Virus Weekly articles from December 2001

Virus Weekly archives from December 2001

Mother's Herpes Virus Infection Linked To Schizophrenia In Children.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists at Johns Hopkins Children's Center and six other research centers have found that mothers who have had a herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) infection at the time of birth are more likely to...

Treatment Expands Potential For Using Vaccinia Virus In Therapy, Vaccines.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Using new treatments designed to inactivate vaccinia virus (VV), medical investigators can expand the scope of gene therapy investigations. So say...

Hepatitis E Recovered From Rats In Los Angeles.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers from the National Institutes of Health have recovered a virus similar to the hepatitis E virus (HEV) from rats in Los Angeles, California, a finding that may explain high levels of HEV...

Study Reveals Novel Role For Measles Virus In Cancer Therapy.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - The measles vaccine could soon be taking on a new role in medical therapy. Medical investigators at the Mayo Clinic say they have determined a common strain of...

Hepatitis A Epidemic Linked to Child Care Facilities.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - U.S. government officials have concluded a hepatitis A outbreak that occurred in Arizona was linked to child care facilities. After studying an outbreak of...

Old Smallpox Vaccines May Still Help.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- With the anthrax scare stirring fears of a far deadlier smallpox attack, health officials are trying to reassure the public that people vaccinated decades ago are probably still protected. The...

Physician Calls For Universal Hepatitis C Testing In Donations.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In the hours and days following the September 11 tragedy, hundreds of thousands of Americans lined up at blood banks across the country to give the gift of life. But now thousands of first time donors...

Phase II Clinical Trial With MVA-HPV-IL2 Immunotherapy Initiated.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Transgene (TRGNY) announced the initiation of a Phase II clinical trial of its immunotherapeutic MVA-HPV-IL2 product candidate for the treatment of cervical cancer. The trial will be conducted in...

Papers Add New Knowledge On HIV's Infection Tactics.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In its November 2001 issue, Nature Medicine published three papers that represent great advances in the fight against HIV. The first describes a strategy that could be developed to yield an...

FDA Approves Viread.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Gilead Sciences (GILD) has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for its antiretroviral agent Viread (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus...

Interferon (alpha)-Producing Cell Identified As Fast Response Component.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- How do our bodies know when a virus is lurking about? In the December 2001 issue of Nature Immunology, G. Trinchieri and colleagues at the Schering-Plough Research Institute in Dardilly, France,...

HIV Rides Into Cells On Membrane Rafts, NIAID Scientists Say.(Brief Article)
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The AIDS-causing virus, HIV, must attach to cholesterol-rich regions of a cell's membrane before it can do its destructive work, researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases...

Drug Adherence Key In Keeping Babies Virus Free, Study Suggests.(Brief Article)
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The best available defense against serious lower respiratory infections in infants is a drug that can cost the consumer more than $2000 a treatment. That cost may prove problematic for some...

Self-Inactivating Lentiviral Vectors Increase Therapeutic Options.(Brief Article)
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Medical investigators believe self-inactivating lentiviral vectors might offer an advantage over other vectors presently being considered for use in gene...

Growth Factor Predicts Cirrhosis In Chronic Hepatitis C.(Brief Article)
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Medical investigators think transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta is a reliable indicator for chronic hepatitis C patients at risk for liver fibrosis. ...

New Finding May Help Physicians Prevent HIV Drug Resistance.(Brief Article)
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- When an individual starts taking antiretroviral drugs for HIV infection, it is important to know as soon as possible if the drugs are adequately suppressing the virus. If they are not, some...

Maternal Antiretroviral Resistance Does Not Raise Risk.(Brief Article)
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Researchers in the United States say that HIV drug resistance mutations do not yet have a significant impact on the chance of maternal transmission. Dr....

Synergy Vaccines Reaches Milestone with SynerVax-HB Hepatitis Vaccine.(Brief Article)
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A study published in Vaccine is the first report of the successful use of an antigen that might enable development of simpler, less-expensive vaccines to prevent hepatitis B. The research, led by...

Ribozymes May Hold The Key For Treating Hepatitis B, Virus-Related Cancer.(Brief Article)
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Gene therapy using catalytic forms of RNA, or ribozymes, may offer a way to treat patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections that are resistant to...

