Virus Weekly articles from July 2000

Virus Weekly archives from July 2000

Vaccine Enters Phase I Clinical Trials.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 4, 2000... 2000 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com) -- Cantab Pharmaceuticals plc (CNTBY) (CTB), Cambridge, United Kingdom, announced the commencement of a Phase I clinical trial of TA-CIN, its novel vaccine candidate for the treatment of cervical dysplasia, an...

Notice of Allowance Received for Key Patent Addition to C31G Antiviral Technology Platform.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 4, 2000... 2000 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com) -- Biosyn, Inc., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, announced that it has received a Notice of Allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) for its patent entitled "Method for Inactivating Sexually...

AmeriCorps Serving HIV/AIDS Communities.(Brief Article)
July 4, 2000... 2000 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com) -- The Philadelphia AIDS Consortium (TPAC) announced that it has been selected as a National AmeriCorps site. Luciano Orsini, Consortium's Board of Directors, said, "We are thrilled to have been chosen in...

Researchers Measure Effectiveness of Combination Therapy.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 4, 2000... 2000 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com) -- Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas, has announced recruitment of patients for a study that will test whether a new combination therapy may be more effective than the current, leading therapy for...

Herpesvirus Sabotages Immune System with a New and Unusual Strategy.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 4, 2000... 2000 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com) -- The virus associated with Kaposi's sarcoma sabotages the body's immune system in a novel and previously unsuspected way, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), scientists report. When the...

Short-Course Antiretroviral Therapy Could Help Reduce HIV-1 Substantially, But is Still Unaffordable.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 4, 2000... 2000 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com) -- The limited use of antiretroviral drug therapy could have an immediate and substantial impact on sub-Saharan Africa's AIDS epidemic, according to research published in the The Lancet. Nevertheless, the...

World AIDS Series: Hit HIV-1 Hard, But Only When Necessary.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 4, 2000... 2000 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com) -- When should drug therapy to treat HIV-1 infection be initiated? This is the subject of the fourth in a series of six articles published by The Lancet in the build-up to the World AIDS 2000 Conference in...

Interferon-(alpha)2b and Ribavirin Evaluated in HCV/HIV Infected Patients.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 4, 2000... 2000 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com) -- Researchers in France have found that combination therapy is useful in hepatitis C virus (HCV)/HIV coinfected patients. They conducted a safety and efficacy study of a "combination therapy of...

Study Says Tattoos Not a Risk Factor for Viral Hepatitis.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 4, 2000... 2000 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com) -- New study findings study indicate that tattoos are not a risk factor for acquiring viral hepatitis. A.L. Silverman and associates at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, conducted the study...

Viral Nonstructural Protein Required for Replication.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 4, 2000... 2000 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com) -- Scientists in Canada have conducted research that shows the p200 polyprotein is important for viral replication in the rubella virus and that mutation on this protein can cause the virus to be non-infectious....

Prednisolone Before Interferon Helps Eliminate Precore Stop Mutants.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 4, 2000... 2000 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com) -- Researchers in Japan have reported in the Journal of Hepatology new research findings indicating that prednisolone therapy prior to the use of interferon (IFN) enables better elimination of precore stop...

Ursodeoxycholic Acid Augments Interferon Treatment in Non-Responders.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 4, 2000... 2000 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com) -- A new study published in the European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology reports that ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), when used in combination with interferon-(alpha) (IFN-(alpha)), can successfully treat...

Patient Subset Indicates Remune and Antiviral Drugs May Stimulate 'Killer' T-Cell Activity.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 4, 2000... 2000 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com) -- The Immune Response Corp. (IMNR), Carlsbad, California, announced preliminary interim clinical results that indicate Remune (HIV-1 Immunogen) may stimulate cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) or "killer" T-cell...

Hepatobiliary Scintigraphy Helps Determine Severity of Hepatitis E Virus Infection.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 4, 2000... 2000 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com) -- A recent study found that the severity of hepatitis E virus (HEV) can be determined by assessing hepatic extraction fraction (HEF) via hepatobiliary scintigraphy and that hepatocellular death results from...

Fulminant Viral Hepatitis Due to Combined Infection.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 4, 2000... 2000 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com) -- A recent study confirmed that most cases of fulminant viral hepatitis result from hepatitis B virus (HBV) in combination with hepatitis D, C, or G (HDV, HCV, or HGV) infection. Fulminant hepatitis is a...

DNA Vaccine Reverts Anergy in HIV Infected Patients.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 4, 2000... 2000 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com) -- Vaccination with DNA or protein immunogens can revert anergy in HIV infected patients. "Recent studies have highlighted the importance of T-helper and cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) to contain the early...

