A new chemical stabilizer – based on silk – keeps the bioactive molecules in vaccines and antibiotics stable for long periods at temperatures of up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. The developers, funded by the National Institutes of Health, say their technique could dramatically improve access to medications in the developing world. Without continuous refrigeration, the […]
A new study shows that individuals with the HLA B57 gene produce larger numbers of T cells that are cross-reactive, meaning they can attack HIV mutations that arise to escape activated killer T cells. Known as non-progressors, a small number of people exposed to the HIV virus progress very slowly to AIDS and some never […]
A researcher from Michigan State University (MSU) has developed a working vaccine for enterotoxigenic E. Coli, which is responsible for the deaths of 2 to 3 million children each year in the developing world. It also causes health problems for U.S. troops serving overseas and is responsible for what is commonly called traveler’s diarrhea. “This […]
University of Michigan researchers say that a new technique for vaccinating against a variety of infectious diseases – using an oil-based emulsion placed in the nose, rather than needles – has produced a strong immune response against smallpox and HIV in two sets of experiments. The so-called nanoemulsion vaccines are based on a mixture of […]
Hopes for radical new vaccines using so-called viral vector technology have received a setback, with researchers reporting that the method may actually do more harm than good. The new study, in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, found evidence that an HIV vaccine construct incorporating the adeno-associated virus (AAV) directly interferes with the immune system’s response […]
Scientists from Jefferson Medical College say they have produced viral immunity to an AIDS-like disease by using a weakened rabies virus to deliver HIV-related proteins into non-human primates. The study, published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, details how two years after the initial vaccination, four vaccinated rhesus macaques were still protected from disease, even […]
Using a common cold virus – adenovirus – as a foundation, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh say they have created a H5N1 (bird flu) vaccine that has so far proven to be 100 percent successful in animal tests. The results were announced yesterday ahead of publication in the Journal of Virology. Tests so far […]
With the H5N1 bird flu virus now spreading into Western Europe, governments are at last seriously focusing on what can be done to avert a pandemic if it mutates into a strain that can be passed from human to human. Behind the scenes, scientists are scrambling for answers in the knowledge that current anti-viral stockpiles […]
While the World Health Organization nervously waits for the first confirmed cases of human-to-human transmission of the H5N1 “bird flu” virus, researchers are ramping up their efforts to design more efficient vaccines. Molecular virologist Suresh Mittal, from Purdue University, is investigating a new way to provide broader immunity against multiple strains of the avian influenza […]
