West Nile Virus News and Research

Latest West Nile Virus News and Research

The rapid spread of West Nile virus in North America described

The rapid spread of West Nile virus in North America over the past decade is likely to have long-lasting ecological consequences throughout the continent, according to an article in the November issue of BioScience.

12 Aug 2008

Scientists identify several hundred genes that impact West Nile virus infection

Screening the entire human genome, a team headed by Yale University scientists have identified several hundred genes that impact West Nile virus infection. The findings reported Wednesday online in the journal Nature may give scientists valuable new clues about ways to intervene in a host of deadly viral infections.

6 Aug 2008

EPA funds Rutgers West Nile virus research

Rutgers University's Cook Campus is buzzing with the news of a recent $750,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant that will fund important and innovative research about biodiversity and West Nile Virus. Biodiversity, or the amount and variety of plants and animals in a geographic region, has become a major topic of interest in recent years.

31 Jul 2008

Canadian pandemic research receives funding boost

Densely populated cities and increased air travel can be factors which create and spread pandemic disease. But a McMaster University researcher is working with isolated Hutterite communities to understand the transmission of pandemic diseases like influenza.

29 Jul 2008

Integrated control of malaria and other vector diseases is crucial

Combating malaria and other so-called vector diseases with chemical controls is increasingly ineffective, besides being hazardous for humans and the environment. These chemical controls must therefore be eliminated. In order to combat the diseases that insects and ticks transmit, all possible strategies must be united.

15 Jun 2008

New generation of insect repellents in the pipeline

The next generation of insect repellents could be in the pipeline with research from the U.S. suggesting seven possibilities.

27 May 2008

Severe West Nile infection could lead to lifetime of symptoms

Most people who suffer severe infection with West Nile virus still experience symptoms years after infection and many may continue to experience these symptoms for the rest of their lives according to research presented (March 17) at the 2008 International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases in Atlanta, Georgia.

18 Mar 2008

New scientific map shows Australia is not a hotspot for new diseases

An international team of scientists has warned that tropical regions are likely to become a future hotspot for new diseases; but fortunately Australia is not one of them.

21 Feb 2008

Internet and IT increase physician disease reporting

With emerging diseases like the West Nile Virus, and re-emerging diseases such as the pandemic flu and drug-resistant tuberculosis, it's increasingly important to promptly detect a potential infectious outbreak within a community.

15 Jan 2008

Top expert says bird flu risk overestimated

According to a top animal health expert the H5N1 bird flu virus has now stabilised but the risk that it could mutate into a new dangerous form remains.

14 Jan 2008

Experts say Dengue fever threatens to spread across the U.S

Health officials in the U.S. say the tropical infection Dengue fever is in danger of spreading across the country.

10 Jan 2008

Emerging diseases and environmental change

The EDEN Project, which was launched in 2004 on the initiative of CIRAD (French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development), IRD ((Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement) and the Institut Pasteur in Paris, to run for five years, associates 49 partners in 24 countries, most of them European.

9 Jan 2008

Preventing transfusion-transmitted infections through improved blood screening methods

The blood transfusion community should consider pathogen inactivation methods as an alternative way to assure the safety and availability of the nation's blood supply, a pathologist wrote in the December issue of the American Journal of Clinical Pathology (AJCP).

2 Jan 2008

Immune compound blocks virus' ability to hijack antibodies

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that a controversial phenomenon known as antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) of infection is suppressed by C1q, a blood-borne immune system compound.

13 Dec 2007

Earlier bites by uninfected mosquitoes boost West Nile deaths in lab mice

There's one more reason to try to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes, scientists have discovered: bites from mosquitoes that aren't infected by the West Nile virus may make the disease worse in people who acquire it later from West Nile-infected mosquitoes.

16 Nov 2007

Sanofi Pasteur and Acambis to bring West Nile vaccine to market

Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of sanofi-aventis Group, announced today that it has signed an exclusive global collaboration agreement with Acambis plc, for the development and marketing of a West Nile vaccine to help fight against this serious, life-altering and potentially fatal disease.

14 Nov 2007

Omega-3 rich oils lower risk of memory problems, omega-6 rich oils may increase risk

A diet rich in fish, omega-3 oils, fruits and vegetables may lower your risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease, whereas consuming omega-6 rich oils could increase chances of developing memory problems, according to a study published in the November 13, 2007, issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

13 Nov 2007

Remote sensing technology used to predict future pandemics

With the help of 14 satellites currently in orbit and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Applied Sciences Program, scientists have been able to observe the Earth's environment to help predict and prevent infectious disease outbreaks around the world.

6 Nov 2007

Scientists to map lethal bacteria in three dimensions

A scientist slides on a pair of plastic 3-D glasses and an unearthly blue multi-armed creature -- an image right out of a sci-fi horror flick -- seems to leap out of the computer screen into the laboratory.

1 Nov 2007

Specialists in infectious disease and global health convene at Philadelphia meeting

Nearly 2,500 physicians and scientists from institutions around the world such as the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health will meet at the 56th American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene's Annual Meeting on Nov. 4-8, in Philadelphia to discuss the latest research on infectious diseases and bioterrorist and global health threats.

24 Oct 2007