Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

Scientists identify several hundred genes that impact West Nile virus infection

Screening the entire human genome, a team headed by Yale University scientists have identified several hundred genes that impact West Nile virus infection. The findings reported Wednesday online in the journal Nature may give scientists valuable new clues about ways to intervene in a host of deadly viral infections.

6 Aug 2008

FDA approves seasons influenza vaccines

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced that it has approved this year's seasonal influenza vaccines that include new strains of the virus likely to cause flu in the United States during the 2008-2009 season.

5 Aug 2008

Experts say male circumcision the key to beating AIDS

Experts say while no cure or vaccine for AIDS exists male circumcision could be the key to driving the epidemic into a declining state and closer to extinction.

5 Aug 2008

Calls for flu shots for children to protect the rest of the population

Researchers in the UK say an effective way of protecting the rest of the population from flu outbreaks, might be to vaccinate children against it.

5 Aug 2008

Bionor Immuno trials new innovative therapeutic immunization designed to help existing HIV and AIDS patients

Bionor Immuno today announced that it has advanced its efforts to develop the first HIV therapeutic immunization with the dosing of patients in a global Phase 2b clinical trial of the company's lead candidate (Vacc-4x).

4 Aug 2008

NanoViricides signs agreement with CDC for expanded rabies research

NanoViricides, Inc. has signed a Materials Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (MCRADA) with the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia for rabies treatment study.

4 Aug 2008

Vietnam should prioritize HIV/AIDS prevention programs, Deputy Prime Minister says

Vietnamese local governments should prioritize HIV/AIDS prevention measures, particularly education and communication programs that target injection drug use among young people, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong said on Tuesday at a symposium on HIV prevention and drug detoxification in Hanoi, Vietnam, the Vietnam News Agency reports.

3 Aug 2008

HIV in Kenya - 7.8% increase in 2007

HIV prevalence in Kenya increased to 7.8% in 2007, a slight increase from the 6.7% prevalence recorded in 2003, according to a survey released by the government on Tuesday, the Associated Press reports. According to the Associated Press, the increase in the percentage of the population living with HIV likely is because of wider access to antiretroviral drugs.

3 Aug 2008

HIV/AIDS advocates protest stigma, discrimination ahead of AIDS conference

HIV/AIDS advocates in Mexico City have begun protesting the problems of stigma, discrimination and a lack of access to antiretroviral drugs in Latin America ahead of next week's XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, Agence France-Presse reports (Rosenthal, Agence France-Presse, 7/29).

3 Aug 2008

Federal health plan, Medicare do not cover routine HIV screening as recommended by CDC

Medicare and federal health care plans that provide coverage under the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan do not offer payment for routine HIV screening of people ages 13 to 64 -- a practice that was recommended by CDC in 2006 -- Bloomberg reports.

3 Aug 2008

Editorials respond to PEPFAR reauthorization

President Bush on Wednesday signed into law legislation (HR 5501) that reauthorizes the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief at $48 billion through 2013. Two newspapers have published editorials in response to the bill.

3 Aug 2008

Variation in TNFAIP3 gene - cutting the brakes on the immune system

Your immune system may have more in common with a Corvette than you thought. When a virus or bacteria enters a human body, the immune system revs up to fight and expel the invader. Once the invader is gone, the body puts on the brakes to stop the immune response.

3 Aug 2008

Update of treatment guidelines for HIV infection recommended by experts

An evaluation of the latest information on the treatment of the adult human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has led an international panel of experts to update the guidelines and recommendations for antiretroviral treatment of HIV.

3 Aug 2008

Bacterial vaginosis may increase risk of HIV infection

A common vaginal infection may make women more susceptible to contracting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health researchers have found.

31 Jul 2008

Rresearchers explain how previously ignored parts of HIV genome play key role in drug resistance

One of the major reasons that treatment for HIV/AIDS often doesn't work as well as it should is resistance to the drugs involved. Now, scientists at McGill University have revealed how mutations hidden in previously ignored parts of the HIV genome play an important role in the development of drug resistance in AIDS patients. Their study will be published Aug. 8 in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

31 Jul 2008

New studies examine use of the nucleoside polymerase inhibitor, R1626, to the standard therapy for hepatitis C

Two new studies examine the use of the nucleoside polymerase inhibitor, R1626, to the standard therapy for hepatitis C. The reports appear in the August issue of Hepatology, a journal published by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD).

31 Jul 2008

Monkey virus found in people living and working with monkeys

A research team led by University of Washington scientists has found that several people in South and Southeast Asian countries working and living around monkeys have been infected with simian foamy virus (SFV), a primate virus that, to date, has not been shown to cause human disease.

31 Jul 2008

Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean should improve, expand sexuality education

Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean should improve and expand sexuality education programmes in order to prevent HIV and AIDS and reduce the impact of the epidemic in the region, a group of United Nations agencies said today.

31 Jul 2008

EPA funds Rutgers West Nile virus research

Rutgers University's Cook Campus is buzzing with the news of a recent $750,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant that will fund important and innovative research about biodiversity and West Nile Virus. Biodiversity, or the amount and variety of plants and animals in a geographic region, has become a major topic of interest in recent years.

31 Jul 2008

Shocking deaths of six people with learning disabilities details unnecessary suffering at the hands of the NHS

An inquiry into the deaths of six patients with learning disabilities while being treated by the National Health Service (NHS) has revealed shocking details.

30 Jul 2008