New DISEASE Gaia Church
.
DISEASE: It's one of the Horsemen fighting all the Plague Species, like Homo Sapiens.
I usta think that people in primitive places like jungles, had to memorize a lot of dangerous/poisonous plants and animals. I suddenly realize that we do too --and probably vastly more than they do. For example, we should know that we shouldn't drink out of a garden hose because of dangerous chemicals that leach from the plastic.
NEWS of NEW DISEASES -08.
. . West Nile; SARS; Norwalk virus; CJD/Mad Cow; Lyme; Monkeypox; Plague; Toxoplasmosis; Legionaire's; Bird Flu; Chagas disease; Dengue; "Flesh-eating" bacteria; Polio (is new again); X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency disease, or SCID, also known as "bubble boy" disease; celiac disease; IED, Obesity, CHIKV fever, picorna-viruses, Leptospirosis, Chikungunya,
. . Non-Human (so far...): Chronic wasting disease, Bluetongue, Brucellosis,
. . About 35 new infectious diseases such as AIDS and SARS have been identified since the 1970s, and the primary source for new human infections has been animal-borne viruses.
It's not really new --there's suspicion that Alexander the Great may have died of West Nile Virus.
An AIDS virus measures around 50 nanometers across.
.
July 13, 09: The way swine flu multiplies in the respiratory system is more severe than ordinary winter flu, a new study in animals finds. Tests in monkeys, mice and ferrets show that the swine flu thrives in greater numbers all over the respiratory system, including the lungs, and causes lesions, instead of staying in the nose and throat like seasonal flu.
. . In addition, blood tests show that many people who were born before the 1918 flu pandemic seem to have immunity to the current swine flu, but not to the seasonal flu that hits every year. A CDC study in May also found that one-third of senior citizens had some immunity to swine flu.
But Kawaoka did not find that. He checked blood samples from a wide number of age groups. With two exceptions, he found only people who were born before the 1918 pandemic to have immunity.
=============
. . Flu viruses that sparked the three worst pandemics in the last century circulated in their near-complete forms for years before the catastrophes occurred, researchers in Hong Kong and the US have found.
. . The H1N1 virus that sparked the Spanish flu of 1918-1919 circulated in swine and humans well before the pandemic started, and it did not come directly from birds as previously thought, they added. Instead, it was probably generated by genetic exchanges between flu viruses from swine and humans.
. . This contrasts sharply with previous studies which suggested that the H1N1 virus of 1918 was a mutant that jumped direct from birds to human and ended up killing as many as 50 million people.
. . They said the viruses of 1918 and 1957 went through at least two rounds of reassortments before the pandemics occurred. Reassortments happen when flu viruses swap genetic material, which happens when an animal or person is infected with two strains at the same time.
. . The genes of the 1918 virus likely circulated in swine and humans from as early as 1911, and the virus was unlikely to have been transmitted directly from birds to humans, Guan said.
----------------
. . Saying the new H1N1 virus is "unstoppable", the World Health Organization gave drug makers a full go-ahead to manufacture vaccines against the pandemic influenza strain.
July 9, 09: Phllipines: A form of ebola virus has been detected in pigs for the first time, raising concerns it could mutate and threaten humans, scientists report.
Jun 23, 09: Transmission of an infectious superbug from dogs and cats to humans, and back again, is an increasing problem, a new study finds. The superbug, a strain of bacteria known as MRSA, has evolved a resistance to antibiotics. It has long plagued hospitals but in recent years has become more common in homes. MRSA has even invaded beaches. Only about two years ago, scientists began to seriously suspect pets were transmitting the bacteria.
. . Severe infections can occur in about 20% of all cases, the researchers state, and are caused by Pasteurella, Streptococcus, Fusobacterium, and Capnocytophaga bacteria from the animal's mouth, plus possibly other pathogens from the human's skin.
Mar 26, 09: Researchers have discovered human antibodies that neutralize not only H5N1 bird flu but other strains as well, and say they hope to develop them into lifesaving treatments.
Mar 18, 09: Benedict, arriving in Africa, said that condoms "increase the problem" of AIDS! The comment, made to reporters aboard his plane, caused a worldwide firestorm of criticism.
