https://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. The new foot-and-mouth disease vaccine developed by researchers at Diamond Light Source is projected to deliver over $1.3 billion in annual benefits and transform global livestock resilience. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-vaccine-foot-mouth-disease-billion.html Tue, 13 Jan 2026 10:39:30 EST news687523142 Harnessing the power of AI, a research team at the MRC-University of Glasgow Center for Virus Research has launched Viro3D—the most comprehensive database of human and animal virus protein structure predictions in the world. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-09-scientists-world-comprehensive-human-virus.html Fri, 26 Sep 2025 10:30:03 EDT news678101401 A new Zika virus vaccine developed in Brazil by researchers at the Institute of Tropical Medicine of the University of São Paulo's Medical School (IMT-FM-USP) has been shown to be safe and effective in tests with mice. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-08-vaccine-zika-virus-results-mice.html Wed, 20 Aug 2025 15:06:03 EDT news674921161 While the risk of contracting and dying from the H5N1 avian flu remains low for humans, researchers continue to hunt for vaccines and treatments in case the virus mutates to spread more easily between animals and humans—or among humans themselves. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-05-antibody-therapy-explored-combat-bird.html Mon, 05 May 2025 08:50:01 EDT news665650746 As schools reopen, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reports an uptick in flu cases following a recent decline. Influenza, caused by a virus, presents a serious health threat, particularly in enclosed environments. To combat this, researchers at UNIST have unveiled a technology capable of swiftly detecting airborne viruses, promising improved early detection of viral infections like influenza and COVID-19 in schools and hospitals. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-04-technology-rapid-airborne-influenza-viruses.html Tue, 08 Apr 2025 10:23:03 EDT news663326581 Infections with the hepatitis E virus often go unnoticed because they cause no symptoms. However, in patients with a weakened immune system or existing liver damage and also in pregnant women, the virus can cause severe liver inflammation, which can be fatal. Despite existing therapeutic approaches, there are currently no authorized specific treatment options. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-neutralizing-antibodies-hepatitis-high-patients.html Wed, 12 Mar 2025 13:16:53 EDT news661004210 University of Leeds researchers have taken a major step towards producing a more affordable and lower-risk polio vaccine using virus-like particles (VLPs). These particles mimic the outer protein shell of poliovirus, but are empty inside. This means there is no risk of infection, but the VLP still causes the immune system to respond. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-polio-vaccine-horizon.html Tue, 11 Mar 2025 08:58:05 EDT news660902281 Amid the outbreak of measles in West Texas, there's a question of how contagious the disease is—and whether it will spread in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-measles-outbreak-texas-virus-contagious.html Mon, 10 Mar 2025 09:29:13 EDT news660817743 Scientists at The University of Texas at Austin, in collaboration with researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the National Institutes of Health, have discovered a strategy to fight back against norovirus, a leading cause of gastroenteritis worldwide. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-key-antibodies-broadly-norovirus-vaccine.html Wed, 05 Mar 2025 15:23:03 EST news660410581 Researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry have discovered the mechanism behind an important step in the life cycle of HIV. Working together with teams at Heidelberg and Yale Universities, they found that the enigmatic "spacer peptide 2," one of the virus components, plays a key role in converting immature HIV-1 particles into infectious particles. The results of the study were published in the journal Nature. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-02-scientists-function-mysterious-hiv-component.html Thu, 27 Feb 2025 17:29:03 EST news659899742 In the landscape of public health, few stories are as compelling as the unexpected return of a disease we once thought was conquered. Measles, a highly contagious viral infection formally considered eliminated from Canada in 1998, is making a surprising comeback, challenging our public health systems and communities at large. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-02-measles-resurgent-threat-canada.html Mon, 24 Feb 2025 12:20:01 EST news659621784 Influenza A virus particles strategically adapt their shape—to become either spheres or larger filaments—to favor their ability to infect cells depending on environmental conditions, according to a new study from National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists. This previously unrecognized response could help explain how influenza A and other viruses persist in populations, evade immune responses, and acquire adaptive mutations, the researchers explain in a new study published in Nature Microbiology. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-02-influenza-viruses-response-environmental-pressures.html Mon, 10 Feb 2025 14:29:03 EST news658420141 Investigators from Mass General Brigham have found that a method originally designed for cancer detection can also identify and monitor even tiny amounts of SARS-CoV-2 intact viral particles in blood and other fluids from patients with acute COVID-19 infections, creating the potential for guiding future treatment of patients. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-01-ultrasensitive-serially-intact-virus-covid.html Wed, 22 Jan 2025 14:48:36 EST news656779713 The virus winter season has struck—and COVID-19 is still part of everyday life. However, unlike during the pandemic, we now know more about how it spreads through the air we breathe. Research from Lund University in Sweden shows that it only takes a few minutes in the same room as an infected person to catch the virus. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-01-aerosol-easily-covid-caught-air.html Mon, 20 Jan 2025 12:18:05 EST news656597882 Studies conducted in mice have shown that the COVID-19 vaccine being developed by researchers at the University of São Paulo's Medical School (FM-USP) in Brazil is safe and efficacious. The vaccine triggered a satisfactory immune response against the pathogen in the mice and protected them from infection. An article describing the results is published in the journal Scientific Reports. