Virology News and Research

Latest Virology News and Research

Men with HIV combat stigma, stress with Mom's love

Despite fears of shame and stigma, most HIV-positive men choose to confide their health status to their mothers, according to a new University of Florida study. When deciding whether to tell, the men’s need for their mothers’ emotional and socioeconomic support outweighed those fears, researchers found.

8 May 2005

FDA seeks to ban gay men from donating sperm

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to the dismay of gay-rights activists, is recommending that any man who has had sex with another man in the previous five years be barred from serving as an anonymous sperm donor.

8 May 2005

Smallpox-free for 25 years

It was in May 1980 that the World Health Assembly certified the world free of naturally occurring smallpox and the war against smallpox was won. Eradication was achieved through international vaccination programmes, global disease surveillance and public health logistics systems.

8 May 2005

Global epidemic of avian flu - Governments bury their heads

Governments around the world must stop burying their heads in the sand over the growing threat of a global epidemic of avian flu, argues a GP in this week's BMJ.

5 May 2005

After surgery check colon tumors for signs of syndrome, study suggests

A new study suggests that, after surgery, all colon tumors should be tested to learn if the patient may have an inherited syndrome that carries an extremely high risk of cancer. It also suggests that this prescreening can be done using a relatively inexpensive microscopy test already used in hospital pathology laboratories.

5 May 2005

Cancer hijacks normal wound-healing processes

Scientists have known for the last decade that a link exists between wound healing and cancer. For instance, in a 1994 experiment at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, chickens infected with a cancer virus developed tumors in areas of their body that had undergone wounding or scarring, while no tumors developed in infected areas that had not suffered wounding.

5 May 2005

New cervical cancer drug could be a bestseller

New data released yesterday says that a new vaccine that promises to protect against cervical cancer could offer wider resistance to the disease than previously thought.

5 May 2005

Polio threat originates in Nigeria 2 years after it was banished in most countries

Almost two years after radical Islamic preachers in Nigeria influenced parents against having their children vaccinated against polio for fear it was part of a U.S. plot against Muslims, a Nigerian strain of the virus that causes the crippling disease has occurred as far away as Indonesia.

4 May 2005

Polio strikes Indonesia

One decade after recording the last case of polio in Indonesia, a 20 month-old girl from Sukabumi district in West Java has been paralysed by poliovirus type one (P1). She had never been immunized against polio. Several more suspected cases have been identified in the immediate area and are being investigated.

4 May 2005

New Zealand Ministry of Health to consider Vaxigrip vaccine trial results

Pharmac and the New Zealand Ministry of Health are aware that Sanofi-Pasteur has been running a clinical trial to demonstrate the efficacy of their influenza vaccine, Vaxigrip.

4 May 2005

Polio alert after Indonesian child is stricken

After an 18-month-old boy was diagnosed with polio, Australian parents planning holidays in Indonesia have been warned to ensure babies and toddlers have been vaccinated for polio.

3 May 2005

Two-photon imaging gives real-time video of cells in living tissue

Biologists have a new tool to track and videotape cells moving about inside living tissue.

3 May 2005

Scientists use tobacco plants to create antibodies against tumor cells

Scientists at Jefferson Medical College are using tobacco plants to produce monoclonal antibodies – tiny guided protein missiles – that can target and hunt down cancer cells. The plants promise to provide a cheaper, faster method of producing anticancer antibodies, raising hopes that the technology can one day be used in humans.

3 May 2005