Influenza News and Research

Latest Influenza News and Research

Simple measures such as hand washing better than drugs in dealing with flu viruses

Scientists say using physical barriers, such as regular hand washing and wearing masks, gloves and gowns, may be far more effective than drugs to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses such as influenza and SARS.

27 Nov 2007

Physical barriers may be more effective than drugs to prevent pandemics

Physical barriers, such as regular handwashing and wearing masks, gloves and gowns may be more effective than drugs to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses like influenza and SARS, concludes a study published on bmj.com.

27 Nov 2007

Bird flu in South Korea prompts culling of 17,000 ducks

A bird flu scare in South Korea has prompted Japan to ban all imports of poultry from there.

27 Nov 2007

New strategic relationship between PAHO and the Canadian government

The Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Dr. Mirta Roses, and the Permanent Representative of Canada to the Organization of American States (OAS), Ambassador Graeme C. Clark, have signed a master framework document that represents an important step forward in the strategic relationship between PAHO and the Canadian government Ambassador Graeme C. Clark and Dr. Mirta Roses sign the strategic cooperation framework.

27 Nov 2007

Indonesia refuses again to share bird flu samples

The nation's health minister Siti Fadilah Supari says before any bird flu specimens are sent to the WHO, Indonesia needs assurances that poorer nations will have affordable access to any pandemic vaccines developed from the virus and they are not only available to the rich

26 Nov 2007

Brits gear up for pandemic while FDA warns about flu jabs side-effects

The British government says it plans to double its stockpile of antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu to cope with the possibility of a flu pandemic.

26 Nov 2007

UK framework for responding to an influenza pandemic

The Health Protection Agency welcomes publication of the Government's National Framework for Responding to an Influenza Pandemic.

22 Nov 2007

Novel proposal to overcome the virus sharing impasse

In light of the importance of virus monitoring for pandemic influenza preparedness and response, Indonesia's refusal to share samples of avian flu (H5N1) virus with the WHO for most of 2007 is "distressing and potentially dangerous for global public health," say two leading global health experts in an essay in this week's PLoS Medicine.

21 Nov 2007

Influenza vaccine strategies for broad global access

If an influenza pandemic occurred this year, fewer than one-fifth of the approximately 13 billion vaccine doses needed to fully vaccinate the global population would be available within six months in a best-case scenario.

21 Nov 2007

British bird flu outbreak now under control

The cull involved four premises identified as having had dangerous contact with Redgrave Park Farm, near Diss, where the potentially lethal H5N1 strain of avian influenza was confirmed last week.

19 Nov 2007

Tamiflu significantly reduces illness severity and duration in children one year and older

...particularly if given within 24 hours of symptom onset, according to new data presented at the World Society for Pediatric Infectious Disease (WISPID) meeting in Bangkok 15-18 November.

16 Nov 2007

Lessons learned from Turkey's 2006 bird flu outbreak

Rapid responses by Turkey's health authorities and key health personnel were critical in bringing the 2006 bird flu outbreak under control, according to research published in the online open access journal, BMC Public Health.

16 Nov 2007

Deadly bird flu hits Britain

Officials in Britain have confirmed that the bird flu strain detected in turkeys on a farm in Norfolk is the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus

13 Nov 2007

Nanoviricide drug candidate effectiveness confirmed against rabies and influenzas

NanoViricides, Inc. has said that in a confirmatory study, their nanoviricide drug candidates exhibited a consistent 20% to 30% survival in the test animals.

13 Nov 2007

H5 avian influenza found on Suffolk poultry farm

The Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has confirmed avian influenza in turkeys on premises near Diss on the Norfolk/Suffolk border. Preliminary tests were positive for the H5 strain.

13 Nov 2007

Antivirals reduce deaths from flu in hospitalized patients

Adults with influenza infections serious enough to require hospitalization are much less likely to die from the disease if they are given antiviral medications, according to a new study published in the December 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, currently available online.

13 Nov 2007