Chronic Viral Liver Disease Rising Among HIV-Infected Population.(Brief Article)
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - An analysis of HIV cases in Madrid, Spain, has shown a steady rise in the number of patients admitted to the hospital because of chronic viral liver disease...

Endocrine Disorders Complicate Treatment For HIV Infection.(Brief Article)
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new study indicates that a combination of chronic diseases is now a major problem in the treatment of many patients with HIV infection, and that some of these diseases are going untreated. The...

Few Immune Cells, High HIV Counts May Not Mean Poor Treatment Response.(Brief Article)
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Among patients beginning therapy to fight the virus that causes AIDS, a higher HIV level at the start of treatment and lower initial counts of CD4 cells are not associated with poorer response to...

Number Of Infections Drops Across The West.(Brief Article)
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The number of people infected with potentially fatal hantavirus fell significantly across the West this year, along with a drop in rodent populations and changing weather patterns, researchers say. ...

Infected University Workers Exposes Nearly 500 To Infection.(Brief Article)
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Approximately 500 people who attended catered events at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in October 2001 may have been exposed to hepatitis A by a worker who has been diagnosed with the...

Effectiveness Of Drug Can Now Be Determined Sooner.(Brief Article)
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Patients being treated for the hepatitis C virus - a blood-borne disease that attacks the liver - now can learn earlier than ever before if they are likely to benefit from an investigational drug...

High HIV Levels Shut Down Anti-HIV Immune Responses.(Brief Article)
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- New research suggests that HIV specific T cells persist in infected individuals, but high virus levels can diminish the ability of those cells to respond to infection. The report sheds new light...

Australian Scientists Harness HIV For Gene Therapy.(Brief Article)
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Viruses have evolved, over thousands of years, to overcome our bodies' defenses against viral infection. Once they gain hold in our bodies, viruses can skillfully transfer their genetic material into...

Underlying Psychiatric Problems Undermine Hepatitis C Treatments.(Brief Article)
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Due to its side effects, interferon is not the most well-tolerated drug in the world. However, underlying psychological problems can complicate treatment...

Scientists Find Hidden Piece Of Virus.(Brief Article)
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- For nearly 20 years, scientists have labored under the assumption that the influenza virus comprises only 10 protein molecules that form its structure and carry out its activities. However,...

Researcher Developing Home Test Kit For HIV Therapies.(Brief Article)
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Since the AIDS epidemic began in the 1980s, advancements in drug therapy have improved the quality of life for those infected with the disease. Now, a University of Missouri-Columbia researcher is...

HIV Positive Hodgkin Patients' Disease Looks Like NHL.(Brief Article)
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Although Hodgkin disease (HD) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) differ significantly with regard to their clinicopathologic features and prognosis, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-associated HD appears...

Streptococcus Bacteria Does Not Affect Macrophage Function.(Brief Article)
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Macrophages in the lungs of African HIV patients function normally in the face of streptococcus infection, researchers report. "Streptococcus pneumoniae...

CDC Releases U.S. Plan For Bioterror Outbreak.(Brief Article)
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Health authorities should not force people to be vaccinated against smallpox, even if the virus reappears and begins to spread, the government's top bioterrorism adviser said November 26, 2001, as...

Study Says Drug Cocktail Has Cut Death Rate In Children, Too.(Brief Article)
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The AIDS drug cocktails that have saved the lives of countless adults have proved powerfully effective in children, too. A 4-year study of 1028 HIV infected children and teenagers found that...

AIDS Epidemic Spreading Faster In Eastern Europe Than Anywhere.(Brief Article)
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new report, "AIDS Epidemic Update 2001," says the number of HIV infections in Eastern Europe is rising faster than anywhere else in the world. Reported figures are largely underestimated but even...

Preliminary Results From Emtricitabine And Clevudine Trials Presented.(Brief Article)
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Triangle Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (VIRS) reported on the antiviral activity and tolerability of Coviracil (emtricitabine) and clevudine (formerly L-FMAU), its two compounds being separately tested for...

Schering-Plough Announces Rebetol Approval In Japan.(Brief Article)
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Schering-Plough K.K., Schering-Plough Corp.'s subsidiary in Japan, has received marketing approval from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) for Rebetol (ribavirin) capsules for use only in...

Atrix Submits INDA To Test Oral Interferon In HIV-Related Condition.(Brief Article)
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Atrix Laboratories, Inc., (ATRX) has submitted an Investigational New Drug application (INDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to proceed into human clinical studies with a low-dose oral...

