http://www.rxpgnews.com/ Medical News and Information Thu, 21 Aug 2008 02:00:28 PST en-us http://www.rxpgnews.com/ebolavirus/How_Ebola_and_Marburg_viruses_cause_disease_5070_5070.shtml Ebola Researchers in the Greene Infectious Disease Laboratory at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Caribbean Primate Research Center have discovered a key mechanism by which the Filoviruses, Ebola and Marburg, cause disease. The identification of an amino acid sequence in Filoviruses that results in the rapid depression of immunological response is described in the December 2006 issue of The FASEB Journal. Using this information, researchers can begin to develop new drugs to stop these devastating diseases. Tue, 17 Oct 2006 02:01:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/ebolavirus/How_Ebola_and_Marburg_viruses_cause_disease_5070_5070.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/ebolavirus/Simplified_vaccine_against_Ebola_virus_developed_4430_4430.shtml Ebola Humans who get infected with Ebola virus develop an illness called Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHV), which is one of the most deadly viral diseases known; 50%–90% of all ill patients die, and there is no available treatment for EHV. Scientists think that the occasional outbreaks of the disease occur because the virus “jumps” from an infected animal to a person (a rare event) and then is transmitted between people by direct contact with infected blood or other body fluids or parts. Several strains or variants of the Ebola virus exist. Most outbreaks have been caused either by the Zaire strain or by the Sudan/Gulu strain (so-called because that is where the particular virus was first isolated). Scientists are working on a vaccine against Ebola that could be given to people before they get infected and then protect them when they come in contact with the virus. A number of candidate vaccines have been developed and tested in animals. Sat, 10 Jun 2006 13:21:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/ebolavirus/Simplified_vaccine_against_Ebola_virus_developed_4430_4430.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/ebolavirus/Ebola_Virus_Vaccine_May_Protect_Against_Sudan_and__3647_3647.shtml Ebola Researchers from South Carolina and Maryland have developed a bivalent vaccine that may protect against both the Sudan and Zaire species of Ebola virus. Their findings appear in the March 2006 issue of the Journal of Virology. Sat, 11 Mar 2006 20:37:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/ebolavirus/Ebola_Virus_Vaccine_May_Protect_Against_Sudan_and__3647_3647.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/ebolavirus/Ebola_DNA_vaccine_produces_immune_responses_Phase__3492_3492.shtml Ebola Vical Incorporated (Nasdaq:VICL) announced today that an Ebola vaccine candidate administered using Vical's proprietary DNA delivery technology was safe and well tolerated, and produced both antibody and T-cell Ebola-specific responses in all healthy volunteers who received the full 3 doses of vaccine. The Phase 1, randomized, placebo-controlled, dose-escalation study, the first human trial for any Ebola vaccine, was sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and conducted at the NIH Clinical Center. The data were presented at the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) 2006 Biodefense Research Meeting in Washington, D.C., by Julie E. Martin, D.O., a trial investigator and research scientist at NIAID's Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center (VRC), which developed the vaccine. The DNA vaccine used in the Phase 1 trial incorporates genetic material encoding core and surface proteins from two strains of Ebola. Vical has secured a nonexclusive license from the NIH to proprietary gene sequences used in the vaccine. Wed, 22 Feb 2006 16:19:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/ebolavirus/Ebola_DNA_vaccine_produces_immune_responses_Phase__3492_3492.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/ebolavirus/Charting_the_Path_of_the_Deadly_Ebola_ZEBOV_Virus_2722_2722.shtml Ebola Thanks to sensationalized accounts of patients with liquefying flesh and spouting blood, the Ebola virus may well be the most feared disease on the planet. But the reality of the virus, which strikes humans and other primates, is grim enough, with patients experiencing sudden onset of fever, headache, intense weakness, and muscle pain, followed by diarrhea, vomiting, severe rash, organ failure, and massive hemorrhaging, sometimes external, within two to 21 days of exposure. The first human Ebola outbreaks occurred between 1976 and 1979 in Sudan and Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), where 88% of the 318 infected persons died—a typical mortality rate for this strain, called the Zaire strain of Ebola virus (ZEBOV). It's thought that humans acquired the virus after handling infected gorilla and chimp carcasses. Wed, 26 Oct 2005 15:40:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/ebolavirus/Charting_the_Path_of_the_Deadly_Ebola_ZEBOV_Virus_2722_2722.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/ebolavirus/Scientists_discover_how_Ebola_virus_infects_cells_1146_1146.shtml Ebola Ebola virus reproduction in laboratory-grown cells is severely hampered by enzyme-inhibiting chemicals, and these chemicals deserve further study as possible treatments for Ebola virus infections in humans, report scientists supported in part by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Fri, 15 Apr 2005 18:56:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/ebolavirus/Scientists_discover_how_Ebola_virus_infects_cells_1146_1146.shtml