Model predicts bat species with the potential to spread deadly Nipah virus in India

Since its discovery in 1999, Nipah virus has been reported almost yearly in Southeast Asia, with Bangladesh and India being the hardest hit. In a new study, published today in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, scientists used machine learning to identify bat species with the potential to host Nipah virus, with a focus on India—the site of a 2018 outbreak. Four […]

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Deadly tick-borne virus cured with experimental flu drug, in mice

Only a few cases of the newly discovered Bourbon virus have been reported, and two of them ended in death, partly because no specific treatments are available for the tick-borne illness. Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified an experimental antiviral drug that cures mice infected with the potentially lethal virus. The drug, favipiravir, […]

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New therapy approach points to potential treatment of liver cancer patients with hepatitis B virus infection

Researchers from Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore General Hospital (SGH) and Lion TCR have demonstrated that they were able to engineer HBV-specific T cells, a type of immune cells found in the body, to treat Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a commonly occurring liver cancer. The treatment was also individualised, as T cells that were engineered were specific to the patients. The approach […]

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Engineered DNA vaccine protects against emerging Mayaro virus

Infections by the mosquito-borne Mayaro virus (MAYV) have largely been restricted to people who ventured into the heavily forested areas of Trinidad and Tobago and neighboring regions of South America. However, recent laboratory studies showing additional mosquito vectors can transmit MAYV as well as a reported case of MAYV infection in Haiti in 2015, reveal the potential for the virus […]

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Flu virus could evolve resistance to pandemic drug: study

The influenza virus can evolve resistance to an anti-flu drug currently in development for use in pandemics but only if there are multiple genetic mutations, a study has found. Scientists at Imperial College London, in collaboration with Public Health England, have discovered that two genetic mutations would be needed for the virus to develop resistance to favipiravir, an experimental antiviral […]

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What is the virus that has killed 7 children in New Jersey?

(HealthDay)—New Jersey health officials on Wednesday confirmed the deaths of seven children following infection with an adenovirus—a member of the same viral family that causes the common cold. Eleven other children are infected, and all cases occurred at the same health care facility, the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in Haskell, according to N.J. Commissioner of Health Dr. Shereef […]

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Spying on the virus: Development to increase effectiveness of viral cancer therapy

Scientists have learned how to observe the processes of oncolytic viruses in cancer cells in real time. For the first time ever, a group of scientists from NUST MISIS and the University of Calgary (Canada) has applied intravital microscopy to study the interaction of oncolytic viruses with both tumor cells and healthy cells. With the technology, researchers can visualize how […]

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Canada updates guidelines for hepatitis C virus infection

(HealthDay)—A guideline published in the June 4 issue of CMAJ, the journal of the Canadian Medical Association, provides updated evidence-based recommendations for the treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Hemant Shah, M.D., from the University of Toronto, and colleagues conducted a focused literature search to update the evidence base used in the 2015 guideline. The resulting […]

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