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-01-generation-covid-vaccine-results-mice.html Mon, 13 Jan 2025 15:49:03 EST news656005741 You likely know that cigarette smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer, but cigarette use poses other threats to your lungs as well. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-01-impact-bronchitis-prolonged-recovery.html Mon, 13 Jan 2025 12:20:01 EST news655991814 Tis the season to wash your hands and watch what you eat. Norovirus, a vomit- and diarrhea-inducing stomach bug, is sickening Floridians through tainted surfaces and contaminated shellfish. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-12-norovirus-rampant-florida-blame-oysters.html Mon, 23 Dec 2024 09:08:26 EST news654167301 Researchers at the Medical University of Vienna and the Medical University of Innsbruck discovered that SARS-CoV-2 hijacks three important host proteins that dampen the activity of the complement system, a key component of early antiviral immunity. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-11-sars-cov-proteins-immune-reveals.html Fri, 08 Nov 2024 11:11:48 EST news650286702 Bird flu, or H5N1 virus, in unpasteurized milk is stable on metal and rubber components of commercial milking equipment for at least one hour, increasing its potential to infect people and other animals, report researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Emory University in Emerging Infectious Diseases. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-06-bird-flu-stays-stable-equipment.html Thu, 27 Jun 2024 13:20:30 EDT news638713003 How exactly do SARS-CoV-2 particles enter host cells? An international team led by Dr. Richard Brown from Dr. Daniel Todt's Computational Virology group at the Department of Molecular and Medical Virology at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, together with researchers from the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, has investigated this question. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-05-route-cell-outcome-sars-cov.html Fri, 31 May 2024 11:50:03 EDT news636375001 In a head-to-head comparison of masks worn by people with active COVID-19, the inexpensive "duckbill" N95 came out on top, stopping 98% of COVID-19 particles in the breath of infected people from escaping into the air. Led by researchers from the University of Maryland School of Public Health (SPH), results showed other masks also performed well, blocking at least 70% of viral particles from escaping from the source—an infected person's exhaled breath. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-05-n95-masks-blocking-airborne-covid.html Thu, 30 May 2024 12:28:46 EDT news636290923 It might start simply, with a cough or sneeze, but in some cases, the flu virus can make its way to your brain, causing serious symptoms or even death through a disease known as influenza-associated encephalopathy (IAE). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-05-treatment-strategy-deadly-flu-brain.html Thu, 02 May 2024 08:44:03 EDT news633858241 Scientists have long known that some viruses and bacteria begin infections by latching first onto sugar molecules on the surfaces of cells lining the sinuses and throat of mammals, including humans. Viral particles, for instance, can attach to these molecules, called sialic acids, or SAs, like keys fitting into locks. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-01-infant-mice-flu-people.html Thu, 11 Jan 2024 09:07:57 EST news624186474 The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, has posed unprecedented challenges worldwide. While extensive efforts have focused on understanding the clinical features, diagnosis, and treatment of COVID-19, certain aspects of the virus behavior, such as reactivation and recurrence, remain elusive. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-12-silent-carriers-long-standing-sars-cov-rna.html Tue, 12 Dec 2023 15:58:03 EST news621619081 A new study reveals for the first time the steps through which human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) binds to the receptors on the membranes of T cells—white blood cells that fight infection. The finding could have implications for developing new therapies. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-11-reveals-hiv-cells.html Tue, 28 Nov 2023 09:52:04 EST news620387522 A cheap, do-it-yourself air purifier is powerful enough to effectively protect a home from free-floating flu and COVID-19 viruses, according to test results from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-10-cheap-diy-air-filter-home.html Mon, 30 Oct 2023 13:50:02 EDT news617889856 The main transmission routes identified initially for the novel coronavirus infection were droplet and contact transmission. Airborne transmission by aerosol particles was eventually identified as one of the most likely transmission routes. Especially with the relaxation of behavioral restrictions, infections continued to prevail, making prevention and risk reduction during public transportation a major challenge. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-10-viral-airborne-transmission-peaks-seconds.html Fri, 27 Oct 2023 09:43:12 EDT news617618589 A flu virus could cause a pandemic, and we would be poorly armed because flu viruses are starting to become resistant to flu medications like Tamiflu. Chemist Merijn Vriends successfully worked on an improved version of such medications. He will be awarded his doctorate on September 12. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-09-inhibits-flu-viruses-blocking-enzyme.html Tue, 12 Sep 2023 14:55:03 EDT news613749301 Herpes is not only unpleasant but it can, in some cases, also have dangerous complications and life-threatening consequences. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a research team has now introduced a completely new approach for treating herpes. Their method is based on the inhibition of an enzyme that is needed for the release of newly formed virus particles from infected cells. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-09-synthetic-heparanase-inhibitors-team-alternative.html Thu, 07 Sep 2023 10:17:03 EDT news613300621 Cardiff University research finds the use of an electric field, called electrostatic precipitation, could prevent aerosol spread of viruses during surgery with up to 99% efficiency—reducing the spread of viruses in health care environments and limiting surgery backlogs during future pandemics. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-08-viruses-surgeries-electric-fields.html Wed, 30 Aug 2023 11:43:04 EDT news612614581