Virology News and Research

Latest Virology News and Research

New statistical model that simulates human mobility patterns can aid in studying epidemic outbreaks

Researchers have developed a new statistical model that simulates human mobility patterns, mimicking the way people move over the course of a day, a month or longer.

27 Apr 2009

Swine influenza - WHO holds emergency committee meeting

The Emergency Committee, established in compliance with the International Health Regulations (2005), held its second meeting on 27 April 2009.

27 Apr 2009

Swine flu reinforces the importance of preparing for emergencies

The American Public Health Association (APHA) urges the public to use the current swine flu outbreak as an opportunity to ensure that they and their families are prepared for potential pandemics, disasters or any other health emergencies that may arise.

27 Apr 2009

Update on swine flu in the United States and Mexico

As of 26 April 2009, the United States Government has reported 20 laboratory confirmed human cases of swine influenza A/H1N1 (8 in New York, 7 in California, 2 in Texas, 2 in Kansas and 1 in Ohio).

27 Apr 2009

Test for best potential HIV/AIDS vaccine in the pipeline

Scientists in Britain are well on the way to developing a test for the best potential HIV/AIDS vaccine.

27 Apr 2009

Swine flu pandemic threat puts the world on high alert

An outbreak of swine flu in humans has health experts and officials around the world on high alert and there is great concern, as more countries report new cases of the disease, that the world may be on the brink of a pandemic.

27 Apr 2009

WHO response to swine influenza A(H1N1)

In response to cases of swine influenza A(H1N1), reported in Mexico and the United States of America, the Director-General convened a meeting of the Emergency Committee to assess the situation and advise her on appropriate responses.

26 Apr 2009

Roche and Pharmasset start phase IIb clinical trial of R7128 nucleoside polymerase inhibitor for chronic hepatitis C

Pharmasset, Inc. and Roche have announced that the first patient has been dosed in a Phase IIb study of R7128, the nucleoside polymerase inhibitor most advanced in development for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C (HCV).

26 Apr 2009

Swine influenza confirmed in the U.S.

The United States Government has reported seven confirmed human cases of Swine Influenza A/H1N1 in the USA (five in California and two in Texas) and nine suspect cases.

26 Apr 2009

Circumcision reduces risk of contracting HIV without reducing sexual pleasure

Two studies presented at the 104th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA) show that adult circumcision reduces the risk of contracting the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the risk of coital injury without reducing pleasure or causing sexual dysfunction.

26 Apr 2009

Welcome news on Dengue fever

The news that scientists in the United States have identified host factors which are critical to Dengue virus infection will be particularly welcome in tropical northern Queensland, which has suffered one of the worse Dengue fever outbreaks in decades.

26 Apr 2009

Breakthrough method for sequencing-based methylation profiling

Bioengineers at UC San Diego have developed a breakthrough method for sequencing-based methylation profiling, which could help fuel personalized regenerative medicine and even lead to more efficient and cost-effective methods for studying certain diseases.

23 Apr 2009

Proof-of-concept for a DNA-based therapeutic vaccination against chronic hepatitis C

The first-proof-of-concept for a DNA-based therapeutic vaccination against chronic hepatitis C was announced today at EASL 2009, the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver in Copenhagen, Denmark.

23 Apr 2009

Scientists identify dozens of proteins the dengue fever virus depends upon

By painstakingly silencing genes one at a time, scientists at Duke University Medical Center have identified dozens of proteins the dengue fever virus depends upon to grow and spread among mosquitoes and humans.

22 Apr 2009

Why an effective vaccine for HIV has proven so elusive

Some 25 years after the AIDS epidemic spawned a worldwide search for an effective vaccine against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), progress in the field seems to have effectively become stalled.

22 Apr 2009

New Dengue virus discovery could lead to development of anti-dengue drugs

Doctors have no specific drugs to treat dengue fever, a viral illness spread by mosquitoes that sickens 50 million to 100 million people worldwide each year. Instead, the only treatments they can recommend for this painful and sometimes fatal illness (20,000 deaths globally each year) are fluids, rest and non-aspirin pain and fever reducers.

22 Apr 2009