First human trial of new Zika vaccine

zika

The first participant has received a dose of a new Zika virus vaccine being trialled by the University of Liverpool at the Clinical Research Facility within the Royal Liverpool University Hospital. Although now not as prevalent as during its peak in 2016, Zika remains an ongoing threat, with thousands of cases of the mosquito-borne virus […]

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TBE virus decoded

TBE

TBE virus: activation mechanism of flaviviruses identified: A collaboration between researchers at the Center for Virology of the Medical University of Vienna and the Pasteur Institute in Paris has provided unexpected insights into the atomic interactions of the tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus in infected cells. In particular, the researchers identified a new molecular switch that […]

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New vaccines research aims to tackle Ebola, Plague and Zika

People around the world could benefit from new vaccines to target deadly diseases such as Ebola, Plague and Zika, as the UK Government announces a further £22 million for new vaccine research, bringing the total UK funding to £71 million. The funding, which will target some of the world’s deadliest diseases, is announced as the […]

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To Repel is to Protect

repellents

Four years ago working in Timor Leste, I experienced the devastating effects of dengue fever and malaria on families in a resource-poor environment. Waving mosquitos away from my face, I took blood tests and treated a cohort of sick children lying in their parents’ arms, lethargic and flat in the Emergency Department.  I wondered what […]

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Freeze your sperm and beat Zika

The Hippocratic Post - Zika

When I heard that the athlete Greg Rutherford had decided to freeze his sperm before attending the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio, I was surprised but delighted. Here was someone taking control of his own health and protecting his future fertility in case he was infected with the Zika virus during his stay in Brazil. […]

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Why we’ll never beat the flu virus (unlike Zika)

Zika, which has been linked to a huge increase in the number of babies born with small heads in Brazil, may be the scariest virus around just now, but it’s actually going to be much easier to tackle and eradicate than flu, which has managed to evade our best attempts to wipe it out for decades. Every […]

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