Pandemic News and Research

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A pandemic is a global disease outbreak. During a pandemic, transmission can be anticipated in the workplace, not only from patient to workers in health care settings, but also among co-workers in general work settings. A pandemic would cause high levels of illness, death, social disruption, and economic loss. Everyday life would be disrupted because so many people in so many places become seriously ill at the same time. Impacts could range from school and business closings to the interruption of basic services such as public transportation and food delivery.

Study assesses healthcare workers' exposures to airborne influenza virus

In United States, more than 18 million workers are employed in healthcare sector. Healthcare workers providing direct patient care services face a wide range of hazards including exposures to infectious diseases.

5 Mar 2018

NIAID details new strategic plan for creating safe, effective universal influenza vaccine

Developing a universal influenza vaccine -- a vaccine that can provide durable protection for all age groups against multiple influenza strains, including those that might cause a pandemic -- is a priority for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.

28 Feb 2018

Obesity not found to be risk factor for acute respiratory illnesses

Although obesity has been considered a risk factor for more-severe cases of the flu, a new study found that it is not a risk factor for severe acute respiratory illnesses, including the flu, in children or adults.

28 Feb 2018

Kids under two at greater risk of flu related death

Seasonal flu deaths have been studied and it has been seen that since 2009, over the six seasons of flu with the H1N1 strain of the virus, children under 2 years of age are most likely to succumb. Less than one third of these babies that died had received a vaccination against the flu virus.

14 Feb 2018

New FluChip-8G technology could aid in pandemic preparedness

InDevR Inc., a Boulder-based analytical technology and life science company, today announced plans to launch a Research Use Only version of their FluChip-8G technology to aid in pandemic preparedness.

6 Feb 2018

New study explores how social contact patterns influence growth of epidemics

The first-ever long-term study of patterns of social contact in Hong Kong will improve our knowledge of the growth of epidemics say researchers.

6 Feb 2018

Study: Life expectancy gains have slowed dramatically across the world

Increases in human life expectancy have slowed dramatically across the world since 1950, according to a study from researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

29 Jan 2018

Universal vaccine produces long-lasting immunity against influenza A viruses in mice

Researchers have developed a universal vaccine to combat influenza A viruses that produces long-lasting immunity in mice and protects them against the limitations of seasonal flu vaccines, according to a study led by Georgia State University.

24 Jan 2018

Research provides new model to better ascertain HIV mortality rates in Zambia

A new study that seeks to better ascertain HIV mortality rates in Zambia could provide a model for improved national and regional surveillance approaches, and ultimately, more effective HIV treatment strategies.

12 Jan 2018

Harm minimization approach for smoking cessation with e-cigarettes

Quitting smoking is among the top New Year's resolutions, but is notoriously difficult to do and often requires multiple attempts and strategies.

12 Jan 2018

New TSRI study uncovers workings of first potential treatment for Marburg virus

With a mortality rate of up to 88 percent, Marburg virus can rip through a community in days. In 2005, an outbreak of Marburg virus struck a pediatric ward in the country of Angola. With no treatment available, doctors struggled to help as the virus killed 329 of 374 infected patients.

11 Jan 2018

Unique mechanism of drug resistance found in pandemic cholera

Cholera is a devastating disease for millions worldwide, primarily in developing countries, and the dominant type of cholera today is naturally resistant to one type of antibiotic usually used as a treatment of last resort.

3 Jan 2018

Zika pandemic remains formidable challenge to medicine and public health, say experts

Since 2016, when Zika was declared by the World Health Organization as a public health emergency of international concern, the virus has become established in more than 80 countries, infected millions of people, and left many babies with birth defects (collectively called congenital Zika syndrome).

22 Dec 2017

Lactic acid bacteria can offer protection against subtypes of influenza A virus

Lactic acid bacteria, commonly used as probiotics to improve digestive health, can offer protection against different subtypes of influenza A virus, resulting in reduced weight loss after virus infection and lower amounts of virus replication in the lungs, according to a study led by Georgia State University.

13 Dec 2017

Simple new tool may help physicians identify people at risk for Alzheimer disease

A simple new tool that tracks cognitive performance in adults aims to help physicians identify people who may be on the path to Alzheimer disease or another form of dementia. The tool, called the QuoCo (cognitive quotient), is published in CMAJ.

4 Dec 2017

Experts offer research strategies to yield more protective flu vaccine candidates

In a New England Journal of Medicine perspective, experts from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, and the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza in Melbourne discuss how the process of preparing seasonal influenza vaccines in eggs may contribute to their limited effectiveness.

30 Nov 2017

U.S.-funded global effort appears to reduce incidence of new HIV infections

A steep drop in the local incidence of new HIV infections accompanied the rollout of a U.S.-funded anti-HIV program in a large East-African population, according to a study led by researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

30 Nov 2017

Penn researchers find evidence of new malaria species in wild bonobos

Malaria parasites, although widespread among wild chimpanzees and gorillas, have not been detected in bonobos, a chimp cousin. Reasoning that previous studies may have missed infected bonobo populations, a team led by Beatrice Hahn, MD, a professor of Microbiology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, conducted a more extensive survey, increasing both the number and places they sampled wild bonobo populations.

21 Nov 2017

Leicester to become part of global program to tackle diabetes in urban areas

Leicester will join the likes of Copenhagen, Mexico City, Rome and Shanghai in becoming part of the Cities Changing Diabetes program to tackle the dramatic rise of type 2 diabetes in urban areas.

From Novo Nordisk 15 Nov 2017

Researchers shed light on link between cholera outbreaks affecting African and American continents

Researchers at the Institut Pasteur and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, in collaboration with several other international institutions, recently published two studies tracing the history of cholera outbreaks in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean from the last 60 years.

13 Nov 2017