Bird Flu :: Dead aristocrat may hold key to bird flu
A Yorkshire aristocrat who died nearly 90 years ago could help the global fight against bird flu, reported BBC.
Viral
HIV :: Pfizer’s Maraviroc medicine for HIV reduces viral load
At this week’s major HIV/AIDS research meeting, Pfizer presented pivotal data of its experimental medicine, maraviroc, which tackles HIV in an entirely new way.
Lung Transplant :: Primary graft dysfunction is risk factor for a later serious lung transplant problem
Primary graft dysfunction, a common compliction that affects up to 25 percent of lung transplant patients shortly after surgery, constitutes a significant risk factor for later deadly bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS).
Cancer :: Researchers wake up viruses inside tumors to image and then destroy cancers
Researchers have found a way to activate Epstein-Barr viruses inside tumors as a way to identify patients whose infection can then be manipulated to destroy their tumors.
HIV :: Widely used hepatitis B drug spurs HIV drug resistance
A Johns Hopkins study has proven false established medical practice that an antiretroviral drug widely used to treat hepatitis B liver infections was safe to use on its own in patients co-infected with HIV.
Flu :: Review of 1918 pandemic flu studies offers more questions than answers
Scientists and public health officials, wary that the H5N1 avian influenza virus could trigger an influenza pandemic, have looked to past pandemics, including the 1918 “Spanish Flu,” for insight into pandemic planning.
Drinking Water :: New technology removes viruses from drinking water
University of Delaware researchers have developed an inexpensive, nonchlorine-based technology that can remove harmful microorganisms, including viruses, from drinking water.
Influenza :: A first glimpse of the influenza replication machine
Specific mutations in a viral protein, the polymerase, contribute to the ability of the bird influenza virus to jump the species barrier to humans. Researchers from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Grenoble and Heidelberg, the Institut de Biologie Structurale (IBS) and the Unit of Virus Host Cell Interactions (UVHCI)*, both in Grenoble, have now produced the first 3-D image of part of this key protein.
HIV :: Gilead HIV drug completes Phase II clinical trial
Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq:GILD) announced the completion of a Phase II clinical trial of GS 9137, a novel oral HIV integrase inhibitor. The clinical study met its primary endpoint of non-inferiority in viral load reduction in HIV-positive patients receiving 50 mg or 125 mg of GS 9137 once daily, each boosted with 100 mg of ritonavir, in combination with an optimized background antiretroviral regimen compared to a boosted comparator protease inhibitor regimen (p=0.02 for the 125 mg arm).
Herpes :: Herpes treatment could slow HIV progression
The association between genital herpes and higher viral loads of HIV-1 in HIV-infected persons is strong enough to warrant more routine testing for the herpes virus in HIV-positive patients, as well as additional clinical studies of the co-infections, according to an editorial to be published in the New England Journal of Medicine.