Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Vitamin E has potential benefit in fighting colds in the elderly

Vitamin E supplementation has potential benefit in fighting upper respiratory tract infections such as colds in the elderly, says a study published in the Aug. 18 issue of JAMA.

18 Aug 2004

Exposure to natural and man-made substances in the environment accounts for at least two-thirds of all the cases of cancer in the U.S.

These environmental factors include lifestyle choices like cigarette smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, poor diet, lack of exercise and excessive sunlight exposure. Other factors include exposure to certain medical drugs, hormones, radiation, viruses, bacteria, and chemicals that may be present in the air, water, food and workplace.

18 Aug 2004

Mixed effects for vitamin E against respiratory infections

Vitamin E does not appear to have a beneficial effect on lower respiratory tract infections in elderly nursing home residents, but it may help them ward off upper respiratory tract infections, according to a study in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

18 Aug 2004

Contract for the production of an investigational vaccine based on an H9N2 strain of avian influenza virus

In 1999 and 2003, an H9N2 influenza strain caused illness in three people in Hong Kong. Scientists are concerned about H9N2 and other emerging types of avian influenza viruses because as they spread—most commonly through poultry—they continually mutate, increasing chances that they may infect humans, evade the body’s immune response and become more lethal.

17 Aug 2004

Veterans Affairs patients with diabetes are better cared for than managed care patients

Researchers have found that Veterans Affairs patients with diabetes are more likely to receive recommended tests and have better outcomes than managed care patients.

17 Aug 2004

Death rates for young children are related seasonal levels of particulate air pollution and cold temperatures

Seasonal variations in death rates for young children are related to high levels of particulate air pollution and cold temperatures during the winter months, and to high levels of particulate pollutants and nitrogen dioxide during the summer months

15 Aug 2004

Drug company fights to keep toxin in vaccines

The UK announced Saturday they will remove the mercury preservative Thimerosal from their vaccines. The news comes days after an LA Times article reported that Aventis-Pasteur, a pharmaceutical giant, is pushing to keep the toxin in U.S. vaccines.

13 Aug 2004

Three recent deaths in Viet Nam were caused by infection with avian influenza

The Ministry of Health in Viet Nam has informed the World Health Organization (WHO) that three recent deaths from influenza-like illness in Viet Nam were caused by infection with avian influenza. These are the first officially reported cases of avian influenza in Viet Nam since late February.

13 Aug 2004

Hong Kong seeks details on suspected bird flu cases

The Centre of Health Protection is liaising with Vietnam health authorities on recent reports that several people died of bird flu in that country, Director of Health Dr Lam Ping-yan says.

12 Aug 2004

Radical overhaul of layout, design and working practices is needed to prevent back pain associated with kitchen work

A radical overhaul of layout, design and working practices is needed if we are going to prevent back pain associated with kitchen work, said UNISON, the UK’s largest union yesterday.

12 Aug 2004

No adverse side-effects have been observed in clinical trial of SARS vaccine

Sinovac Biotech has announced that all 36 subjects of the Phase I human clinical trial for its inactivated SARS vaccine have now been vaccinated with either SARS vaccine or placebo.

11 Aug 2004

First human cases of West Nile virus in Mississippi

The seven human cases occurred in: Covington (1), Harrison (1), Lincoln (1), Leflore (1), Rankin (2) and Simpson (1) counties; these numbers include the five suspected cases reported last week by the Mississippi State Department of Health.

11 Aug 2004

Not only has life evolved, but life has evolved to evolve

That's the conclusion drawn by two Rice University scientists who have designed a computer simulation to test the idea that evolvability — the likelihood of genetic mutation — is a trait that can itself be favored or disfavored through the process of natural selection.

11 Aug 2004

The British government has announced plans for a new combined vaccination for babies and children

The British government has announced plans for a new combined vaccination for babies and children. A single jab will protect children against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib), and polio.

9 Aug 2004

Gravity model applicable to disease spread

Tracking the spread of new or re-emergent diseases such as SARS or smallpox is essential in controlling disease epidemics, but horse-and-buggy concepts of how diseases spread have been supplanted by 21st-century realities.

9 Aug 2004

Tobacco industry's efforts to influence the print media

A study based on the tobacco industry's own documents shows the extent of the tobacco industry's efforts to influence the print media on the health effects of secondhand smoke.

7 Aug 2004

Australian university signs multi-million dollar anti-cancer research deal

Australia's University of Newcastle Research Associates (TUNRA) Ltd has signed a licensing agreement worth approximately $10 million with the biotechnology company Psiron Ltd to develop anti-cancer treatments.

5 Aug 2004

24-year long asthma study is answering doctors' questions about asthma and its causes

Doctors have concluded that children do not usually outgrow asthma after puberty as was previously assumed. There are also other factors that contribute to the onset of asthma in test subjects, including infection and obesity.

5 Aug 2004

Growing crisis of antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Scientists, the federal government and the pharmaceutical industry must work together quickly to solve the growing crisis of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, a Virginia Commonwealth University infectious disease expert said in today's issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

5 Aug 2004