Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

$11 million for lung injury research

Northwestern University has received an $11 million Program Project Grant (PPG) from the National Institutes of Health to define the mechanisms that cause changes in the alveolar epithelium during lung injury.

27 Apr 2004

Pennsylvania's restaurants, stadiums, bars and supermarkets are adjusting to revised food safety requirements

Pennsylvania's restaurants, stadiums, bars and supermarkets are adjusting to revised food safety requirements in the Pennsylvania Food Code, according to a specialist in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

27 Apr 2004

Inspire announces positive results in cystic fibrosis study

Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced top-line results in a Phase II study of INS37217 Respiratory in patients with mild cystic fibrosis (CF) lung disease.

27 Apr 2004

Britain wheezes at bottom of European lung league

Data from The European Respiratory Society’s (ERS) new European Lung White Book shows that the death rate from respiratory diseases in the UK is 105 per 100,000 people, which is twice the EU average. The only countries with a higher rate are former Soviet Union countries - Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – and Ireland.

27 Apr 2004

Morning cough six times more likely to disappear if you stop smoking

It seems logical enough: if you stop smoking, there is every chance that certain tobacco-related complaints will improve or even disappear. Yet no long-term study has ever been undertaken to confirm or disprove this piece of folk wisdom. A cohort study to be published in April's European Respiratory Journal (ERJ) will now fill that gap.

27 Apr 2004

Illinois, hospital beds and other health care services to be monitored

Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich today announced the launch of a $450,000 Web-based system that provides the state with up-to-the-minute information from more than 200 hospitals in Illinois on the availability of beds and other critical health care services necessary to guide the response to an act of terrorism or other public health emergency.

27 Apr 2004

SARS experts head to China

At the request of the Chinese Ministry of Health, WHO is today sending the first members of an international team to help investigate the source of SARS cases recently reported in Beijing and the eastern province of Anhui. The team, which is expected to begin work on Wednesday, will include experts in epidemiology, virology, infection control, and laboratory biosafety.

26 Apr 2004

SARS antibody sent to China

Responding to a request from a Chinese biotechnology company working closely with officials in China, Medarex, Inc. and the Massachusetts Biologic Laboratories (MBL) of the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) have shipped to Beijing a sample of the fully human antibody to SARS developed by Medarex and MBL/UMMS.

26 Apr 2004

Diets like Atkins could help prevent Alzheimer's, cancer, diabetes and Parkinson's disease

Though diets like Atkins and South Beach are the current rage, an emerging eating philosophy may do more than temporarily take off pounds: It could help treat disease.

26 Apr 2004

Overview of West Nile virus before season starts

West Nile virus is a newly emergent virus of the family Flaviviridae, found in both tropical and temperate regions. It mainly infects birds, but is also the cause of a number of conditions in humans, horses, and some other mammals. It is transmitted by bites of infected mosquitoes.

24 Apr 2004

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) overview

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is an atypical form of pneumonia that first appeared in November 2002 in Guangdong Province, China.

24 Apr 2004

Health Canada prepares for West Nile virus

To prepare for the upcoming West Nile (WN) virus season, Health Canada, in collaboration with its many partners, is focussing its efforts in six main areas of activity

24 Apr 2004

Taiwan raises SARS level to CODE RED

In response to two suspected SARS cases reported in China, Taiwan Department of Health has announced today that starting from April 24, the SARS responsive level will be escalated to level A or Code Red, the highest state of alert.

24 Apr 2004

WHO calls for Sudan humanitarian assistance

Intensified and urgent action is needed in the Greater Darfur Region of western Sudan to address one of the most severe humanitarian emergencies today. Given the current situation, the humanitarian crisis will last several months.

23 Apr 2004

Respiratory syncytial virus, a common cold virus, can act as a 'hit and hide' virus

An international team of researchers has discovered that respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a common cold virus causing bronchiolitis in children, can act as a 'hit and hide' virus. It was thought that the virus could only survive in the body for a few days, but these new results show that the virus can survive for many months or years, perhaps causing long-term effects on health, such as damage to the lungs.

23 Apr 2004

CellCept linked to reduced cancer incidence

A study presented today at an international transplant meeting showed that heart transplant patients treated with the immunosuppressant CellCeptÒ (mycophenolate mofetil) in standard immunosuppressive regimens had a significantly lower risk of developing cancer compared to those receiving non-CellCept-based treatment regimens.

23 Apr 2004

The April 2004 issue of Otolaryngology focuses on head and neck surgery

The efficacy of a new cancer-fighting virus is tested in the study, “Treatment of Solid Sarcomas in Immunocompetent Mice with Novel Oncolytic Herpes Simplex Viruses.” A team of multi-disciplinary Japanese researchers found that a weakened version of herpes simplex virus (HSV) effectively eradicated neck and flank tumors in mice.

23 Apr 2004

First Chinese case of case of SARS since January 2004

On April 22, 2004, the Chinese Ministry of Health reported a possible case of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in a 20-year-old woman who works as a nurse in a hospital in Beijing. If confirmed, this will be the first case of SARS since January 2004, when Chinese health authorities confirmed SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) infection in three persons in Guangdong Province.

23 Apr 2004

Clemson launches DNA learning center

Clemson University has teamed up with the nation's leading genetics learning center to help S.C. students and teachers understand the far-reaching impact genetics will have on the future.

22 Apr 2004