Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

NC State researchers receive $3.5 million to tackle HIV

Researchers at North Carolina State University have received a $3.5 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) to develop mathematical and statistical models that will aid in designing new treatment strategies for HIV patients.

19 Oct 2006

Yellow fever and Poliomyelitis outbreaks in Africa

Yellow fever in Ivory Coast - On 5 October 2006, the Ministry of Health reported 2 cases of yellow fever in the towns of Korhogo and Ouaragahio in Ivory Coast.

19 Oct 2006

Swiss become the first to bulk buy pre-pandemic bird flu vaccine

Switzerland has apparently ordered enough of an experimental bird flu vaccine to inoculate it's entire population.

19 Oct 2006

Heart transplant patients who receive a donor heart from a person with hepatitis C have a lower rate of survival

A shortage of cardiac organ donors results in a substantial number of deaths among persons awaiting cardiac transplantation. One potential approach for increasing the availability of donors is to broaden the criteria used to identify appropriate donors.

17 Oct 2006

Researchers step toward therapy for respiratory syncytial virus

When a child under the age of 2 contracts a respiratory tract infection requiring hospitalization, odds are that the cause is respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

17 Oct 2006

HIV exploits competition among T cells - points to new strategy for AIDS vaccination

A new HIV study shows how competition among the human immune system's T cells allows the virus to escape destruction and eventually develop into full-blown AIDS.

17 Oct 2006

Why organs fail following massive trauma

Massive trauma, say from a sabertooth tiger attack, meant immediate death for the primitive human.

17 Oct 2006

Researchers identify cell line that is resistant to retroviruses

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have identified a protein that enables viruses such as HIV to infect cells and spread through the body.

17 Oct 2006

Vaccine that protects mice against 1918 influenza virus developed

Federal scientists have developed a vaccine that protects mice against the killer 1918 influenza virus. They also have created a technique for identifying antibodies that neutralize this virus, a tool that could help contain future pandemic flu strains.

17 Oct 2006

Chikungunya fever in India

From February 2006 to 10 October 2006, the WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia has reported 151 districts in 8 states/provinces of India affected by chikungunya fever.

17 Oct 2006

Four more test positive for deadly flesh eating bug in NZ hospital

Four more cases of a deadly bug which has already killed three people since September 29 people, have been discovered in a New Zealand hospital.

17 Oct 2006

Discovery of mechanism by which Ebola and Marburg viruses cause disease

Researchers in the Greene Infectious Disease Laboratory at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Caribbean Primate Research Center have discovered a key mechanism by which the Filoviruses, Ebola and Marburg, cause disease.

16 Oct 2006

Study points to new strategy for AIDS vaccination

A new HIV study shows how competition among the human immune system's T cells allows the virus to escape destruction and eventually develop into full-blown AIDS.

16 Oct 2006

New technique allows partial-match cell transplants for children with most resistant leukemia

Clinicians at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have successfully demonstrated an improved technique for blood stem cell transplantations in children that shows promise for those most likely to fail standard treatment for leukemia.

16 Oct 2006

DNA-based computer that could lead to faster West Nile virus detection

New technique detects signature of metastasizing melanoma with as few as 10 cancer cells present in blood sample.

16 Oct 2006

Bird flu death toll in Indonesia reaches 55

There have been another two confirmed deaths from bird flu in Indonesia which has taken the death toll there to 55.

16 Oct 2006

Ohio wild bird samples undergo additional bird flu testing

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Department of the Interior (DOI) has announced a detection of H5 and N1 avian influenza subtypes in samples from apparently healthy wild Northern pintails in Ottawa County, Ohio, that were killed by a hunter.

16 Oct 2006

Updates on pandemic flu vaccine trials to be presented at 44th Annual IDSA meeting

Preliminary results from clinical trials testing two different pandemic flu vaccine approaches - one a prime-boost strategy using different subtypes of H5N1 vaccines, the other an H5N1 vaccine delivered into the skin (intradermal) rather than the muscle - will be presented at the 44th Annual Meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

16 Oct 2006

Indonesia confirms three more cases of bird flu

The Ministry of Health in Indonesia has confirmed an additional three cases of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus. All three cases were fatal.

16 Oct 2006

Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan key to eradicating polio

The world's success in eradicating polio now depends on four countries - Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan - according to the Advisory Committee on Polio Eradication (ACPE), the independent oversight body of the eradication effort.

16 Oct 2006