To infect its victims, influenza A heads for the lungs, where it latches onto sialic acid on the surface of cells. So researchers created the perfect decoy: A carefully constructed spherical nanoparticle coated in sialic acid lures the influenza A virus…
Genetic Analysis Debunks Purported Origin of 1980’s AIDS Epidemic
A new study exonerates Gaetan Dugas, a French-Canadian flight attendant long considered to be “HIV Patient Zero” in the 1980’s AIDS epidemic in the U.S. An international team of researchers hailing from the University of Arizona and University of Cambridge used…
Hepatitis C Therapy Clears Virus in 93% of Patients in BMS-Funded Trial
In the continual competition for successful hepatitis C treatments, Bristol-Myers Squibb is trying its hand at its own combination of drugs — daclatasvir, asunaprevir, and beclabuvir. A 12-week dose of the investigational three-drug hepatitis C combination cleared the virus in 93…
The Search for Ebola Response Targets
The effort to develop therapeutics and a vaccine against the deadly Ebola virus disease (EVD) requires a complex understanding of the microorganism and its relationship with the host, especially the immune response. Adding to the challenge, EVD can be caused by…
Animal to Human Transmission Responsible for 2014 Ebola Outbreak
Scientists used advanced genomic sequencing technology to identify a single point of infection from an animal reservoir to a human in the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa. This research has also revealed the dynamics of how the Ebola virus has…
3rd Doctor Dies from Ebola
During a training session participants listen as they stand over a mannequin on a stretcher during a training course to instruct non-governmental organization (NGO) workers and doctors on how to deal with the Ebola virus in Brussels on Tuesday, Aug. 26,…
Liberia Gets ZMapp
Liberia women sing after praying for help with the Ebola virus, in the city of Monrovia, Liberia. Thursday, Aug. 14, 2014. Liberia faced an excruciating choice Thursday: deciding which handful of Ebola patients will receive an experimental drug that could prove…
Ebola Outbreak an International Public Health Emergency Declared by WHO
Director General of the World Health Organization, WHO, China’s Margaret Chan and Assistant Director General for Health Security Keiji Fukuda of the US, right, share a word during a press conference after an emergency meeting at the headquarters of the WHO…
Potential Flu Drugs Target Immune Response
The seriousness of disease often results from the strength of the immune response, rather than with the virus, itself. Turning down that response, rather than attacking the virus, might be a better way to reduce that severity, said Juliet Morrison of…
Newly arrived virus in Caribbean gains strength
A recently arrived mosquito-borne virus that causes an abrupt onset of high fever and intense joint pain is rapidly gaining a foothold in many spots of the Caribbean, health experts said Thursday. There are currently more than 4,000 confirmed cases of…