Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

A secret weapon in preventing the next pandemic: Fruit bats

More than four dozen Jamaican fruit bats destined for a lab in Bozeman, Montana, are set to become part of an experiment with an ambitious goal: predicting the next global pandemic.

7 Feb 2023

New recommendations for optimization, validation of the quantitative measurement of HBV cccDNA

Approximately 300 million people worldwide are chronically infected with the hepatitis B virus (HBV) and at high risk of developing liver cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma.

6 Feb 2023

Large study on post-COVID dysosmia and dysgeusia

In a new study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, scientists in the United States assessed the extent of post-COVID-19 olfactory and gustatory dysfunction to gain deeper insights into the quality and severity of the symptoms over a year.

6 Feb 2023

9 out of every 10 people hospitalized with the flu have at least one underlying medical condition

Leading health organizations are urging people to get a flu shot if they haven't already done so. Compared to last year's mild flu season, the U.S. has already seen more than three times the number of flu-related deaths.

6 Feb 2023

Cancer-causing viruses use a human protein to evade the innate immune response

The viruses Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) have been linked to several cancers.

6 Feb 2023

Urine-diverting toilets can reduce a person’s exposure to virus particles

Parents often give their children useful advice: Wash your hands, cover your cough and put the toilet lid down before flushing.

6 Feb 2023

New research may explain why some patients suffer from long-COVID

A review article published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation deciphers the relationship between rare inborn errors of type I interferon immunity and the development of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia.

6 Feb 2023

A novel multiplexed assay to diagnose Mpox and other viruses

Researchers evaluate the performance of novel assay to identify Mpox viral infection.

6 Feb 2023

AAHI awarded a $9.9 million project to develop prototype intranasal bivalent influenza RNA vaccine candidate

The Access to Advanced Health Institute announced today that it has been awarded a project agreement worth up to $9.9 million through the Medical CBRN Defense Consortium Other Transaction Authority to develop a prototype intranasal bivalent influenza RNA vaccine candidate based on AAHI's self-amplifying RNA (saRNA) platform that targets both pandemic A(H5N1) and A(H7N9) influenza virus pathogens.

6 Feb 2023

New method for ultra-fast detection of coronavirus using nanosensors

The ability of gold particles to reflect light in different colors is used in applications from stained glass to pregnancy tests.

6 Feb 2023

A technicality could keep RSV shots from kids in need

After more than five decades of trying, the drug industry is on the verge of providing effective immunizations against the respiratory syncytial virus, which has put an estimated 90,000 U.S. infants and small children in the hospital since the start of October.

6 Feb 2023

How did mental health outcomes in the Italian general population change 14 months into the COVID-19 pandemic?

Researchers from Italy investigated the change in mental health outcomes such as anxiety, depression, and stress-related problems among the general population 14 months after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

6 Feb 2023

Virus Watch: A cohort study of COVID-19 in households of England and Wales

A new study posted on the pre-print medRxiv* aimed to discuss how Virus Watch provided public health approaches that were effective for the investigation of community incidence, symptom profiles, and the transmission of COVID-19, as well as the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines.

5 Feb 2023

New research examines how COVID-19 affects immune-compromised people

Researchers evaluate outcomes in immunocompromised patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

5 Feb 2023

Penn scientists discover a cellular pathway that keeps Ebola virus from exiting human cells

In their evolutionary battle for survival, viruses have developed strategies to spark and perpetuate infection. Once inside a host cell, the Ebola virus, for example, hijacks molecular pathways to replicate itself and eventually make its way back out of the cell into the bloodstream, where it can spread further.

3 Feb 2023

Experimental vaccine completely protects cynomolgus macaques against lethal Sudan virus

A National Institutes of Health research group with extensive experience studying ebolavirus countermeasures has successfully developed a vaccine against Sudan virus (SUDV) based on the licensed Ebola virus (EBOV) vaccine.

3 Feb 2023

The effectiveness of intranasal COVID-19 vaccination in healthy adults

A recent study discusses the safety profiles and immunogenicity of the nasal BBV154 COVID-19 vaccine in healthy adults.

3 Feb 2023

Are plasma levels of axonal damage and neuronal degeneration makers altered in COVID-19 patients without major neurological manifestations?

A recent study evaluated whether plasma levels of NfL, T-tau, and GFAP changed in SARS-CoV-2-infected patients with or without major neurological manifestations.

3 Feb 2023

The human body develops strategies to prevent the immune response from overshooting its mark

The signaling molecules of the immune system should trigger a response only where necessary. To prevent a life-threatening spread to the rest of the body, connective tissue can absorb these molecules like a sponge.

3 Feb 2023

SARS-CoV-2 infections on French mink farms after one year of COVID-19

A new paper, which appears on the bioRxiv* preprint server, describes the investigation of all French mink farms towards the end of 2020. This was to maximize the chances of identifying SARS-CoV-2 infection in these animals at any time over the past year.

3 Feb 2023