Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

Vietnam's first bird flu outbreak in 2008 kills 350 ducks

In the first outbreak in poultry in Vietnam this year government officials say the H5N1 bird flu virus has killed 350 white-winged ducks in the north of the country.

6 Jan 2008

Sanofi Pasteur enters agreement eith Crucell for next-generation biologicals against rabies

Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of sanofi-aventis Group, announced today that it has signed an exclusive collaboration and commercialization agreement with Crucell N.V. for Crucell's rabies monoclonal antibodies (MAbs), next-generation rabies biologicals to be used in association with rabies vaccine for post-exposure prophylaxis against this fatal disease.

4 Jan 2008

New clues for an effective AIDS vaccine

Two simple changes in its outer envelope protein could render the AIDS virus vulnerable to attack by the immune system, according to research from Kenya and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center published in PLoS Medicine.

4 Jan 2008

FDA reviews new data on risks of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is reviewing new data from two studies that provide further evidence of the risks of anemia drugs known as erythropoiesis-stimulating agents, or ESAs.

4 Jan 2008

FDA clears test for 12 specific respiratory viruses

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared for marketing a test that simultaneously detects and identifies 12 specific respiratory viruses.

4 Jan 2008

Cases of meningitis caused by herpes simplex virus set to rise

Viral meningitis is common, but many cases go unreported, say researchers in this week's BMJ.

4 Jan 2008

Artificial viral shells for pinpoint drug delivery

Researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and The Scripps Research Institute in California are designing an artificial viral shell as a valuable nano-container for pinpoint drug delivery, molecular computing components, and a host of other applications.

3 Jan 2008

Preventing transfusion-transmitted infections through improved blood screening methods

The blood transfusion community should consider pathogen inactivation methods as an alternative way to assure the safety and availability of the nation's blood supply, a pathologist wrote in the December issue of the American Journal of Clinical Pathology (AJCP).

2 Jan 2008

Gene variation increases risk of liver tumor in patients with cirrhosis

A particular gene variation appears to significantly increase the risk that individuals with cirrhosis of the liver will go on to develop hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a liver tumor that is the third leading cause of cancer death.

2 Jan 2008

Drug effective for hepatitis C patients with low platelets

For patients with hepatitis C, having a low blood platelet count is a frequent complication associated with advanced disease.

2 Jan 2008

Four die of bird flu in Egypt in less than a week

The deaths of two women in Egypt from bird flu on Monday has now brought the death toll in the Arab country from the deadly virus to four in less than a week.

2 Jan 2008

U.S. health officials search for air travellers exposed to drug-resistant TB

Health officials in the United States are again trying to track down dozens of airline passengers who may have been inadvertently exposed to tuberculosis (TB).

2 Jan 2008

Optimal therapy for U.S. hepatitis C patients

As reported recently in the journal Hepatology, WIN-R, a multicenter study of over 5,000 patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) showed treatment with weight-based REBETOL ribavirin, USP) (RBV) in combination with pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) alfa-2b achieved significantly higher rates of sustained virologic response (SVR) and lower relapse rates compared to combination therapy using a flat dose of RBV 800 mg/day. Superior response was found particularly in patients with the most difficult-to-treat form of the disease, genotype 1 HCV. Efficacy was consistent across all weight groups.

28 Dec 2007