A new study has revealed that the evolutionary goal of Ebola virus is to become “more lethal.” Scientists at the University of Liverpool looked at the Zaire Ebola strain, which is responsible for the current...
Archive - January 2015
Scripps scientists discover new vaccine to help smokers quit
Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute announced that they’ve come up with a way to create a more effective nicotine vaccine, which could eventually help people trying to quit smoking from relapsing. In a...
Human mode of responding to HIV vaccine is conserved from monkeys
The antibody response from an HIV vaccine trial in Thailand was made possible by a genetic trait carried over in humans from an ancient ancestry with monkeys and apes, according to a study led by Duke Medicine...
Social clustering influenced spread of Ebola virus in West Africa
Significant social clustering could to be a factor in the transmission of Ebola virus disease in West Africa, according to recent findings. Researchers collected 78 Ebola virus genome sequences from more than 70% of the...
Developing vaccines for insect-borne viruses
Vaccines developed using proteins rather than live viruses can help protect animals and subsequently humans from insect-borne viruses, according to Alan Young, chief scientific officer for Medgene Labs, an animal health...
Rare virus discovered in common tick
Scientists not yet sure of risk to humans A rare virus has been found in ticks that are common in the southeastern United States. The Tacaribe virus is a so-called arenavirus. Some of the viruses in this family are...
Price tag of saving the world from disease: $344 billion
Infectious diseases are incubating everywhere across the world—ranging from the deadly Ebola virus to the more common yet debilitating influenza—to often devastating effect. It raises the question of how large a premium...
"Extreme measures" needed to see Ebola vaccine development through: Experts
Developing and bringing to market effective Ebola vaccines requires extreme measures and unprecedented international cooperation, global health experts said. In an interim report on a roadmap for vaccines against the...
Oxford Vaccine Group begins first trial of new Ebola vaccine
Oxford University doctors and scientists are starting the first safety trial of an experimental preventative Ebola vaccine regimen being developed by the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson...
China approves new polio vaccine
China has approved a new polio vaccine, the first of its kind to be produced in the country, a month after local authorities gave the green light for a home-grown Ebola vaccine amid Beijing’s push to become a...