. . "My reaction is that this represents a major step backwards in terms of global health education, is entirely counter-productive, and is likely to lead to increases in HIV infection in Africa and elsewhere", said Prof Quentin Sattentau, Professor of Immunology at Britain's Oxford U.
"There is a large body of published evidence demonstrating that condom use reduces the risk of acquiring HIV infection, but does not lead to increased sexual activity", he said.
Feb 25, 09: The AIDS virus is quickly adapting across large groups of people to avoid triggering the human immune system, posing another challenge in the search for a potential vaccine, researchers said.
Dec 30, 08: Researchers have found out what made the 1918 flu pandemic so deadly --a group of three genes that lets the virus invade the lungs and cause pneumonia.
Dec 18, 08: In the genome of the endangered gray mouse lemur, scientists have found DNA fossils of an ancient version of HIV. Its exact origins are a mystery, but the clues could help solve a more modern and pressing unknown: how humans can beat AIDS.
. . Remnants of the ancient retrovirus were found by virologists studying the squirrel-sized primate on its island home of Madagascar. The DNA was deposited when viruses managed to infect sperm or egg cells, writing permanent and heritable copies of themselves into the genetic code.
. . Virtually every animal's genome contains fragments left by retroviruses over millions of years. (Incredibly, retrovirus genes may outnumber human genes in our own genome.) To a virologist, every genome is like a Grand Canyon cross-section or piece of Burgess shale.
. . But deciphering genetic strata is more difficult than dating sedimentary deposits: It's hard to tell exactly when a virus showed up. It's possible that this particular virus technically known as pSIVgml, or prosimian immunodeficiency virus of the gray mouse lemur was present when Madagascar split from Africa.
. . That would make pSIVgml at least 65 million years old -the oldest ancestor of modern HIV yet found. While HIV destroys human immune systems, leaving bodies vulnerable to ultimately lethal diseases, pSIVgml doesn't affect the lemurs. They may have evolved an immunity to it.
Dec 4, 08: The blow-by-blow cellular story of those rare people whose immune systems control AIDS on their own has been unknown to scientists -until now. Researchers have uncovered the mechanisms used by a type of white blood cell to destroy HIV-infected cells. If a vaccine could program cells to do this, it could protect people from AIDS.
. . "The cells are massively loaded with killer molecules. They were able, in our assay, to kill almost all the HIV-infected cells."
. . It's still too soon to extrapolate from the observations to a fully effective vaccine against AIDS -something that scientists have pursued for years, only to be repeatedly disappointed.
. . But despite the failures of vaccines and other treatments, glimmers of hope are seen in what are known as long-term non-progressors: people whose immune systems naturally and inexplicably control a virus that causes two million deaths every year. Approximately one person in 5,000 possesses this protection, and researchers have identified many genes and proteins that appear to play a role in this defense.
Dec 3, 08: Avian flu viruses make mallard ducks thinner than other ducks, a finding that implies they do not spread the germs over long distances, researchers reported.
Dec 1, 08: The body's initial response to contracting HIV could provide the answers scientists need to develop a vaccine for the AIDS-causing virus, a Nobel-winning expert said. Francoise Barre-Sinoussi told a World AIDS Day event that the human body reacts very distinctly --and quickly-- to HIV infection.
. . The nearly immediate cellular responses seen in the gut and elsewhere could point scientists toward a vaccine that keeps HIV from taking hold. "When I say very early after, it is a matter of days", she said in a speech at the World Health Organization.
. . "Conventional" vaccines would not be enough to tackle HIV, which is a retrovirus, meaning it copies bits of its own genetic code into the DNA of its host.
Nov 12, 08: An American man who suffered from AIDS appears to have been cured of the disease 20 months after receiving a targeted bone marrow transplant normally used to fight leukemia, his doctors said.
Nov 10, 08: Cells have been successfully engineered in the laboratory to overcome one of HIV's most effective defence mechanisms, say researchers. The immune system cells, created by UK and US scientists, can lock on to HIV, even after it has mutated to throw them off the scent.
