Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

U.S. scientists have successfully engineered blood vessels from human vascular cells in the lab

Tissue engineering has made considerable progress in the past decade, but advances have stopped short of clinical application for most tissues. For elderly patients tissue-engineered arteries could provide grafts for bypass surgery.

16 Jun 2005

Vical receives $12 Million HIV vaccine order

Vical Incorporated announced today the receipt of approximately $12.1 million in production orders for multiple clinical lots of DNA vaccines against HIV for the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, under a subcontract managed by SAIC-Frederick, Inc.

16 Jun 2005

Risky sexual behaviour fuelled in gay and bisexual men by the internet

A U.S. study says that gay and bisexual men who use the internet to meet partners are apparently more likely to engage in risky sex but tend to do so with people who have the same HIV status.

16 Jun 2005

First human case of bird flu found in Indonesia

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that the first human case of bird flu has been diagnosed in Indonesia.

16 Jun 2005

Protocol used to treat the first known survivor of rabies without prior vaccination published

The protocol used to treat the first known survivor of rabies without prior vaccination is published in the June 16, 2005, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. It is hoped that this approach can be replicated, tested, and provide a guide for treating this fatal condition, especially in parts of the world where the incidence of rabies is rampant.

15 Jun 2005

SARS vaccine produced from plants

According to new research, a vaccine has been produced in genetically engineered tomato and tobacco plants, which triggers anti-SARS antibodies in mice.

15 Jun 2005

Six new bird flu cases in Vietnam

Another six cases of bird flu have been reported in Vietnam, taking the total since December 2004 to 61. Of these 18 have died.

15 Jun 2005

President Bush's cut to AIDS prevention in Africa would be devastating

President Bush claims to have tripled US aid to Africa, yet he has set the Global Fund on a course to disaster. While promising to back the Fund, the cut he has proposed to the US contribution to the Fund could lead to a massive reduction in HIV/AIDS prevention and care for orphans.

14 Jun 2005

A million Americans now living with the AIDS virus and blacks account for 47 percent of HIV cases

According to the U.S. Government more than a million Americans are currently living with the AIDS virus.

14 Jun 2005

Humans and wildlife in Britain threatened by diseases from imported animals

The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) says far more needs to be done to prevent imported animals spreading diseases to humans and wildlife in Britain.

14 Jun 2005

Researchers may be on the verge of exploiting the vulnerabilities of a virus that causes cervical cancer

Researchers may be on the verge of exploiting the vulnerabilities of a virus that causes cervical cancer, thanks to a newly developed technique that enables scientists to mass-produce human papillomavirus (HPV) in the laboratory.

13 Jun 2005

Research accelerates the search for an effective cancer vaccine

By devising a novel way to package the genome of a common human tumor virus - the virus that causes common warts, genital warts and that is implicated in prevalent cancers - scientists have paved the way for making the pathogen far more accessible to biomedical science.

13 Jun 2005

China legislates to curb discrimination against HIV/AIDS

China, where discrimination against those suffering from the AIDS virus is rife, now has a new law which aims to protect people infected with the virus.

13 Jun 2005

West Nile virus vaccine may be ready by the end of the year

A Dutch biotechnology manufacturer says it has identified a human antibody which has proven effective against West Nile virus in animal studies.

12 Jun 2005

AIDS expert says global strategy needed to combat feminization of HIV/AIDS

Thomas C. Quinn, M.D., a Johns Hopkins physician and scientist, who has spent the best part of the last 25 years leading major efforts to combat HIV and AIDS throughout the world, is calling for global strategies and resources to confront the rapid "feminization" of the AIDS pandemic.

10 Jun 2005

Researchers discover how hepatic-C virus evades immune system in acute and chronic infections

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have uncovered how a majority of the genetic changes in the hepatic-C virus, the most common cause of liver disease, allow it to evade the body's immune system during infection.

10 Jun 2005

Urgent call for global strategies and resources to confront the rapid "feminization" of the AIDS pandemic

In an article appearing in the journal Science online June 10, Thomas C. Quinn, M.D., professor of infectious diseases at Hopkins and a senior investigator at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, reports that women have in the last 20 years moved from those least affected by HIV to those in whom the disease is spreading fastest.

10 Jun 2005

Scientists produce for the first time an infectious form of the hepatitis C virus in laboratory cultures of human cells

The finding, reported in the June 9 issue of Science Express, will allow scientists to study every stage of the HCV life cycle and develop drugs to treat this life-threatening disease that affects more than 170 million people around the world.

9 Jun 2005

Multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri could be back on the market later in the year

The drug Tysabri which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of multiple sclerosis in November 2004, was taken off the market in late February, after two cases of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, or PML, appeared in patients given the drug during clinical trials.

9 Jun 2005

Promising new vaccine candidate to prevent middle ear infections

Hoping to prevent ear infections for the more than 15 million children in the United States who suffer from them, a promising new vaccine candidate to prevent middle ear infections (otitis media) is being developed by researchers at the Columbus Children’s Research Institute (CCRI) on the campus of Columbus Children’s Hospital.

9 Jun 2005