Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Cockroach allergen is the primary contributor to childhood asthma in inner-city homes

New results from a nationwide study on factors that affect asthma in inner-city children show that cockroach allergen appears to worsen asthma symptoms more than either dust mite or pet allergens.

8 Mar 2005

Underhand methods used to challenge secondhand smoke's link to infant death risk

The link between secondhand smoke and sudden infant death has been discredited in the last few years in scientific articles paid for and influenced by cigarette manufacturers, according to a new study of once-secret industry documents.

7 Mar 2005

Air Genome Project to sample air using whole genome shotgun sequencing

The J. Craig Venter Institute is launching a pilot project to better understand the diversity of microbes in urban air. In addition to more deeply characterizing the microbes we breathe every day, researchers anticipate that the results will provide information vital to designing systems that detect potentially dangerous biological substances in the air.

7 Mar 2005

Vietnam finds bird flu vaccine

Vietnam, hard hit by an epidemic that has killed 47 people in Asia and wiped out many millions of poultry has successfully tested a birdflu vaccine on monkeys and tests in humans could be only months away.

7 Mar 2005

WHO says countries should stockpile H5N1 vaccine

The World Health Organization is about to advise countries to stockpile the influenza vaccine strain known as H5N1, responsible for the deadly birdflu outbreak in Southeast Asia.

7 Mar 2005

Definitive evidence that TRPV3 is a temperature sensor

The human brain is like a general in a bunker. Floating in its bubble of cerebrospinal fluid, it has no direct window to the outside world, so the only way for the brain to observe, comprehend, and order the body into action is to rely on information it receives.

6 Mar 2005

Government is treating the symptoms and not fighting the causes of infectious diseases

The Microbiology Awareness Campaign gathered momentum this week at the House of Lords when scientists informed Peers and MPs that new and re-emerging infectious diseases could spell trouble if not tackled soon.

3 Mar 2005

Lancet neonatal survival series

Three million of the four million newborn babies who die worldwide each year could be saved by low-tech and low-cost interventions, concludes a landmark series of articles published online by The Lancet (Thursday March 3, 2005).

3 Mar 2005

Liquorice - the black stuff we love to eat, may help prevent cancer

Liquorice - the black stuff we love to eat, contains a compound - glycyrrhizic acid which may stop people with a herpes virus from developing cancer.A research team at New York University found the compound - glycyrrhizic acid - possibly has the ability to stop the virus triggering a form of cancer called Kaposi sarcoma.

2 Mar 2005

UK Government stockpiles anti-viral medicine Tamiflu from Roche

In an attempt to prevent the spread of the influenza pandemic birdflu the U.K. government will buy 200 million pounds ($384 million) worth of the anti-viral medicine Tamiflu from Roche, one of Switzerland's largest drug companies. The influenza pandemic could kill more than 50,000 people in the country.

1 Mar 2005

Diesel engines are posing a serious threat to public health

Air particles emitted mainly by diesel engines are posing a serious threat to public health, warn respiratory physiotherapists in a new report published by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP).

1 Mar 2005

Guidelines designed to track potentially deadly infections in hospitals and clinics

Guidelines released on Monday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are designed to help track and alert the public to potentially deadly infections in hospitals and clinics.

1 Mar 2005

The gap in life expectancy between women and men is closing!

Women and men are living longer & staying more active. With fewer deaths from major causes such as heart disease and cancer Americans' are now on average living to a record 77.6 years.

1 Mar 2005

Study first to document increase risk of herpes infection due to oral sex, particularly in young women

The first clinical study to document risk of acquiring herpes simplex virus type 1 infection based on sexual activity has linked oral sex and vaginal intercourse with a demonstrably higher rate of infection, particularly in young women, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh report in the February issue of Sexually Transmitted Diseases, the journal of the American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association.

28 Feb 2005

Project targeting the increasing resistance of some viruses to drugs

A new project targeting the increasing resistance of some viruses to drugs is being funded with the help of nine million euros under the Life Sciences, Genomics and Biotechnology for Health area of the EU’s Framework Programme.

28 Feb 2005

Fear of botulism as a bioterrorist weapon is to be reduced by British vaccine technology

Fear of botulism as a bioterrorist weapon is to be reduced, as the US government announces its support for a new British vaccine technology, which promises for the first time to provide an effective defence against botulism – the most deadly naturally occurring substance.

28 Feb 2005