Virology News and Research

Latest Virology News and Research

UNAIDS, NGOs partner to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Africa

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe in New York on Monday signed a partnership agreement with several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) pledging to work towards eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Africa, Agence France-Presse reports. Presidents Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda attended the signing ceremony.

23 Sep 2009

New AIDS treatment center to open in Washington, DC

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the US’ largest non-profit HIV/AIDS healthcare provider, which provides medical care and/or services to more than 100,000 individuals in 21 countries worldwide, is honored to announce the September 24th grand opening of AHF’s first AIDS treatment center in Washington, DC, where the HIV rate is now reported to be 3%—higher than the rate in Lagos, Nigeria.

23 Sep 2009

Chan calls for additional H1N1 vaccines for poor countries during WHO Asia-Pacific regional meeting

During the WHO Asia-Pacific regional meeting Monday, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan discussed the organization's efforts to ensure that poor nations have access to H1N1 vaccines, VOA News reports (Bayron, 9/21).

23 Sep 2009

HealthRock to promote health education

The $1 trillion cost and massive government role envisioned by the Obama Administration’s health care reform plan (The Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009) continue to create controversy in Congress and throughout the nation.

23 Sep 2009

Sanofi Pasteur receives additional order H1N1 vaccine

Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of the sanofi-aventis Group (EURONEXT: SAN and NYSE: SNY), announced today that the company has received an additional order from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to produce vaccine to help protect against the Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 virus. The new order is for the production of bulk antigen equivalent to 27.3 million doses based on 15 mcg of antigen per dose.

22 Sep 2009

Event: How to prepare for flu season and reduce spread of H1N1

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Education Secretary Arne Duncan will hold a town hall meeting with students and faculty at George Mason University to discuss how to prepare for flu season and reduce the spread of the H1N1 virus on September 22, 2009.

22 Sep 2009

Millions of H1N1 healthcare consent forms - how to manage them?

As health officials prepare to roll out millions of H1N1 swine flu vaccines this fall, many are contemplating whether to get the shot or risk coming down with the illness. Yet for officials at the state and local level, the question isn’t whether to get the shot, but what to do with the millions of pages of healthcare forms that will begin piling up once the shot becomes available later this year.

22 Sep 2009

T-System revises its H1N1 point-of-care charting templates

T-System, Inc., the nation's largest provider of emergency department (ED) clinical documentation tools, today announced it has issued revised H1N1 point-of-care charting templates reflecting the most recent recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

22 Sep 2009

CDC recommends seasonal influenza vaccination to counter H1N1

Public health experts, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), recommend seasonal influenza vaccination as the first line of defense this year in protecting against the influenza virus.

22 Sep 2009

Poor money management: A sign of developing Alzheimer's disease

New research finds poor money management skills may indicate that a person with mild memory problems will soon develop Alzheimer's disease. The study is published in the September 22, 2009, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

22 Sep 2009

Antigen to block infection by genetically-diverse strains of HIV

Scientists working to develop a vaccine for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) report they have created the first antigen that induces protective antibodies capable of blocking infection of human cells by genetically-diverse strains of HIV. The new antigen differs from previously-tested vaccines by virtue of its chemically-activated property that enables close sharing of electrons and produces strong covalent bonding.

22 Sep 2009

U.S. HHS orders for an additional 29 million doses of MedImmune's influenza vaccine

MedImmune announced today that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has placed an order for an additional 29 million doses of its live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) against the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus. This brings HHS orders to date to more than 40 million vaccine doses, with a total cumulative contract value of approximately $453 million.

22 Sep 2009

Blood vessels around the brain now converted into production/delivery systems

The blood brain barrier is generally considered an obstacle to delivering therapies from the bloodstream to the brain. However, University of Iowa researchers have discovered a way to turn the blood vessels surrounding brain cells into a production and delivery system for getting therapeutic molecules directly into brain cells.

22 Sep 2009

GeoVax requests FDA meeting to discuss IND for its therapeutic HIV/AIDS vaccine

GeoVax Labs, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: GOVX) (the "Company"), an Atlanta-based, biopharmaceutical company developing human vaccines for diseases caused by HIV-1 (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) and other infectious agents, today announced that it has requested a pre-Investigational New Drug (IND) meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to discuss a proposed IND for GeoVax's therapeutic vaccine as a treatment for individuals infected with HIV/AIDS.

22 Sep 2009

Results from a trial testing a 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine in children look promising

Early results from a trial testing a 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine in children look promising, according to the trial sponsor, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.

22 Sep 2009

Importance of residual thymopoiesis in aged adults

Doctor Manuel Leal is managing the Experimental Immune Virology Laboratory (in Virgen del Rocío University Hospital and Instituto de Biomedicina de Sevilla (IBIS), where clinic and basic science researchers work) where he leads a project to establish the functional nature of the thymus gland in adults. So far, it has been proven that this gland keeps on producing lymphocytes in the old age (Ferrando-Martínez et al. AGE, in press), which is a novelty because until very recently it was considered that this organ lost its immune capacity after the puberty.

22 Sep 2009

LSA's BCP in place to tackle demand for language assistance in the event of a potential swine flu pandemic

LSA (Language Services Associates), a leading provider of premium language-based solutions, today announced its comprehensive business continuity plan (BCP) for the 2009-2010 flu season. The strategy, which was devised by LSA’s BCP project management team, has been created to ensure the company is prepared for an increase in demand for language assistance in the event of a potential Swine Flu pandemic.

22 Sep 2009

Duke University awarded $19.5M to design a portable viral infection detection device

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the research arm of the U.S. Department of Defense, has awarded Duke University $19.5 million for an effort led by the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy (IGSP) to design a portable, easy-to-use diagnostic device that can reveal who is infected with an upper respiratory virus before the first cough or sneeze.

22 Sep 2009

VeriChip granted exclusive license to virus triage detection system patents

VeriChip Corporation (“VeriChip”) (NASDAQ: CHIP) and its development partner RECEPTORS LLC, a technology company whose AFFINITY by DESIGN™ chemistry platform can be applied to the development of selective binding products, announced today that VeriChip has been granted an exclusive license to RECEPTORS' Patent No. 7,504,364 titled “Methods of Making Arrays and Artificial Receptors” and Patent No. 7,469,076 “Sensors Employing Combinatorial Artificial Receptors,” in their application to the development of the virus triage detection system for the H1N1 virus.

21 Sep 2009