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By Region: North America

Experimental Ebola treatment protects some primates even after disease symptoms appear

(EurekAlert) Scientists have successfully treated the deadly Ebola virus in infected animals following onset of disease symptoms, according to a report published online today in Science Translational Medicine. The results show promise for developing therapies against the virus, which causes hemorrhagic fever with human case fatality rates as high as 90 percent. According to first Read More »

August 22, 2013
| Filed under Africa, North America, South America, Agents & Toxins, Countermeasures, and Research
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17th human H5N1 bird flu case reported in Cambodia

(TheGlobalDispatch) A boy from Cambodia’s southern Kandal Province has been confirmed for avian influenza H5N1, making him the 17th case reported from the Kingdom this year, according to a Xinhua report today. The 6-year-old boy was confirmed positive for human H5N1 avian influenza on Aug. 17 after he caught fever, headache, abdominal pain, vomiting, cough Read More »

August 22, 2013
| Filed under Africa, North America, Agents & Toxins, and International
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Tick by tick: Studying Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus carried by ticks

(ScienceDaily) When University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers set out to study Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus, they faced a daunting challenge. The deadly virus requires biosafety level 4 containment, and it’s carried by ticks. That meant that if scientists wanted to study the transmission of the virus, they had to do something that Read More »

August 20, 2013
| Filed under Africa, North America, Agents & Toxins, Biosafety, and Research
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Salk Institute Findings May Lead to New Broad-Spectrum Antivirals

(GlobalBiodefense) Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have discovered a powerful mechanism by which viruses such as influenza, West Nile and Dengue evade the body’s immune response and infect humans with these potentially deadly diseases. The findings may provide scientists with an attractive target for novel antiviral therapies. Published in the August issue Read More »

August 20, 2013
| Filed under Europe, North America, South America, Countermeasures, and Research
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Scripps Research Institute scientists reveal how deadly Ebola virus assembles

(e!ScienceNews) Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have discovered the molecular mechanism by which the deadly Ebola virus assembles, providing potential new drug targets. Surprisingly, the study showed that the same molecule that assembles and releases new viruses also rearranges itself into different shapes, with each shape controlling a different step of the virus’s Read More »