Virus Weekly articles from July 2001

Virus Weekly archives from July 2001

Virus Found To Carry Antibiotic Against E. coli.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... 2001 JUL 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A report on the antibiotic action of the small virus, which is called Q Beta, was reported in Science. The research was funded by the U.S. National Institute of Health's general medicine institute....

Outbreak Of Calicivirus Infection Mistakenly Attributed to Shiga Toxin-Producing E. coli O157:H7.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... 2001 JUL 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- On February 21-22, 2000, the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) was notified by a university student health center of two suspected cases of Escherichia coli O157:H7. At a local hospital...

Concurrent Hepatitis B/Hepatitis C Infection Linked To Viral Suppression.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... 2001 JUL 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Coinfection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) would appear to be doubly harmful, but a new study reports that HBV replication...

hCF Auto-Antibodies Protects Against Disease Progression.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... 2001 JUL 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - A unique cytokine is critical to the pathogenesis of dengue fever, and patients who exhibit auto-antibodies to it appear to be protected from progression to...

Selenium Deficiency Causes Flu Virus To Mutate Into More Dangerous Forms.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... 2001 JUL 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Influenza virus that has been passed through mice deficient in the trace nutrient selenium mutates and emerges from the mice more virulent than before, a new study shows. While the research was...

Human Herpesvirus 6 May Be Linked To Hepatic Diseases In Children.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... 2001 JUL 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) is frequently present in children with a variety of liver diseases, suggesting further research into the association between HHV-6 and liver diseases of unknown etiology....

CNS Cancers Killed Using Poliovirus Tumor-Killing RNA Technology.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... 2001 JUL 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Replicon Technologies, Inc. (RTI), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapeutic applications for replicons (viral capsids containing self-amplifying RNA derived from poliovirus),...

Rotavirus Worsens Disease Burden In Gastroenteritis.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... 2001 JUL 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - Children with community-acquired gastroenteritis who test positive for rotavirus infection are more likely to suffer severe disease than those without...

Cidofovir Effective After Stem Cell Transplantation.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... 2001 JUL 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Cidofovir can safely and effectively treat cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection following stem cell transplantation, researchers in Germany say. "Cidofovir...

Grant Awarded For Hepatitis Genotyping Standards.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... 2001 JUL 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- AcroMetrix Corporation announced that it has received a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)...

New Drug-Resistant HIV Strains Can Escape Detection.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... 2001 JUL 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new study presented June 6, 2001, at the 5th International Workshop on HIV Resistance and Treatment Strategies shows that a mutation in the genetic code of HIV cannot be detected by most...

Drug-Resistant Mutants Remain Months After Treatment Interruption.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... 2001 JUL 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Although drug-resistant strains of HIV tend to be weeded out during drug-free periods, limited populations of these mutants can persist undetected for...

Four Fatalities Reported From Hemorrhagic Fever In Kosovo.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... 2001 JUL 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Four people have died and more then 20 others have been hospitalized in an outbreak of Crimea Congo hemorrhagic fever in Kosovo, health officials said. The blood disease, related to the Ebola...

DNA Vaccine Protects Mice Against Highly Mutational Influenza.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... 2001 JUL 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - A vaccine that includes plasmid (pME18S-M) containing M1 and M2 genes of influenza A/PR/8/34 offers 70%-80% protection against lethal challenge with...

Inhibiting Calcineurin Signal Blocks Kaposi-Associated HSV Reactivation.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... 2001 JUL 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Deborah W. Heinrich, PhD, staff medical writer - Government researchers in the United States have identified a calcium-dependent Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) reactivation pathway...

Vaccine Coverage Summarized.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... 2001 JUL 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- An article in the June 15, 2001, edition of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Report summarizes the routine polio vaccination coverage, surveillance for...

Lidocaine Patch Delivers Pain Relief Within A Week.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... 2001 JUL 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced new data that show two-thirds of patients experience significant relief from the pain caused by post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN) when they use the company's...

Phase II Clinical Trial Of Combination Therapy Initiated.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... 2001 JUL 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- XTL Biopharmaceuticals Ltd. (London:XTL) announced the initiation of a Phase II clinical study of XTL-001 in combination with lamivudine for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV)...

Interleukin-8 May Be Responsible For Resistance To Interferon.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... 2001 JUL 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - The cytokine interleukin-8 may prevent therapeutic effectiveness in patients who take interferon to treat chronic hepatitis C. Interferon is widely...