. . Most viruses can be "cleared" by the body's own defences, partly due to cells called "killer T-cells", which learn to recognize the intruder and eliminate it. However, HIV's power stems from its ability to mutate rapidly to evade detection and destruction.
. . The project underway involves the creation "souped-up" T-cells with the ability to recognize and attack more of these mutated forms. "Even if we do only cripple the virus, this will still be a good outcome, as it is likely to become a much slower target and be easier to pick off. Forcing the virus to a weaker state would likely reduce its capacity to transmit within the population and may help slow or even prevent the onset of AIDS in individuals." Tests on people with advanced HIV may start next year.
Nov 10, 08: Genetically engineered immune cells can spot the AIDS virus even when it tries to disguise itself, offering a potential new way to treat the incurable infection, researchers reported.
Oct 12, 08: A global AIDS vaccine conference this week will seek fresh strategies against the HIV virus, with experts weighing the value of basic laboratory research against large-scale human clinical trials after a string of disappointments.
. . Approaches focusing on "neutralizing antibodies" that would allow the human immune system to block infection completely, are likely to take precedence over existing models that seek to manage infection after it occurs.
. . The conference --a gathering of many of the top names in HIV research-- follows a year that saw scientists drop plans for widespread human testing of the two most promising vaccine prototypes due to safety concerns.
. . The two stalled vaccines, one developed by drug giant Merck and the other by U.S. government researchers, both aimed to fight AIDS by encouraging so-called cell-mediated immunity, jump-starting T-cells to tackle the virus and stop or slow the progress of HIV-related disease.
. . But early results from a large human trial of the Merck product were discouraging and data showed the vaccine may have left some people more prone to HIV infection --halting the tests and prompting some scientists to reconsider the model.
Oct 8, 08: There is no hard evidence that circumcision protects gay men from contracting HIV, research shows.
Oct 1, 08: The deadly AIDS virus first began spreading among humans at the turn of the 20th century in sub-Saharan Africa, just as modern cities were emerging in the region, U.S. researchers said.
. . The AIDS virus has been circulating among people for about 100 years, decades longer than scientists had thought, a new study suggests. Genetic analysis pushes the estimated origin of HIV back to between 1884 and 1924, with a more focused estimate at 1908. Previously, scientists had estimated the origin at around 1930. AIDS wasn't recognized formally until 1981.
. . The newly calculated dates fall during the rise of cities in Africa, and they suggest urban development may have promoted HIV's initial establishment and early spread. Scientists say HIV descended from a chimpanzee virus that jumped to humans in Africa, probably when people butchered chimps. Many individuals were probably infected that way, but so few other people caught the virus that it failed to get a lasting foothold.
Sept 12, 08: A rare genetic mutation may underlie some cases of mad cow disease in cattle and its discovery may help shed light on where the epidemic started, U.S. researchers reported.
Aug 13, 08: One woman who has never shown symptoms of infection with the AIDS virus may hold the secret to defeating the virus, U.S. researchers said. Infected at least 10 years ago by her husband, the woman is able somehow to naturally control the deadly and incurable virus --even though her husband must take cocktails of strong HIV drugs to control his.
. . She is a so-called "elite suppressor", and studies of her immune cells have begun to offer clues to how her body does it.
. . Tests showed that immune cells known as CD8 T-cells from the wife stalled HIV replication by as much as 90%, while the husband's T-cells stopped it by only 30%. Her virus has also mutated in apparent response to this immune attack, becoming weaker, while her husband's virus has remained strong.
Aug 13, 08: Circumcision appears to offer men even greater protection against the AIDS virus than thought and also partially shield them against a common sexually-transmitted disease, two studies presented at the world AIDS conference said.
. . Previously-published research from this trial found that, after two years, circumcised men were 59-percent less likely to contract the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) than uncircumcised counterparts.
Aug 4, 08: Scientists are testing a vaccine designed to give HIV patients a prolonged break from their regular medication.
. . At least 56,000 people become infected with the AIDS virus every year in the US --40% more than previous estimates, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control.
July 23, 08: People infected with parasitic worms may be much more susceptible to the AIDS virus, according to a study that may help explain why HIV has hit sub-Saharan Africa particularly hard.
