Virology News and Research

Latest Virology News and Research

Viruses for a healthy pregnancy

Sequences of DNA in the human genome that originated from ancient viral infections have some surprising effects on our bodies and are even essential for a healthy pregnancy, according to an article in the February issue of Microbiology Today.

31 Jan 2008

Virtual human in HIV drug simulation

The combined supercomputing power of the UK and US 'national grids' has enabled UCL (University College London) scientists to simulate the efficacy of an HIV drug in blocking a key protein used by the lethal virus.

31 Jan 2008

Improved methods for decontamination of bioterrorism hazards

In October 2001, letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to several news media offices and two U.S. senators, killing five people and infecting 17 others.

30 Jan 2008

Oseltamivir resistance in European Influenza viruses

Preliminary surveillance into antiviral drug susceptibility against seasonal flu viruses currently circulating in Europe has revealed that some of the A (H1N1) viruses (13%) have shown resistance to the antiviral drug, oseltamivir.

29 Jan 2008

Evolutionary 'battle scars' identify enhanced antiviral activity

Rapid evolution of a protein produced by an immunity gene is associated with increased antiviral activity in humans, a finding that suggests evolutionary biology and virology together can accelerate the discovery of viral-defense mechanisms, according to researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

25 Jan 2008

Abstinence-plus programs for HIV prevention can reduce risk behavior

Programmes that aim to encourage sexual abstinence while also encouraging and teaching safer sex strategies for those who are sexually active can reduce short- and long-term HIV risk behaviour among young people in high-income countries, according to the findings of a new Cochrane Review.

24 Jan 2008

Gene therapy for pain

Researchers in the Department of Medicine and Department of Neurosciences at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have discovered that chronic pain can be successfully treated with novel targeted gene therapy.

23 Jan 2008

New way to boost the immune system

Queen's University immunologists have discovered how to manipulate the immune system to increase its power and protect the body from successive viral infections.

23 Jan 2008

Brain molecule from endothelial cells may be a new target for treatment of multiple sclerosis

In the February issue of Nature Immunology, the team provides fresh answers concerning the role of novel adhesion molecules in the pathogenesis of MS, a chronic autoimmune disease of the nervous system that affects approximately 55,000 young adults in Canada.

23 Jan 2008

Scientists render Ebola harmless in the laboratory

Scientists in the United States say that they have found a way to make the lethal Ebola virus harmless in the laboratory.

23 Jan 2008

India facing a bird flu disaster

According to a health official in India, the country's latest outbreak of bird flu could be disastrous.

23 Jan 2008

Cervical cancer rates higher among minority women

The last 50 years have witnessed a dramatic decline in the number of cervical cancer cases, according to the National Cancer Institute.

23 Jan 2008

Researchers disarm Ebola virus

The deadly Ebola virus, an emerging public health concern in Africa and a potential biological weapon, ranks among the most feared of exotic pathogens.

22 Jan 2008

Prostatitis - one of the most common urologic diseases in the U.S

Estimates on the number of males in the United States who will experience prostatitis during their lifetimes range up to 50 percent.

21 Jan 2008

FDA clears for ProFlu+ test for marketing

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared for marketing a test that simultaneously detects four common respiratory viruses, including the flu, in a patient's respiratory secretions.

21 Jan 2008

Can hantavirus infection spread among humans?

In connection with last year's epidemic, a research team at Umea University in Sweden has managed for the first time to show that hantavirus exists in human saliva; this raises the question of whether this contagion can spread among humans

21 Jan 2008

Fifth swan tests positive for bird flu in Britain

The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has been found in another dead swan in Dorset in the UK.

20 Jan 2008

New HIV drug will help millions

Statistics released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) indicate that as many as 33 million people worldwide are currently living with the HIV virus which also killed 2 million people in 2007.

20 Jan 2008

Bird flu spreads in India

The latest bird-flu outbreak in India has now spread to two new districts in West Bengal, Nadia and Bardhaman where more dead birds have been found.

20 Jan 2008

Previously unknown Merkel cell polyomavirus linked to deadly skin cancer

A new strategy to hunt for human viruses described in this week's issue of the journal Science by the husband-and-wife team who found the cause of Kaposi's sarcoma has revealed a previously unknown virus strongly associated with another rare but deadly skin cancer called Merkel cell carcinoma.

18 Jan 2008