Influenza News and Research

Latest Influenza News and Research

Urgent action required to increase pandemic influenza vaccine supply

A set of activities identified in the World Health Organization's (WHO's) new Global pandemic influenza action plan to increase vaccine supply requires immediate and sustained action and funding, if the world is to be prepared for an influenza pandemic to which there would be almost universal susceptibility.

23 Oct 2006

Four die following flu vaccination

Following the death of four men who had been inoculated against flu, Israeli authorities have suspended nationwide flu vaccinations.

23 Oct 2006

Swiss become the first to bulk buy pre-pandemic bird flu vaccine

Switzerland has apparently ordered enough of an experimental bird flu vaccine to inoculate it's entire population.

19 Oct 2006

Global pandemic influenza action plan to increase vaccine supply

If an influenza pandemic were to occur in the near future, there would be a shortage of several billion doses of the pandemic influenza vaccine needed to protect the global population.

18 Oct 2006

Vaccine that protects mice against 1918 influenza virus developed

Federal scientists have developed a vaccine that protects mice against the killer 1918 influenza virus. They also have created a technique for identifying antibodies that neutralize this virus, a tool that could help contain future pandemic flu strains.

17 Oct 2006

GPs crucial in coping with pandemic influenza outbreak

General practitioners would be crucial in avoiding large numbers of deaths in Australia as a result of a pandemic influenza outbreak, researchers at The Australian National University have shown.

16 Oct 2006

Bird flu death toll in Indonesia reaches 55

There have been another two confirmed deaths from bird flu in Indonesia which has taken the death toll there to 55.

16 Oct 2006

Ohio wild bird samples undergo additional bird flu testing

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Department of the Interior (DOI) has announced a detection of H5 and N1 avian influenza subtypes in samples from apparently healthy wild Northern pintails in Ottawa County, Ohio, that were killed by a hunter.

16 Oct 2006

Updates on pandemic flu vaccine trials to be presented at 44th Annual IDSA meeting

Preliminary results from clinical trials testing two different pandemic flu vaccine approaches - one a prime-boost strategy using different subtypes of H5N1 vaccines, the other an H5N1 vaccine delivered into the skin (intradermal) rather than the muscle - will be presented at the 44th Annual Meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

16 Oct 2006

Keeping our children safe and secure: Pandemic flu and emergency preparedness

Scientists predict that the world is due for an influenza pandemic - a global outbreak from a new strain of flu - that would have a dramatic impact on our nation's communities, schools, and families.

16 Oct 2006

Indonesia confirms three more cases of bird flu

The Ministry of Health in Indonesia has confirmed an additional three cases of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus. All three cases were fatal.

16 Oct 2006

New crisis management centre will speed response to bird flu and other threats

Dr Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, has inaugurated a new FAO Crisis Management Centre (CMC) to fight Avian Influenza outbreaks and other major animal health or food health-related emergencies.

16 Oct 2006

Boy's death takes Indonesia's bird flu death toll to 53

The death toll in Indonesia from bird flu has now reached 53 with the death of an 11-year-old boy on Saturday from the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus.

16 Oct 2006

Generic hypertension drug a suspect in 19 deaths in Panama

As a result of a mystery illness that has claimed the lives of 19 people, officials in Panama have withdrawn all stocks of a hypertension drug used by thousands to treat high blood pressure.

9 Oct 2006

FDA approves FluLaval

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved FluLaval, an influenza vaccine to immunize people 18 years of age and older against the disease caused by strains of influenza virus judged likely to cause seasonal flu in the Northern Hemisphere in 2006-2007.

5 Oct 2006