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.

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

Risk Factors and Walking Pneumonia Prevention

Walking Pneumonia Versus Common Cold

Influenza Infection in Animals

Walking Pneumonia Versus Common Cold

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Novel antisense oligonucleotide shows promise against aggressive pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the most lethal form of pancreas cancer. It's also the most common form of the disease.

8 Jan 2026

Maternal pertussis vaccination delivers early immune protection to newborns

Vaccinating women during pregnancy leads to the transfer of antibodies to their newborns. These antibodies were detected not only in blood, but also in the nasal mucosa, the site where whooping cough bacteria enter the body.

7 Jan 2026

Cornell-developed nanoparticles improve cancer immunotherapy effectiveness

A class of ultrasmall fluorescent core-shell silica nanoparticles developed at Cornell is showing an unexpected ability to rally the immune system against melanoma and dramatically improve the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy, according to a new study led by Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell Engineering researchers.

7 Jan 2026

CRISPR Cas12a3: A precise tool to halt viral protein production

Across all domains of life, immune defenses foil invading viruses by making it impossible for the viruses to replicate. Most known CRISPR systems target invading pathogens' DNA and chop it up to disable and modify genes, heading off infections at the (cellular) pass.

7 Jan 2026

Homeless shelters for seniors pop up, catering to older adults’ medical needs

Just outside Salt Lake City sits an old, two-story, brick hotel. It's been given new life as a homeless shelter for seniors. The Medically Vulnerable People shelter — or MVP shelter, as it's known — is for people 62 and older or for younger adults with chronic health issues.

7 Jan 2026

Many Americans misunderstand shared decision making in childhood vaccination policies

On Jan. 5, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) dramatically reduced the number of recommended childhood vaccinations from 17 to 11, citing practices in other wealthy nations, including Denmark, Germany, and Japan.

6 Jan 2026

Finger-prick blood test shows promise for detecting Alzheimer’s disease biology

Finger-prick dried blood sampling can accurately measure key Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers, including p-tau217, GFAP, and NfL, showing strong concordance with venous plasma and meaningful associations with CSF pathology. While analytical limitations remain, this minimally invasive approach shows promise as a scalable research and screening tool within biomarker-based diagnostic pathways.

6 Jan 2026

The CDC just sidelined these childhood vaccines. Here’s what they prevent.

The federal government has drastically scaled back the number of recommended childhood immunizations, sidelining six routine vaccines that have safeguarded millions from serious diseases, long-term disability, and death.

6 Jan 2026

Study compares H1N1 and COVID-19 spread across metropolitan areas in the U.S.

Public health researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health used computer modeling to reconstruct how the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic unfolded in the U.S.

5 Jan 2026

COVID-19 immunity stays specific and barely boosts protection against common cold coronaviruses

This study shows that SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination generate strong, highly specific spike-binding immune responses with only modest effects on immunity to endemic common cold coronaviruses. Pre-existing coronavirus immunity patterns remain largely intact, indicating that SARS-CoV-2 has integrated into the human viral landscape without broadly reshaping cross-reactive protection.

5 Jan 2026

Why intuition matters more than facts in flu vaccination decisions

Flu infections are rising sharply across the United States, contributing to at least 81,000 hospitalizations and 3,100 deaths so far this season, according to the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

5 Jan 2026

Bat-borne virus linked to unexplained illnesses in Bangladesh

Infectious disease researchers have identified Pteropine orthoreoviruses (PRVs), a group of newly emergent bat-borne viruses, as the culprit for previously unexplained illness in five Bangladeshi patients, one of whom eventually died with unexplained illness.

5 Jan 2026

A mathematical solution for precise control of cellular “noise”

Why does cancer sometimes recur after chemotherapy? Why do some bacteria survive antibiotic treatment? In many cases, the answer appears to lie not in genetic differences, but in biological noise - random fluctuations in molecular activity that occur even among genetically identical cells.

2 Jan 2026

First human 'lung-on-chip' model developed using stem cells from a single donor

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute and AlveoliX have developed the first human 'lung-on-chip' model using stem cells taken from only one person.

2 Jan 2026

Advertisements promising patients a ‘dream body’ with minimal risk get little scrutiny

Lenia Watson-Burton, a 37-year-old U.S. Navy administrator, expected that cosmetic surgery would get rid of stubborn fat quickly and easily — just as the web advertising promised.

1 Jan 2026

Scientists capture real-time action of antiviral drugs on herpes

Harvard Medical School researchers have uncovered crucial insights into how an emerging class of antiviral drugs works.

30 Dec 2025

Researchers explore a promising approach to enhance the immune system's ability to fight cancer

Researchers at the University of Sharjah are exploring a promising approach that could enhance the immune system's ability to fight cancer, potentially paving the way for new treatments.

23 Dec 2025

Skin and internal organs sense cold through different molecular pathways

A research team led by Félix Viana, co-director of the Sensory Transduction and Nociception laboratory at the Institute for Neurosciences (IN), a joint research centre of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH), has demonstrated that the body uses different molecular mechanisms to detect cold in the skin and in internal organs.

19 Dec 2025

Simulations explore possible encounters between Neanderthals and modern humans

Researchers at the University of Cologne use simulations to investigate the likelihood of interactions between Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans on the Iberian Peninsula / publication in “PLOS One”.

19 Dec 2025

Inside the FDA’s vaccine uproar

Six days after a senior FDA official sent a sweeping internal email claiming that covid vaccines had caused the deaths of "at least 10 children," 12 former FDA commissioners released an extraordinary warning in the Dec. 3 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

19 Dec 2025