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Flu shot might also prevent heart disease

Getting a flu shot may not only protect you from getting sick, it might also prevent heart disease.

29 Oct 2012

UNICEF calls for 'finishing' global polio eradication; Rotary International warns of funding shortfall in India

UNICEF on Wednesday "called for continued dedication in 'finishing the job' in eradicating polio, while also applauding India for being 'declared polio free' for the first time in history," Xinhua reports. "UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said in a statement released … on World Polio Day, which falls on Oct. 24, that 'fewer children than ever before suffer the debilitating effects of this cruel disease,'" the news service writes.

26 Oct 2012

CUMC researchers develop first true mouse model of typhoid infection

Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers have created the first true mouse model of typhoid infection. The development promises to advance the study of typhoid and the creation of new vaccines against the infection, which remains a major health threat in developing countries.

26 Oct 2012

Guidelines to help protect vulnerable populations from flu

While it is important to get vaccinated against the flu virus as early as possible, it is never too late to reap the benefits of this vaccine. According to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the peak months for the spread of the flu virus are January and February and the season can last into mid-May.

26 Oct 2012

New York Times blog features interview with Indian polio expert

To mark World Polio Day, the New York Times' "India Ink" blog features an interview with Naveen Thacker, a member of the team that led India's polio eradication efforts. The country has not recorded a new case of polio since January 2011 and is in line to be declared polio-free in January 2014 if no new cases occur, according to the blog.

25 Oct 2012

Fewer families refusing polio vaccination in Pakistan, but many still not immunized, officials say

Though Pakistani officials said Monday there has been a significant decline in the number of families refusing polio vaccination in the country, almost a half million children did not receive the immunization, Agence France-Presse reports.

24 Oct 2012

India's maternal health care benefit excludes many women because of parity requirement, Women's eNews reports

Women's eNews examines India's Indira Gandhi Maternity Support Scheme, a health care benefit offering $80 cash assistance to pregnant women older than 18 years and who do not have more than two living children.

24 Oct 2012

Sanofi presents overview of Phase II and III trials for quadrivalent influenza vaccine

Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of Sanofi, presented today an overview of Phase II and Phase III clinical trials for its investigational quadrivalent influenza vaccine (QIV).

23 Oct 2012

NPR series on polio examines efforts to fight disease in India

In its ongoing series examining efforts to eradicate polio, NPR's "All Things Considered" on Thursday examined India's continuing efforts to stamp out the disease, noting the country "marked a milestone when the World Health Organization struck it from the list of polio-endemic countries in February after no new cases were reported for more than a year."

20 Oct 2012

New data shows influenza-associated deaths among children, effectiveness of school vaccinations

New data being presented at IDWeek 2012TM shows the fatal risk that influenza poses even for children without underlying health conditions and the effectiveness of school-based vaccination programs in protecting student populations.

20 Oct 2012

Sanofi Pasteur files Fluzone sBLA with FDA for treatment of influenza

Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of Sanofi, announced today that it has filed a Supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a quadrivalent formulation of its Fluzone (Influenza Virus Vaccine).

20 Oct 2012

Link between norovirus outbreaks and excess hospitalization and mortality in nursing homes

In a study that included more than 300 Medicare-certified nursing homes, rates of hospitalization and death were substantially increased during outbreaks of norovirus gastroenteritis vs. non-outbreak periods, according to a study appearing in the October 24/31 issue of JAMA.

19 Oct 2012

Political will, humanitarian effort, funding all needed to eradicate polio

Though "conflict and insecurity problems in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria have presented challenges to polio immunization, ... these are surmountable obstacles," Siddharth Chatterjee, chief diplomat and head of strategic partnerships and international relations at the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, writes in the International Peace Institute's Global Observatory.

19 Oct 2012

NPR examines efforts to eradicate polio in Nigeria

NPR's "Shots" blog reports on efforts to eradicate polio in Nigeria. "[N]orthern Nigeria is the only place in the world where polio cases are increasing," the blog writes, noting, "As of Sept. 1, it had recorded 90 polio cases in 2012 -- or nearly three times as many as in the same period last year."

18 Oct 2012

Roundup: Health care construction boom in Texas; Some Ga. schools, state authorities weigh leaving employee health plan

The Dallas-Fort Worth area is in the midst of an unprecedented health care building boom. You can see the most visible evidence in the Dallas medical district. There, several blocks apart, construction cranes signal more than $2 billion worth of new hospitals -; the $1.27 billion replacement for Parkland Memorial Hospital and an $800 million replacement hospital at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

16 Oct 2012

Therapeutic HPV16 and HPV18 vaccine ‘may eliminate infection’

A candidate vaccine against human papillomavirus serotypes 16 and 18 appears to induce robust immune responses to antigens, potentially leading to the elimination of virus-infected cells and regression of dysplasia, say US investigators.

15 Oct 2012

Blog examines Japanese contribution to global vaccine efforts

In a post in Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog, Seth Berkley, CEO of the GAVI Alliance, examines "the contribution the Japanese people have made to immunization."

12 Oct 2012

Pakistan to become first south Asian country to introduce pneumococcal vaccine

"Pakistan is set to become the first country in south Asia to introduce the pneumococcal vaccine to protect children against pneumonia, one of the biggest killers of children under five in the developing world," the Guardian reports.

10 Oct 2012

Polio vaccination campaign in Darfur shows immunizations possible in 'emergency and conflict settings'

In an Inter Press Service opinion piece, Siddharth Chatterjee, chief diplomat and head of strategic partnerships at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and Sam Agbo, an independent public health adviser in the U.K., write about the unstable situation in Darfur, Sudan, in 2004, and how "UNICEF and WHO in Sudan along with important NGO partners started planning with local authorities on how best to immunize all children in Darfur."

9 Oct 2012

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health epidemiologist receives Dean's Medal honor

Michael J. Klag, MD, MPH, dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, has awarded the Dean's Medal-the School's highest honor-to William Foege, MD, MPH. Foege is a celebrated epidemiologist and physician who played a leading role in many of the important public health campaigns of the past half-century, including efforts to eradicate smallpox and to control onchocerciasis (the cause of river blindness) and guinea worm.

8 Oct 2012

Immunization News and Research

Flu shot might also prevent heart disease

UNICEF calls for 'finishing' global polio eradication; Rotary International warns of funding shortfall in India

CUMC researchers develop first true mouse model of typhoid infection

Guidelines to help protect vulnerable populations from flu

New York Times blog features interview with Indian polio expert

Fewer families refusing polio vaccination in Pakistan, but many still not immunized, officials say

India's maternal health care benefit excludes many women because of parity requirement, Women's eNews reports

Sanofi presents overview of Phase II and III trials for quadrivalent influenza vaccine

NPR series on polio examines efforts to fight disease in India

New data shows influenza-associated deaths among children, effectiveness of school vaccinations

Sanofi Pasteur files Fluzone sBLA with FDA for treatment of influenza

Link between norovirus outbreaks and excess hospitalization and mortality in nursing homes

Political will, humanitarian effort, funding all needed to eradicate polio

NPR examines efforts to eradicate polio in Nigeria

Roundup: Health care construction boom in Texas; Some Ga. schools, state authorities weigh leaving employee health plan

Therapeutic HPV16 and HPV18 vaccine ‘may eliminate infection’

Blog examines Japanese contribution to global vaccine efforts

Pakistan to become first south Asian country to introduce pneumococcal vaccine

Polio vaccination campaign in Darfur shows immunizations possible in 'emergency and conflict settings'

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health epidemiologist receives Dean's Medal honor

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

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