Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

Flash-heating breast milk infected with HIV successfully deactivates virus

A simple method of flash-heating breast milk infected with HIV successfully inactivated the free-floating virus, according to a new study led by researchers at the Berkeley and Davis campuses of the University of California.

22 May 2007

Cure for hepatitis C

The use of peginterferon alone, or in combination with ribavirin, points to a cure for hepatitis C, the leading cause of cirrhosis, liver cancer and the need for liver transplant, a Virginia Commonwealth University researcher said today.

22 May 2007

Deadly fish virus has the potential to devastate entire Lake Winnebago fish population

Following reports confirming that Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia, or VHS is present in Lake Winnebago, Missouri, more fish from the lake have tested positive for the virus.

21 May 2007

Suicide gene therapy kills bowel cancer cells

An innovative type of gene therapy has for the first time succeeded in making bowel cancer cells commit suicide, according to a report in Cancer Research.

20 May 2007

Large trial to identify the long-term health effects of West Nile virus infection

UT Southwestern Medical Center has joined a national clinical trial to identify the long-term health effects of West Nile virus infection and to learn more about the disease's progression, symptoms and mortality.

18 May 2007

Newly discovered WU virus may explain some respiratory infections

An ongoing effort to identify the microorganisms that make us sick has discovered a new virus potentially linked to unexplained respiratory infections.

18 May 2007

Scientists develop method to track immune system enzyme in live animals

Scientists supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) at the National Institutes of Health have created two mouse strains that will permit researchers to trace, in a live animal, the activity of an enzyme believed to play a crucial role both in the normal immune response as well as autoimmunity and B cell tumor development.

18 May 2007

Peregrine Pharmaceuticals to initiate new Bavituximab HCV trial

Peregrine Pharmaceuticals has announced it has filed a new clinical trial protocol with the FDA to study bavituximab in patients co-infected with HCV and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

18 May 2007

New computational system identifies viruses and bacteria

Now that the genome sequences of hundreds of bacteria and viruses are known, we can design tests that will rapidly detect the presence of these species based solely on their DNA.

18 May 2007

First draft of the genome sequence of Aedes aegypti mosquito

Developing new strategies to prevent and control yellow fever and dengue fever has become more possible with the completion of the first draft of the genome sequence of Aedes aegypti mosquito by scientists led by Vishvanath Nene at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) and David Severson at the University of Notre Dame.

18 May 2007

FDA committee votes in favor of Acambis' smallpox vaccine

Acambis plc announced that the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) voted unanimously that Acambis' smallpox vaccine, ACAM2000, is both safe and efficacious.

18 May 2007

Quest for effective HIV vaccines present new possibilities, challenges

A vaccine that prevents HIV infection remains an important goal in the fight against AIDS, but the current top HIV vaccine candidates may not work in this way, say scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

17 May 2007

Study of unexplained respiratory infections leads researchers to new virus

An ongoing effort to identify the microorganisms that make us sick has discovered a new virus potentially linked to unexplained respiratory infections.

17 May 2007

Herpes infection may be symbiotic

Mice with chronic herpes virus infections can better resist the bacterium that causes plague and a bacterium that causes one kind of food poisoning, researchers report in Nature.

17 May 2007

Bird flu, WHO and Indonesia

The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that Indonesia will no longer require an outside laboratory to confirm test results for bird flu.

16 May 2007

Research reveals airborne viruses can spread far and wide

Keeping at arm's length won't protect you from catching an infectious disease, according to new research by Queensland University of Technology which reveals airborne viruses can spread far and wide.

16 May 2007

Dealing with emerging diseases

The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2002 was a loud wake-up call for researchers studying infectious diseases.

16 May 2007

People with HIV who drop out of care do not live as long as those who remain under a doctor's treatment

While HIV is now a chronic or lifelong disease, it is one that typically strikes at a relatively young age. That makes the population different from those who have high blood pressure or adult-onset diabetes.

15 May 2007

West Nile virus case in court in Canada

Just as the first mosquitoes are appearing in parts of the United States carrying the West Nile virus, a court in Canada has ruled that an insurance company must pay a man compensation after he was bitten by a mosquito at work and developed the West Nile virus.

15 May 2007