N-Linked Glycosylation Limits Immune Response To Hepatitis C.(Brief Article)
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - For years, scientists have been driven to develop a vaccine for hepatitis C virus (HCV) but have failed. New information about viral N-linked glycosylation...

Flu Shots Are Safe For People With Asthma, Study Finds.(Brief Article)
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- For the first time, a study reveals that influenza vaccines are safe for children and adults with asthma. The study conducted by the American Lung Association's Asthma Clinical Research Centers...

More Vaccine Made Available For This Flu Season.(Brief Article)
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Henry Schein, Inc., (HSIC) has obtained new inventory and will be making 3 million additional doses of flu vaccine immediately available for the remainder of the U.S. influenza season. The company...

Scientists Say Flu Pandemic Remains A World Threat.(Brief Article)
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- At a time of bioterrorism fears, influenza should not be overlooked as a force of nature or a potential weapon of terrorists, disease specialists say. Flu has the potential to become a pandemic,...

Progenics Awarded $1.2 Million For Development Of Innovative HIV Therapies.(Brief Article)
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (PGNX) has been awarded approximately $1.2 million from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the development of novel inhibitors of human immunodeficiency...

Epimmune, Bavarian Combine Technologies To Develop HIV Vaccine.(Brief Article)
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Epimmune, Inc., (EPMN) and Bavarian Nordic A/S (BAVA) have entered into a collaboration agreement to combine their technologies to develop vaccines for the treatment or prevention of HIV infection. ...

Schistosoma Complicates Liver Disease In Chronic Hepatitis C.(Brief Article)
December 25, 2001... 2001 DEC 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Even though liver disease is worse in patients with schistosomiasis and chronic hepatitis C, viral replication is reduced in those patients, according to a new...

New Finds Explain T Cell Loss In HIV Infection.(Brief Article)
December 25, 2001... 2001 DEC 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- For a number of years, many scientists have believed that HIV depletes its primary target, CD4[superscript]+ T cells, by blocking new T-cell production. Two independent studies now challenge that...

On And Off Regimen Feasible For Some AIDS Patients.(Brief Article)
December 25, 2001... 2001 DEC 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A pilot study at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) suggests that it may prove feasible for certain people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease to move from a...

Yale Neurologist Gets $2 Million NIH Grant To Study Virus.(Brief Article)
December 25, 2001... 2001 DEC 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Yale neurovirology expert Anthony van den Pol and colleagues have received a $2 million grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health to study cytomegalovirus (CMV), a virus that can lead to...

VA Study Calls For More Aggressive Immunization Against Flu.(Brief Article)
December 25, 2001... 2001 DEC 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Reporting in the December 10, 2001, issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers from the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center find that health care providers are not making the...

WHO Says Africa Has Scored Some Victories Against Polio's Spread.(Brief Article)
December 25, 2001... 2001 DEC 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The World Health Organization Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Ebrahim M. Samba, says that the WHO African Region in 2001 recorded impressive results in the drive to eradicate polio, with the number...

Drug Companies Are Testing 98 New Weapons Against AIDS.(Brief Article)
December 25, 2001... 2001 DEC 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- As the war against AIDS enters its third decade, pharmaceutical companies are testing 98 new weapons to thwart this persistent and deadly enemy, according to a new survey released by the Pharmaceutical...

PAMBEC Laboratories, Inc., Unveils New Antiretroviral.(Brief Article)
December 25, 2001... 2001 DEC 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- PAMBEC Laboratories, Inc., of Loveland, Colorado, announced the release of a new anti-AIDS drug, Aidfarel, using a new drug technology invented by the company. This new technology shows great...

bioMerieux Receives Premarket Approval For HIV-1 Viral Load Assay.(Brief Article)
December 25, 2001... 2001 DEC 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- bioMerieux, Inc., has received Premarket Approval (PMA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its NucliSens HIV-1 QT quantitative viral load assay. Using the firm's proprietary Nucleic...

Phage Enzyme Can Kill Even Drug-Resistant Bacteria.(Brief Article)
December 25, 2001... 2001 DEC 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists have turned to nature once again for help in fighting deadly infections. Reporting in the December 7, 2001, issue of Science, Rockefeller University researchers show that a natural...

