Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Nanoviricide drug candidate effectiveness confirmed against rabies and influenzas

NanoViricides, Inc. has said that in a confirmatory study, their nanoviricide drug candidates exhibited a consistent 20% to 30% survival in the test animals.

13 Nov 2007

FDA clears breathing tube coated with a thin layer of silver

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced that it has cleared for marketing a breathing tube coated with a thin layer of silver. The coating, a material known to have antimicrobial properties, reduces the risk that patients on ventilators will acquire pneumonia while in the hospital.

13 Nov 2007

H5 avian influenza found on Suffolk poultry farm

The Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has confirmed avian influenza in turkeys on premises near Diss on the Norfolk/Suffolk border. Preliminary tests were positive for the H5 strain.

13 Nov 2007

Chicken pox vaccination should be introduced for children in the UK

The only realistic way of preventing deaths and severe complications arising from chickenpox is to routinely vaccinate children against the disease, concludes research published ahead of print in Archives of Disease in Childhood.

13 Nov 2007

Antivirals reduce deaths from flu in hospitalized patients

Adults with influenza infections serious enough to require hospitalization are much less likely to die from the disease if they are given antiviral medications, according to a new study published in the December 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, currently available online.

13 Nov 2007

Managing asthma

The great majority of the nearly 23 million people with asthma, including 6.5 million children, can avoid serious symptoms and disability if they follow the latest guidelines to keep their disease under control.

13 Nov 2007

Seattle Post-Intelligencer examines reactions of people who participated in Merck's canceled HIV vaccine

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer on Friday examined the reaction of volunteers in the Seattle arm of Merck's recently halted HIV vaccine trial. According to the Post-Intelligencer, participants who were interviewed on the condition of anonymity have voiced "decidedly mixed feelings" about participating in the trial because of safety concerns (Paulson, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 11/9).

12 Nov 2007

Dengue fever vaccine looks very promising

The vaccine Tetravalent is manufactured by drug company Sanofi who say it will be ready to be submitted for approval by the year 2012.

7 Nov 2007

Researchers neutralise the HIV virus

With the latest advances in treatment, doctors have discovered that they can successfully neutralise the HIV virus.

6 Nov 2007

Improving hospital safety rating tools

In a bid to clean up misleading institutional safety comparisons and go further to fix safety problems, Johns Hopkins experts are proposing standard guidelines to be used as hospital safety rating tools.

6 Nov 2007

MRSA prevalent in Canadian pig farms and pig farmers

A new study published in Veterinary Microbiology found methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) prevalent in Canadian pig farms and pig farmers, pointing to animal agriculture as a source of the deadly bacteria.

6 Nov 2007

Selective resequencing provides low-cost method for interpreting human genome

Cold Spring Harbor, NY Scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have developed a new means of extracting and interpreting data from the human genome that is more powerful and more economical than methods currently employed.

6 Nov 2007

Urban kids with asthma need more frequent check-ups

Because even mild asthma among young inner-city children appears to be more unpredictable than ever, four or more check-ups a year after diagnosis is a wise move as a hedge against dangerous flare-ups of wheezing and trips to the emergency room, according to a study from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

6 Nov 2007

Microtek Medical introduces disposable stethoscope covers

Microtek Medical Holdings Inc. has announced the release of StethoClean, a new device that offers clean, disposable stethoscope covers to protect each patient from germs and infectious disease.

6 Nov 2007

Immtech receives $5.1 million to tackle trypanosomiasis and leishmania

Immtech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has announced that it has received $5.1 million from a scientific consortium led by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), which received funds from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to develop drugs for fighting African sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis) and leishmania.

6 Nov 2007

Blood pressure more of a problem in winter

According to the latest research from the U.S. high blood pressure may be more difficult to control in winter.

6 Nov 2007

Common blood pressure medications ACEIs and ARBs provide equal control

Two common classes of blood pressure medications – angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) – are equally effective at controlling high blood pressure, according to a report released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

5 Nov 2007

Cutting-edge method that captures cell growth and activity

This month's issue of Cold Spring Harbor Protocols features a cutting-edge method that provides a snapshot of growth and activity patterns in mixed populations of cells. The protocol is freely accessible online.

2 Nov 2007

Children with Asperger syndrome have a high prevalence of some sleep disorders

The first known attempt to evaluate the sleep patterns of children with Asperper Syndrome (AS), taking into account sleep architecture and the cyclic alternating pattern (CAP), finds that children with AS have a high prevalence of some sleep disorders and mainly problems related to initiating sleep and sleep restlessness together with morning problems and daytime sleepiness, according to a study published in the November 1 issue of the journal SLEEP.

2 Nov 2007

Barack Obama pledges to increase spending on global HIV/AIDS to $50 billion

Barack Obama today stepped ahead of all other candidates for President in one of the most critical areas of foreign policy, the effort to eradicate extreme poverty.

1 Nov 2007