July 16, 08: A gene variant that emerged thousands of years ago to protect Africans from malaria may raise their vulnerability to HIV infection but help them live longer once infected, researchers said. It increases vulnerability to HIV infection by 40%, say scientists.
July 12, 08: Roche Holding AG will suspend its HIV research because none of its pending medicines represent significant improvement over existing drugs, a company spokeswoman said.
July 8, 08: Gels aimed at helping women protect themselves from the AIDS virus may end up helping men as much or more, researchers predicted.
July 5, 08: A New West Nile virus strain may worsen the epidemic: A new strain is spreading better and earlier across the US, and may thrive in hot American summers, researchers said.
Jun 5, 08: Humans are likely the source of a virus that is making chimps sick in Africa, new research suggests. After studying chimpanzees in Tanzania for the past year, Virginia Tech researcher Taranjit Kaur and her team have obtained data from molecular, microscopic and epidemiological investigations that demonstrate how the chimpanzees living there at Mahale Mountains National Park have been suffering from a respiratory disease that is likely caused by a variant of a human paramyxovirus.
. . Paramyxovirus causes various human diseases including mumps and measles. The virus also can cause distemper in dogs and seals, cetacean morbillivirus in dolphins and porpoises, Newcastle disease virus in birds and rinderpest virus in cattle.
May 28, 08: The number of people hospitalized with a dangerous intestinal superbug has been growing by more than 10,000 cases a year, according to a new study.
. . The infection, Clostridium difficile, is found in the colon and can cause diarrhea and a more serious intestinal condition known as colitis. It is spread by spores in feces. But the spores are difficult to kill with most conventional household cleaners or antibacterial soap.
. . C-diff, as its known, has grown resistant to certain antibiotics that work against other colon bacteria. The result: When patients take those antibiotics, competing bacteria die off and C-diff explodes. This virulent strain of C-diff was rarely seen before 2000.
May 20, 08: Carbon nanotubes could trigger diseases similar to those caused by asbestos, a study suggests.
May 19, 08: British scientists are working on a drug which they say can destroy the most virulent strains of superbug MRSA.
May 16, 08: EU farmers have mostly started vaccinating animals against bluetongue, the virus that ravaged northern Europe's cattle and sheep in 2007, but success depends on vaccine supply and speed of applying it, officials say.
May 14, 08: An experimental gene therapy treatment appears to have helped eight children with a rare and incurable neurological disorder, although it may have been responsible for the death of one, researchers reported. They said the treatment appeared safe and effective enough to try in more children with late infantile neuronal ceroidlipofuscinosis, or LINCL, a form of deadly Batten disease.
. . The treatment, in which a virus carrying the corrective gene was infused directly into the brain, appeared to slow the decline of eight out of 10 children treated. Children with LINCL start showing symptoms at about age 4. They lose coordination, vision and speech and usually die unable to breathe on their own, between 10 and 12. Only about 200 children are alive with the disease globally at a given time.
. . Like all forms of gene therapy, the hope is that the mutant cells will take up the new gene and start working normally. Crystal said the dangerous and experimental therapy was justified for the children. The mutations affect a mechanism that rids nerve cells of waste materials.
May 6, 08: Fears of a virus that has killed at least 26 children in China gripped parents in Beijing as officials temporarily closed two kindergartens amid a spreading outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease. The disease usually breaks out from May to July in Beijing.
. . Hand, foot and mouth is a common illness in children and infants caused by a family of viruses called enteroviruses and outbreaks regularly occur in China. But the current outbreak has led to fatalities mostly when linked with enterovirus 71 (EV71), which can cause a severe form of the disease that can lead to high fever, paralysis and viral meningitis.
. . Beijing has had 1,482 cases of hand, foot and mouth disease this year, mostly in children under five and over half in kindergartens. The virus spreads mostly through contact with infected blisters or feces.
Apr 18, 08: Scientists have identified a new virus that causes bleeding and shock and killed at least one man in a remote area of Bolivia. It appears to be highly deadly and, like other related viruses, is carried by rodents, the researchers report.