Interferon-[alpha]2b and Ribavirin Evaluated in HCV/HIV Infected Patients.
July 4, 2000... 2000 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com) -- Researchers in France have found that combination therapy is useful in hepatitis C virus (HCV)/HIV coinfected patients. They conducted a safety and efficacy study of a "combination therapy of interferon-alpha...

Scientists Record Movement of Herpes Simplex Virus in Nerve Cell.
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- For the first time, scientists have observed the herpes simplex virus traveling from the nerve ending to the nerve cell body within a living nerve cell. The study was conducted by a team of researchers...

Hepatitis B Virus Protein Expression Causes Cell Death.
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- A study presented at the 91(st) Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research suggests that hepatitis B virus (HBV) X protein is responsible for cell damage that leads to cellular death. ...

Three-Drug Regimen Controlled HIV for Three Years.
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- Twenty-one of 33 HIV infected people receiving a three-drug regimen of indinavir, zidovudine, and lamivudine continued to have a low viral load throughout a three-year study period. A short report of the...

Quantity of Human Papillomavirus DNA a Predictor of Progression to Cancer.
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- Two studies published in the June 24 issue of The Lancet suggest that the detection of the amount of human papillomavirus (HPV) in cervical smears could help identify women at risk of cervical cancer. ...

Infection Process Seems Geared to Thwart Cellular Response.(Human cytomegalovirus)
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) takes a running start in the infection process by sending RNA as well as DNA into human cells, new research suggests. Although viruses were thought to contain either DNA or...

Researchers Create Strong New Molecule in the Fight Against AIDS.
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- Researchers have created a new molecule that appears to survive in cells longer than existing treatments to combat the virus that leads to AIDS, according to a new study reported in the June 21 edition of the...

Modified HIV May Be Effective for Delivering and Regulating Gene Therapy.
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, may be adapted for use in gene therapy to treat genetic diseases and disorders of the immune system, even including AIDS, according to a scientist at the University of North...

Anti-Rejection Drug May Stimulate Hepatitis B Virus Re-Infection.(OKT3)
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- Certain anti-rejection treatments following liver transplantation, most notably OKT3, can cause liver re-infection with the hepatitis B virus (HBV), according to a report in Clinical Transplantation. R.A....

Study Evaluates Intravaginal Microbicide Gel in Healthy, Sexually Inactive Women.
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- Researchers in Belgium conducted a Phase I study to evaluate the novel intravaginal microbicide, PRO 2000, in healthy, sexually inactive women. "Although the male condom provides a reliable means of...

Children with Hepatitis Have Higher Infection Rate.(TT virus)(Statistical Data Included)
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- For some time now, members of the medical community have been investigating a recently identified virus known as the TT virus. It has been associated with liver diseases in humans. Researchers at the...

Researchers Study Hepatitis C Virus Risk Factors in Rural Korea.
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- Although blood transfusions have been linked with the transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV), researchers say that this is not a strong risk factor for virus transmission in the rural area of Korea they...

Sharing of Electric Razors Questioned as Potential Vector of Viral Hepatitis.
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- Recent letters to the editor published in The New England Journal of Medicine prompted a look into the likelihood of hepatitis transmission via shared electric razors. Dr. Colleen R. Kelly, with the...

Antibodies Against Hypervariable Region 1 Neutralize Hepatitis C Virus.
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- Antibodies against hypervariable region 1 (HVR1) of hepatitis C virus (HCV) neutralize the virus in an epitope-independent manner, researchers in Japan and the United States have found. "Antibodies...

Epstein-Barr Virus Infection Places HIV(+) Children at Risk for Smooth Muscle Tumors.
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- Lack of immunity to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) places HIV infected children at higher risk of smooth muscle tumors, according to researchers in the United States and The Netherlands. "HIV infected children...

Gender is Crucial Issue in Slowing the Spread of HIV.
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- Gender inequality is a fundamental driving force of the AIDS epidemic and therefore must be addressed centrally in responding to the epidemic, according to Peter Piot, executive director of the Joint United...

Hepatitis B and C Viruses Remain Significant Threats to Canadians.
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- Hepatitis B and C viruses (HBV and HCV) continue to pose a threat to Canadians, presenting the need for further preventive measures. To assess HBV, HCV, and hepatitis A virus (HAV) risk, as well as the...

HIV-1 Inhibited by Vector Expressing Antisense mRNA.
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- HIV-1 replication can be inhibited by a lentiviral vector expressing antisense env mRNA, researchers say. "We are developing conditionally replicating HIV-based lentiviral vectors that express an...

