UT professor uncovers clues into how viruses jump from hosts

Researcher finds that cross-species transmission may have less to do with virus mutation and contact rates and more to do with host similarity HIV-AIDS. SARS. Ebola. Bird Flu. Swine Flu. Rabies. These are emerging infectious diseases where the viruses have jumped from one animal species into another and now infect humans. This is a phenomenon known as cross-species transmission (CST) and scientists are working to determine what drives it.
Gary McCracken, a professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and department head in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, is one of those scientists and has made a groundbreaking discovery into how viruses jump from host to host.
His article, "Host Phylogeny Constrains Cross-Species Emergence and Establishments of Rabies Virus in Bats," will appear in the Aug. 6 edition of Science and will be featured on the issue's cover.
It has been a long-held belief that rapid mutation is the main factor that allows viruses to overcome host-specific barriers in cellular, molecular or immunological defenses. Therefore, it has been argued that viruses emerge primarily between species with high contact rates........

Reservoir cells – could there be a cure for HIV/AIDS one day?

While hope of developing a vaccine against the HIV/AIDS virus is waning, during the last two or three years a new way forward has emerged: the possibility of a cure. Is this just a dream? Not anymore it would seem as many researchers meeting at the 18th International AIDS Society / Conference in Vienna were able to demonstrate genuine advances in this area. These relate essentially to destroying the virus’s reservoir cells.......

Americans Living With HIV/AIDS: Affordable Probiotics to Help

First-of-its-Kind Clinical Trial Measuring Bacillus coagulans Probiotics' Ability to Increase CD4 Cell Count in People with HIV Infection.....

Bolstering the search for HIV vaccine Living with AIDS # 443

Intensifying their search for a vaccine to prevent HIV infection, scientists are planning to run an improved version of the successful Thai HIV vaccine trial in South Africa next year.

News from Thailand late last year that a vaccine trial conducted among 16 000 Thais gave a 31% protection rate against HIV infection has given scientists hope that their quest to find a vaccine to prevent HIV infection is on the horizon. But further tests are needed and South Africa is an obvious place for these to be run, given our high HIV rate.
“There was a clinical trial that was done in Thailand and the results were reported in October last year that, for the first time, showed a hint that we’ll be able to protect people from HIV by vaccination. We’re really building on those findings and there are big plans to repeat those trials, both in South Africa and elsewhere, and, of course, improve on those, but to really see whether these first signs are really something that we can use to make a better vaccine”, explained Lynn Morris, a Wits University professor and researcher for the National Institutes of Communicable Diseases (NICD), adding that “the Thai trial showed that the vaccine in question had a protective rate of 31%”......

Thai activists call for treatment for hepatitis C for people with HIV

Treating co-infection of HIV and hepatitis C (HCV) in Thailand makes sound economic sense, Noah Methany argues in a policy paper published by the Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group (TATAG) on July 28, 2010, in recognition of World Hepatitis Day.
Outlining the public health crisis of HIV and HCV co-infection faced by people who inject drugs in Thailand, the paper makes recommendations to the government to help stop and reverse this dual epidemic.
While Thailand boasts a universal health care system that claims healthcare for all without discrimination, people living with HIV who are co-infected with HCV, notably current or former drug injectors, face unique barriers to effective treatment, notes the author.....