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Battling against resistant and sensitive types of influenza A

Another flu season is here, which means another chance for viruses to mutate. Already, most influenza A viruses contain a mutation that confers resistance against one class of antiviral medications, and the bugs are steadily gaining resistance against another class.

25 Oct 2018

FDA approves new antiviral flu treatment

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Xofluza (baloxavir marboxil) for the treatment of acute uncomplicated influenza (flu) in patients 12 years of age and older who have been symptomatic for no more than 48 hours.

24 Oct 2018

How to avoid shoulder injury related to vaccine administration

A study by researchers at the University of Waterloo reiterates the need for health care professionals, including pharmacists, to take certain precautions to minimize the risk of their patients suffering shoulder injury related to vaccine administration

24 Oct 2018

Genentech’s combination therapy improves outcome in patients with non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer

Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, today announced positive results from the Phase III IMpower130 study of Tecentriq (atezolizumab) plus chemotherapy (carboplatin and Abraxane® [albumin-bound paclitaxel; nab-paclitaxel]) for the initial (first-line) treatment of people with previously untreated metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer.

22 Oct 2018

Many parents still skeptical about safety and effectiveness of flu shot, survey finds

When a child gets the flu, they're not only sick in bed for a week or more, but the illness can also have serious and even life-threatening consequences.

15 Oct 2018

First-of-its-kind study to test a personalized vaccine in cancer patient

Tamara Strauss has been living with high-grade, stage IV pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer for more than three years. Current treatments, although effective for her, are highly toxic.

15 Oct 2018

NIR spectroscopy could be used to make flu vaccine manufacturing faster and more efficient

Recent research from North Carolina State University outlines how near-infrared spectroscopy could be used to make cell-culture-based flu vaccine manufacturing faster and more efficient.

11 Oct 2018

Spurred by convenience, millennials often spurn the ‘family doctor’ model

Calvin Brown doesn’t have a primary care doctor — and the peripatetic 23-year-old doesn’t want one.

9 Oct 2018

Medicare Advantage plans shift their financial risk to doctors

Dr. Christopher Rao jumped out of his office chair. He'd just learned an elderly patient at high risk of falling was resisting his advice to go to an inpatient rehabilitation facility following a hip fracture.

8 Oct 2018

Vaxart to present new data from Phase 2 Challenge Study of H1 influenza oral tablet vaccine

Vaxart, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing oral recombinant vaccines that are administered by tablet rather than by injection, announced it will present new data from the Phase 2 Challenge Study of its H1 influenza oral tablet vaccine at IDWeek 2018 in San Francisco on Saturday, October 6, 2018.

4 Oct 2018

Genentech announces Phase III study results of baloxavir marboxil in people at high risk of flu

Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, today announced that the Phase III CAPSTONE-2 study showed treatment with baloxavir marboxil significantly reduced the time to improvement of influenza symptoms versus placebo in people at high risk of serious complications from the flu, which includes adults 65 years of age or older, or those who have conditions such as asthma, chronic lung disease, morbid obesity, or heart disease.

4 Oct 2018

Special glowing paper strip as rapid, reliable test for infectious diseases

Researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology (The Netherlands) and Keio University (Japan) present a practicable and reliable way to test for infectious diseases.

3 Oct 2018

Penn scientists to explore new approach for predicting and treating diseases at individual level

A new National Institutes of Health High-Risk, High-Reward grant will allow Penn State's Steven Schiff and team to explore a radically changed approach to predicting, preventing and treating infectious disease at the individual level at point-of-care.

3 Oct 2018

Scientists investigate effect of flu-causing virus on three lung-derived cell lines

Perhaps inspired by the annual 3 to 5 million cases of severe influenza worldwide, the Guinness World Record organization is advertising for individuals or organizations to attempt a record for the most people getting a flu awareness lesson at once.

29 Sep 2018

Measures to predict and prevent carbon monoxide poisoning after storm

Severe weather events, such as summer hurricanes, tornadoes, and winter snow storms often result in widespread and prolonged power outages, interrupting essential household functions, including home heating.

27 Sep 2018

Third case of monkey pox confirmed in UK

Officials from Public Health England (PHE) have confirmed yesterday (26th September 2018) that a third person in UK has been diagnosed with monkey pox. While the first two patients had most likely picked up the infection from Nigeria, this third infection has occurred in a healthcare worker who was treating one of the first two infected patients at Blackpool Victoria Hospital.

26 Sep 2018

New TB vaccine effective in half of the population in phase II trials

GlaxoSmithKline has come up with an experimental vaccine against tuberculosis (TB) that has shown effective prevention of the infection in half of the population it has been administered to. This could be a breakthrough in preventing the killer disease say researchers since most of the recent vaccines developed against the disease have failed to show efficacy.

26 Sep 2018

Immunologist to study how Chikungunya causes devastating effects in older adults

Emerging viruses such as Ebola, SARS and swine flu are familiar sounding, yet seemingly distant diseases to many Americans. But that's not the case with Chikungunya, a mosquito-borne virus that recently struck close to home and has proven deadly for the elderly.

25 Sep 2018

October 1918 marks the centenary of Spanish Flu that claimed more lives than World War I

JUST as the cataclysmic conflict of the Great War was in its death throes, a new killer emerged that would, on a global scale, be even more lethal - the Spanish Flu pandemic, which was at its most virulent in October and November 1918.

24 Sep 2018

Old letters provide insight into Spanish flu pandemic horror

An archive of letters written by those who survived the Spanish flu pandemic at the start of the last century shows what it was actually like to live during that time. The Spanish flu pandemic killed over 250,000 people in Britain alone and worldwide it wiped out a population of over 100 million.

23 Sep 2018