. . They have named the new virus the Chapare arenavirus, and say it is related to the viruses that cause Lassa fever and other rare viruses such as Junin, Machupo, Guanarito, and Sabia viruses. They have about a 30% fatality rate. But it is genetically distinct. Nichol said the virus has almost certainly been around for some time.
. . Doctors at first thought the patient had dengue fever or yellow fever --caused by two unrelated viruses that can also cause hemorrhagic fevers. "You'll start seeing bleeding from the nose and mouth and gums", said Nichol. But it is never so severe as fictional accounts and films about viruses, Nichol stressed.
Apr 8, 08: Tests on a father diagnosed with bird flu in China show he probably caught the disease from his dying son. Scientists are concerned that if the virus evolves to pass easily from human to human millions could be at risk.
. . A genetic analysis of the Chinese case found no evidence to suggest the virus had gained that ability. But an expert has warned that failure to control outbreaks of disease in poultry is fuelling the risk to humans.
Mar 28, 08: People who carry a mutant gene can develop potentially fatal meningitis if they get infected with the drug resistant Beijing strain of tuberculosis.
Mar 23, 08: Brazil's military will help fight an outbreak of dengue fever in Rio de Janeiro, the defense ministry said at the weekend, after the disease killed 49 people and made more than 30,000 ill this year.
Mar 21, 08: People whose immune systems are uniquely predisposed to hunting down HIV are causing the virus to mutate into a weaker form, suggesting a new tactic for fighting AIDS. A study found that the mutated form of HIV remained weak, even after infecting people with normal immune systems.
. . The researchers studied 21 women infected by HIV that had evolved in people with immune systems uniquely predisposed to hunting down the virus. To survive in its earlier hosts, the virus had mutated into a less-detectable but weaker form. After infecting the women in the study, who had typical immune systems, it remained weak -- not permanently, but long enough for the disease's progression to be slowed.
. . The infections are still a death sentence, but perhaps a less brutal one. And in the mechanisms of this transfer, scientists say, may be lessons for a new type of AIDS vaccine --one that doesn't prevent infection, but reduces its virulence. They didn't know whether the virus stays weak once it finds less hostile hosts. The CAPRISA studies found that even though the virus was again free to flourish, it only slowly regained its original characteristics. Over the course of a year, the amount of HIV in the women's bodies stayed relatively low.
. . Williamson and her co-authors say vaccines could eventually be used to guide an individual's immune response so that it encourages the evolution of these less-virulent strains. Such an approach would depart from previous vaccine designs, which have focused on preventing HIV transmission by neutralizing the virus or by training immune cells to attack the virus.
. . Vaccinologists may simply have to accept that they'll never be able to completely protect people from HIV. That would be a bitter pill to swallow, but Potash called it realistic. "If vaccines don't eliminate the virus entirely, it's better that they leave us with a weakened virus", she said. "That would be a new direction --and perhaps a more practical direction."
Mar 20, 08: A skin patch helped boost a bird flu vaccine so well that people appear to be protected by a single dose, researchers at biotechnolgy firm Iomai said.
Mar 13, 08: Pets can harbor virulent antibiotic-resistant infections and spread them to humans, German researchers reported.
Mar 13, 08: Scientists warn of wheat disease. Scientists say poorer populations in vulnerable countries could starve if a disease called Ug-99 hits yields hard enough to push up wheat prices.
. . There is already a global wheat shortage and UN agencies are concerned about the impact of high food prices. Some food prices rose 40% last year, and the WFP fears the world's poorest will buy less food, less nutritious food or be forced to rely on aid.
. . Ug-99 is a form of black stem rust that prevents wheat taking up nutrients and can wipe out whole harvests. Scientists at the John Innes Center, in England, are trying to find wheat with a natural resistance to the disease. Most wheat grown in Africa, Asia and China, has little resistance to Ug-99.
Mar 12, 08: Clarissa Poon was one of an estimated 50 million people who contracted mosquito-borne dengue fever last year. She spent an agonizing week on a drip in a Bangkok hospital as she battled the potentially deadly disease. "There was not a single moment when I wasn't aching everywhere, dizzy and nauseous. I was so weak I couldn't even stand."
