Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Infections are a major cause of childhood cancer

Results from a new study of childhood cancer statistics provide further evidence that common infections affecting mother and baby could play a key role in triggering certain types of the disease.

12 Dec 2005

Hospitals a good place to catch bird flu

While U.S. officials continue to urge states and businesses to get ready for an outbreak of serious disease, issuing checklists of preparations, and Congress battles with funding a federal plan before the end of the year, a report has been released that declares that because most U.S. hospitals do not follow good hygiene practices

12 Dec 2005

Bird flu would cause serious recession in the U.S.

According to the latest estimates a bird flu pandemic could cost the U.S. economy between $500 billion and $675 billion, and cause a serious recession.

11 Dec 2005

White House tests bird flu drill as death toll reaches 70

White House staff have carried out a set of tests to assess its preparedness for what they warn is an inevitable bird flu pandemic.

11 Dec 2005

Update on the bird flu scenario

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed that a 10-year-old girl in the southern Chinese province of Guangxi is the latest human victim of H5N1 avian influenza.

11 Dec 2005

Aussies get $185m injection to fight bird flu

Australians will be reassured by a government boost of $185 million to improve the country's ability to deal with major health emergencies.

11 Dec 2005

Bird flu in Asia - tourists not bothered!

Despite concern on the part of the tour industry, the spread of bird flu in Asia does not appear to be putting tourists off visiting the area.

11 Dec 2005

WHO suspects bird flu may go undetected in China's villages

The World Health Organization (WHO) says there had been no reports of bird flu in the Chinese village where a 10-year-old girl has fallen ill with bird flu, and they are concerned that poultry outbreaks may be going undetected or unreported in China.

7 Dec 2005

One more human bird flu case found in China

According to Chinese health officials, a 10-year-old girl has been infected with the bird flu virus.

7 Dec 2005

Disaster or pandemic - U.S. needs to get real!

According to a report by the organization Trust for America's Health (TFAH), hospitals in the U.S. are not properly prepared to handle patients who would arrive after a disaster or a pandemic.

7 Dec 2005

Nasal flu vaccine just as safe as a jab

According to U.S. government researchers, a new nasal vaccine against influenza, which helps patients avoid the needle, has caused no unexpected side-effects.

7 Dec 2005

New type of sulfite reductase

Biswarup Mukhopadhyay and Eric Johnson from the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech have discovered a novel enzyme that represents an ancient detoxification system and provides a clue to the development of early metabolism on earth.

7 Dec 2005

Garvan scientists explain stress and sickness

Garvan Institute scientists have discovered how a hormone, known as neuropeptide Y (NPY), can prevent our immune system functioning properly, paving the way for two new major opportunities for therapeutic intervention.

7 Dec 2005

22,000 birds seized as Ukraine fears spread of bird flu

Government ministers in the Ukraine are concerned that Avian flu which has been killing birds in the Crimean peninsula could spread to other parts of the country.

6 Dec 2005

Local health officials don't rate U.S. government bird flu plans

Health officials in the U.S. have predicted, in the event of a bird flu pandemic, businesses and government can expect 40 percent of their employees to be absent during it's peak.

6 Dec 2005

Now we know - love is the drug you can't forget!

According to researchers at Florida State University who were examining the nature of love it may really, as the poets say, be better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

6 Dec 2005

Top vet in Ukraine sacked over bird flu

One of the Ukraine's top veterinarian officers has apparently been dismissed over the delayed reporting of an outbreak of bird flu.

5 Dec 2005

Emergency measures in Ukraine after 2000 birds die

In what appears to be the biggest outbreak yet in Europe of the deadly strain of bird flu, more than 2,000 domestic birds have died in a remote region of the Crimean peninsula in the Ukraine.

5 Dec 2005

Ultrafiltration therapy safe and effective

A device that performs ultrafiltration of blood, without requiring specialized nursing care or invasive central intravenous access, can reduce fluid overload in patients with congestive heart failure, according to a new study in the Dec. 6, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

5 Dec 2005

University of Nottingham academic awarded prestigious professorship for research into lung disease

An academic at The University of Nottingham has been awarded a unique professorship by a leading national charity in recognition of his research, which aims to improve the medical care of patients with lung disease and respiratory infections.

30 Nov 2005