Virology News and Research

Latest Virology News and Research

South Africa protects itself against Marburg virus

The Marburg virus has already killed 193 people since the outbreak began in northern Angola in October and now South Africa is taking precautions to prevent the spread of the Marburg virus into the country.

11 Apr 2005

HIV treatment-experienced patients set high standards for therapy success

Patients who have previously failed at least two anti-HIV regimens continue to have high standards for their treatment success, according to a survey commissioned by the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR).

11 Apr 2005

Now revealed that Salk polio vaccine was a team effort

The cure for polio came as a result of the collaboration between Thomas Francis Jr. and Jonas Salk.

10 Apr 2005

Panel in US disputes drug trial allegations

Medical experts have been forced to defend a study conducted in Uganda and called HIVNET 012 that led to the widespread use of a single AIDS drug called nevirapine to protect newborns, after allegations by Dr. Jonathan Fishbein, a National Institutes of Health researcher, that the research was flawed and the conclusions were unfounded.

10 Apr 2005

UAB reaction to Lancet study on human papilloma virus (HPV)

The prominent British medical journal Lancet published results of a clinical trial on a vaccine for human papilloma virus (HPV) The virus is a leading cause of cervical cancer and genital warts.

10 Apr 2005

Test of new HIV drug

A study under way at UAB aims to determine whether the first of a new class of HIV drugs is safe and effective in preventing the virus from entering healthy cells.

10 Apr 2005

Attacks on WHO staff - progress on Marburg epidemic halted

The World Health Organization (WHO) has suspended its efforts to contain the outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus in Angola, in the northern province of Uige, after staff in their mobile surveillance vehicles have been attacked.

10 Apr 2005

US agencies work together to prevent disease spreading through air travel

In an attempt to prevent the spread of infectious diseases or other deadly agents aboard commercial aircraft, U.S. government health agencies, airlines and aviation regulators plan to work together, federal officials said this week.

7 Apr 2005

Race to market cancer vaccine

In a race to market the first vaccine against the virus that causes cervical cancer and genital warts drug manufacturers Merck & Co Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline plc are in head-to-head competition.

7 Apr 2005

Experts available for comment on controversy over a nevirapine

The controversy over a nevirapine clinical trial conducted in the late 1990s threatens to limit the use of a drug that has saved hundreds of thousands of babies in the developing world from HIV infection, according to experts from the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA).

7 Apr 2005

Oncolytic viruses may one day help treat brain tumors

New research shows that a virus designed to kill cancer cells can significantly increase the survival of mice with an incurable human brain tumor, even in some animals with advanced disease.

7 Apr 2005

Fibril shape is the basis of prion strains and cross-species prion infection

New research on prions, the infectious proteins behind "mad cow" disease and Creutzfeld-Jakob disease in humans, suggests that the ability of prions in one species to infect other species depends on the shape of the toxic threadlike fibers produced by the prion. Two studies on the topic appear in the 8 April issue of the journal Cell.

7 Apr 2005

Epstein-Barr virus may increase risk of lupus

Almost everyone has been infected with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a member of the herpes family and one of the most common human viruses.

7 Apr 2005

Vaccine against cervical cancer and genital warts looks hopeful

More than two thirds of sexually active women will become infected with human papillomavirus (HPV) during their lifetime. HPV causes around 470 000 cases of cervical cancer each year and even though most cases of cervical cancer occur in the developing world, where cervical screening programmes are in the main non-existent, in Europe and the US 35000 women die from the disease every year.

6 Apr 2005

Stress might actually be beneficial to health

New research has surprisingly shown that stress, generally thought to be bad for the immune system by lowering the body's ability to fight off disease, on a short-term basis might actually be beneficial.

6 Apr 2005

Asthmatics naturally deficient in antiviral immunity

Asthmatics produce lower levels of a type of immune cell protein needed to fight off infection from colds and other viruses, scientists have discovered.

6 Apr 2005

Three additional cases of H5N1 avian influenza in Vietnam

The Ministry of Health in Viet Nam has confirmed three additional cases of human infection with H5N1 avian influenza. The cases concern a 5-year-old boy from the central province of Quang Binh, a 17-year-old girl from the northern province of Nam Dinh, and a 40-year-old woman from the northern province of Quang Ninh. The 17-year-old girl has died.

6 Apr 2005

SV40 does not have a role in the majority of malignant mesotheliomas

SV40 does not have a role in the majority of malignant mesotheliomas -- a cancer associated with exposure to asbestos – according to a study in this month's Cancer Research. The study, led by Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers used a scrupulous protocol that eliminated contamination that has likely been the reason previous studies have implicated SV40 in this cancer.

6 Apr 2005

Hormonal contraceptives increase risk of HSV-2 transmission

Women who are infected with herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) may have an increased risk of transmitting the virus to others if they use hormonal contraceptives or have certain bacterial vaginal infections, according to an article in the May 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online.

6 Apr 2005

Risk of HIV transmission highest in early stage of infection

The risk of HIV transmission via heterosexual intercourse is highest early in the course of HIV infection, before most infected people know their HIV status, according to a new study published in the May 1 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online

6 Apr 2005