Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Hepatitis C therapy peginterferon alfa-2b shows promise

The hepatitis C therapy peginterferon alfa-2b, when given as low-dose maintenance therapy, can prevent disease progression in certain patients who failed previous interferon-based hepatitis C therapies and have advanced liver disease, according to findings from a large, four-year study presented today at the 43rd annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL).

24 Apr 2008

Protein HtpG signals healthier teeth and gums

Antibodies present in people with good oral health could become the first tool for dental professionals to assess a patient's probable response to periodontal disease treatments, say researchers at the University of Michigan.

23 Apr 2008

FDA approves guayule latex gloves

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared for marketing the first device made from a new form of natural rubber latex, guayule latex. The product, the Yulex Patient Examination Glove, is derived from the guayule bush, a desert plant native to the Southwestern United States.

23 Apr 2008

UKCMRI partners dismiss claims about research project

There has been speculation in the press about the work to be carried out at the planned UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation, a world-class facility which will deliver ground breaking new research.

23 Apr 2008

Global food price increase forces World Vision to scale back food aid program

One of the world's largest humanitarian organizations has announced it can no longer provide food to 1.5 million of the 7.5 million poor it fed last year.

23 Apr 2008

Impact of environment and social gradient on Leptospira infection in urban slums

A study conducted in an urban slum setting in Salvador, Brazil has found that open sewers, accumulations of refuse, and inadequate floodwater drainage are acting as sources for transmission of the disease leptospirosis. The study is published in this week's PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

23 Apr 2008

Scientists solve mystery about critical mechanism of gene expression

Although letters representing the three billion pairs of molecules that form the "rungs" of the helical DNA "ladder" are routinely called the human "genetic code," the DNA they comprise transmits traits across generations in a variety of ways, not all of which depend on the sequence of letters in the code.

22 Apr 2008

Mechanism discovered that can send cells on the road to cancer

Using a common virus as a tool for investigating abnormal cell proliferation, a team led by scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has succeeded in clarifying an intricate series of biochemical steps that shed light on a way that cancer can begin.

22 Apr 2008

Black women less likely to develop urinary incontinence than white women

The good news for black women: They have less than half the chance of developing urinary incontinence as do white women, according to a new study from the University of Michigan Health System.

22 Apr 2008

Number of HIV-positive state and federal inmates drops

Between 2005 and 2006 the number of state and federal prisoners who were HIV-positive decreased 3.1 percent -- from 22,676 to 21,980 inmates, according to a report by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). Another BJS report estimated that 44 percent of state inmates and 39 percent of federal inmates reported a current medical problem other than a cold or a virus.

22 Apr 2008

Monkey malaria - the next bird flu?

An expert at the NIH has highlighted the threat of an emergent highly virulent form of malaria, questioning whether the disease has made the jump from animal to man.

22 Apr 2008

Bird flu in one way or another is wiping out poultry in South Korea

Following the announcement by officials in South Korea of another bird flu outbreak, 5.3 million birds are expected to be culled to control the spread of the deadly virus.

21 Apr 2008

Sperm "on the rocks" - Using semen cryopreservation to protect amphibian species

A current research project funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF is working to optimise the cryopreservation of amphibian sperm.

21 Apr 2008

The limits of observational data in determining outcomes from cancer therapy

Certain biases may exist in observational studies that compare outcomes of different cancer therapies, making the results questionable.

21 Apr 2008

Simple blood test screens for susceptibilty to meningococcal

A breakthrough in the fight against meningitis and meningococcal disease is apparently already proving to be a lifesaver.

20 Apr 2008

Antibiotics for acute maxillary sinusitis

A Cochrane Systematic Review of medical research found that four out of five patients who are seen in primary care with simple sinusitis improved within two weeks even if they had not been given antibiotics.

17 Apr 2008

Purdue's new vaccine under development may provide protection against highly pathogenic bird flu

A new vaccine under development may provide protection against highly pathogenic bird flu and its evolving forms, according to researchers at Purdue University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who discovered the new preventative drug and have tested it in mice.

17 Apr 2008

Austrian scientists identify common mechanism underlying acute respiratory disease syndrome

The Spanish flu outbreak of 1918 killed between 30 and 50 million people. In the infected patients, the ultimate cause of death was acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). This fatal condition is a massive reaction of the body during which the lung becomes severely damaged. ARDS can be induced by various bacterial and viral infections, but also by chemical agents.

17 Apr 2008

Flu vaccines can reduce respiratory problems by up to three-quarters

Annual flu vaccinations are highly effective at preventing acute respiratory illness and making sure that existing breathing problems don't get any worse, according to research published in the April issue of IJCP, the UK-based International Journal of Clinical Practice.

17 Apr 2008

Southeast Asia the culprit in flu epidemics

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) each year influenza epidemics are thought to infect between 5 and 15 per cent of the world's population.

17 Apr 2008