Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

FDA clears test for 12 specific respiratory viruses

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared for marketing a test that simultaneously detects and identifies 12 specific respiratory viruses.

4 Jan 2008

Women who smoke at increased risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Here's another reason not to smoke, especially for women: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

3 Jan 2008

Polyphenols in wine may help prevent cavities

A class of chemicals in red wine grapes may significantly reduce the ability of bacteria to cause cavities, according to a study published recently in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

3 Jan 2008

Researchers seek to make cavity-causing bacteria self-destruct

Bacteria that eat sugar and release cavity-causing acid onto teeth may soon be made dramatically more vulnerable to their own acid.

3 Jan 2008

FDA clears first rapid blood test for MRSA

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced it has cleared for marketing the first rapid blood test for the drug-resistant staph bacterium known as MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), which can cause potentially deadly infections.

3 Jan 2008

Highlights of pulmonary and critical care symposium

New perspectives on lung cancer screening, complications of sleep apnea, cystic fibrosis, and other key topics in pulmonary and critical care medicine are presented in the special January issue of The American Journal of Medical Sciences, published by the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation and Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health, provider of leading healthcare content, context and consulting.

3 Jan 2008

Children's sleep duration influences weight, behavior

The duration of a child's sleep can vary, depending on the time of day, week and year.

2 Jan 2008

Preschoolers' nightmares less prevalent, are trait-like and associated with personality

Bad dreams in pre-schoolers are less prevalent than thought. However, when they do exist, nightmares are trait-like in nature and associated with personality characteristics measured as early as five months, according to a study published in the January 1 issue of the journal SLEEP.

2 Jan 2008

Four die of bird flu in Egypt in less than a week

The deaths of two women in Egypt from bird flu on Monday has now brought the death toll in the Arab country from the deadly virus to four in less than a week.

2 Jan 2008

U.S. health officials search for air travellers exposed to drug-resistant TB

Health officials in the United States are again trying to track down dozens of airline passengers who may have been inadvertently exposed to tuberculosis (TB).

2 Jan 2008

Cell-death receptor links cancer susceptibility and inflammation

For over 10 years, Wafik S. El-Deiry, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine, Genetics, and Pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has been pursuing a cancer-targeting molecule called TRAIL and its molecular partners.

28 Dec 2007

Despite past disasters U.S. still not ready to cope biological attacks and flu pandemics

According to a newly released report the U.S. remains unprepared to deal with disasters such as biological attacks and flu pandemics.

27 Dec 2007

Novavax's new bird flu vaccine could bolster the arsenal against a pandemic

The drug company Novavax has announced that it's experimental avian flu vaccine has proved to be both safe and effective in Phase I/IIa trials in humans.

20 Dec 2007

Authorities in the U.S. say hold back on children's Hib vaccine

Health authorities in U.S. are advising doctors to defer giving booster shots of a childhood vaccine following suspicions that production equipment may not have been properly sterilized.

20 Dec 2007

Chronic fatigue syndrome - new research may help diagnosis

One of the most difficult things for people suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is that many believe the condition to be a psychological, not physical affliction.

20 Dec 2007

Anthrax vaccine will add to America's arsenal against bioterrorism

A company, based in Rockville, Maryland in the USA, with the help of government funding, has used the human genome to develop a vaccine that may give protection from anthrax.

19 Dec 2007

WHO says Pakistan bird flu cluster no cause for alarm as yet

According to an expert at the World Health Organization, the cluster of suspected bird flu cases in Pakistan may be a combination of infections from poultry with limited person-to-person transmission.

19 Dec 2007

Bird flu a worry in Pakistan, Africa and Indonesia

A medical team has been sent to Pakistan by the World Health Organization (WHO) to investigate the latest bird flu outbreak there.

19 Dec 2007

New robotic surgery technique appears promising for the removal of cancer in tonsils

Typically, surgeons trying to remove tonsils of patients with cancer through the mouth have limited access to the area, according to background information in the article. If the cancer has spread to any of the surrounding tissues, an open approach involving cutting through the skin is needed. These procedures take a long time, can cause long-term difficulty swallowing and usually require the placement of a tracheotomy tube.

18 Dec 2007

What makes us shiver?

Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University's Neurological Sciences Institute have uncovered the system that tells the body when to perform one of its most basic defenses against the cold: shivering.

18 Dec 2007