West Nile Virus News and Research

Latest West Nile Virus News and Research

Mosquito and Vector Control Association of California hosts 2012 Annual Conference

The Mosquito and Vector Control Association of California (MVCAC) will host its 2012 Annual Conference at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport in Burlingame, California. The top issues being addressed at the conference are a new Clean Water Act permit requirement that may result in mosquito control agencies being unable to provide the same level of protection from vector-borne diseases and the recent infestation of the Asian tiger mosquito in Southern California.

30 Jan 2012

Scientists determine structure of endomannosidase enzyme

Scientists have determined the structure of the enzyme endomannosidase, significantly advancing our understanding of how a group of devastating human viruses including HIV and Hepatitis C hijack human enzymes to reproduce and cause disease.

4 Jan 2012

Biologists discover how fruit flies can provide solutions to human pain, control insect-borne diseases

Studies of a protein that fruit flies use to sense heat and chemicals may someday provide solutions to human pain and the control of disease-spreading mosquitoes.

7 Dec 2011

Annual European CDC report says infectious diseases, drug resistance are concerns

"Europe's health is suffering, with around 80,000 cases of tuberculosis infection a year and serious problems with measles, HIV and threats from 'superbug' infections, an annual health report" from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said Thursday, Reuters reports.

11 Nov 2011

American robin plays a key role in transmission of West Nile virus

After its initial appearance in New York in 1999, West Nile virus spread across the United States in just a few years and is now well established throughout North and South America.

21 Oct 2011

CWRU to lead Cornea Preservation Time Study

Researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine will lead a national study determining if corneas transplanted up to two weeks after donor death work as well as corneas transplanted up to one week after donor death. The National Eye Institute has awarded a $12.3 million grant to support the work.

20 Oct 2011

DNA primer vaccine enhances immune response to H5N1 avian influenza vaccine

The immune response to an H5N1 avian influenza vaccine was greatly enhanced in healthy adults if they were first primed with a DNA vaccine expressing a gene for a key H5N1 protein, researchers say.

4 Oct 2011

More predictability in the chaos of infectious Chagas disease transmission

Despite what Hollywood would have you believe, not all epidemics involve people suffering from zombie-like symptoms--some can only be uncovered through door-to-door epidemiology and advanced mathematics.

28 Sep 2011

Emergency mosquito control operations in flood affected Pennsylvania counties

The Department of Environmental Protection announced today it will begin conducting emergency mosquito control operations in 18 counties affected by flooding.

17 Sep 2011

Mosquitoes carrying West Nile virus detected

There is a recent surge in the West Nile-carrying mosquitoes after a relatively dry spell accompanied by warm temperatures last week. The health department monitors about 40 traps across the county two times per week, and last week found four traps in Wheaton alone with infected mosquitoes.

12 Sep 2011

Roche Diagnostics terminates sales and distribution agreement with Response

Response Biomedical Corporation today announced that Roche Diagnostics has terminated, effective September 30, 2011, the sales and distribution agreement between Roche and Response dated June 25, 2008. Under the terms of that agreement and related agreements, Roche Diagnostics had agreed to distribute Response's cardiovascular point-of-care (POC) tests on the RAMP® 200 Reader in the US.

From Roche Sequencing and Life Science 2 Sep 2011

Cerus to support ongoing development of INTERCEPT red cell system

Cerus Corporation announced today that it has received a $2.1 million award from the U.S. Department of Defense to support the advanced development of the company's technology for inactivating pathogens and leukocytes in red blood cells.

19 Aug 2011

Kineta's next generation antiviral program receives $2.8 million NIH SBIR grant

Kineta, Inc. announced today its next generation antiviral program has received a 2.8 million dollar grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Awarded under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, the prestigious phase two grant will provide on-going support for Kineta's work on a new class of antiviral drugs targeting an array of global, deadly viruses.

12 Aug 2011

Ecological research on disease prevention and human biome

Public awareness about the role and interaction of microbes is essential for promoting human and environmental health, say scientists presenting research at the Ecological Society of America's (ESA) 96th Annual Meeting from August 7-12, 2011.

12 Aug 2011

DYCAST software predicts spread of mosquito-borne West Nile virus in California counties

A computerized epidemiological model of the spread of the mosquito-borne West Nile virus in 17 counties of California in 2005 successfully predicted where 81.6 percent of human cases of the disease would arise and defined high-risk areas where the risk of infection turned out to be 39 times higher than in low-risk areas, according to newly published research.

12 Aug 2011

Akonni to develop closed amplicon RT-PCR microarray for virus detection in CSF

Akonni Biosystems, a molecular diagnostics company that develops novel nucleic acid extraction and microarray-based testing systems designed to rapidly and economically analyze biological samples, today announced receipt of a $300K grant from the National Institutes of Health.

5 Aug 2011

Tips to minimize risk of bug bites and related illnesses

While the image of a bug crawling on your arm or a creepy crawler snuggling up in your bed is enough to make you flinch, most bug bites are harmless and disappear on their own in a matter of days. Other insects, however, can spread disease and cause severe reactions that require medical attention.

4 Aug 2011

Tel Aviv University researcher tracks clinical cases of West Nile Virus

Since 1999, several outbreaks of West Nile Virus, which causes fever or severe neurological symptoms and is transmitted from birds to humans by blood-sucking mosquitoes, have been seen in the U.S., usually during the summer months. But researchers aren't certain how the virus migrated here - and they don't know how, or where, it will appear next.

25 Jul 2011

Response Biomedical NTproBNP Assay does not meet FDA regulatory criteria for CLIA waiver

Response Biomedical Corporation announced that it has received a notification from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that its NTproBNP Assay did not meet the criteria to obtain a waiver under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988.

14 Jun 2011

Quest Diagnostics receives MDEA gold award for Simplexa/3M technology

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated, the world's leading provider of diagnostic testing, information and services, today announced that its Simplexa molecular diagnostic test on the 3M Integrated Cycler won a gold award in the in vitro diagnostics category at the 2011 MDEA awards ceremony yesterday in New York City.

From Quest Diagnostics 10 Jun 2011