(AP) -- Far too few Americans get their flu shots each winter, the government is warning as it calls for a record number to line up for inoculations this year - including 30 million more school-age children.
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Pneumococcal vaccine could prevent numerous deaths, save costs during a flu pandemic, model predicts
A new predictive model shows that vaccinating infants with 7 valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7)--the current recommendation--not only saves lives and money during a normal flu season by preventing related bacterial infections; it also would prevent more than 357,000 deaths during an influenza pandemic, while saving $7 billion in costs.
Flu viruses take one-way ticket out of Asia, then travel the world
Seasonal influenza strains constantly evolve in overlapping epidemics in Asia and sweep the rest of the world each year, an international research team has found.
Stockpiling influenza vaccine in Hong Kong
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.
Researchers develop technology for early detection of viruses
Iowa State University researchers have developed a technology that detects a single molecule of the virus associated with cervical cancer in women.
Bird flu found in Siberian ducks
The H5N1 avian flu was reported in wild ducks in four regions of Siberia, Russian agricultural officials reported Tuesday.
Interferon as long-term treatment for hepatitis C not effective
Use of the drug interferon as a long-term maintenance strategy to slow the progression of liver disease associated with the hepatitis C virus is ineffective, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers and their colleagues from nine other institutions have found in a multicenter study.
Use of inhaled corticosteroids for COPD does not appear to improve survival
Lung disease experts at Johns Hopkins are calling for physicians to show much greater caution in prescribing inhaled corticosteroid drugs for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease after finding evidence that the widely used anti-inflammatory medications increase the risk of pneumonia by a full third.
New type of vaccines deliver stronger and faster immune response
A new vaccine principle is being developed by scientists at the University of Copenhagen which – if it works to its full expected potential – could help to save millions of lives and revolutionise current vaccine technology. The 'InVacc' platform, as it is known, represents an advance on the original DNA vaccines and generates new vaccines with greatly enhanced properties. The platform consists of a chain of amino acids attached to a gene of the virus being vaccinated against. This genetic cocktail is then inserted into an incapacitated flu-like virus such as the adenovirus and injected into the body, where it triggers a broader and more aggressive immune response, enabling the immune system to quickly seek out and destroy the disease when it invades.