Influenza News and Research

Latest Influenza News and Research

Amantadine and rimantadine for influenza A in children and the elderly

The antiviral drug amantadine can prevent some cases of influenza in children, and the related medication rimantadine can reduce fever in youngsters who have the flu, according to a new review of evidence.

8 Feb 2008

Australian researchers cracking the code of bird flu time bomb

Researchers at Griffith University Institute for Glycomics, Queensland led by Professor Mark von Itzstein have developed a technique to 'crack-the-code' of the deadly H5N1 avian influenza virus.

5 Feb 2008

Chemists track how amantadine drug changes, blocks flu virus

An anti-virus drug attacks influenza A by changing the motion and structure of a proton channel necessary for the virus to infect healthy cells, according to a recently published research paper by two Iowa State University chemists.

5 Feb 2008

New discovery, immune cells confront viruses just inside of the lymph node

Vaccines have led to many of the world's greatest public health triumphs, but many deadly viruses, such as HIV, still elude the best efforts of scientists to develop effective vaccines against them. An improved understanding of how the immune system operates during a viral infection is critical to designing successful anti-virus vaccines.

4 Feb 2008

A possible H5N1 vaccine

A vaccine against the most common and deadliest strain of avian flu, H5N1, has been engineered and tested by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Vaccine Research and Novavax Inc.

4 Feb 2008

New target for flu prevention

Emerging subtypes of influenza A virus hold the potential to initiate a world-wide epidemic in the next few years, according to World Health Organization officials.

4 Feb 2008

Oseltamivir resistance in European Influenza viruses

Preliminary surveillance into antiviral drug susceptibility against seasonal flu viruses currently circulating in Europe has revealed that some of the A (H1N1) viruses (13%) have shown resistance to the antiviral drug, oseltamivir.

29 Jan 2008

New way to boost the immune system

Queen's University immunologists have discovered how to manipulate the immune system to increase its power and protect the body from successive viral infections.

23 Jan 2008

Flu vaccination rates in children low

According to a report released by the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health, flu vaccination rates among young children and high-risk adults are much lower than expected across the country, leaving millions of Americans unprotected should a major flu outbreak occur.

22 Jan 2008

Good old salt water the best for treating colds in children

Whoever said what goes round comes round was speaking in many ways a great deal of sense.

22 Jan 2008

FDA clears for ProFlu+ test for marketing

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared for marketing a test that simultaneously detects four common respiratory viruses, including the flu, in a patient's respiratory secretions.

21 Jan 2008

Fifth swan tests positive for bird flu in Britain

The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has been found in another dead swan in Dorset in the UK.

20 Jan 2008

Current state of the art in glycoscience

Sugars were once credited with magical healing powers but are now seen like salt as an evil necessary in small doses but the cause of numerous diseases such as diabetes if taken in excess.

18 Jan 2008

Cell death suppression increases efficacy of M2 vaccines

Significant public attention has recently been focused on the development of new anti-influenza (flu) vaccines that provide protection against a broad spectrum of viral strains.

17 Jan 2008

Bird flu strikes again in Bangladesh and India

According to officials in Bangladesh bird flu has killed nearly 500 chickens at a poultry farm in the northeast of the country and as a result another 20,000 chickens have been culled.

14 Jan 2008

Seasonal flu levels trigger use of antiviral drugs

The Health Protection Agency has confirmed that the rate at which influenza viruses are now circulating in England has reached the point which triggers the use of antiviral drugs.

11 Jan 2008

Confirmed H5N1 avian influenza in wild swans in Dorset

The Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has today confirmed highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza among swans in the Chesil Beach area in Dorset .

11 Jan 2008

New York City mortality rate at all-time low in 2006

The death rate in New York City reached an all-time low in 2006, the Health Department reported today, as the number of deaths fell to 55,391 - down from 57,068 in 2005 and 60,218 in 2001.

10 Jan 2008

A look at China's most innovative health biotechnology companies

Government funds innovation but venture capital needed; Wary investors 'need to be shown the exits'; Returning 'sea turtles' bring expertise, international credibility

8 Jan 2008

New international health regulations now in force

New International Health Regulations (IHR)-designed to halt the international spread of dangerous diseases and other threats-are now in force, with the chief aim of reducing the time it takes to identify an illness or other public health threat-including chemical and radiological hazards-that could have an international impact, in order to mobilize a more timely and effective response.

7 Jan 2008