Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Statins may help control blood pressure

Researchers in the States say that statins, the popular cholesterol-lowering drugs, may also lower blood pressure.

15 Apr 2008

Traffic pollution linked to thousands of deaths from pneumonia

British researchers are suggesting that high levels of pollution may have contributed to the deaths in recent years of thousands of people in England from pneumonia.

15 Apr 2008

Another bird flu death in Egypt - death toll now 22

This current outbreak comes six-month after the last one in December and has occurred in the Cairo suburb of Matareya and is the 49th case of the disease among humans in Egypt.

14 Apr 2008

Shutting down schools in the event of a bird flu pandemic could prevent up to one in seven cases

Closing schools in the event of a flu pandemic could slow the spread of the virus and prevent up to one in seven cases, according to a new study published today in the journal Nature.

10 Apr 2008

Over-the-counter sale of child cough medicine for young children to be banned

As from September this year the over-the-counter sale of cough medicines for children under the age of two years old will be banned in Australia.

9 Apr 2008

Son to father spread of bird flu panics experts

According to a top scientist at China's Centre for Disease Control, a man who died in December infected his father with the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu before he died.

9 Apr 2008

UK takes action against PVL-producing strains of Staphylococcus aureus

Lots of work is being done to recognise and control infections such as community acquired MRSA and the UK is learning from situations in community and healthcare settings both here and abroad to stay ahead of the game, scientists will be told today at the Society for General Microbiology's 162nd meeting being held this week at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.

8 Apr 2008

Problem superbugs resistant to everything

Doctors are running out of treatments for today's trauma victims and critically ill patients because of infections due to drug resistant microbes - even after resorting to using medicines thrown out 20 years ago because of severe side effects, scientists heard at the Society for General Microbiology's 162nd meeting being held this week at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.

8 Apr 2008

NanoViricides begins HIV drug animal trials

NanoViricides, Inc. has announced that preliminary animal trials of the Company's HIV therapeutic candidates have begun at a BioSafety Level 3 (BSL-3) Laboratory facility in Boston, MA.

8 Apr 2008

New method to detect fake Tamiflu

Chemists in Georgia are reporting development of a fast new method to detect fake Tamiflu, the mainstay medication for preventing and treating bird flu.

8 Apr 2008

New potential approach to treat spinal muscular atrophy

In the neuromuscular disease called spinal muscular atrophy, or SMA, a protein deficiency caused by a single gene mutation leads to serious damage in growing nerve cells and the muscles they control.

7 Apr 2008

India battling bird flu again

Health authorities in India have confirmed a fresh outbreak of bird flu in poultry in Tripura, in the northeast near Bangladesh.

7 Apr 2008

Bird flu appears again in South Korea

Officials in South Korea have confirmed a new bird flu outbreak at a duck farm in the southwest and are also investigating two other possible cases.

7 Apr 2008

FDA approves Rotarix

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced the approval of Rotarix, the second oral U.S. licensed vaccine for the prevention of rotavirus, an infection that causes gastroenteritis (vomiting and diarrhea) in infants and children.

4 Apr 2008

Clinical trial to test a novel HIV/AIDS vaccine

This new vaccine aims to overcome the problem of preexisting immunity to common vaccine vectors, which is thought to be a major problem in the developing world.

4 Apr 2008

Study identifies infection risks for patients with inflammatory bowel disease

A new Mayo Clinic study finds that patients who are 50 or older and take multiple immunosuppressive medications for inflammatory bowel disease have a higher risk for developing infections. The study is published in this month's issue of Gastroenterology.

3 Apr 2008

Botox scare as scientists say the toxin may spread in the body

Scientists are warning that the anti-wrinkle treatment Botox used by millions of women every year can spread from the face to the brain.

3 Apr 2008

Molecular evolution of influenza A viruses circulated in Fujian Province, China

Fujian Center for Disease Control & Prevention, China, reported the molecular evolution of influenza A (H3N2) viruses in Fujian Province, south of China during the period 1996 to 2004 and demonstrated some key codons responsible for antigenic drift.

2 Apr 2008

Illicit drug use increasingly glamorized in rap music

Rap music has gone from an art form that largely warned against the dangers of substance abuse to one that often glorifies illegal drug use, according to the first systematic social science study of the genre covering nearly two decades.

2 Apr 2008

Dallas area cornea shortages could benefit from national study

Surgeons and patients from UT Southwestern Medical Center and UT Southwestern Transplant Services Center joined in a landmark study showing that corneas from older donors are as successful for transplants after five years as is tissue from younger donors, allowing possible expansion of the donor pool.

2 Apr 2008