Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

$498 million to strengthen response to bioterror attacks, infectious diseases, and natural disasters

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced $498 million in awards to states, territories and four major metropolitan areas to strengthen the ability of hospitals and other health care facilities to respond to bioterror attacks, infectious diseases, and natural disasters that may cause mass casualties.

25 May 2004

Zengen announces positive results of treatment for vaginal yeast infection

Zengen Inc. announced today positive phase I/II results for its proprietary molecule CZEN-002 for the treatment of vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC), commonly known as vaginal yeast infection.

25 May 2004

$3.5 million grant to develop AIDS vaccinations

Researchers at the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute (VGTI) and the Oregon National Primate Research Center at Oregon Health & Science University have received a $3.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop new methods for vaccinating humans against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS.

25 May 2004

Bacteria found in the mouth can block the HIV virus

Certain strains of bacteria that occur naturally in the human mouth can snare the HIV virus and even cells it has infected, according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry. They report their findings today at the 104th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.

25 May 2004

Study shows herpes is common in suburban populations, with Denver up to 20 percent

According to a recent study of 36 primary care physician (PCP) offices in relatively affluent suburban areas of six U.S. cities, one in four people (25.5 percent) tested positive for the virus that causes genital herpes, despite the fact that only four percent of all those tested reported a history of the condition.

24 May 2004

China commences first clinical test of SARS vaccine

The Xinhuanet Chinese news agency reports that four volunteers are in good health following injections of the world's first clinical test of a severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) vaccine.

23 May 2004

Suspension of the initial dose of hepatitis B vaccine appears to have contributed to fewer newborns being vaccinated in 2000

A temporary suspension of the initial dose of hepatitis B vaccine appears to have contributed to fewer newborns being vaccinated for hepatitis B in 2000 than in 1998, according to a study published in the May 19 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

22 May 2004

WHO to tackle heart disease, diabetes, cancers, road safety as well as diseases

The World Health Assembly, the supreme decision-making body of the World Health Organization, has raised global public health to a new level, by resolving to take more action to prevent death and illness resulting from heart disease, diabetes, cancers, road safety, and lack of access to health services as well as from diseases spread by viruses, bacteria and other dangerous microbes.

22 May 2004

Using gene therapy to fight rheumatoid arthritis

Guided by a similar principle, arthritis researchers at the University of Florida and Harvard University hope to use gene therapy to help joint cells pump out a harmless protein that parks in receptor sites, leaving a notorious inflammatory agent “circling the lot” and unable to cause pain, swelling and possible joint damage.

21 May 2004

West Nile virus found in Champaign County

Dr. Eric E. Whitaker, state public health director, today reported that a dead crow collected in Rantoul in Champaign County has tested positive for West Nile virus.

21 May 2004

WHO reports likely Ebola case in Sudan

As of 10 May, WHO reported cases of Ebola haemorrhagic fever syndrome in Hai-Cuba, Yambio, Western Equatoria Region, south Sudan. A rapid assessment team is in the field to investigate the situation. Clinical samples have been collected and preliminary results are expected soon.

21 May 2004

Pacemaker-type device and medicines reduce hospital stays and death rates

A nationwide clinical trial of more than 1,600 heart failure patients showed that when medicines are combined with the use of a pacemaker-type device that resynchronizes both sides of the heart, hospital stays and death rates drop significantly.

20 May 2004

FDA finalizes new rule on donor eligibility for human tissues and cells

FDA today published a final rule establishing donor eligibility criteria for donors of human cells, tissues, and cellular and tissue-based products (HCT/Ps) to help prevent the transmission of communicable disease when these products are transplanted.

20 May 2004

Watching for West Nile virus, dead bird and mosquito monitoring resumes

Warmer spring weather and the coming mosquito season has the Department of Health on the lookout for West Nile virus again, working with local health departments to identify mosquitoes, track dead birds and monitor any human illness across Washington. This season brings mosquito-breeding weather and the threat of mosquito-borne disease, including West Nile virus.

20 May 2004

Causes of hepatitis and potential therapies that may improve care presented in study

Hepatitis, a potentially serious disease caused by a virus that attacks the liver, is a major problem worldwide. Hepatitis A is generally food-borne, while hepatitis B and C spread primarily through parenteral or sexual routes. Hepatitis B and C can be life-long, potentially deadly chronic infections.

19 May 2004

Network formed to tackle potentially fatal reaction to smallpox vaccine

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), launched the Atopic Dermatitis and Vaccinia Network (ADVN), a nationwide research group that seeks to reduce the risk of eczema vaccinatum (EV), a severe and potentially deadly complication of smallpox immunization.

19 May 2004

$20.7 million to make smallpox vaccine safer

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded a five-year, $20.7 million grant to National Jewish Medical and Research Center to lead a consortium of academic medical centers trying to make smallpox vaccines safer for millions of people with atopic dermatitis, also known as eczema.

19 May 2004

Multimillion-dollar electron microscope unveils shapes of viruses and proteins

With a multimillion-dollar electron microscope and computer programs that can pick out the shapes of structures only six atoms wide, Dr. Wah Chiu and his colleagues at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston are attempting to explain the intricate structures of viruses and proteins.

19 May 2004

Benitec acquires Avocel to focus on rapid development of hepatitis C therapeutics

Benitec Ltd. today announced the acquisition of Avocel, Inc. of Sunnyvale, CA, a leading RNAi therapeutics company, and the establishment of its wholly-owned US subsidiary, Benitec, Inc. Through the acquisition, Benitec gains its first in-house advanced therapeutic development program using DNA-directed RNAi (ddRNAi) to target the Hepatitis C virus.

18 May 2004

Manipulation of the body’s own natural killer cells to destroy cells containing the HIV virus

Current treatments for HIV block the virus from replicating, but don’t kill the cells that contain HIV. The existence of these HIV-harboring cells -- often called the “latent” or “resting reservoir” -- is regarded by many to be the main obstacle to finding a cure for HIV.

18 May 2004