. . From Africa to Asia to Latin America, around 2.5 billion people live in areas that are at risk of dengue fever, a viral disease spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. There is no vaccine or drugs to treat the illness which killed an estimated 22,000 people last year, most of them children.
. . Due to international travel and climate change, the Aedes aegypti mosquito's habitat is spreading. In January, health officials warned that the disease was poised to move across the US. It has been spreading aggressively in Latin America and the Caribbean, reaching epidemic levels last year.
. . While dengue and malaria share geographical patterns, dengue is more dangerous because its mosquito carriers thrive indoors. Mosquitoes that carry malaria are rarely found in urban areas.
. . Of the 50 million people who contract the disease every year, about 1% get potentially deadly severe dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), which requires hospitalization. Previous victims face an increased likelihood of developing DHF if they contract the disease again, which is not uncommon. There is no cure or vaccination for dengue fever.
Mar 11, 08: HIV can survive the apparently effective onslaught of antiviral drugs for years by hiding away in the body's cells, research shows. They believe HIV may be harbored by CD4+ cells, which play a role in the immune system. The US National Cancer Institute found low levels of dormant HIV in patients seven years after they started --and responded well to-- standard therapy.
. . The finding confirms patients must take drugs indefinitely, and that any break runs the risk of rekindling infection. They found that the virus was still present at low levels in 77% of the patients. The research suggests that although potent antiretroviral therapy can suppress HIV infection to almost undetectable levels, it cannot eradicate the virus --they are high enough to rekindle infection if treatment is interrupted. The risk of infecting others is low, but cannot be ruled out.
Mar 11, 08: A group working to develop a gel or cream women could use to protect themselves against the AIDS virus said they have permission to use an experimental drug from Merck and Co.
Mar 11, 08: Authorities in India's east, battling to contain a fresh outbreak of bird flu, said they were raiding farms at night to catch chickens and ducks and counter unwilling villagers who have refused to hand over poultry.
Feb 26, 09: Scientists have created a strain of the human AIDS virus able to infect and multiply in monkeys in a step toward testing future vaccines in monkeys before trying them in people.
Feb 26, 09: An antibody being developed by a Dutch drug company chokes off both seasonal flu and the H5N1 avian flu virus and might offer a way to develop better treatments and vaccines, researchers reported.
Feb 20, 08: A detailed map highlighting the world's hotspots for emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) has been released. It uses data spanning 65 years and shows the majority of these new diseases come from wildlife. Scientists say conservation efforts that reduce conflicts between humans and animals could play a key role in limiting future outbreaks.
. . They analysed 335 emerging diseases from 1940 to 2004, then used computer models to see if the outbreaks correlated with human population density or changes, latitude, rainfall or wildlife biodiversity. Finally, the data was plotted on to maps to reveal the "hotspots" around the globe.
. . "Conserving areas rich in biodiversity from development may be an important means of preventing the emergence of new diseases." The researchers found that 60% of EID events were caused by "non-human animal" sources. They add that 71% of these outbreaks were "caused by pathogens with a wildlife source".
. . Among the examples listed by the team was the emergence of Nipah virus in Malaysia and the Sars outbreak in China. Others included the H5N1 strain of bird flu, Ebola and West Nile virus.
. . The number of events that originated from wild animals had increased significantly over time, they warned. "We are crowding wildlife into ever smaller areas, and human population is increasing", explained Dr Marc Levy, a global change expert at Columbia University's Earth Institute. "Where those two things meet, that is the recipe for something crossing over." He added that the main sources were mammals that were most closely related to humans. Because humans had not evolved resistance to these EIDS, the scientists said that the results could be "extraordinarily lethal".
. . Dr Dazak said that the maps were the first to offer a prediction of where the next new disease could emerge. It's a "seminal moment in how we study emerging diseases".
Feb 18, 08: A cream designed to protect women from the AIDS virus did not prevent infection, but it was safe, raising hopes that it might be combined with drugs or other compounds to work better, researchers said.
