness bug. The virus can be contracted from contaminated food or water, person-to-person contact, and contact with contaminated surfaces, meaning surfaces made from copper could effectively shut down one avenue of infection.

28 May 2013

The Global Virus Network to hold spring 2013 meeting in Munich, Germany

The Global Virus Network, a coalition of the world's leading medical virology research centers working to prevent illness and death from viral disease, will hold its spring 2013 meeting in Munich, Germany May 30 to June 1.

28 May 2013

EADV spring symposium: Bioalliance Pharma presents Sitavig study results

BioAlliance Pharma SA, a Company dedicated to the development of orphan oncology products and supportive care products, has presented the results of the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic study on Sitavig at the 10th EADV spring symposium (European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology) in Cracow (Poland) on May 24, 2013.

28 May 2013

Discovery highlights new method to make HIV vaccine that targets the virus

A new discovery at Oregon Health & Science University highlights an ingenious method to ensure the body effectively reacts when infected with the highly evasive HIV virus that causes AIDS.

26 May 2013

New, improved drugs can boost body's natural flu killer system

A known difficulty in fighting influenza (flu) is the ability of the flu viruses to mutate and thus evade various medications that were previously found to be effective. Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have shown recently that another, more promising, approach is to focus on improving drugs that boost the body's natural flu killer system.

24 May 2013

Findings highlight importance of IL-21 in the development of antiviral vaccines

Scientists at Emory Vaccine Center have shown that an immune regulatory molecule called IL-21 is needed for long-lasting antibody responses in mice against viral infections.

24 May 2013

Novel multiplex immunoassay approach to capture HIV antibodies

Detection of HIV antibodies is used to diagnose HIV infection and monitor trials of experimental HIV/AIDS vaccines. New, more sensitive detection systems being developed use microspheres to capture HIV antibodies and can measure even small amounts of multiple antibodies at one time.

24 May 2013

Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals starts Phase I study of SB 9200 for treatment of HCV infection

Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing innovative medicines for the treatment of viral infections, today announced that it has initiated dosing in a Phase I study of SB 9200, its investigational, once daily, oral therapy for the treatment of HCV infection.

24 May 2013