Childhood Hepatitis A Vaccine Deemed Cost-Effective.(Statistical Data Included)
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- Researchers say that since childhood hepatitis A vaccine costs less than $50,000 per years of live saved (YOLS) it is cost-effective in the United States, particularly in areas with high rates of hepatitis A...

Solvent/Detergent Virus Inactivated Plasma Can Cause Fibrinolysis.
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- The use of solvent/detergent virus inactivated plasma (ESDEP) in liver transplantation can cause fibrinolysis. "To minimize the risk of transmission of lipid coated viruses (hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C...

Treatment with Nucleoside Analogue Followed by Hepatitis Vaccine Shifts Serologic Phenotype.
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- Treatment with the nucleoside analogue, L-FMAU, followed by vaccination changed hepatitis B infection status from chronic to recovering in the WHV/woodchuck model, researchers in the United States reported....

Positive Clinical Data Advance Drug to Phase III Clinical Trials.(HspE7 in the treatment of anal dysplasia)
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- Based on positive clinical data reviewed at an interim analysis of the Phase II AIN trial and investigators meeting held June 22-23, 2000, StressGen Biotechnologies Corp. (TSE) announced that it will proceed...

Drug Resistance Threatens to Reverse Medical Progress.
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- Increasing levels of drug resistance are threatening to erode the medical advances of recent decades, according to a report released by the World Health Organization (WHO). "We currently have effective...

FDA Authorizes Advanced Study in Multi-Drug Resistant HIV.
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc. (HEB; HEBws), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, said it has just received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorization to conduct a major Phase II/III clinical study in HIV...

Scientists Re-Affirm that HIV is the Cause of AIDS.
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- More than 5,000 scientists and medical doctors have signed a statement in the July 1 issue of Nature declaring that there is overwhelming evidence that the virus HIV causes AIDS, and that recognition of this...

Study Tests Shingles Vaccine.
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- A national study is under way in the U.S. to test the effectiveness of a vaccine to prevent herpes zoster, or shingles, in older people. "Shingles, which is caused by the same virus that causes...

Technology and Probes Stemming from Human Genome Project Acquired.
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- Ampersand Medical Corp. (AMPM), Chicago, Illinois, announced it has signed an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with Invirion, a single-cell genomics company. The license includes human...

AIDS Chief Says Nonoxynol-9 Not Effective Against HIV.
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- An international multi-site trial of the spermicide nonoxynol-9 in gel form has shown that the product is not effective in protecting women from HIV infection. The spermicide studied is on the market in...

Children More Chicken About Pox than Shot.
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- When asked if they would rather have chickenpox or a shot, most kids say "Mom I want the shot," according to survey results released by the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Associates and Practitioners...

Concern Erupts as Russian Children are Accidentally Exposed to Vaccine.(smallpox)
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) downplayed reports of illness among eight young children in Vladivostock, Russia, who had played with discarded ampoules of smallpox vaccine. In some reports, there...

Immediate Treatment with Anti-HIV Drugs Prevented Infection in Girl.
July 11, 2000... 2000 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com) -- According to a Brief Communication in the July 4 Annals of Internal Medicine, a young girl who received a transfusion containing HIV positive blood began treatment with three powerful antiretroviral drugs...

Hepatitis C Vaccine Represents Major Mutations in Isolates.
July 25, 2000... 2000 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com) -- University of California at Davis medical researchers have developed a vaccine for the hepatitis C virus (HCV) that includes a significant number of mutations commonly found in a specific portion of the...

Interleukin 2 Treatment Plus Antiretroviral Therapy Significantly Increases CD4 Cell Counts.
July 25, 2000... 2000 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com) -- The addition of interleukin 2 therapy to antiretroviral therapy for patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) increases CD4 cell counts significantly more than antiretroviral therapy...

Researchers Find Antiretroviral Drugs Require 95% Adherence to Work.
July 25, 2000... 2000 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com) -- A computerized medication monitoring system has shown that HIV patients must be at least 95% adherent to antiretroviral therapy for the drugs to work, report investigators from the University of Pittsburgh...

High Rate of GB Virus Type C/HGV in Low-Risk Blood Donors May be Due to Vertical Transmission.
July 25, 2000... 2000 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com) -- Researchers in France suggest that the high rate of GB virus type C/hepatitis G virus (GBV-C/HGV) in low risk blood donors may be due to the high rate of transmission of the virus from mother to infant. ...

New Strain of Hepatitis E Virus Detected in China.
July 25, 2000... 2000 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com) -- Researchers in China have isolated a new strain of hepatitis E virus (HEV). Preliminary characterization of this strain was recently reported in the most recent edition of the Journal of Medical Virology. ...

