Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

Sexually transmitted diseases more common in women age 40

A Johns Hopkins infectious disease expert is calling for all sexually active American women age 40 and older to get tested for the parasite Trichomonas vaginalis after new study evidence found that the sexually transmitted disease (STD) is more than twice as common in this age group than previously thought.

12 Jul 2011

Rapid method can predict immune responses against flu vaccines

Researchers at the Emory Vaccine Center have developed a method for predicting whether someone will produce high levels of antibodies against a flu shot a few days after vaccination.

12 Jul 2011

HIV patients with mental illness can benefit from APRN care management

In a four-year study, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have found that assigning adults with serious mental health illness who are HIV positive to the care of advanced practice nurses (APRN) to help navigate the health care system and maintain adherence to drug regimens reduced depression and improved their overall physical health, indicating that healthcare policy should be revamped to provide this support.

12 Jul 2011

UNC receives $32 million federal grant to eradicate HIV infection

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have been awarded a $32 million, five-year federal grant to develop ways to cure people with HIV by purging the virus hiding in the immune systems of patients taking antiretroviral therapy.

12 Jul 2011

Type-3 polio virus case in Pakistan raises concerns of disease spreading, WHO says

Pakistan has reported the first case of the type-3 wild polio virus in six months, raising concerns that the disease may spread to other parts of Asia and beyond, the WHO said on Thursday, Bloomberg/San Francisco Chronicle reports.

12 Jul 2011

New research strategy for eradicating HIV from the body

An international team led by researchers from the University of California, San Francisco and the nonprofit Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute of Port St. Lucie, Fla., has received a major grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a strategy to eradicate HIV from the body.

12 Jul 2011

Merck researchers to participate in two new collaborative efforts to study HIV latency

Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced that company researchers will participate in two new collaborative efforts led by the prominent academic institutions of the University of North Carolina (UNC) Chapel Hill and the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) to develop new approaches towards eradicating HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

12 Jul 2011

Gilead announces expansion of global access program for HIV medications

Gilead Sciences, Inc. announced today an expansion of its global access program in an effort to provide accelerated access to Gilead medicines for the treatment of HIV/AIDS.

12 Jul 2011

Hutchinson Center receives $20M NIH grant to eradicate HIV infection

Whether a stem cell transplant using an HIV-infected person's own genetically modified immune cells can become a cure for the disease is the focus of a new $20 million, five-year research grant award announced today by the National Institutes of Health to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

12 Jul 2011

Scientists to receive prestigious awards for innovative HIV research at IAS 2011

The International AIDS Society (IAS) announced today the six winners of three prestigious scientific awards, to be presented at plenary sessions during the 6th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention to be held in Rome July 17-20, 2011.

12 Jul 2011

Federal funds may help Gladstone to solve problem of HIV latency

The Gladstone Institutes will receive funds totaling $5.6 million over five years as part of the first-ever major funding initiative focusing on HIV eradication.

12 Jul 2011

Enrollment complete in Advaxis ADXS-HPV Phase II CIN study

Advaxis, Inc., a leader in developing the next generation of immunotherapies for cancer and infectious diseases, has completed enrollment of the first 40 subject cohort in the dose-ranging Phase II study of ADXS-HPV, an immunotherapy for Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia.

12 Jul 2011

NIAID awards $14 million a year for new HIV research

Three research teams focused on developing strategies that could help to rid the body of HIV are receiving grants totaling more than $14 million a year, for up to five years, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health announced today.

11 Jul 2011

Alnylam seeks CTA clearance to initiate ALN-PCS Phase I clinical trial for severe hypercholesterolemia

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today that it has filed a Clinical Trial Application (CTA) with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to initiate a Phase I clinical trial with ALN-PCS, an RNAi therapeutic for the treatment of severe hypercholesterolemia.

11 Jul 2011

New tool reveals mutations that cause HIV-drug resistance

Protease inhibitor drugs are one of the major weapons in the fight against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, but their effectiveness is limited as the virus mutates and develops resistance to the drugs over time.

11 Jul 2011

AIDS Healthcare Foundation rolls out new national ad campaign

As part of its ongoing advocacy efforts to spur President Obama and his administration to do more on AIDS, AIDS Healthcare Foundation is rolling out a new national ad campaign headlined 'What has the President done about AIDS?' The first leg of the campaign, a series of pointed online text and banner ads on Politico.com's Playbook and Pulse websites started running Monday July 4th on Mike Allen's Politico Playbook and will run through Friday July 15th on Politico's Pulse.

11 Jul 2011

QIAGEN to acquire Cellestis

QIAGEN N.V. today announced that it has amended its original proposal to acquire Cellestis Limited, a publicly traded Australian biotechnology company.

From QIAGEN Manchester Limited 11 Jul 2011

Scientists probe 'atlastin,' a protein linked to hereditary spastic paraplegia

New research from Rice University and Italy's Eugenio Medea Scientific Institute is yielding clues about hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP), a group of inherited neurological disorders that affect about 20,000 people in the United States.

11 Jul 2011

Tips for preventing foodborne illness at home or while eating out

Dr. Melvin Pascall, an associate professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology at The Ohio State University, has spent the past 15 years working to improve food safety in areas ranging from packaging to food service cleaning practices.

11 Jul 2011

Flu vaccine against all strains of virus coming soon

A universal flu vaccine, capable of working against all strains, would save lives and money by eliminating the need for the annual jab say experts. Researchers in California and the Netherlands believe they are now a “step closer” to meeting this objective.

10 Jul 2011