Cold, Flu & Cough

What is the Common Cold?

The common cold, also known as rhinopharyngitis, is a type of respiratory tract infection caused by a virus.

Risk Factors and Walking Pneumonia Prevention

Walking Pneumonia Versus Common Cold

Does the 'Stomach Flu' Vaccine Prevent Type I Diabetes?

Influenza Infection in Animals

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

HIV awareness emphasizes prevention, treatment and healthy aging

About 1.2 million people in the United States are living with HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus. Because of major advances in medical treatment and technology, people with HIV are living long, healthy lives.

18 Sep 2026

Global Virus Network monitors spreading avian influenza in Australian mammals

The Global Virus Network (GVN) is closely monitoring detections of highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1), commonly known as bird flu, in several mammal species in Australia as the virus continues to spread among birds and mammals worldwide.

18 Sep 2026

New national guidelines developed to improve sepsis-related care

A UVA Health doctor and other leading national experts have developed important new guidelines to improve care for patients who develop sepsis, a dangerous full-body infection that kills at least 350,000 Americans every year.

18 Sep 2026

Wildfire smoke may be more harmful than other air pollution, two Mount Sinai studies find

As climate change drives more frequent and intense wildfires, researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have published two large-scale studies showing that wildfire smoke may pose greater health risks than other sources of air pollution, with higher risks of hospitalization for cardiovascular and respiratory disease and poorer survival among patients with lung cancer.

18 Sep 2026

New discovery overturns a prevailing model of brain development

For centuries, scientists have thought of the brain as a single, unified organ. But new research led by Stanford Medicine reveals that what we call the brain is two distinct organs that evolved independently over hundreds of millions of years.

18 Sep 2026

Scientists reveals how cancer-causing p53 mutations remain invisible to the immune system

One of the biggest challenges in cancer immunotherapy may not be that immune cells are too weak, but that some tumors give them too little to see.

17 Sep 2026

New funding boosts data archive that tracks healthy aging environments

With an $11 million award from the National Institute on Aging, University of Michigan researchers will build and share national data that track how neighborhood conditions change over time, helping scientists study how local environments affect older adults' health.

17 Sep 2026

Wildfire smoke poses greater health risks than other pollution

17 Sep 2026

New project aims to diagnose asthma in young children

Although asthma is the most common chronic condition in childhood, current tests can only diagnose it from the age of five.

17 Sep 2026

Innate immune system variations determine vaccine side effects

Redness and pain at the injection site, fever, fatigue or headaches: vaccines can cause side effects, but their frequency and severity vary considerably from person to person.

17 Sep 2026

Can AI find drugs to fight infection?

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a bacterial pathogen that causes life-threatening infections, including pneumonia and meningitis.

17 Sep 2026

Cold plunges may boost your mood, but the evidence is still on thin ice

A Molecular Psychiatry review examined evidence linking cold exposure with mood and mental health outcomes, alongside proposed roles for catecholamines, the HPA axis, and immune-inflammatory pathways. Early studies report short-term mood improvements and physiological changes, but clinical evidence remains limited, and the proposed mechanisms have not been established as drivers of lasting psychiatric benefits.

16 Sep 2026

Imperial College London chemical engineer develops new technology to tackle global inequalities in vaccination coverage

A new technology that allows vaccines to be stored at room temperature in liquid form could tackle global health inequalities.

16 Sep 2026

Harvard scientists design evolutionary traps to stop viral mutations

When a virus mutates, the world usually finds out the hard way. Variants of influenza and SARS‑CoV‑2 can slip past vaccines and antibody drugs before scientists fully understand what has changed.

15 Sep 2026

Nighttime coughing could be due to air pollution levels, research suggests

Has your partner ever woken you up at night with their coughing? Has your coughing ever woken them up? New research suggests it could be due to air pollution levels in your area, even if those levels are low.

15 Sep 2026

Optimizing respiratory virus research workflows with VACUBOY

UTS researchers utilize the VACUBOY and VACUSAFE systems to enhance respiratory health studies, streamlining cell culture workflows and improving productivity.

15 Sep 2026

Bacterial strains determine pneumonia and meningitis risk from air pollution

Air pollution leads to different risk of bacterial pneumonia, sepsis, and meningitis, depending on the subtype of bacteria a person has, new research suggests.

15 Sep 2026

More hospitals are adopting AI, yet the access gap is proving hard to close

A national analysis of 6,166 US hospitals found that specific workflow AI capabilities were associated with higher sepsis bundle completion rates and lower 30-day pneumonia mortality, whereas robotics showed narrower procedural associations. Geographic access remained highly uneven, with about 114.6 million people in the access-analysis population living more than 30 minutes from an AI-enabled hospital, although the observational design prevents causal conclusions.

14 Sep 2026

Study shows mRNA vaccines trigger more diverse flu antibody responses

Influenza remains a major global health challenge as continual antigenic drift can limit the breadth and durability of vaccine-induced antibody responses, requiring frequent vaccine updates.

11 Sep 2026

Shade and protective clothing best protect young babies from the sun

When you go outdoors with your infant, whether for a quick stroll in the park or a day at the beach, it's important to keep your little one out of the sun. But should you put sunscreen on your baby to protect them from the sun's bright rays? Not usually.

10 Sep 2026