Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

Nanosize container can slip inside cells and deliver medicines, gene therapies

Scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine report they have created a tiny, nanosize container that can slip inside cells and deliver protein-based medicines and gene therapies of any size - even hefty ones attached to the gene-editing tool called CRISPR.

6 Dec 2019

Fetal heart rate could predict future heart health of babies

Changes in heart rate due to low oxygen conditions experienced by the fetus during pregnancy could predict the future heart health of babies, suggests research published today in The Journal of Physiology.

6 Dec 2019

Breakthrough research develops novel vaccine poised to cure peanut allergies

Peanut allergies could become a thing of the past as breakthrough research from the University of South Australia develops a radically novel vaccination that's poised to cure the potentially life threatening condition.

6 Dec 2019

New technology gives Aussies more prawns to enjoy for Christmas

Australians will be enjoying more Aussie-grown prawns this Christmas thanks to a new prawn health check developed by Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO.

6 Dec 2019

Study reports way to predict dengue transmission globally

A new study published in the journal PLOS ONE reports a model that is based on air travel, using the number of passengers flowing between international airports to predict how many of the air travellers arriving at any of these airports will have dengue, in a month.

5 Dec 2019

Young patients with IBD have increased risk of severe viral infections

Young patients with inflammatory bowel disease are five times more likely than the general population to develop viral infections that can lead to hospitalization or permanent organ damage, a new study published in the UEG Journal has found.

5 Dec 2019

Anti-hepatitis treatment also helps improve later complications

Hepatitis C is a serious disease, but the biggest threat to someone's health is not the virus itself. Rather, it is the diseases that can result from it such as reduced liver functioning, scar tissue in the liver and potentially cirrhosis.

5 Dec 2019

Transitional T cells could help improve cancer immunotherapy

In chronic viral infections and cancer, T cell dysfunction is sure to be observed. A new study to be published in the journal Immunity shows that before these cells are completely exhausted, there is a transitory stage in which some cells are present with features that are characteristic of neither the stem-like T cells nor the mature but exhausted T cells.

4 Dec 2019

New method for discovering potential cancer-treating compounds

A new study published in the journal Cell Reports reports a novel method by which antitumor drugs that focus on reawakening exhausted immune cells called cytotoxic T cells against cancer can be quickly identified. This could help treat a large subset of cancers that thrive because of their ability to suppress antitumor activity in T cells.

4 Dec 2019

HHS hands out free HIV prevention drugs. Do you qualify?

The Trump administration Tuesday unveiled a plan to distribute HIV prevention medication free to individuals who do not have prescription drug insurance coverage.

4 Dec 2019

Expansion of HIV treatment eligibility leads to large increase in ART initiation among youth

A new study published as "Editor's Choice" in The Journal of Infectious Diseases found that expansion of HIV treatment eligibility to include those under age 15 led to large and significant increases in initiation of antiretroviral therapy within 30 days of enrollment in care among 10- to 14-year-olds living with HIV.

3 Dec 2019

New screening method can rapidly discover potential cancer-treating compounds

Scientists at Scripps Research have developed a method for rapidly discovering potential cancer-treating compounds that work by resurrecting anti-tumor activity in immune cells called T cells.

3 Dec 2019

Common cold virus could infect fetus via placenta

According to researchers, the common cold viruses are capable of infecting human placental cells and may thus transmit the infection to the fetus in the womb during pregnancy. The new study was published in the journal PLOS ONE, and provides the first concrete proof that this type of carriage is possible.

3 Dec 2019

Researchers identify mechanism for spread of HIV-1

New insight on how a type of cell facilitates the spread of HIV-1 has been published today in the open-access journal eLife.

3 Dec 2019

Study: Spleen and gut lymph nodes may serve as reservoir replication sites for HIV virus

An international team led by Professor Jerome Estaquier from Universite Laval's Faculty of Medicine and the CHU de Quebec-Universite Laval Research Center may have discovered where in the body HIV takes refuge during antiretroviral treatment.

3 Dec 2019

Virome analysis reveals clues for increased risk of type 1 diabetes in children

New results from The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young study show an association between prolonged enterovirus infection and the development of autoimmunity to the insulin-producing pancreatic beta-cells that precedes type 1 diabetes.

2 Dec 2019

Research uncovers mechanism that triggers inflammatory process by Mayaro virus

The mechanism by which defense cells respond to infection by Mayaro virus has been described by a team affiliated with the Center for Research on Inflammatory Diseases - CRID in an article published in the journal PLOS Pathogens.

2 Dec 2019

Study: Most Australian GPs widely use placebos

Most Australian GPs have used a placebo in practice at least once, with active placebos (active treatments used primarily to generate positive expectations) more commonly used than inert placebos, according to a new study.

2 Dec 2019

Experimental therapies offer patients a greater chance of surviving Ebola virus disease

The investigational therapeutics mAb114 and REGN-EB3 offer patients a greater chance of surviving Ebola virus disease compared to the investigational treatment ZMapp, according to published results from a clinical trial conducted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

2 Dec 2019

Contagious cancers in the oceans much more common than once thought

Researchers have found that a type of cancer affecting shellfish is spreading across the Atlantic Ocean and spilling into the Pacific Ocean as well. The study titled, “A single clonal lineage of transmissible cancer identified in two marine mussel species in South America and Europe,” is published this week in the latest issue of the journal eLife.

28 Nov 2019