Infectious Disease
Hepatitis A Virus Cloaks Itself in Hijacked Membranes
April 5, 2013 12:20 pm | News | CommentsA team of researchers discovered that hepatitis A virus does not have an envelope when found in the environment, but acquires one from the cells that it grows in within the liver. It circulates in the blood completely cloaked in these membranes.
China Kills Market Birds As Flu Deaths Continue
April 5, 2013 9:53 am | by GILLIAN WONG - Associated Press - Associated Press | News | CommentsChina announced a sixth death from a new bird flu strain Friday, while authorities in Shanghai halted the sale of live fowl and slaughtered all poultry at a market where the virus was detected in pigeons being sold for meat.
Mutating Bird Flu Takes Fourth Life
April 4, 2013 9:03 am | News | CommentsA middle-aged man who transported poultry for a living has died from a new strain of bird flu, the fourth death among 11 confirmed cases in China, the government and state media reported today.
Update: Bird Flu Strain Causes Fifth Death in China
April 4, 2013 5:51 am | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsAnother unidentified person has died from a new strain of bird flu, bringing the death toll to five among 14 confirmed cases in China, the government and state media reported Thursday. The official Xinhua News Agency did not identify the fifth fatality, but said that person also died in Shanghai on Wednesday.
China Bird Virus Likely Silent Threat, Scientists Say
April 3, 2013 5:56 am | by GILLIAN WONG - Associated Press - Associated Press | News | CommentsScientists taking a first look at the genetics of the bird flu strain that recently killed two men in China said Wednesday that the virus could be harder to track than its better-known cousin H5N1 because it might be able to spread silently among poultry without notice.
Global Strategy Aims to Eradicate Polio by 2018
April 2, 2013 5:44 pm | by LAURAN NEERGAARD - AP Medical Writer - Associated Press | News | CommentsA new global plan aims to end most cases of polio by late next year, and essentially eradicate the paralyzing disease by 2018— if authorities can raise the $5.5 billion needed to do the work, health officials said.
Common Virus Model Used to ‘Fortify’ Adult Stem Cells
April 2, 2013 11:05 am | News | CommentsUsing the same strategy that a common virus employs to evade the human immune system, researchers have modified adult stem cells to increase their survival– with the goal of giving the cells time to exert their natural healing abilities.
Research Deciphers HIV Attack Plan
April 2, 2013 9:58 am | News | CommentsA new study defines previously unknown properties of transmitted HIV-1, the virus that causes AIDS.
How Cells Distinguish Friend from Foe
April 1, 2013 10:57 am | News | CommentsResearchers have shown how the innate immune system distinguishes between dangerous pathogens and friendly microbes.
Questions in China on Deadly, Lesser-Known Bird Flu
April 1, 2013 7:34 am | by GILLIAN WONG - Associated Press - Associated Press | News | CommentsHealth officials say they still don't understand how a lesser-known bird flu virus was able to kill two men and seriously sicken a woman in China, but that it's unlikely that it can spread easily among humans. Two men in Shanghai became the first known human fatalities from the H7N9 bird flu after contracting it in February.
CDC: E. Coli Outbreak Linked to Frozen Foods
March 29, 2013 6:09 pm | by MIKE STOBBE - AP Medical Writer - Associated Press | News | CommentsHealth officials say at least 24 people have become sick from an outbreak of E. coli infections linked to frozen snack foods marketed to children. No one has died, but eight people, mostly kids or teens, were hospitalized.
New Vaccine Approach Targets HIV, Other Fast-mutating Viruses
March 29, 2013 10:41 am | News | CommentsA team of scientists has unveiled a new technique for vaccine design that could be particularly useful against HIV and other fast-changing viruses.
E. Coli Study Leads to New Therapeutic Target
March 28, 2013 9:57 am | News | CommentsA new study provides novel insight into how an emerging strain of the diarrhea-causing bacteria E. coli interacts with its host.
New, Effective Vaccine Blocks H5N1 Avian Flu
March 26, 2013 10:57 am | News | CommentsUntil now most experimental vaccines against the highly lethal H5N1 avian influenza virus have lacked effectiveness. But a new vaccine has proven highly effective against the virus when tested in both mice and ferrets.
Scientists Confirm Lyme Disease Quirk
March 22, 2013 10:17 am | News | CommentsScientists have confirmed that the pathogen that causes Lyme Disease— unlike any other known organism— can exist without iron, a metal that all other life needs to make proteins and enzymes.
Dilution Effect Linking Biodiversity, Disease Challenged
March 20, 2013 10:10 am | News | CommentsMore than three quarters of new, emerging or re-emerging human diseases are caused by pathogens from animals, according to the World Health Organization. But a widely accepted theory of risk reduction for these pathogens– one of the most important ideas in disease ecology– is likely wrong, according to a new study.
Panel: No Anthrax Vaccine Testing in Kids
March 19, 2013 12:10 am | by LAURAN NEERGAARD - AP Medical Writer - Associated Press | News | CommentsDon't look for testing of the anthrax vaccine to begin in children any time soon. Controversy arose last year as experts debated whether such studies should be done to learn how to treat children in case of a bioterror attack.
Hundreds Checked for Rabies After Transplant Death
March 18, 2013 9:12 am | News | CommentsPublic health agencies in five states are assessing the rabies risk for hundreds of people who may have had close contact with an infected organ donor and four transplant recipients, one of whom died, officials said Saturday.
Deadly Fungus Battles Copper Immune Attack
March 15, 2013 11:10 am | News | CommentsA potentially lethal fungal infection appears to gain virulence by being able to anticipate and disarm a hostile immune attack in the lungs, according to findings by researchers.
Dual Approach May Bring Universal Flu Shot
March 15, 2013 9:44 am | News | CommentsResearchers report that influenza virus-specific CD8+ T cells or virus-specific non-neutralizing antibodies are each relatively ineffective at conferring protective immunity alone. But, when combined, the virus-specific CD8 T cells and non-neutralizing antibodies cooperatively elicit robust protective immunity.
Bacteria Tricked to Deliver Safer Vaccine
March 13, 2013 10:26 am | News | CommentsVaccines that employ weakened but live pathogens to trigger immune responses have inherent safety issues but researchers have developed a new trick to circumvent the problem— using bacteria’s own cellular mistakes to deliver a safe vaccine.
Evolution in the Antibody Factory
March 12, 2013 11:06 am | News | CommentsImmune system B cells play a crucial role in the defence of pathogens: When they detect such an intruder, they produce antibodies that help to combat the enemy. They concurrently and continuously improve these molecules to more precisely recognize the pathogens.
HIV Destroyed by Toxic Bee Venom
March 8, 2013 10:39 am | News | CommentsNanoparticles carrying a toxin found in bee venom can destroy human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) while leaving surrounding cells unharmed, researchers have shown.
Biomaterial Enhances Critical Immune Responses
March 6, 2013 11:09 am | News | CommentsBiomedical engineering researchers have encapsulated two types of protein antigens in chitosan and demonstrated that the combined material enables or improves three important immune responses.
Scientists Say Baby Born with HIV Apparently Cured
March 3, 2013 6:29 pm | by LAURAN NEERGAARD - AP Medical Writer - Associated Press | News | CommentsA baby born with the AIDS virus appears to have been cured, scientists announced Sunday, describing the case of a child from Mississippi who's now 2½ and has been off medication for about a year with no signs of infection. There's no guarantee the child will remain healthy, although sophisticated testing uncovered just traces of the virus' genetic material still lingering.
