Influenza News and Research

Latest Influenza News and Research

Montefiore Medical Center experts raise awareness about the importance of flu vaccines

Each year, 30,000 people die from influenza infection and its complications. In an effort to get ahead of the upcoming flu season, experts at Montefiore Medical Center are raising awareness about the importance of the flu vaccine, which remains the best option to reduce a person's risk of contracting the virus. The flu season can start as early as late September and usually runs for about 12 to 15 weeks.

8 Oct 2014

Obama administration announces plans to step up airport screening for Ebola virus

Though President Barack Obama did not say exactly how screening procedures would change, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said officials would consider a variety of options.

8 Oct 2014

Two randomized trials examine new vaccination strategies for avian influenza

Two randomized trials in the October 8 issue of JAMA examine new vaccination strategies for the prevention and control of avian influenza, often referred to as "bird flu." This is a theme issue on infectious disease.

8 Oct 2014

UW-Madison's Yoshihiro Kawaoka recognized for efforts to prevent pandemic influenza

The University of Wisconsin-Madison's Yoshihiro Kawaoka has been recognized as a 2014 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award recipient for his efforts to understand and prevent pandemic influenza.

8 Oct 2014

Researchers develop potential fast-acting "vaccine" for myasthenia gravis

Nearly 60,000 Americans suffer from myasthenia gravis (MG), a non-inherited autoimmune form of muscle weakness. The disease has no cure, and the primary treatments are nonspecific immunosuppressants and inhibitors of the enzyme cholinesterase.

8 Oct 2014

Mymetics' innovative HIV vaccine candidate to enter new preclinical trial

Mymetics Corporation, a pioneer in the research and development of virosome-based vaccines to prevent transmission of human infectious diseases across mucosal membranes, announced today that its innovative HIV vaccine candidate will enter a new preclinical trial to confirm excellent results obtained in a previous trial.

30 Sep 2014

Protein Sciences releases Flublok influenza vaccine for the 2014/2015 season

Protein Sciences Corporation, manufacturer of the revolutionary Flublok influenza vaccine, announced today that doses of the vaccine have been released and are now available for shipment.

29 Sep 2014

Research findings provide clues for design of future HIV vaccine

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have described how a single family of antibodies that broadly neutralizes different strains of HIV has evolved remarkably diverse structures to attack a vulnerable site on the virus.

26 Sep 2014

Influenza can cause ear and throat infections

Influenza infection can enhance the ability of the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae to cause ear and throat infections, according to research published ahead of print in the journal Infection and Immunity.

23 Sep 2014

Pneumonia in COPD patients has distinct clinical features

The aetiology and clinical features of community-acquired pneumonia are different in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease than in those without the lung condition, Spanish research demonstrates.

22 Sep 2014

New research identifies novel cellular factors vital for CCHFV infection

New research into the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV), a tick-borne virus which causes a severe hemorrhagic disease in humans similar to that caused by Ebolavirus, has identified new cellular factors essential for CCHFV infection.

22 Sep 2014

CDC urges all adults to get flu vaccination

Influenza vaccination coverage estimates show an encouraging upward trend overall, but coverage among healthy 18 to 64 year-olds has yet to top 40 percent, according to new data announced at a news conference held today by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.

19 Sep 2014

Getting a flu vaccination helps moms help their babies

Only about half of all pregnant women in the U.S. get a flu shot each season, leaving thousands of moms-to-be and their babies at increased risk of serious illness.

19 Sep 2014

Longer looks: Lithium in the water; controlling cancer; recovering from brain injury

There are many kinds of cancer, but treatments have typically combatted them in one way only: by attempting to destroy the cancerous cells. Surgery aims to remove the entire growth from the body; chemotherapy drugs are toxic to the cancer cells; radiation generates toxic molecules that break up the cancer cells' DNA and proteins, causing their demise.

19 Sep 2014

Getting flu shot every autumn can lead to better health

Everyone knows that the best way to avoid the flu is by getting an annual flu shot. But a trip to your physician every autumn for the vaccination can help you avoid much more than the dreaded flu bug. "At the doctor's office, the focus is on you and what is going on with your health. This is your time to talk about concerns to improve your well-being beyond the flu season," says Jorge Parada, MD, MPH, the medical director of the Infection Prevention and Control Program at Loyola University Health System.

15 Sep 2014

Measles infections worse than flu, new study reveals

Measles causes significant absence from school or work and has a much larger impact on people’s daily lives than illnesses like flu or chicken pox, according to a new study by researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Public Health England.

11 Sep 2014

Mapping fruit bat habitats could help fight against Ebola

In the fight against Ebola, mapping fruit bat habitats could be one important step, says a geoinformatics researcher at Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology.

10 Sep 2014

Researchers explain why people with asthma have hard time dealing with respiratory viruses

People with asthma often have a hard time dealing with respiratory viruses such as the flu or the common cold, and researchers have struggled to explain why.

10 Sep 2014

Evolutionary analysis of public health data during major disease outbreak

An evolutionary analysis of public health data during a major disease outbreak, such as bird flu, E. coli contamination of food or the current Ebola outbreak could help the emergency services plan their response and contain the disease more effectively.

10 Sep 2014

SLU researchers work to prevent several serious infectious diseases

Saint Louis University researchers are attacking influenza on multiple fronts as they search for a universal vaccine that protects people from the flu virus that often mutates year to year with deadly consequences.

9 Sep 2014