HHS Accelerates Seven Initiatives In Bioterrorism Research.(Brief Article)
December 25, 2001... 2001 DEC 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson has announced seven new initiatives to accelerate bioterrorism research and help strengthen the nation's ability to deal with the public health...

Castro Admits To Some Cases In Havana.(Brief Article)
December 25, 2001... 2001 DEC 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Speaking at a medical school in Havana, Cuban President Fidel Castro admitted the existence of some cases of dengue fever in the capital but said the situation was far from grave. The Cuban leader did...

Garlic Supplements Can Interfere With HIV Medication.(Brief Article)
December 25, 2001... 2001 DEC 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers have found that garlic supplements can cause a potentially harmful side effect when combined with a type of medication used to treat HIV/AIDS. Investigators from the National Institutes...

Suspected Ebola Virus Kills 17 People In Congo.(Brief Article)
December 25, 2001... 2001 DEC 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Medical experts from the World Health Organization flew to central Congo December 6 to investigate the deaths of 17 people with Ebola-like symptoms, state radio said. The deaths began November 17...

HIV And Hepatitis Rates In The United Kingdom Published.(Brief Article)
December 25, 2001... 2001 DEC 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Department of Health of the United Kingdom published the latest (2001) figures on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis prevalence in that country recently. The report estimates...

Influenza Surveillance Helps Identify Outbreaks For Phase III Trial.(Brief Article)
December 25, 2001... 2001 DEC 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc., announced that it will be working with the National Flu Surveillance Network (NFSN), a real-time influenza surveillance network, during the 2001-2002 winter flu season....

NIH Grant Helps Population Council Advance Promising Research.(Brief Article)
December 25, 2001... 2001 DEC 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) has awarded a grant of $6.8 million to the Population Council to further its research on a promising HIV/AIDS prevention...

Preclinical Results Are Promising.(Brief Article)
December 25, 2001... 2001 DEC 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- CEL-SCI Corporation announced researchers have demonstrated that animals given CEL-SCI's experimental L.E.A.P.S.-based HIV vaccine agent showed strong evidence supporting the induction of cellular...

Recall Of VAQTA Vaccines Issued.(Brief Article)
December 25, 2001... 2001 DEC 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Aventis Pasteur MSD is recalling the hepatitis A vaccines VAQTA Paediatric and VAQTA Adult launched originally in 1997 and 1998, respectively. VAQTA products are being withdrawn only because it is...

Chiron Grants Nonexclusive HCV License To Bristol-Myers Squibb.(Brief Article)
December 25, 2001... 2001 DEC 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Chiron Corp. has granted to Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. a nonexclusive license for the research, development, and commercialization of small molecule therapeutics against a broad spectrum of hepatitis C...

CDC: Flu Reports Light Through November.(Brief Article)
December 25, 2001... 2001 DEC 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Reports of flu have been light so far this season, but experts say it's too early to predict how nasty the bug will be in a few months. Flu-like illness accounted for 1.4% of doctor visits across...

MedImmune To Buy Aviron For $1.3 Billion.(Brief Article)
December 25, 2001... 2001 DEC 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- MedImmune, Inc., (MEDI) is paying about $1.3 billion in stock to acquire Aviron, the maker of a promising nasal-spray flu vaccine now awaiting government approval. Mountain View, California-based...

Hepatitis E Rate High Among Pregnant Women In United Arab Emirates.(Brief Article)
December 25, 2001... 2001 DEC 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Epidemiologists in Saudi Arabia say the rate of hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is high among pregnant females living in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). ...

United Kingdom Issues New Policy For HIV Infected Health Care Workers.(Brief Article)
December 25, 2001... 2001 DEC 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The United Kingdom Department of Health announced a new policy on the action to be taken whenever a health care worker is found to be infected with HIV. This new policy is based on advice from the...

AMA Calls For Further Study, Does Not Endorse Nationwide Immunization.(Brief Article)
December 25, 2001... 2001 DEC 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The American Medical Association has refused to endorse smallpox vaccinations for all Americans, rejecting calls from doctors who say the disease could be used as a biological weapon. Instead, the...

Tepha Extends Technology For Regenerative Medicine.(Brief Article)
December 25, 2001... 2001 DEC 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Tepha, Inc., has been awarded U.S. Patent No. 6,316,262 describing methods to tailor properties of devices that can be used in tissue repair and regeneration. The new technology uses the latest...