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

Influenza Infection in Animals

Walking Pneumonia Versus Common Cold

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

Walking Pneumonia Versus Common Cold

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Triaptosis could be a promising strategy in the fight against cancer

Cancer remains one of the most critical global public health challenges, exerting profound social, economic, and clinical burdens while limiting gains in human life expectancy.

10 Dec 2025

Mammary glands of domesticated livestock and humans could harbor avian influenza

An ongoing outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza has affected more than 184 million domestic poultry since 2022 and, since making the leap to dairy cattle in spring 2024, more than 1,000 milking cow herds.

9 Dec 2025

A massive mid-14th-century volcanic eruption likely triggered the spread of the "Black Death"

A large volcanic eruption or cluster of eruptions in the mid-1340s triggered severe climate anomalies that drove harvest failures across parts of Europe. These shocks reshaped Mediterranean grain trade routes, likely introducing plague-infected fleas into Italian ports and helping ignite the Black Death.

9 Dec 2025

How delays and bankruptcy let a nursing home chain avoid paying settlements for injuries and deaths

Nancy Hunt arrived at an emergency room from a Genesis HealthCare nursing home in Pennsylvania in such dreadful shape, including maggots infesting her gangrened foot, that the hospital called an elder abuse hotline and then the police, her son alleged in a lawsuit.

9 Dec 2025

Disinfectant used in water treatment may impact the incidence of Legionnaire's disease

Preliminary results of a nationwide study suggest that the disinfectant used to treat water before it is distributed through pipes may impact the incidence of Legionnaire's disease in certain parts of the country.

9 Dec 2025

High BMI and poor physical fitness in adolescence linked to severe bacterial infections in adulthood

High BMI and poor physical fitness during later adolescence increase the risk of both contracting and dying from sepsis and other severe bacterial infections in adulthood, according to a study from the University of Gothenburg.

9 Dec 2025

Hotter days and nights are already stealing sleep across the U.S.

Rising nighttime and daytime temperatures are associated with reduced sleep duration, poorer sleep continuity, delayed sleep onset, and altered sleep stages in a large U.S. cohort tracked with wearable devices. Vulnerability is greatest among adults aged 40–50 years, females, people with lower socioeconomic status, chronic conditions, and those living in marine climate zones, with climate change projected to further magnify sleep loss.

8 Dec 2025

Early RSV infection turns maternal allergy into a powerful driver of childhood asthma

Early-life RSV infection and parental allergy interact to substantially increase childhood asthma risk, supported by population data from more than 1.5 million children and mechanistic mouse experiments. The study shows that viral infection reprograms neonatal immune responses by altering how maternally transferred allergen-specific antibodies are handled, driving long-term allergic airway disease.

8 Dec 2025

Poor dietary iron weakens lung memory T cells after flu infection

Dietary iron deficiency in mice alters lung T cell activation during influenza infection and leads to memory T cells that are present in normal or increased numbers but have impaired antiviral cytokine responses. These functional deficits are most pronounced in lung CD8-positive memory T cells and persist even under optimal recall conditions.

8 Dec 2025

Intravenous iron shows safe and beneficial outcomes for patients with bacterial infection and anemia

Treatment with intravenous (IV) iron significantly improved survival and increased hemoglobin levels in patients with iron-deficiency anemia who were hospitalized for an acute bacterial infection, according to an analysis of data from more than 85,000 patients.

7 Dec 2025

In RFK Jr.’s upside-down world of vaccines, panel votes to end hepatitis B shot at birth

Recent weeks have brought good news about vaccines, with studies indicating that flu vaccination reduces heart disease, shingles vaccines can prevent or slow dementia, and a single human papilloma virus shot protects a girl from cervical cancer for the rest of her life.

5 Dec 2025

Bacterial enzyme linked to heart complications in pneumonia

Pneumonia is a disease that burdens the healthcare system with more that 1.2 million emergency room visits each year and more than 41,000 adult deaths in the United States.

4 Dec 2025

Researchers capture high-resolution footage of flu viruses entering human cells

For the first time, researchers have observed live and in high resolution how influenza viruses infect living cells. This was possible thanks to a new microscopy technique, which could now help to develop antiviral therapies in a more targeted manner.

4 Dec 2025

Fullerenes offer a simpler path to creating high-sensitivity MRI targets

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is invaluable in the medical world. But despite all the good it does, there is room for improvement.

4 Dec 2025

Common childhood virus linked to bladder cancer later in life

Tackling a common childhood virus could open the door to preventing bladder cancer, according to new research funded by Kidney Research UK and York Against Cancer.

4 Dec 2025

Americans trust AMA over CDC on vaccine safety

For decades, health-related statements by major professional health associations such as the American Medical Association (AMA) agreed with those of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) because both relied on the same body of scientific knowledge, much of it funded by the federal health sector.

3 Dec 2025