Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

Two die from mosquito-borne disease, experts say public must protect themslves from bites

According to health officials, a rare mosquito-borne disease has killed a young girl and an elderly man who lived in neighboring towns,and they are urging people to protect themselves against the insects.

7 Sep 2005

Health officials insist they were prepared for Katrina

Federal health officials in the U.S. are defending themselves against criticism that the government was not prepared to deal with disaster left by Hurricane Katrina.

7 Sep 2005

Stressgen granted new U.S. patent for treatment of Hepatitis B

Stressgen Biotechnologies announced today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted Patent Number 6,921,534 covering fusion protein compositions comprised of a hepatitis B virus (HBV) antigen fused to a heat shock protein (Hsp), as well as DNA encoding such fusion proteins, and methods of treating an HBV infection using these fusion proteins.

7 Sep 2005

Design of wide-spectrum inhibitors targeting coronavirus main proteases

Coronaviruses - the family of viruses that causes the common cold - gained widespread recognition when the deadly severe acute respiratory syndrome, familiarly known as SARS, killed at least 800 people in 2003.

6 Sep 2005

The Measles Initiative partnership a significant reason for success

The results from a new study published in The Lancet demonstrate that high- quality measles immunization campaigns and improvements in routine immunization services have reduced measles cases by 91% in 19 African nations from 2000-2003, preventing an estimated 90,000 child deaths in 2003 alone.

6 Sep 2005

One week after Katrina and many still without clean water as disease spreads

According to health officials, people still stranded by Hurricane Katrina face a serious risk of dysentery and other diseases from contaminated water, and there have already been reports of an outbreak of dysentery in Biloxi, Mississippi.

5 Sep 2005

Greater public awareness needed after death of woman from rabies

Scientists in the UK who have been looking into the death of a British woman from rabies are now demanding greater public awareness of the very real dangers posed by the infection.

5 Sep 2005

Potential new way to fight HIV

Researchers have confirmed for the first time the benefit of an innate defense system present in the few patients who remain healthy after years of infection with HIV despite receiving no treatment, according to an article published in the September edition of the Journal of Virology.

1 Sep 2005

Chicken pox vaccine associated with shingles epidemic

New research published in the International Journal of Toxicology (IJT) by Gary S. Goldman, Ph.D., reveals high rates of shingles (herpes zoster) in Americans since the government's 1995 recommendation that all children receive chicken pox vaccine.

1 Sep 2005

GenoMed has announced that it successfully treated its thirteenth patient with presumed West Nile virus encephalitis

The patient is a previously healthy man from Aberdeen, South Dakota who developed fever and headache and was diagnosed by his physician as having West Nile virus on Monday of this week. South Dakota has about 50 times higher incidence of West Nile virus this summer than California.

1 Sep 2005

Deadly health crisis imminent in New Orleans

In New Orleans, as a result of hurricane Katrina, health specialists are predicting a vast and potentially deadly crisis for residents.

1 Sep 2005

Study of the 2003 outbreak of SARS reveals fears

A new study of the 2003 outbreak of SARS in Toronto shows how fears of a virulent contagious disease can affect health-care providers and reveals that some of those surveyed who experienced SARS-like symptoms during the outbreak still went to work.

1 Sep 2005

Study suggests cirrhosis and liver disease nearly inevitable for people with hep C

Nearly 80 percent of chronic hepatitis C sufferers who have the disease for several decades will develop cirrhosis or end-stage liver disease later in life, according to a study published today in the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

1 Sep 2005

West Nile virus hits Toronto - two deaths reported

Health officials in Canada have reported that there have been two deaths related to the West Nile Virus, the first for three years in Canada's largest city, Toronto.

31 Aug 2005

Designer molecules that combine metals such as copper with natural organic materials could treat diseases in the body

That's the finding of chemists at Ohio State University, who have successfully tested such molecules against portions of HIV and Hepatitis C virus RNA in the laboratory. They've also created molecules that act like ACE, or angiotensin-converting enzyme, inhibitors - drugs that are used to lower blood pressure.

30 Aug 2005

A far wider range of wildlife species could be at risk from bird flu

Dr Diana Bell, of UEA's School of Biological Sciences, says the discovery that avian flu was responsible for the death of three rare civet cats in Cuc Phuong National Park in Vietnam, raises important questions about the range of wildlife species which could now be at risk from this virus.

30 Aug 2005