Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Second bird flu death in Laos - 11th country to fall victim to H5N1

The death of a 15-year-old girl from Laos from the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, is the country's first officially confirmed victim of the disease.

11 Mar 2007

PAHO, Canada sign agreement to advance health programs

The Pan American Health Organization and the Government of Canada today signed a four-year agreement to support international health work in the Americas.

8 Mar 2007

China's southern Guangdong Province found to be source of H5N1

A team of scientists at the University of California, Irvine, who have been conducting a genetic analysis of the H5N1 bird flu virus, have found that China's southern Guangdong Province is the source of the deadly strain.

7 Mar 2007

New technology to help hospitals prepare for disasters

Johns Hopkins emergency medicine specialists have developed a tool to help hospitals prepare for disasters with the potential to overwhelm services.

6 Mar 2007

How polonium-210 acts as a poison in the body

The Health Protection Agency's radiation protection experts together with colleagues from research laboratories in the USA have published a paper in the Journal of Radiological Protection 1 on how polonium-210 acts as a poison in the body.

6 Mar 2007

Health Protection Agency updates on Holton avian flu outbreak

Britain's Health Protection Agency (HPA) has now completed the first stage of the public health follow up in relation to the outbreak of avian flu on a poultry farm in Holton, Suffolk.

6 Mar 2007

Bird flu vaccine - experts say let's try harder

Experts on viruses are calling for a bigger effort to be made in developing vaccines to tackle pandemics.

6 Mar 2007

New drug delivery method incorporates drug molecules in fat

Devastating blood-borne fungal infections that can be lethal for HIV/AIDS, cancer, and organ transplant patients may be treated more successfully, thanks to a new drug delivery method developed by researchers at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

5 Mar 2007

Vaccines for measles-mumps-rubella and varicella are effective in extremely preterm infants

The study, which included 16 term and 16 extremely preterm (born before about 6 months of pregnancy) infants born between May 2002 and May 2005, is the first of its kind to examine the antibody levels of measles, mumps, rubella and varicella in this population before and after vaccination. It was published in this month's Pediatrics.

5 Mar 2007

Another case of bird flu appears in Laos

World Health Organization (WHO) officials say it is likely 42-year-old woman who died in Laos had bird flu.

4 Mar 2007

Insulation improves health

Insulating houses can significantly improve health and reduce days off work and school, according to a new study in this week's British Medical Journal.

4 Mar 2007

Chemoimmunotherapy versus chemotherapy for metastatic malignant melanoma

The addition of immunotherapy to chemotherapy for malignant skin cancer that has spread does not improve survival rates, researchers have found, and patients have more serious side effects, such as anemia, when the two treatments are combined.

1 Mar 2007

Further study of past flu pandemics key to future preparedness

Scientists and public health officials, wary that the H5N1 avian influenza virus could trigger an influenza pandemic, have looked to past pandemics, including the 1918 "Spanish Flu," for insight into pandemic planning.

28 Feb 2007

90 year old corpse may hold the answer to bird flu

Scientists in Britain believe a 90 year old corpse may hold the answer to the fight against bird flu.

28 Feb 2007

Bird flu vaccine offers limited protection but 'better than nothing'

Despite evidence it will not protect most people, a panel of health advisers have recommended that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States approve the first vaccine against bird flu.

28 Feb 2007

AHF launches ad campaign against Bristol-Myers Squibb over antiretroviral pricing in Mexico

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation recently launched an advertisement campaign against Bristol-Myers Squibb over the price of the pharmaceutical company's antiretroviral drugs Reyataz and Videx in Mexico, the AP/Forbes reports.

28 Feb 2007

Lao People's Democratic Republic reports first human case of H5N1

The Ministry of Health in Lao People's Democratic Republic has today reported the first human case of infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus.

27 Feb 2007

Bird flu in Kuwait

Health officials in Kuwait have confirmed 20 cases of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu in the small oil-rich state.

27 Feb 2007

Update on investigation of workers involved in the Holton avian flu outbreak

Britain's Health Protection Agency (HPA) has now completed the first stage of the public health follow up in relation to the outbreak of avian flu on a poultry farm in Holton, Suffolk.

27 Feb 2007

First 3-D structure from key influenza protein revealed

In 1918, 50 million people died during a worldwide influenza pandemic caused by mutation of a bird-specific strain of the influenza virus. Recently H5N1, another highly infectious avian strain has caused outbreaks of bird flu around the world.

27 Feb 2007