Virology News

April 20, 2025

Top Headlines

Americans Don't Think Bird Flu Is a Threat, Study Suggests

Apr. 18, 2025 — A team led by researchers say public ignorance and apathy towards bird flu (highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI) could pose a serious obstacle to containing the virus and preventing a larger-scale public health ...

Structural Images of a Tuberculosis-Fighting Virus

Apr. 16, 2025 — Mycobacteria are the world's most deadly bacteria --c ausing infectious diseases including tuberculosis (TB), which alone kills more than one million people each year. New drugs to fight these infections are desperately needed, as the number of ...

New Giant Virus Isolated

Apr. 16, 2025 — Researchers have isolated a giant virus, which was named Jyvaskylavirus. The discovery shows that giant viruses are more common in northern regions than researchers have thought. It also illustrates that there are still many structures whose origins ...

A Mysterious Pathogen: Oropouche Virus More Common in Latin America Than Previously Thought

Apr. 14, 2025 — Like the dengue and Zika viruses, Oropouche virus causes a febrile illness. There are recent indications that infections during pregnancy can cause damage to unborn babies. Researchers have now ...

Latest Headlines

updated 9:15am EDT

Immune Protein Modification Blocks Viral Replication, Heart Inflammation

Apr. 10, 2025 — Virology researchers have found that a specific protein modification to the immune protein MDA5 is key to how our bodies detect and respond to viruses and viral replication. The publication explains ...

Deadly Rodent-Borne Hantavirus Is an Emerging Disease With Pandemic Potential

Apr. 11, 2025 — Virginia Tech researchers seek to understand the environmental factors that influence the distribution of hantavirus in rodent populations across the ...

Large Dormant Virus Can Be Reactivated in Model Green Alga

Apr. 10, 2025 — Researchers had been studying the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii for decades without seeing evidence of an active virus within it -- until researchers not only found a virus in the alga but ...

Certain Nasal Bacteria May Boost the Risk for COVID-19 Infection, Study Finds

Apr. 9, 2025 — A new study has found that certain bacteria living in the nose may influence how likely someone is to get a COVID-19 infection. The research reveals ...

Engineering Smart Delivery for Gene Editors

Apr. 9, 2025 — A research team has developed an advanced delivery system that transports gene-editing tools based on the CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing system into living cells with significantly greater efficiency than ...

Nasal Spray H5N1 Avian Influenza Vaccine Developed

Apr. 8, 2025 — Scientists have pioneered an influenza virus vector-based nasal spray vaccine platform and developed a nasal spray H5N1 avian influenza vaccine. During the early COVID-19 pandemic, this platform ...

Viral 'Backbone' Underlies Variation in Rotavirus Vaccine Effectiveness

Apr. 8, 2025 — Researchers have shown that differences in the entire rotavirus genome -- not just its two surface proteins -- affect how well vaccines work, helping to explain why some strains are more likely to ...

Rain Barrel Basics: Conserving Water but Not Mosquito Habitats

Apr. 7, 2025 — Researchers surveyed residential rain barrels to determine how often mosquitoes took up residence in rain barrels and what preventative measures would most effectively keep mosquitoes out. Taking ...

An Antiviral Chewing Gum to Reduce Influenza and Herpes Simplex Virus Transmission

Apr. 4, 2025 — Low vaccination rates for influenza viruses and the lack of an HSV vaccine underscore the need for a new approach to reduce viral transmission. ...

A Leap in Viral Research: More Sensitive Viral RNA Detection

Apr. 4, 2025 — Researchers have unveiled innovative, label-free ratiometric fluorosensor designed for the selective and sensitive detection of enteroviral RNA. The research promises to deliver even more advanced ...

Discovery of Bacteria's Defense Against Viruses Becomes a Piece of the Puzzle Against Resistance

Apr. 4, 2025 — Antibiotic resistance is a global health challenge that could overtake cancer mortality within a few decades. In a new study, researchers show that the emergence of resistance can be understood in ...

How a Small Number of Mutations Can Fuel Outbreaks of Western Equine Encephalitis Virus

Apr. 4, 2025 — New research shows how small shifts in the molecular makeup of a virus can profoundly alter its fate. These shifts could turn a deadly pathogen into a harmless bug or supercharge a relatively benign ...

