Vaccine News and Research

Latest Vaccine News and Research

WHO and UNICEF have announced a global reduction of 30% in deaths from measles between 1999 and 2002

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nation's Children's Fund (UNICEF) today announced a global reduction of 30% in deaths from measles between 1999 and 2002. At 35%, the reduction in measles deaths was even greater in Africa, the region with the highest number of people affected by the disease.

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

Indiana promotes National Infant Immunization Week

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that each day 11,000 babies are born in the United States who will need to be immunized against 12 serious diseases before the age of two years.

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

New Saint Louis University research sheds light on how obesity occurs

Saint Louis University researchers believe they’ve won a major skirmish in the battle of the bulge, and their findings are published in the May issue of Diabetes.

26 Apr 2004

Polio victory remembered on 50th anniversary of Salk Vaccine field trials

Fifty years ago today, thousands of parents drove their school-age children to designated sites across the country for immunizations of an experimental vaccine that they hoped would stop, once and for all, the raging polio epidemic that was leaving young Americans paralyzed and sometimes dead. Organized and funded by the March of Dimes, this was the largest voluntary clinical trial ever undertaken.

26 Apr 2004

Health Canada funds HIV/AIDS project for Aboriginal communities in Montreal

Health Minister Pierre Pettigrew announced today that Health Canada will contribute $105,000 to the Native Friendship Centre of Montreal for an HIV/AIDS community development program.

25 Apr 2004

Los Angeles health officials urge public to take preventative measures against West Nile virus

Los Angeles health officials have issued a statement urging the public to take precautions against mosquitoes after crows in the county tested positive for the West Nile virus. "These findings are a clear warning that the virus is continuing to circulate and amplify in the environment. Now is the time to take precautions," said Steve West of the San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District.

24 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

Research may offer potent vaccines for viruses such as HIV and West Nile

Researchers at La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology (LIAI) have identified two molecules (TL and CD8aa) that cooperate to trigger immune cells to develop into long-lived memory cells to fight recurring infections. This finding may have important implications for the future development of longer lasting and more potent vaccines for viruses such as HIV and West Nile.

23 Apr 2004

Hepatitis B vaccination for inmates

rrectional settings provide a unique opportunity to offer hepatitis B vaccination to a substantial number of high-risk adults who are willing to be vaccinated and who would not otherwise have access to the preventive medicine, according to a new Brown University study of inmates within the Rhode Island Department of Corrections.

23 Apr 2004

No relationship between HIV and oral polio vaccine

HIV-AIDS did not come from oral polio vaccine contaminated with chimpanzee virus, reports a research team led by a University of Arizona evolutionary biologist

21 Apr 2004

PAHO's revolving fund for immunization

A quarter century ago, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and its member countries launched a unique procurement and financing mechanism to buy vaccines, syringes, and "cold chain" equipment – the basic components of their immunization programs.

21 Apr 2004

One woman’s efforts to eliminate health disparities

In 1970, Mulva Pearson, MD, then 10 years old, left her home country of Jamaica with just the clothes on her back – not even a suitcase. Her destination: the United States, where her mother had been living in search of a better job and better life for her family.

21 Apr 2004

A promising new therapy for rheumatoid arthritis

A promising new therapy for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) developed by researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine re-educates the body's immune system to prevent an attack against healthy joint tissue.

21 Apr 2004

Surviving pneumonia may only provide a short-term lease on a future healthy life

Researchers have shown that the subsequent 2 to 3 years after discharge from the hospital following treatment for pneumonia may provide only a short-term lease on a future healthy life if the patient has certain significant and independent predictors of mortality.

20 Apr 2004