PEGASYS Studied In Post-Liver Transplant Patients.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... 2001 JUL 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Preliminary data were presented in a plenary session at the American Society of Liver Transplantation (AST) from a study of PEGASYS(R) (peginterferon Alfa-2a) in patients with recurrent hepatitis C...

Screening Method Points To A Viral Contribution.(Brief Article)
July 10, 2001... 2001 JUL 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers have discovered a new screening method for Borna disease virus (BDV) infection using BDV circulating immune complexes. Additionally, this tool has given the researchers new evidence...

Researchers Discover One Of HIV's Hiding Places.(Brief Article)
July 10, 2001... 2001 JUL 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Where in the body does HIV hide when it is under attack by drugs? In a case report in the June 27, 2001, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers from Mount Sinai School of...

New Technologies Invaluable For Tracing Path Of HCV.(Brief Article)
July 10, 2001... 2001 JUL 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - With the assistance of new technology, researchers in the United Kingdom have developed a model that can track the epidemiology of hepatitis C virus (HCV)....

Long-Term Study Sorts Out Risks For HPV Infection And Cervical Lesions.(Brief Article)
July 10, 2001... 2001 JUL 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- More than half of sexually active young women will be infected with human papillomavirus (HPV) if they remain sexually active over three years, a University of California, San Francisco, study...

Selenium Deficiency Associated With "Jekyll to Hyde" Virus Mutation.(Brief Article)
July 10, 2001... 2001 JUL 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Once again, a relatively benign virus has mutated into a nasty pathogen in laboratory mice that were raised on a diet deficient in selenium, a potent antioxidant. This time the mutations...

Lifelong Re-Infection Has Previously-Unrecognized Consequences.(Brief Article)
July 10, 2001... 2001 JUL 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and parainfluenza virus - the chief causes of hospitalization for respiratory illness in young children - may be even more menacing than previously believed. ...

Foscarnet Prodrugs Can Reverse Viral Drug Resistance.(Brief Article)
July 10, 2001... 2001 JUL 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Modified versions of the HIV drug foscarnet are effective against drug-resistance viral variants and can even reverse the effects of some...

Long-Term Immune-Based Therapy Is Safe And Effective.(Brief Article)
July 10, 2001... 2001 JUL 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Trinity Medical Group USA, Inc., (OTC Bulletin Board: TMGU) presented clinical data on HIV positive patients who have undergone treatment using its immune-based Remune(TM) product, suggesting that...

Drug Effective Against Resistant Hepatitis C Virus.(Brief Article)
July 10, 2001... 2001 JUL 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In a Phase I/II clinical trial, the antisense drug ISIS 14803 demonstrated dose-dependent antiviral activity, decreasing viral titers in patients with drug-resistant chronic hepatitis C virus...

Silent HBV Infection In Patients With HCV May Increase Liver Illness.(Brief Article)
July 10, 2001... 2001 JUL 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Bell-Nichols, senior medical writer - Hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients coinfected with "silent" hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections may suffer more severe liver disease, according to...

Technology For Hepatitis B Virus Is Patented.(Brief Article)
July 10, 2001... 2001 JUL 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- ViroLogic, Inc. (Nasdaq: VLGC) announced the issuance of 42 separate claims in U.S. Patent No. 6,242,187 related to hepatitis B virus (HBV) drug-resistance testing. The issued claims relate to...

Antigen-Pulsed Dendritic Cells Confer Protection In Mice.(Brief Article)
July 10, 2001... 2001 JUL 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - Bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (bmDC), pulsed with herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2) antigens completely protected mice from disease and death after...

Condoms Offer Protection For Women.(Brief Article)
July 10, 2001... 2001 JUL 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The use of condoms and changes in sexual behavior can reduce the transmission of genital herpes (herpes simplex virus 2 [HSV-2]), with women receiving greater protection from the virus with the use...

Interferon/DNA Vaccine Provides Protection In Woodchuck Model.(Brief Article)
July 10, 2001... 2001 JUL 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Using DNA vaccine technology, scientists in Germany have created a vaccine that raises an effective immune response against woodchuck hepatitis virus. The...

VerticalNews Launch Uses NewsRx Artificial Intelligence Technology.(Brief Article)
July 10, 2001... 2001 JUL 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- NewsRx, the leading provider of life science databases and daily and weekly health news, has leveraged its technology platform to create a new media company, VerticalNews. VerticalNews'...

HCV Patients Wait Longer.(Brief Article)
July 10, 2001... 2001 JUL 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - U.S. government researchers say patients who are hepatitis C virus (HCV)-positive endure longer waits for kidney transplant surgeries. Furthermore,...

