Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Study confirms link between colds and ear infections

A new five-year study at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston confirms the suspected close link between the two most common diseases of young children: colds and ear infections.

14 Mar 2008

Prescribing costs increase dramatically when people reach 65

Prescribing costs increase dramatically when people reach 65, according to a detailed analysis of more than five million patients published in the March issue of the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.

14 Mar 2008

Is deep-vein thrombosis lurking in your legs?

They kill 300,000 people a year - but most of them could be prevented. They strike more than a million people every year, most of them out of the blue - and half without causing symptoms.

14 Mar 2008

Killer flu in Hong Kong not bird flu

The deaths of three children in Hong Kong from a virulent form of influenza has forced health officials to close all of the district's elementary schools.

13 Mar 2008

Researchers find way to increase cells' energy consumption

With obesity still on the increase, it appears that the main weapon in the fight against it - reducing energy consumption by eating less - is ineffective.

13 Mar 2008

Research could put penicillin back in battle against antibiotic resistant bugs

Research led by the University of Warwick has uncovered exactly how the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae has become resistant to the antibiotic penicillin.

13 Mar 2008

Researchers find treatment for familial cold autoinflammatory syndrome

Dalhousie Medical School dermatologist Dr. Barrie Ross and his colleagues have successfully ended a 20-year quest to find a treatment for Familial Cold Autoinflammatory Syndrome (FCAS).

12 Mar 2008

Toddler takes sildenafil in order to survive

A two year old in Britain has a rare condition that causes chronic high blood pressure and must take Viagra to stay alive.

12 Mar 2008

FDA gives new safety information on proper use of Tussionex as a cough suppressant

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an alert today on the safe and correct use of Tussionex Pennkinetic Extended-Release Suspension in response to numerous reports of adverse events - including death - associated with the misuse and inappropriate use of this potent cough medication.

11 Mar 2008

Whooping cough cases on the rise on the North Coast, NSW

A dramatic increase in the number of whooping cough cases in the North Coast Area of New South Wales has concerned health officials.

11 Mar 2008

A simulated pandemic influenza outbreak in Chicago

By using computer simulations and modeling, an international group of researchers including scientists from the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) at Virginia Tech's Network Dynamics and Simulation Science Laboratory (NDSSL) have determined how a pandemic influenza outbreak might travel through a city similar in size to Chicago, Ill.

11 Mar 2008

Femara helps protect against return of breast cancer after completing Tamoxifen therapy

Women may reduce the risk of their breast cancer returning by starting treatment with Femara (letrozole tablets) anywhere from one to seven years after finishing tamoxifen therapy, according to a new analysis published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

11 Mar 2008

Hib meningitis eliminated in children under 5 in Uganda

Hib meningitis has been virtually eliminated in young children in Uganda just five years after the country introduced Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine nationwide, according to an independent study.

11 Mar 2008

Another bird flu case in Egypt...

Health authorities in Egypt announced last week that another child has been hospitalized with the H5N1 avian virus, the country's second case in a child in less than a week.

11 Mar 2008

Japanese find way to make flu vaccine effective for multiple strains

Japanese scientists say they are well on the way to developing influenza vaccines which are effective for multiple strains of the disease, including strains of the bird flu virus.

11 Mar 2008

Pandemic influenza could be mitigated if measures were implemented quickly

An outbreak of pandemic influenza in the U.S. could be mitigated with prompt implementation of social-distancing measures combined with antiviral treatment and prophylaxis until a vaccine is available, according to new findings published in the online Early Edition of PNAS.

10 Mar 2008

Efficient response in primary care would reduce the use of hospitals by seniors

Researchers from the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health from the University of Granada have carried out a study with patients over 60.

10 Mar 2008

Another wild bird in Hong Kong tests positive for H5N1

Authorities in Hong Kong say a wild oriental magpie robin found dead ten days ago has tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus.

9 Mar 2008

Research helps explain why some flu strains cause major pandemics and others lead to seasonal epidemics

The exchange of genetic material between two closely related strains of the influenza A virus may have caused the 1947 and 1951 human flu epidemics, according to biologists.

6 Mar 2008

Roche on Tamiflu label revision

Roche has informed healthcare professionals that the prescribing information for Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate) has been updated to reflect recommendations made by the FDA Pediatric Advisory Committee at a November 27, 2007 meeting regarding neuropsychiatric events.

6 Mar 2008