Virology News and Research

Latest Virology News and Research

New drug target for herpes viruses

Scientists in the lab of Whitehead Institute Member Hidde Ploegh and the Harvard University lab of Rachelle Gaudet have solved the complex structure of a recently discovered protein that is found in a wide range of herpes viruses. This protein may prove to be a potential drug target.

11 Mar 2007

Second bird flu death in Laos - 11th country to fall victim to H5N1

The death of a 15-year-old girl from Laos from the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, is the country's first officially confirmed victim of the disease.

11 Mar 2007

AIDS and circumcision - the jury's still out

According to preliminary results of a study in Africa, although circumcision offers men some protection from the AIDS virus, if they are already-infected, unless they let the penis heal completely they may put women at an even higher risk of contracting the virus.

8 Mar 2007

California Sen. Carole Migden introduces bill to allow HIV-positive men to use reproductive services

California Sen. Carole Migden (D) recently introduced a bill (SB 443) that would allow HIV-positive men to use reproductive services, including artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization, under certain guidelines, the MediaNews/San Jose Mercury News reports.

8 Mar 2007

HIV-positive men who have sex before circumcision wounds are healed could increase female partners' infection risk

HIV-positive men undergoing circumcision might be more likely to transmit the virus to their female partners if they have sex before the circumcision wounds have healed, according to preliminary results from a study being conducted in Uganda and presented on Tuesday to 75 officials from the World Health Organization and UNAIDS at a meeting in Montreux, Switzerland, the Washington Post reports

8 Mar 2007

Debate over HPV vaccine 'clouded' by worries about promiscuity

The debate over the Merck's human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil has been "clouded" by "worries about promiscuity," New York Times reporter Denise Grady writes in a column

8 Mar 2007

China's southern Guangdong Province found to be source of H5N1

A team of scientists at the University of California, Irvine, who have been conducting a genetic analysis of the H5N1 bird flu virus, have found that China's southern Guangdong Province is the source of the deadly strain.

7 Mar 2007

Health Protection Agency updates on Holton avian flu outbreak

Britain's Health Protection Agency (HPA) has now completed the first stage of the public health follow up in relation to the outbreak of avian flu on a poultry farm in Holton, Suffolk.

6 Mar 2007

Children under stress develop more fevers

Children whose parents and families are under ongoing stress have more fevers with illness than other children. Published this month in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, the study also shows the unanticipated conclusion that children's natural killer cell function, part of the body's innate immune system, increases under chronic stress, unlike adults, whose function is decreased.

6 Mar 2007

Bird flu vaccine - experts say let's try harder

Experts on viruses are calling for a bigger effort to be made in developing vaccines to tackle pandemics.

6 Mar 2007

Mayo Clinic tests engineered measles virus against multiple myeloma

Mayo Clinic Cancer Center has opened a new Phase I clinical trial testing an engineered measles virus against multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow that currently has no cure. This is the third of a series of molecular medicine studies in patients testing the potential of measles to kill cancer.

5 Mar 2007

Vaccines for measles-mumps-rubella and varicella are effective in extremely preterm infants

The study, which included 16 term and 16 extremely preterm (born before about 6 months of pregnancy) infants born between May 2002 and May 2005, is the first of its kind to examine the antibody levels of measles, mumps, rubella and varicella in this population before and after vaccination. It was published in this month's Pediatrics.

5 Mar 2007

International Narcotics Control board hindering HIV/AIDS control efforts, should be independently reviewed

The International Narcotics Control Board is hindering efforts to fight the spread of HIV, especially among injection drug users, and its practices should be independently reviewed, according to a report released on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

4 Mar 2007

Two experimental drugs aimed at controlling viral loads among HIV-positive people who have developed drug resistance show promise

Two experimental antiretroviral drugs, called TMC278 and elvitegravir, show promise in controlling the viral loads of HIV-positive people who have developed resistance to available drugs, researchers said Wednesday at the 14th Annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times reports.

4 Mar 2007

Another case of bird flu appears in Laos

World Health Organization (WHO) officials say it is likely 42-year-old woman who died in Laos had bird flu.

4 Mar 2007

FDA investigating norovirus linked to San Antonio Bay oysters

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is investigating an outbreak of norovirus-associated illness linked to eating raw oysters harvested from San Antonio Bay, TX.

4 Mar 2007

FDA approves new test for West Nile virus in donors

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced the approval of a license supplement for the first fully automated West Nile Virus (WNV) nucleic acid test for donor screening.

4 Mar 2007

Hepatitis B found in sweat of Olympic athletes

A researcher in Turkey says hepatitis B may be contracted by means of sweat during contact sports.

1 Mar 2007

Health-care workers should undergo preventive drug treatment if exposed to HIV on the job

Doctors, nurses and other health-care providers have worried about HIV exposure since the AIDS epidemic first began in the early 1980s. Since the virus that causes AIDS is transmitted through blood, a simple needle stick could infect anyone treating a patient.

1 Mar 2007

About 26% of U.S. girls, women ages 14 to 59 have HPV

Of U.S. women and girls ages 14 to 59, about 24.9 million women, or 26.8%, have the human papillomavirus, and about 2% of women and girls in the age group have HPV strains 16 or 18, which together cause about 70% of cervical cancer cases, according to a study published in the Feb. 28 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Wall Street Journal reports.

1 Mar 2007