Virology News and Research

Latest Virology News and Research

Molecule called metallacarborane appears to fight HIV protease

A molecule consisting of two "cages" of metallic atoms bound to carbon has shown great promise in preliminary tests of becoming a new weapon in the anti-HIV arsenal, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center report.

1 Nov 2005

Unique approach to enhance the immune system in patients with breast or colorectal cancer

The study uses a potent immune-enhancing gene delivered directly into the cancer cells to make them look foreign to the body's immune system, which will then attack and destroy the cancer.

1 Nov 2005

Better understanding of T cell response

Swedish and U.K. researchers report that an apparently "acute" human viral infection can cause a persistent, activated CD8+ T cell response a long time after patients have recovered.

1 Nov 2005

Treatment for Leber Congenital Amaurosis

U.S. researchers have taken the first steps in treating an eye disease that causes irreversible blindness in humans by successfully testing two novel treatments in mice.

1 Nov 2005

New technique provides supplies of seed viruses to fight bird flu

Researchers in the U.S. believe that a new manufacturing method may allow large quantities of vaccine to quickly be deployed against a deadly bird flu pandemic.

1 Nov 2005

Australia warns Asian countries against bird flu cover-ups

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has issued a warning to Asian countries that Australia will not tolerate any cover-ups of bird flu outbreaks.

31 Oct 2005

Pre-teens need vaccine against sexually transmitted virus

According to a poll of doctors in the U.S., most would be prepared to give 11- and 12-year-old patients a vaccine to prevent infection with a sexually transmitted virus.

31 Oct 2005

George Bush needs more money to cope with bird flu

U.S. President George Bush is about to reveal his plans to fight a flu pandemic and apparently he will ask Congress for funding for a vaccine against bird flu as well as infrastructure to deal with any pandemic.

31 Oct 2005

Disaster experts meet in Australia to discuss bird flu

The group of 21 member countries, including Australia, Japan, Indonesia and the U.S., will meet this week to discuss a coordinated response to a global outbreak of the deadly bird flu.

31 Oct 2005

Canada wild ducks unlikely to have H5N1 virus

Canadian health officials say they have found a strain of avian flu in 33 wild migratory ducks, but it is unlikely to be the killer H5N1 strain which has spread from Southeast Asia to Europe.

31 Oct 2005

Two new bird flu deaths suspected in Vietnam, two more sick

According to hospital officials two people showing symptoms of the bird flu virus have died in the past week in Vietnam, where the disease has already killed more than 40 people.

31 Oct 2005

Dead human tissue illegally used in surgery

London Health Sciences Centre is investigating if its surgeons used human tissue products that were recalled because they might have been taken illegally from corpses at funeral homes in the United States.

31 Oct 2005

New vaccine that targets avian flu

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is enrolling volunteers in a study to test a new vaccine that targets avian flu, the first such vaccine against the virus.

30 Oct 2005

Vaccination against measles could prevent many more cases of SSPE, than previously thought

A new study has found wild-type measles virus in tissues from patients who died of a fatal brain infection, providing evidence against the notion that the strain of virus in the measles vaccine caused the infection.

30 Oct 2005

Morphine withdrawal enhances hepatitis C virus (HCV) replicon expression

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have demonstrated that morphine withdrawal complicates hepatitis C by suppressing IFN-alpha-mediated immunity and enhancing virus replication.

30 Oct 2005

Avian Influenza in Alaska

Alaska is at the overlap for parts of the Asian and North American flyways for migratory birds which scientists say could provide an opportunity for exchange of bird flu viruses which then could lead to the evolution of new strains of viruses that could infect humans.

30 Oct 2005