Study Strengthens Link Between Shingles Vaccine and Lower Dementia Risk

Apr. 2, 2025 — A new analysis of a vaccination program in Wales found that the shingles vaccine appeared to lower new dementia diagnoses by 20% -- more than any other known ...

Mpox Could Become a Serious Global Threat, Scientists Warn

Apr. 1, 2025 — Mpox has the potential to become a significant global health threat if taken too lightly, according to ...

Machine Learning Model to Predict Virus Reservoirs

Mar. 31, 2025 — A new artificial intelligence tool could aid in limiting or even prevent pandemics by identifying animal species that may harbor and spread viruses capable of infecting humans. The machine learning ...

Remember Ebola?

Mar. 26, 2025 — Six years before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, an Ebola outbreak in West Africa had people fearing the possibility of a global outbreak. This was the first time many had ever heard of the ...

How Zika Virus Knocks out Our Immune Defenses

Mar. 25, 2025 — This research comes as many mosquito-borne viruses are spreading ...

'Low-Sugar' Vaccine Can Provide Broad Immunity Against Coronavirus Variants

Mar. 25, 2025 — Early animal studies show that a single vaccine could protect the recipient from different variants of the coronaviruses that cause COVID-19, the flu and the common cold. In addition to creating ...

How Bacteria 'Vaccinate' Themselves With Genetic Material from Dormant Viruses

Mar. 21, 2025 — Scientists say they have shed new light on how bacteria protect themselves from certain phage invaders -- by seizing genetic material from weakened, dormant phages and using it to ...

Study Identifies Viruses in Red Tide Blooms for the First Time

Mar. 20, 2025 — Identifying viruses associated with red tide can help researchers forecast the development of blooms and better understand environmental factors that can cause blooms to terminate. The study marks an ...

Starting Points for the Control of Protein Synthesis

Mar. 20, 2025 — The research field of 'cellular IRESes' lay dormant for decades, as there was no uniform standard of reliable methods for the clear characterization of these starting points for the ...

Protecting Crops: Researchers Open Up New Avenue to Combat a Widespread Plant Virus

Mar. 18, 2025 — New RNA-based active agents reliably protect plants against the Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), the most common virus in agriculture and horticulture. They were developed by researchers at the Martin ...

Current Antivirals Likely Less Effective Against Severe Infection Caused by Bird Flu Virus in Cows' Milk

Mar. 17, 2025 — Existing antivirals may be less effective against this H5N1 bird flu strain, and prevention measures, such as avoiding raw milk consumption and reducing exposure in dairy workers, may be the most ...

Older Adults Might Be More Resistant to Bird Flu Infections Than Children

Mar. 13, 2025 — Older adults who were exposed to seasonal flu viruses that circulated prior to 1968 are more likely to have some protection against H5N1, and children would benefit more from H5N1 ...

Researchers Develop Method to Identify Dormant Cells That Carry HIV

Mar. 13, 2025 — Study findings provide a new gene pathway for potential treatment of the virus affecting ...

Intranasal Herpes Infection May Produce Neurobehavioral Symptoms

Mar. 10, 2025 — A study finds that herpes infection through the nose can lead to anxiety, motor impairment and cognitive issues. The research shows that by exploiting a cellular enzyme, the virus can produce ...

New Antibodies Show Potential to Defeat All SARS-CoV-2 Variants

Mar. 5, 2025 — A team has found two antibodies that can work together to neutralize the virus that causes COVID-19 in all its current known variations in a laboratory environment. More research is needed, but the ...

Research Identifies Key Antibodies for Development of Broadly Protective Norovirus Vaccine

Mar. 5, 2025 — Scientists have discovered a strategy to fight back against norovirus, a leading cause of gastroenteritis worldwide. Their new study identifies powerful antibodies capable of neutralizing a wide ...

Cold Sore Discovery IDs Unknown Trigger for Those Annoying Flare-Ups

Feb. 28, 2025 — Scientists have a new target to prevent cold sores -- and genital herpes flare-ups caused by the same virus -- after researchers discovered an unexpected way the herpes virus re-activates in the ...

From Dormant to Danger: How VZV Reactivation Is Driving Central Nervous System Infections

Feb. 27, 2025 — Researchers observed a rise in adult central nervous system (CNS) infections, primarily aseptic meningitis caused by the varicella zoster virus (VZV), post-2019. The researchers highlighted the ...