virology

Health officials are reporting a decline in the number of people getting vaccinated for the H1N1 influenza — but want people to know that the threat of illness hasn't disappeared. "It has been really quiet," Jackie Skelton, H1N1 coordinator who oversees flu clinics for the Allegan County Health Department, said. "Not just for the H1N1 vaccine but for the seasonal flu as well."  

The Minnesota Health Department is using national Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day on Saturday to remind native Americans to protect themselves from the virus. Nationally, American Indians have the third highest rate of new infections of ethnic groups, trailing African-Americans and Latinos. The Health Department's Peter Carr says there have been 200 cases of HIV infections reported among American Indians in Minnesota since the epidemic began.  

A cheap acne drug that's been used for decades effectively targets infected immune cells in which HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, lies dormant and prevents them from reactivating and replicating, claim Johns Hopkins researchers. The drug, minocycline, likely will improve on the current treatment regimens of HIV-infected patients if used in combination with a standard drug cocktail known as HAART (Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy), according to research published now online and appearing in print Apr

The powerful advantage to using minocycline is that the virus appears less able to develop drug resistance because minocycline targets cellular pathways not viral proteins   -Janice Clements

 

Thousands of people in Washington have a disease that could result in liver failure but don't know it. About 150,000 people are infected with hepatitis C, a virus that attacks the liver, and most of them will end up with a chronic infection. Doctors call it "the stealth virus" because most people won't have symptoms until it's too late for effective treatment.  

His new book, then, a history of the potential hazards the human race has created each time we've come up with something new, ought to be a bracing combination of the stringent and the accessible. Winston argues that scientists should engage more closely with the rest of us. This way, we can ensure scientific discoveries are not abused – to create the flame-thrower, say – or used in such a way that any advances are not accompanied by lethal by-products, such as the H1N1 virus that comes from the intensive  

The likelihood of a third wave of pandemic H1N1 influenza appears to be declining as all indicators of swine-flu activity remain low throughout the bulk of the country, according to new data released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Nobody can say for sure that we are totally out of the woods, but the further we go into spring and summer, the less likely we are to see another wave," said CDC spokesman Tom Skinner. It would not surprise the agency to see some local activity of t

Nobody can say for sure that we are totally out of the woods, but the further we go into spring and summer, the less likely we are to see another wave   -Tom Skinner

 

ILOILO CITY, Philippines—The Department of Health's National Epidemiology Center has sent a team to Iloilo to assist the provincial government in assessing the rising incidence of Hepatitis A in the province. The medical team was sent here on Friday after the DOH declared an outbreak of the disease in Iloilo province after blood tests showed that 38 out of 48 patients from the towns of Sara and San Joaquin were positive for Hepatitis A, Provincial Health Officer Patricia Grace Trabado said. Trabado sa  

Nearly 4 million Americans are living their lives infected with a deadly virus and 75 percent of them have no idea they are at risk. One day, perhaps very soon, these individuals -- our neighbors, families and friends -- will show symptoms of liver cancer or cirrhosis and only then discover that they have been suffering from hepatitis C. The Institute of Medicine has recently released a report outlining the ominous public-health threat of chronic hepatitis C, much of which is the result of unwitting infect  

Deanna Dunnam's 6-year old son Tucker died in February, but she relives his final days over and over. "You're not supposed to lose a child," Dunnam says, "It's just not supposed to happen." Tucker had a fever and had been throwing up the week before his death.