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.

Report: Child poverty widespread in America's largest cities

Years after the end of the Great Recession, child poverty remains widespread in America's largest cities. A paper just released by the National Center for Children in Poverty, a research center based at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, reports that nearly three children in five living in Detroit are poor, according to the most recent Census figures. This rate has grown by 10 percentage points since the onset of the Great Recession in 2007.

2 Dec 2014

Leading experts to discuss specific strategies to combat Ebola

Where do we stand in the fight against Ebola -- and what should be done now?

1 Dec 2014

Flusurvey to offer self-administered nasal swab to all participants

People taking part in this year’s Flusurvey, the UK’s biggest crowd-sourced study of influenza will for the first time be offered a swab to confirm if their symptoms are caused by a flu virus or not as part of a new collaboration with i-sense. Data from social media and internet searches will also be combined with Flusurvey, allowing flu trends to be monitored across the UK more accurately and earlier than ever before.

20 Nov 2014

'Spillover' of henipaviruses into humans underway, study finds

Another family of viruses, deadly in some cases, may have already jumped from fruit bats into humans in Africa, according to a study published today in the journal Nature Communications. The study provides the first, preliminary scientific evidence that "spillover" of henipaviruses into human populations is underway.

19 Nov 2014

Scientists call for public to help monitor spread of flu across the UK

People taking part in this year's Flusurvey, the UK's biggest crowd-sourced study of influenza will for the first time be offered a swab to confirm if their symptoms are caused by a flu virus or not as part of a new collaboration with i-sense. Data from social media and internet searches will also be combined with Flusurvey, allowing flu trends to be monitored across the UK more accurately and earlier than ever before.

18 Nov 2014

Study reveals the origin of world's AIDS pandemic

A study published in Science magazine reveals for the first time where, when and how the world's AIDS pandemic originated. Thanks to a statistical analysis of all the genetic data available on the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), an international research team has just confirmed that the scourge broke out in 1920 in Kinshasa, the capital of what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

13 Nov 2014

Stradis Healthcare signs definitive agreement to acquire Medikmark

Stradis Healthcare is pleased to announce that it has entered into a definitive acquisition agreement with Medikmark, a leading provider of healthcare kits based in Waukegan, IL, under which Stradis will acquire all shares of Medikmark.

7 Nov 2014

Gentiva Health Services reports revenues of $498.0 million for Q3 2014

Gentiva Health Services, Inc., one of the largest providers of home health, hospice and community care services in the United States, today reported net revenues of $498.0 million, adjusted EBITDA of $48.5 million and adjusted income attributable to Gentiva shareholders per diluted share of $0.28.

5 Nov 2014

University of Adelaide-led project develops new test to eradicate H5N1 bird flu

A University of Adelaide-led project has developed a new test that can distinguish between birds that have been vaccinated against the H5N1 strain of avian influenza virus or "bird flu" with those that have been naturally infected.

31 Oct 2014

Insilico Medicine, CCARL and Plantbiosis partner to advance research on aging

Through this unique partnership, the Baltimore-based Insilico Medicine and Lethbridge-based CCARL will provide expertise in aging research and build on the personalized medicine and drug discovery platforms OncoFinder and GeroScope to develop new systems for age-related diseases.

31 Oct 2014

Study details crucial role of culture in achieving better health

The systematic neglect of culture is the single biggest barrier to advancing the highest attainable standard of health worldwide, say the authors of a major new report on culture and health, led by Professor David Napier, a leading medical anthropologist from University College London (UCL), UK, and published in The Lancet.

30 Oct 2014

Imaxio awarded ANR funding to improve efficacy of vaccines for seasonal influenza

Imaxio, a biopharmaceutical company specialized in vaccines, today announces that it has been awarded funding of EUR 600,000 (USD 772,000) by the French National Research Agency (Agence Nationale de la Recherche, ANR) for the OPTIVAC project 'leveraging On t-cell immune resPonse To Improve influenza VACcines'.

28 Oct 2014

Views on Ebola: America needs to 'calm down'; political criticism is off base

A Texas university refuses to accept students from Nigeria, where there were a couple dozen Ebola cases before the disease was quickly stopped.

21 Oct 2014

Scientific insights into flu viruses must not give way to complacency, say researchers

As our ability to assess the pandemic risk from strains of influenza virus increases with the latest scientific developments, we must not allow ourselves to become complacent that the most substantial threats have been identified, argue an international consortium of scientists.

17 Oct 2014

Females' natural resistance to bacterial pneumonia is linked to NOS3 enzyme

Researchers have linked increased resistance to bacterial pneumonia in female mice to an enzyme activated by the female sex hormone estrogen.

17 Oct 2014

Kalorama Information: Experimental vaccine distribution in the UK points to growing flu vaccine market

Kalorama Information believes an experimental vaccine distribution in the United Kingdom and other similar developments point to a growing flu vaccine market, as well as a growing market for the production of these vaccines.

16 Oct 2014

Views on Ebola: Try to keep 'an even keel'; who's in charge of fighting a pandemic?

Understandably, the specter of such a dangerous disease in the United States has bred fear. But it is remarkable how some public figures are inflaming that fear. Commentator Rush Limbaugh took flight on Tuesday, saying on the radio that "I don't think anybody involved with Ebola knows what they're doing. I don't care if it's the WHO or the Centers for Disease Control, I don't think anybody knows what they're doing." This was an unfounded rant that can only deepen public disquiet.

16 Oct 2014

Viewpoints: Health law opposition not propelling GOP; keep politics out of the fight against Ebola

As recently as April, Obamacare was going to be the silver bullet for Republicans in this year's midterm elections. The leader of conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity said his plan was to make Obamacare "the No. 1 issue in the country." Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., declared that the law would be "a huge disaster in 2014" and the deciding factor in November. Well, that was then. Now, three weeks from Election Day, some GOP challengers trying to knock off Democratic incumbent senators have scaled back their anti-Obamacare ads in favor of new targets such as the economy and national security (10/13).

15 Oct 2014

MSH mobilizes resources to strengthen Liberia’s health system, limit spread of Ebola

Management Sciences for Health (MSH), a Massachusetts-based global health nonprofit organization, today announced it is mobilizing its expertise and resources at the epicenter of the Ebola epidemic in Liberia to help the Ministry of Health develop community care centers for Ebola separate from the health facilities; restore essential health services for non-Ebola patients; and, improve the detection and containment of active Ebola cases in Liberian communities.

9 Oct 2014

TGen, NAU awarded patent for genomics-based test to detect H1N1 pandemic flu strain

The federal government has awarded a patent to the Translational Genomics Research Institute and Northern Arizona University for a test that can detect — and assist in the treatment of — the H1N1 pandemic flu strain.