A national polio immunization drive to protect 4.8 million Iraqi children was launched by the Iraqi Ministry of Health. The campaign was delayed for a week because of security concerns across parts of the country.
As public health officials around the world keep a nervous eye on the spread of avian influenza, the University of Saskatchewan’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) has uncovered a key step in how the influenza virus causes infection.
Using nanotechnology, a team of University of Georgia researchers has developed a diagnostic test that can detect viruses as diverse as influenza, HIV and RSV in 60 seconds or less. In addition to saving time, the technique — which is detailed in the November issue of the journal Nano Letters — could save lives by rapidly detecting a naturally occurring disease outbreak or bioterrorism attack.
Regimens to treat HIV infection that are based on a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) are at least as effective as treatment with a protease inhibitor but require patients to take fewer pills each day, according to a new study funded in part by HHS? Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
A visiting biologist at the University of California, San Diego and her colleagues in Africa and Britain have shown that there are close linkages between outbreaks of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in human and wildlife populations, and that climate may influence the spread of the disease.
Scientists from the University of Colorado at Boulder and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have developed an inexpensive “gene chip” test based on a single influenza virus gene that could allow scientists to quickly identify flu viruses, including avian influenza H5N1.
An article in Nature on Thursday 9/11 reports the discovery of gorillas living in the wild in Central Africa infected with an HIV-1 related virus, called SIVgor, genetically close to an HIV-1 variant called group O. This discovery ask the crucial question on the source and route for infection of the gorillas. It broadens substantially the scope of research on the ability of these viruses to cross over from one species to another.
Human papillomaviruses (HPV) are the most common sexually transmitted infections in the United States, and certain “high risk” types have been shown to cause cervical cancer. Despite recent advances in the detection and prevention of HPV, the link between the virus and cervical cancer is not well known to the public.
Researchers have successfully tested two candidate vaccines that may eventually be used together to confer immunity against HIV infection. Their findings are published in the Dec. 15 issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online.
As the Northern Hemisphere braces for another flu season, researchers at Florida State University’s National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida are making strides toward better understanding the mechanics of the virus that causes it — a virus that kills between one-quarter and one-half million people each year.