UAlberta researchers believe they now have a clearer picture of why people living with HIV so commonly suffer from dementia and other neurocognitive disorders.
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Many individuals with the blood disorder thalassaemia also carry the hepatitis C virus (HCV) due to contaminated transfusions before 1990. Due to the co-existence of iron overload (from repeated blood transfusions), these ...
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A new antiviral drug candidate inhibits a broad range of coronaviruses, including the SARS and MERS coronaviruses, a multi-institutional team of investigators reports this week in Science Translational Medicine. The findings ...
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Globally, an estimated 71 million people are living with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV). Over decades of infection, chronic HCV infection results in progressive damage to the liver and an increased risk for end stage liver ...
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(HealthDay)—A pill that contains three powerful antiviral drugs might offer a cure for many hepatitis C patients who have failed other treatments, researchers report.
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A study published by The BMJ today finds no increased risks to newborn babies if their mothers have taken drugs to prevent or treat influenza during pregnancy.
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Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) have identified a new regulator of the innate immune response—the immediate, natural immune response to foreign invaders. The study, published recently ...
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Patients with hepatitis C virus infection who received an antiviral drug around the time they underwent liver transplantation saw a high rate of sustained virologic response, according to a Northwestern Medicine phase II ...
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Following recent outbreaks of Zika virus and the potential health dangers of infection, especially during pregnancy, scientists are striving to rapidly develop effective antiviral drugs that can halt transmission. Investigators ...
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Outbreaks of stomach flu or noroviral gastroenteritis can easily occur in crowded quarters like cruise ships, army barracks and schools, but a recent patent may lead to antiviral drugs to help travelers, students, military ...
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Antiviral drugs are a class of medication used specifically for treating viral infections. Like antibiotics for bacteria, specific antivirals are used for specific viruses. Unlike antibiotics, antiviral drugs do not destroy their target pathogen but inhibit their development.
Antiviral drugs are one class of antimicrobials, a larger group which also includes antibiotic, antifungal and antiparasitic drugs. They are relatively harmless to the host, and therefore can be used to treat infections. They should be distinguished from viricides, which are not medication but destroy virus particles outside the body.
Most of the antivirals now available are designed to help deal with HIV, herpes viruses (best known for causing cold sores and genital herpes, but actually causing a wide range of diseases), the hepatitis B and C viruses, which can cause liver cancer, and influenza A and B viruses. Researchers are working to extend the range of antivirals to other families of pathogens.
Designing safe and effective antiviral drugs is difficult, because viruses use the host's cells to replicate. This makes it difficult to find targets for the drug that would interfere with the virus without harming the host organism's cells.
The emergence of antivirals is the product of a greatly expanded knowledge of the genetic and molecular function of organisms, allowing biomedical researchers to understand the structure and function of viruses, major advances in the techniques for finding new drugs, and the intense pressure placed on the medical profession to deal with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the cause of the deadly acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) pandemic.
Almost all anti-microbials, including anti-virals, are subject to drug resistance as the pathogens mutate over time, becoming less susceptible to the treatment. For instance, a recent study published in Nature Biotechnology emphasized the urgent need for augmentation of oseltamivir (Tamiflu) stockpiles with additional antiviral drugs including zanamivir (Relenza) based on an evaluation of the performance of these drugs in the scenario that the 2009 H1N1 'Swine Flu' neuraminidase (NA) were to acquire the tamiflu-resistance (His274Tyr) mutation which is currently wide-spread in seasonal H1N1 strains.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
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