Virology News and Research

Latest Virology News and Research

£800,000 to boost research into fighting viruses

A team of University of Glasgow scientists have received a grant of £800,000 from the Wellcome Trust to research a mechanism that blocks a critical step in the replication cycle of retroviruses. In the long term, the research could lead to the design of new therapeutic strategies or drugs against retroviruses, which cause diseases such as AIDS and certain leukemias.

14 Mar 2005

HIV-1 spread through six transmission lines in the UK

Contrary to the prevailing belief that the HIV epidemic in the UK can be traced back to one source, a new study suggests that HIV spread via at least six independent virus introductions and subsequent transmission chains.

14 Mar 2005

New H5N1 avian influenza vaccine

Merial today announced the introduction of a new inactivated vaccine, GALLIMUNE Flu H5N9, developed and shown to be effective specifically for use against the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 that has caused devastating economic losses in the poultry industry in Asia, and which has been linked to the deaths of over 29 humans.

14 Mar 2005

Washing hands with soap and water best protection against disease-causing viruses

The largest, most comprehensive study ever done comparing the effectiveness of hand hygiene products shows that nothing works better in getting rid of disease-causing viruses than simply washing one's hands with good old-fashioned soap and water.

14 Mar 2005

Research could lead to new drugs that combat HIV infection by shutting down the virus's assembly lines

After infecting a susceptible cell, the human immunodeficiency virus hijacks that cell's normal machinery to produce carbon copies of itself. New HIV particles roll off the cellular assembly lines, burst like bubbles out of the cell, and float off to invade other cellular factories.

14 Mar 2005

China trials new HIV vaccine on humans

China which has 840,000 people with HIV, a conservative estimate say experts, will carry out the very first trials of a new virus on human guinea pigs.

13 Mar 2005

New flu vaccine for kids hits the market

A new pediatric influenza vaccine that contains no preservatives - the only influenza vaccine approved for use in children 6 to 35 months of age - has been produced by the sanofi-aventis Group, in time for the 2005-2006 influenza season.

10 Mar 2005

Birdflu vaccine successful on monkeys

A bird flu vaccine for humans could be only months away since the success of a vaccine on monkeys in Vietnam, researchers hope to have a vaccine ready for testing in humans later this year.

10 Mar 2005

Biologists discover why 10% of Europeans are safe from HIV infection

Scientists have known for some time that these individuals carry a genetic mutation (known as CCR5-Ä32) that prevents the virus from entering the cells of the immune system but have been unable to account for the high levels of the gene in Scandinavia and relatively low levels in areas bordering the Mediterranean.

9 Mar 2005

Vietnamese relatives have birdflu but they're not sick

The H5N1 virus has killed 34 Vietnamese, 12 Thais and a Cambodian since it swept across large parts of Asia at the end of 2003. Two elderly Vietnamese, related to family who died of bird flu have tested positive for the deadly virus despite showing no symptoms.

9 Mar 2005

Telomerase finding has major implications for cancer

UCLA biochemists have determined the three-dimensional structure of a major domain of telomerase, the enzyme that helps maintain telomeres - small pieces of DNA on the ends of chromosomes that act as protective caps - allowing DNA ends to be copied completely when cells are replicated.

9 Mar 2005

HIV is not an independent risk factor for severe heart disease

Infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is no longer an automatic death sentence, thanks to the use of highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART).

8 Mar 2005

Four new cases of human avian influenza reported in Vietnam

The World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday four new cases of human avian influenza have been reported in Vietnam. These include a 21-year-old man and his 14-year-old sister.

8 Mar 2005

Cigarette smoke worsens respiratory infections in infants

Studying Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) to learn what puts children at risk for the most severe infections, Washington University researchers at St. Louis Children's Hospital found that a child's age at the time of infection and whether that child lives with a smoker could mean the difference between the sniffles and the intensive care unit.

8 Mar 2005

DNA ejection from single phage particles

Studying phage, a primitive class of virus that infects bacteria by injecting its genomic DNA into host cells, researchers have gained insight into the driving force behind this poorly understood injection process, which has been proposed in the past to occur through the release of pressure accumulated within the viral particle itself.

7 Mar 2005