Feb 15, 08: Scientists are no further forward in developing a vaccine against HIV after more than 20 years of research, a Nobel Prize-winning biologist has said. Professor David Baltimore, president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), said there was little hope among scientists. But he said that they were continuing efforts to develop a vaccine.
Feb 9, 09: Gels to protect women from infection with the AIDS virus have shown hints that they may work, researchers said. But two studies show that men who take powerful HIV cocktails can still pass the virus on in their semen, even if it cannot be found in the blood. The studies show slow progress in finding ways to slow the pandemic, which infects 33 million people globally and which has killed 25 million.
Feb 7, 08: A previously unknown virus killed three women who got organ transplants from an Australian donor, and researchers say the technique they used to identify it could lead them to many more new infectious agents. The as-yet-unnamed virus appears to be related to a bug called lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, which usually causes only a minor flu-like illness. But this one killed the three transplant patients by causing encephalitis, a swelling of the brain, the team reported.
. . The researchers used a relatively new method to find the virus, called high-throughput sequencing. They used powerful machines to get the full genetic sequences from the organs and from the patients, and filtered out everything but the sequences from the virus. His team used a new machine --a high-throughput sequencer.
. . The 57-year-old organ donor had recently visited the former Yugoslavia before dying of a cerebral hemorrhage in Australia, and Lipkin's team said the virus looked like it was of "Old World" origin. "Over half of pneumonia and over half of encephalitis and over half of diarrheal disease are never diagnosed."
. . Over 30,000 organ transplants are performed in the U.S. each year.
Feb 7, 08: The AIDS virus can be passed from an infected mother to her baby if she pre-chews the child's food as sometimes occurs in developing countries, U.S. government scientists said.
Feb 4, 08: Scientists have discovered that a type of gene in grain-producing plants halts infection by a disease-causing fungus that can destroy crops vital for human food supplies. The research team is the first to show that the same biochemical process protects an entire plant family --grasses-- from the devastating, fungal pathogen. The naturally occurring disease resistance probably is responsible for the survival of grains and other grasses over the past 60 million years. Grasses' ability to ward off pathogens is a major concern because grasses, including corn, barley, rice, oats and sorghum, provide most of the calories people consume, and some species also increasingly are investigated for conversion into energy.
Feb 3, 09: A mysterious and deadly bat disease discovered just two winters ago in a few New York caves has now spread to at least six northeastern states, and scientists are scrambling to find solutions.
Feb 1, 08: Scientists believe a chimp virus may hold the clue in the long-running battle to develop a malaria vaccine. Experts have been trying for the last 20 years to find a jab for the disease, which kills more than 1m people a year. An Oxford U team are using the chimp virus to provoke an immune response in cells where the parasites responsible for malaria gather. Trials are just getting under way and, if they prove successful, a vaccine may be available within five years.
Jan 30, 08: Saudi Arabia said it had killed some 158,000 chickens after the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain was found at an infected farm.
Jan 28, 08: The first in a new class of HIV drugs has become available in the UK. It means doctors will have a further treatment option for patients who have built up resistance to existing drugs. Raltegravir is an integrase inhibitor, which works by blocking an enzyme essential for HIV to be able to replicate itself.
. . An estimated 73,000 people live with HIV in the UK. Raltegravir will be reserved for those who have stopped responding to other treatment.
Jan 22, 08: Scientists at a British biotech company said they have evidence that their genetically modified mosquitoes, which are programmed for sudden, early death, can control the spread of dengue fever.
. . Dengue is carried by mosquitoes and is the scourge of urban areas in the developing world, much as malaria is in rural regions. The company, Oxitec, said it can decimate mosquito populations by breeding genetically modified male mosquitoes, then releasing them to mate with wild females. Their offspring contain lethal genes that kill them young, before they can reproduce. Company officials told Wired News that their latest test results show that the genetically modified bugs can breed just as well as wild ones.
. . Mosquitoes pass dengue fever to up to 100 million people each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Up to 5 million die.
. . Oxitec's technology is a variation of a proven process called "sterile insect technique", which scientists have already used to eliminate the screwworm and the Mediterranean fruit fly from North America. It involves irradiating male insects, causing mutations that make them sterile. When released into the wild, they mate with females who then fail to reproduce.
