Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

Three more bird flu suspects in Indonesia

According to a senior health official in Indonesia three children have been hospitalized on suspicion of having the bird flu virus.

2 Aug 2006

New way to assess pandemic potential of influenza viruses

Study provides first assessment of the risk of an H5N1 pandemic strain emerging from the combining of avian and human influenza viruses.

1 Aug 2006

Creating your own pandemic virus is not so easy

A team of scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have developed a new research method that may help identify the types of genetic changes that would be necessary for the avian influenza virus (H5N1) to be more easily transmitted among people.

1 Aug 2006

Bird flu doing the rounds again in Thailand

The discovery of the H5N1 bird flu virus in northeast Thailand's Nakhon Phanom province near the border with Laos has prompted the culling of 310,000 hens; the lethal virus killed a teenager in the northern province of Phichit last week, the country's first victim this year.

31 Jul 2006

Doctors say HPV vaccine should be given to everyone

A new vaccine which will protect women against four types of the human papillomavirus (HPV) known to cause cervical cancer will be available within weeks in the UK.

31 Jul 2006

Thailand says Laos to blame for spread of bird flu

According to official sources an emergency cabinet meeting has been held in the communist state of Laos to discuss how to combat the latest outbreak of avian influenza in the landlocked country.

31 Jul 2006

Polio making a comeback

The World Health Organization (WHO) says increasing numbers of people around the world are vulnerable to polio because they have not been previously exposed to the disease.

30 Jul 2006

Teen in Thailand dies from bird flu caught from fighting cockrel

A teenage boy has become the first victim in over seven months to die of bird flu in Thailand.

27 Jul 2006

New group B strep test for newborn babies approved

The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved a new test studied at the University of Florida that could lead to better screening for the most common cause of infection in newborn babies.

27 Jul 2006

New bird flu vaccine has 80% protection rate

According to the manufacturer the latest bird flu vaccine is more than 80% effective in protecting people against the virus.

26 Jul 2006

Using gamma radiation preserves T-cell responses in bacterial vaccine

Using gamma radiation to inactivate bacteria for the preparation of vaccines, instead of traditional heat or chemical methods of inactivation, appears to create a vaccine that is more effective than so-called "killed" vaccines against disease, and has the added advantage of a longer storage life than "live" vaccines.

26 Jul 2006

HIV mutation clue to why only some people develop AIDS dementia

The study of 18 HIV-positive subjects shows that HIV in the brain and central nervous system is genetically different from HIV that lives in the blood and peripheral tissues.

26 Jul 2006

GSK reports significant advance in H5N1 pandemic flu vaccine programme

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) today announced headline data showing that its H5N1 pandemic flu vaccine achieved a high immune response at a low dose of antigen.

26 Jul 2006

Irradiation preserves T-Cell responses in bacterial vaccine

Findings could result in more potent vaccines that are relatively inexpensive to produce, easy to store, and that can be transported without refrigeration.

25 Jul 2006

Lassa fever reported in Germany

German health authorities have reported to WHO an imported case of Lassa fever, confirmed by laboratory tests at the Bernhard-Nocht-Institute of Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany.

25 Jul 2006

Which came first, nucleic acids or proteins?

Which came first, nucleic acids or proteins? This question is molecular biology's version of the "chicken-or-the-egg" riddle.

24 Jul 2006

Latest sequencing targets for NHGRI

The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) has announced several new sequencing targets including the Northern white-cheeked gibbon (Nomascus leucogenys).

19 Jul 2006

Neuraminidase inhibitors for preventing and treating influenza in healthy adults

A class of drugs commonly used to treat typical influenza symptoms such as fever, headache and cough do not prevent people from becoming infected with the flu virus.

19 Jul 2006

Highly active antiretroviral therapies associated with reduced infections in HIV-infected children

Since the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapies, there has been a substantial reduction of opportunistic infections and other infections in HIV-infected children, such as pneumonia and tuberculosis.

19 Jul 2006