Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

New clues about virulence of 1918 influenza virus

The first comprehensive analysis of an animal's immune response to the 1918 influenza virus provides new insights into the killer flu, report federally supported scientists in an article appearing online in the journal Nature.

28 Sep 2006

Bird flu strikes again in Thailand

The death of a 59-year-old farmer in northeastern Thailand last month has taken the countries death toll from bird-flu to 17 since late 2003 and is the third death this year.

27 Sep 2006

Bill to allow U.S. residents to bring prescription drugs across the Canadian border

Mary Agnes Carey, associate editor of CQ HealthBeat, discusses an appropriations bill that would allow U.S. residents to bring prescription drugs across the Canadian border, legislation to reauthorize NIH and the pending approval of Andrew von Eschenbach to head FDA in this week's "Health on the Hill from kaisernetwork.org and CQ."

26 Sep 2006

Indonesia's death toll from bird flu now at 51

Indonesia's death toll from bird flu has now reached 51 with the death last week of a young child from South Jakarta.

25 Sep 2006

Tests confirm low pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in in Pennsylvania ducks

The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Interior has announced final test results, which confirm that low pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus was found in samples collected last month from wild mallard ducks in Pennsylvania.

25 Sep 2006

New understanding of how cells defend themselves

Biologists at the EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne) have unveiled a new twist in a metabolic pathway that cells use to defend themselves against toxins made by disease-causing bacteria.

21 Sep 2006

USAID Administrator Randall Tobias on bird flu spread

In the past year, the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus moved rapidly outside of Southeast Asia and spread into Europe, Eurasia, and Africa.

21 Sep 2006

Montana wild bird samples undergo additional avian influenza tests

The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Interior today announced a detection of the H5 and N1 avian influenza subtypes in samples from wild Northern pintail ducks in Montana.

21 Sep 2006

Countries urged to prepare for a worst-case scenario such as an influenza pandemic

The increasing threat from emerging infectious diseases makes it imperative that countries prepare for rapid response and containment activities and for a worst-case scenario such as an influenza pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) has advised.

21 Sep 2006

Unpleasant memories from intensive care

"Being cared for in an intensive care unit (ICU) can never be an especially positive experience. But at any rate it should not mean that the care improves the patient's physical condition only to leave him or her with severe mental problems!"

20 Sep 2006

Women should eat more fatty fish - lowers risk for renal cell carcinoma

Preliminary research suggests that higher consumption of fatty fish in women is linked with a lower risk of renal cell carcinoma, a common form of kidney cancer, according to a study in the September 20 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

19 Sep 2006

Iraq confirms third bird flu case

The Ministry of Health in Iraq has retrospectively confirmed the country’s third case of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus.

19 Sep 2006

Racial gap in childhood vaccination rate closes

The overall vaccination rate among black children ages 19 months to 35 months last year for the first time equaled rates among white, Asian and Hispanic children in the same age group, according to a CDC report released recently, the AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports.

18 Sep 2006

Extremely virulent, drug resistant strain of TB running wild in South Africa

It was 18 months ago when doctors in South Africa who were treating HIV/AIDS patients first raised the alarm that an untreatable form of tuberculosis (TB) was circulating.

18 Sep 2006

Three cases of botulism possibly caused by improper refrigeration of carrot juice

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is advising consumers of the vital importance of keeping carrot juice - including pasteurized carrot juice - refrigerated.

18 Sep 2006

Uroplasty receives FDA approvable letter for treatment of female stress urinary incontinence

Uroplasty, Inc. has announced that it has received an approvable letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) relating to its pre-market approval (PMA) application for Macroplastique Implants for the treatment of female stress urinary incontinence (SUI).

14 Sep 2006

Live H5N1 avian flu vaccines show promise

When tested in mice and ferrets, experimental vaccines based on live, weakened versions of different strains of the H5N1 avian influenza virus were well-tolerated and protected the animals from a deadly infection with naturally occurring H5N1 flu viruses.

13 Sep 2006