Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

British bird flu outbreak now under control

The cull involved four premises identified as having had dangerous contact with Redgrave Park Farm, near Diss, where the potentially lethal H5N1 strain of avian influenza was confirmed last week.

19 Nov 2007

Tamiflu significantly reduces illness severity and duration in children one year and older

...particularly if given within 24 hours of symptom onset, according to new data presented at the World Society for Pediatric Infectious Disease (WISPID) meeting in Bangkok 15-18 November.

16 Nov 2007

Lessons learned from Turkey's 2006 bird flu outbreak

Rapid responses by Turkey's health authorities and key health personnel were critical in bringing the 2006 bird flu outbreak under control, according to research published in the online open access journal, BMC Public Health.

16 Nov 2007

FDA to improve advisory committee processes

The Food and Drug Administration is announcing several steps to strengthen its advisory committee processes in ways consistent with recommendations of the Institute of Medicine.

16 Nov 2007

Cethromycin achieves all endpoints in second pivotal Phase III Trial for treatment for pneumonia

Advanced Life Sciences Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: ADLS), today announced positive results from Trial CL-05, the second of two pivotal phase III clinical trials designed to assess the safety and effectiveness of cethromycin, a novel once-a-day oral antibiotic for the treatment of mild-to-moderate community acquired pneumonia (CAP), the sixth leading cause of death in the United States.

16 Nov 2007

Nasty new cold virus claims lives across the U.S.

A nasty new version of the virus which causes the common cold is spreading across the United States.

15 Nov 2007

Christmas is coming and so is bird flu!

It is feared that tens of thousands of turkeys will be slaughtered across Britain in efforts to contain the spread of the deadly H5N1 bird flu.

15 Nov 2007

La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology to perform study on allergy molecular causes

A major study that will provide a new window into understanding and potentially treating allergies will be conducted by the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology (LIAI) under a $5 million federal contract.

14 Nov 2007

New method for early diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension

Researchers at the University of Granada ( UGR ) from the Systemic Autoimmune Diseases Unit and the Cardiology Service of the Hospital Clínico San Cecilio in Granada have developed an innovative system which will help doctors make the earliest diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension possible, which is the main cause of death for patients suffering from scleroderma, a rare disease which affects approximately 1,200 out of every million people.

14 Nov 2007

Bird flu in Britain prompts culling of Christmas poultry

An outbreak of bird flu on a farm in England has prompted the culling of 5,000 turkeys, 1,000 ducks and 500 geese.

14 Nov 2007

Volunteers in AIDS vaccine trial may be at greater risk of infection

Following the aborting of two international trials of an experimental AIDS vaccine, thousands of volunteers have been told the vaccine may have actually raised their risk of infection.

14 Nov 2007

Deadly bird flu hits Britain

Officials in Britain have confirmed that the bird flu strain detected in turkeys on a farm in Norfolk is the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus

13 Nov 2007

Researchers image a biomarker of neurogenesis

Mirjana Maletic-Savatic, M.D., Ph.D, and co-investigators from Stony Brook University Medical Center, Brookhaven National Laboratory and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have discovered a way to image a biomarker of neural stem and progenitor cells (NPCs) in the living human brain.

13 Nov 2007

Nanoviricide drug candidate effectiveness confirmed against rabies and influenzas

NanoViricides, Inc. has said that in a confirmatory study, their nanoviricide drug candidates exhibited a consistent 20% to 30% survival in the test animals.

13 Nov 2007

FDA clears breathing tube coated with a thin layer of silver

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced that it has cleared for marketing a breathing tube coated with a thin layer of silver. The coating, a material known to have antimicrobial properties, reduces the risk that patients on ventilators will acquire pneumonia while in the hospital.

13 Nov 2007

H5 avian influenza found on Suffolk poultry farm

The Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has confirmed avian influenza in turkeys on premises near Diss on the Norfolk/Suffolk border. Preliminary tests were positive for the H5 strain.

13 Nov 2007

Chicken pox vaccination should be introduced for children in the UK

The only realistic way of preventing deaths and severe complications arising from chickenpox is to routinely vaccinate children against the disease, concludes research published ahead of print in Archives of Disease in Childhood.

13 Nov 2007

Antivirals reduce deaths from flu in hospitalized patients

Adults with influenza infections serious enough to require hospitalization are much less likely to die from the disease if they are given antiviral medications, according to a new study published in the December 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, currently available online.

13 Nov 2007

Managing asthma

The great majority of the nearly 23 million people with asthma, including 6.5 million children, can avoid serious symptoms and disability if they follow the latest guidelines to keep their disease under control.

13 Nov 2007

Seattle Post-Intelligencer examines reactions of people who participated in Merck's canceled HIV vaccine

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer on Friday examined the reaction of volunteers in the Seattle arm of Merck's recently halted HIV vaccine trial. According to the Post-Intelligencer, participants who were interviewed on the condition of anonymity have voiced "decidedly mixed feelings" about participating in the trial because of safety concerns (Paulson, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 11/9).

12 Nov 2007