Virology News and Research

Latest Virology News and Research

Understanding primate evolution could aid HIV research

Evolution moves in fits and starts, shaping species through random genetic mutations that can help them survive or even hasten their death.

28 Feb 2008

Stopping bird flu at the border

Several strains of the bird flu virus that raged across southern China were blocked from entering Thailand and Vietnam, UC Irvine researchers have discovered.

28 Feb 2008

Scientists devise approach that stops HIV at earliest stage of infection

Their study, which appears this week in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), may re-energize attempts to create a preventive/therapeutic vaccine against HIV, say the authors.

28 Feb 2008

Nasal vaccine for smallpox protects animals against 77 times the potentially lethal dose of smallpox

Scientists at NanoBio Corporation and the University of Michigan have demonstrated their nasally delivered vaccinia vaccine can protect animals against 77 times the potentially lethal dose of smallpox, and without the safety risks of current vaccines for smallpox.

27 Feb 2008

Nanoemulsion vaccines show increasing promise

A novel technique for vaccinating against a variety of infectious diseases - using an oil-based emulsion placed in the nose, rather than needles - has proved able to produce a strong immune response against smallpox and HIV in two new studies.

27 Feb 2008

Combination vaccine against Ebola and Marburg viruses provides complete protection for monkeys

An experimental, combination vaccine against Ebola and Marburg viruses using virus-like particles (VLPs) provides complete protection against infection in monkeys.

27 Feb 2008

Tenofovir gel safe for daily use over an extended period

A vaginal microbicide that incorporates an antiretroviral (ARV) drug normally used to treat people with HIV is safe for sexually active HIV-negative women to use every day over an extended period, suggest results of a clinical trial of tenofovir topical gel.

27 Feb 2008

Experimental anti-HIV gel is safe for women to use on a daily basis

An experimental anti-HIV gel is safe for women to use on a daily basis, according to researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

26 Feb 2008

25% of HIV infected women want to become pregnant

About one in four women who have tested positive for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) expect pregnancy and motherhood to be a part of their future, recent research suggests.

26 Feb 2008

Abbott receives approval for HUMIRA (Adalimumab) for polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Abbott has announced that it has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval to market HUMIRA (adalimumab) as a treatment to reduce signs and symptoms of moderately to severely active polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) in patients four years of age and older.

26 Feb 2008

Mosquito bourne diseases cause concern in three areas of Australia

Australian Health officials have issued public health warnings about mosquito bourne diseases in three areas.

25 Feb 2008

Another suspected bird flu case in China

Authorities in China have reported another possible bird flu case in the country, the fourth this year.

25 Feb 2008

New proof-of-principle findings that thymic involution can be reversed in humans

Scientists at the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology (GIVI) and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have found that therapy can be used to stimulate the production of vital immune cells, called "T- cells," in adults with HIV infection.

21 Feb 2008

Researchers determine structure of protein that mutates DNA of the AIDS virus HIV-1

Understanding the structure of proteins involved in inhibiting HIV-1 infection could help in the battle against AIDS, and University of Minnesota researchers have taken a crucial step in that direction.

21 Feb 2008

Emerging-disease hotpsots mapped

An international research team has provided the first scientific evidence that deadly emerging diseases have risen steeply across the world, and has mapped the outbreaks' main sources.

21 Feb 2008

Ebola outbreak in Uganda now over

The Ministry of Health, Uganda has declared the end of the Ebola epidemic in Bundibugyo.

21 Feb 2008

New scientific map shows Australia is not a hotspot for new diseases

An international team of scientists has warned that tropical regions are likely to become a future hotspot for new diseases; but fortunately Australia is not one of them.

21 Feb 2008

Tumor-killing virus selectively targets diseased brain cells

New findings show that a specialized virus with the ability to reproduce its tumor-killing genes can selectively target tumors in the brains of mice and eliminate them.

20 Feb 2008

Minocycline antibiotic may prevent Japanese encephalitis

Two researchers from National Brain Research Center (NBRC) suggest that a common antibiotic called minocycline may prevent children from death due to Japanese encephalitis (JE), or commonly known as brain fever.

20 Feb 2008

More needs to be done for preemie healthcare

A recent survey of 202 neonatologists and pediatricians, which examined current attitudes and practices when caring for the specialized health needs of preterm infants, revealed that most respondents (70 percent) feel the United States' healthcare system does not place enough emphasis on or dedicate enough resources to preventive healthcare for preemies.

20 Feb 2008