. . But the amount of radiation used in that technique kills mosquitoes. So in a twist on the sterile insect technique, Alphey discovered a way to genetically program the bugs to die unless they're fed the common antibiotic tetracycline.
Jan 22, 08: Scientists have made the lethal virus Ebola harmless in the lab, aiding research into a vaccine or cure.
Jan 20, 08: Scientists in Hong Kong and China are working on an AIDS vaccine to protect against three variants of HIV sweeping across south and west China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
. . Scientists have been using gene sequencing to track how HIV viruses in China are evolving, and their geographical spread. Two closely-related HIV variants had spread through intravenous drug users. The third variant is in Yunnan and southern Guangxi province, which Chen said is passed mainly through heterosexual sex.
. . Collaborating scientists in the U.S. and China have designed a vaccine based on the two HIV variants spreading among IDUs and they hope to test it in animals by the end of this year. Despite free antiretroviral drugs provided by the government, some 30% of patients have developed full-blown AIDS --which Chen attributed to drug resistance.
Jan 19, 08: Bird flu spread to two new districts in an eastern Indian state, officials confirmed, as veterinary staff struggled to cull thousands of birds in the face of resistance from farmers.
. . Indian health workers urged villagers at the center of a bird flu outbreak to stop dumping dead fowl in ponds, as ignorance about the virus hampers efforts to contain its spread.
Jan 16, 08: EU countries should order now a new vaccine to fight a resurgence this year of bluetongue, the virus that ravaged northern Europe's cattle and sheep in 2007, EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said.
Jan 16, 08: Veterinary workers began killing thousands of chickens in eastern India following what the World Health Organisation (WHO) said was the worst outbreak of bird flu in the country.
Jan 15, 08: The Indian government confirmed that the latest outbreak of bird flu in poultry in the country's east was of the virulent H5N1 strain.
Jan 11, 08: Researchers have found more than 200 possible new targets for better AIDS drugs by doing a kind of backward search --looking at human cells to see what resources they have that can be hijacked by the deadly virus.
. . They scanned all the genes in the human genome and found 273 protein-coding genes that the human immunodeficiency virus uses to infect cells and propagate itself. Many could provide the basis for new drugs.
Jan 10, 08: The AIDS virus has to hijack human proteins to do its damage, but scientists until now have known only a few dozen of its targets. On Thursday, Harvard researchers unveiled a surprisingly longer list, an important first step in the hunt for new drugs.
. . HIV is on its face a simple virus, consisting of just nine genes. Yet it makes up for that bare-bones structure in a sinister and complex way -by literally taking over the cellular machinery of its victims so it can multiply and then destroy.
. . The proteins it exploits have been dubbed HIV dependency factors, and 36 had been discovered. The new research found 273 of these potential HIV targets.
Jan 8, 08: Dengue fever --a tropical infection that usually causes flu-like illness-- may be poised to spread across the US and urgent study is needed, health officials said.
. . Cases of the sometimes deadly mosquito-borne disease have been reported in Texas and this may be the beginning of a new trend. A warming climate and less-than-stellar efforts to control mosquitoes could accelerate its spread northwards, they cautioned.
. . "Worldwide, dengue is among the most important reemerging infectious diseases, with an estimated 50 to 100 million annual cases, 500,000 hospitalizations and, by World Health Organization estimates, 22,000 deaths, mostly in children."
. . They compared dengue to West Nile virus, which first appeared in New York in 1999 and has now spread to the entire continental US, Canada and Mexico. West Nile killed at least 98 people in the US last year.
. . Both viruses are carried by mosquitoes. Dengue can be carried by the Aedes albopictus or Asian tiger mosquito --first seen in 1985 in the US-- as well as the more common Aedes aegypti species. Most people infected with a dengue virus have no symptoms or a mild fever. It can cause minor bleeding from the nose or gums, but can also cause severe fever and shock and without treatment can kill.
.
If you got here from the GAIA HOME PAGE, click on
"minimize" or "eXit". (upper right browser buttons)
If you didn't: the site.)