Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

MedImmune funds study on RSV disease among premature infants

MedImmune continues to advance its commitment to pediatric research with today's announcement of the first observational prospective study designed to assess the burden of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) among preterm infants 32-to-35 weeks gestational age (GA) in outpatient settings during their first year of life.

30 Jun 2009

U.S. Vaccine Advisory Committee considers response to H1N1 spread

The CDC convened a national vaccine advisory committee Friday to discuss the best response to the spread of H1N1 (swine flu) with an estimated 6,000 new cases in the U.S. last week alone, Reuters reports.

30 Jun 2009

Battle is on to keep swine flu out of hospitals and prisons

According to the latest update, #55, from the World Health Organisation (WHO), worldwide there have been 70,893 cases including 311 deaths from the influenza A H1N1 (swine flu).

29 Jun 2009

U.S. swine flu cases reach one million

The Associated Press/Washington Post reported that U.S. health officials on Thursday said they believe as many as 1 million Americans have been infected with H1N1 and "6 percent or more of some urban populations are infected." The estimates were based upon survey data collected by health officials and mathematical modeling.

29 Jun 2009

Mexican, Chilean Presidents appeal for developing countries access to H1N1 vaccine

Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet on Thursday emphasized the importance of developing countries having access to a vaccine that offers protection against the H1N1 (swine flu), "that has killed over 200 people and infected tens of thousands worldwide," AFP/MSN Philippine News reports.

29 Jun 2009

Australian swine flu vaccine ready in months

A vaccine developed 'in record time' by Australian scientists to protect against the influenza A H1N1 virus (swine flu) may not be available just yet because this swine flu vaccine, developed by University of Queensland (UQ) scientists, is not yet registered for use in Australia.

28 Jun 2009

The swine flu death that wasn't

The latest reports say that tests have confirmed that the death of a 26-year-old man from the remote Aboriginal community of Kiwirrkurra was due to other health issues.

28 Jun 2009

Electrothermally driven micropumps for medicine

In biomedicine and biotechnology the smallest, complex, compound sample quantities must be reliably processed. Microsystems with new mechanisms of action for pumping, filtering and separating will manage this task with great efficiency in the future.

25 Jun 2009

HHS awards $35 million contract to company in hopes of faster flu vaccine production

The HHS on Tuesday announced its decision to award a $35 million contract to a U.S. company using "insect cell technology" to develop flu vaccines, AFP/Google.com reports (AFP/Google.com, 6/23).

24 Jun 2009

Americans come up with first swine flu vaccine

The company based in Connecticut, Protein Sciences Corporation, won a $35-million government contract to develop an influenza vaccine using insect cell technology and Protein Sciences's director Dan Adams says the first batch of about 100,000 doses were produced last week and the manufacture of the vaccine continues.

24 Jun 2009

Intervention strategies to curb spread of pandemic flu

Mathematicians, biostaticians and public health officials from Canada, Mexico and the United States will gather at Arizona State University this week to focus on understanding, possibly mitigating the spread of the H1N1 flu virus. They are planning to take up the challenge of proposing science-based strategies that can slow the spread of pandemic flu.

24 Jun 2009

Forget swine flu - whooping cough far more of a worry!

Queensland Health authorities say there has been a surge in the number of whooping cough cases in far north Queensland - according to health officials there have been 205 cases of the disease in the state's far north already this year, seven times higher than the same time last year and Dr. Steven Donohue at the Tropical Population Health Service is warning parents to have their children immunised.

24 Jun 2009

Swine flu tally has U.S. top and Australia 6th

The latest update, # 52, from the World Health Organisation on the influenza A H1N1 pandemic (swine flu), says as of the 22nd of June the grand total of those infected is now 52,160 including 231 deaths.

23 Jun 2009

H1N1 spread continues worldwide; first death in Asia confirmed

The H1N1 (swine flu) virus has now infected more than 52,000 people, leaving 231 dead, the WHO said Monday, AFP/Washington Post reports.

23 Jun 2009

Number of Polio cases in Nigeria decreases, some states still showing low immunizations rates

The number of polio cases in Nigeria has gone down from 799 in 2008 to 353 this year, according to the country's National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Africa Science News Service reports.

23 Jun 2009

Scientists block Ebola infection in cell-culture experiments - could lead to first therapy

Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have discovered two biochemical pathways that the Ebola virus relies on to infect cells.

23 Jun 2009

Microbial and maternal influences on allergic sensitization during childhood

When infected, the body has two types of immune defence to deploy - innate immunity and acquired immunity. In her dissertation, Shanie Saghafian Hedengren studies monocytes, a type of white blood corpuscles that are part of the innate immune system.

23 Jun 2009

Cryo-electron tomography shows immature HIV in 3D

Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the University Clinic Heidelberg, Germany, have produced a three-dimensional reconstruction of HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), which shows the structure of the immature form of the virus at unprecedented detail. Immature HIV is a precursor of the infectious virus, which can cause AIDS.

23 Jun 2009

Ban Ki-Moon calls on governments to eradicate polio

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday at the Rotary International (RI) Annual Convention in Birmingham, U.K., said that governments worldwide should continue to work towards eradicating polio, BBC reports.

22 Jun 2009

Transplant drug Rapamycin stimulates immune memory

Rapamycin, a drug given to transplant recipients to suppress their immune systems, has a paradoxical effect on cells responsible for immune memory, scientists at the Emory Vaccine Center have discovered.

22 Jun 2009