Epidemiology in Japanese Children Studied.(herpes zoster )
July 25, 2000... 2000 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com) -- Scientists at the Tokyo Metropolitan Komagome Hospital in Japan recently reported their findings of a study of the epidemiology of herpes zoster in immunocompetent and immunocompromised children in the...

Researcher Sees Role for Lamivudine Therapy in End-Stage Liver Disease Patients.
July 25, 2000... 2000 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com) -- A Stanford University researcher sees lamivudine drug therapy as being an option for treating hepatitis B virus patients with end-stage liver disease. According to Emmet B. Keeffe, liver transplantation...

Mutations in Genes Influence Response to Interferon in Hepatitis C Patients.
July 25, 2000... 2000 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com) -- New research has shown that genetic changes in the interferon sensitivity determining region of hepatitis C virus genotype 1b do not change frequently. Because of this, patients who are initially...

Distinct Membrane Association Patterns Noted in Mouse Hepatitis Virus Proteins.
July 25, 2000... 2000 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com) -- Recent study findings from researchers at Vanderbilt University, Tennessee, have shown that gene 1 proteins in the mouse hepatitis virus can be found in distinctly different areas of cellular cytoplasm. ...

Do Current Viral Load Thresholds Put Women at Risk?
July 25, 2000... 2000 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com) -- Helping to clarify a long-standing issue, a study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, shows that women carry lower levels of HIV in their blood than men, especially during early...

NIAID Presents Data on Structured Intermittent Therapy.(National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases )
July 25, 2000... 2000 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com) -- For some HIV infected patients whose plasma levels of virus have fallen to undetectable levels while on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), it may prove feasible to move from a continuous HAART...

Preliminary Study Suggests Plasma Levels of Amprenavir are Raised by Low-Dose Ritonavir.
July 25, 2000... 2000 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com) -- Preliminary results of a study of the protease inhibitor (PI) Agenerase (amprenavir) suggest that plasma levels of amprenavir are raised by adding a low dose of the PI ritonavir. The research was...

Viral RNA Stable When Blood Sample Stored Below 25(degree)C.
July 25, 2000... 2000 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com) -- HIV-1 and hepatitis C virus (HCV) viral RNA is stable in whole blood and plasma specimens when stored in temperatures up to 25(degree)C, according to industry researchers. Research results were presented...

Combination Antiviral/Immunoglobulin Therapy Effective Prophylaxis in Post-Transplant Patients.
July 25, 2000... 2000 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com) -- Combination antiviral and immunoglobulin therapy helps prevent cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease in CMV negative patients who are transplanted with CMV positive hearts, according to researchers in the United...

Emerging HIV Drug Resistance Identified in Africa.(Statistical Data Included)
July 25, 2000... 2000 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com) -- Two studies using Virco's HIV drug resistance monitoring systems as part of the UNAIDS Drug Access Initiative have revealed the development of high levels of resistance in African countries pioneering the use...

Ganciclovir Alone as Effective as Combination Therapy in Preventing Cytomegalovirus Infection.
July 25, 2000... 2000 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com) -- Ganciclovir (GCV) given alone is as effective as combination therapy incorporating acyclovir (ACV) with cytomegalovirus (CMV) immunoglobulin (CMVIg) in preventing CMV infection in heart transplant recipients,...

Th2 Cytokines Influence IFN Response in Hepatitis C Patients.
July 25, 2000... 2000 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com) -- The presence of interleukin 10 (IL-10), a cytokine produced by Th2 cells, has a major impact on the response to interferon (IFN) therapy by patients with chronic hepatitis C, investigators reported at the...

First Vaccine Designed for Africa Cleared for Testing in Humans.
July 25, 2000... 2000 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com) -- The first AIDS vaccine candidate designed specifically for Africa will enter human trials this summer. The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) announced on July 11 at the 13th International AIDS...

Clinical Testing Begins for CMV Vaccine.
July 25, 2000... 2000 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com) -- Aviron (AVIR), Mountain View, California, announced the initiation of clinical testing with its vaccine candidates to prevent infection with cytomegalovirus (CMV), the leading infectious cause of birth...

Malaysia Expected to Kill 4,900 Infected Pigs.
July 25, 2000... 2000 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com) -- Health authorities on Borneo Island will cull 4,900 pigs infected with a virus that killed more than 100 Malaysians last year, the national Bernama news agency reported July 12. A massive operation to...

Phase II Study Underway for Combination Treatment.
July 25, 2000... 2000 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com) -- Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, announced that patient dosing is underway in a Phase II clinical trial of VX-497, a drug for the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, in...