Cytokine Antibody Induces Cell Proliferation After Partial Organ Removal.(Brief Article)
July 10, 2001... 2001 JUL 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Researchers at Showa University School of Medicine in Japan report observing increased liver cell proliferation after administering antibodies to...

Epidemiological Study Finds High Incidence Among Inuit Children.(Brief Article)
July 10, 2001... 2001 JUL 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Compared with non-Aboriginal children, Aboriginal children are known to suffer more frequent and more severe lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI). But little is known about the epidemiology of...

Vaccination With Jeryl-Lynn Strain Works Better For Young Children.(Brief Article)
July 10, 2001... 2001 JUL 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - Children younger than five who are vaccinated with the Rubini strain are at significantly greater risk of suffering illness during mumps outbreaks than...

Leukocyte Reduction Lowers Viral Load.(Brief Article)
July 24, 2001... 2001 JUL 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Three different leukocyte reduction (LR) techniques are effective for culling cytomegalovirus (CMV) populations in blood products, according to researchers...

Maternal Infections A Major Source of HCV In Children In Italy.(Brief Article)
July 24, 2001... 2001 JUL 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - A study of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections among children in Italy during the last decade has revealed almost half of the youngsters acquired HCV from...

Hepatitis C Virus Levels Higher In Patients Coinfected with HIV.(Brief Article)
July 24, 2001... 2001 JUL 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Immunosuppression may be a reason patients coinfected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) have greater levels of HCV than...

Amino Acid Fragment Confers Profound Drug Resistance.(Brief Article)
July 24, 2001... 2001 JUL 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Researchers in Japan have found a naturally occurring HIV mutant with a large foreign insertion conferring a remarkably high level of resistance to many...

Late Virus Assembly Requires Energy Sources.(Brief Article)
July 24, 2001... 2001 JUL 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - The last stages of the HIV assembly process grind to halt without cellular energy sources, according to researchers in the United States. "Several...

Multicenter Study Finds Drug Cocktail Effective In Advanced Cases.(Brief Article)
July 24, 2001... 2001 JUL 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), also known as AIDS cocktail therapy, is saving lives and preventing infections even in the most advanced AIDS patients, according to a new study. ...

Rifampicin Can Interfere With Saquinavir Metabolism.(Brief Article)
July 24, 2001... 2001 JUL 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Coadministration of the HIV protease inhibitor saquinavir with the antibiotic rifampicin can reduce saquinavir's bioavailability to ineffective levels,...

Drug In AIDS Regimen May Cause Liver Damage.(Brief Article)
July 24, 2001... 2001 JUL 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Bell-Nichols, senior medical writer - A European study indicates the drug nevirapine, used in AIDS regimens, may cause liver problems, especially in patients with poor liver function,...

Researchers Describe Diagnostic, Treatment Options for Peritoneal TB.(Brief Article)
July 24, 2001... 2001 JUL 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - Laparoscopy and biopsy are necessary to diagnose peritoneal tuberculosis in most cases, say researchers working in the United States. K. Demir and...

Health Officials Expect Another Flu Vaccine Delay.(Brief Article)
July 24, 2001... 2001 JUL 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Flu vaccines are expected to arrive late for the upcoming season in the U.S., but the delay should not be as severe as last year's, federal health officials said. The U.S. Centers for Disease...

Revaccination Effective In Rare Cases of Hib Vaccine Failure.(Brief Article)
July 24, 2001... 2001 JUL 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - Although the conjugated Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine is highly effective against invasive Hib in children, vaccine failures occasionally...

Obesity Leads To Fatty Liver, Causes Liver Damage In HCV.(Brief Article)
July 24, 2001... 2001 JUL 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Being overweight can increase a person's chances for developing hepatic steatosis, or fatty liver, heightening the risk for liver damage in patients with...

HIV Drug-Resistance Test Can Detect Resistance To Lopinavir.(Brief Article)
July 24, 2001... 2001 JUL 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Tibotec-Virco announced that it has added the protease inhibitor (PI) lopinavir to its HIV drug-resistance test, the VirtualPhenotype(TM). The addition means that the VirtualPhenotype reports...

Experts Gather To Talk About Fighting Mosquito-Borne Disease In U.S.(Brief Article)
July 24, 2001... 2001 JUL 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- With the West Nile virus marching west faster and farther than expected, health experts from around the U.S. met the week of June 22, 2001, at the Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, Illinois, to come up...