Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Swine flu numbers still rising, but China insists disease is under control

Although the number of people now infected by the deadly swine flu in China has risen to 18, health authorities are playing down the impact, and are still insisting that they have the outbreak under control.

1 Aug 2005

Law to restrict cold medicines well on it's way

A bill that would limit access to common cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine, an ingredient that can be used to make the highly addictive drug methamphetamine, has been unanimously approved by the Senate judiciary committee.

29 Jul 2005

Valuable clues for rational antimalarial drug design and vaccine development

By determining the molecular structure of a protein that enables malaria parasites to invade red blood cells, researchers have uncovered valuable clues for rational antimalarial drug design and vaccine development. The findings are reported in the July 29 issue of the journal Cell.

28 Jul 2005

Twenty seven dead and 131 now sick with swine flu in China

According to Chinese state media, the number of people infected by what authorities believe is a pig-borne bacterial disease in the southwest has jumped to 131.

28 Jul 2005

Echinacea little use in relieving colds

According to a new study by the University of Virginia School of Medicine, taking the the herbal remedy Echinacea, to relieve the symptoms of the common cold, is a waste of time and offers no more relief than a placebo.

28 Jul 2005

Effects of ostracism are a health concern

Ostracism is more powerful now than ever because people have fewer strong family and friend support systems to fall back on when faced with exclusion in relationships, the workplace or even Internet chat rooms, says a Purdue University social psychologist.

28 Jul 2005

Infectious diseases pose a serious threat to the nation's public health

Infectious diseases pose a serious threat to the nation's public health. Today, experts addressed key developments to the current and future outlook of infectious diseases, highlighting adolescent immunizations, outbreaks and epidemics of infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance and new developments in HIV medicine, at a press conference sponsored by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID).

27 Jul 2005

Pig disease in China now claims 24 lives and renders 117 sick

The death toll from an outbreak, of what is now thought to be a pig-borne disease, in the southwest Chinese province of Sichuan, has risen to 24, with another 117 thought be sick.

27 Jul 2005

Steady upward climb in child vaccinations

According to U.S. health officials, a record high rate of 81 percent of toddlers 19 months to 3 years old are now getting vaccinated with the full recommended series.

27 Jul 2005

Quality of care may vary in association with the characteristics of individual physicians and their practices

Certain physician characteristics and practice-setting characteristics are associated with Medicare beneficiaries receiving routine preventive services below the national goals, according to a study in the July 27 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

27 Jul 2005

Biota's potential damages claim against GlaxoSmithKline could be as high as $430 million

Biota Holdings Limited of Melbourne, Australia, has announced its Particulars of Loss and Damage in its suit against GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) for failing to support Biota’s influenza drug, Relenza. The damages assessment was filed with the Victorian Supreme Court and estimates Biota’s losses in the range of $308 million to $430 million.

26 Jul 2005

Specialized immune-system B cells play dual role in triggering both kinds of immunity - innate and acquired

A specialized subpopulation of the antibody-producing B cells of the immune system plays a "double-barreled" role in triggering both kinds of immunity - innate and acquired, Duke University Medical Center immunologists have discovered.

26 Jul 2005

Research sets foundation for new generation of vaccines for HIV, influenza

Scientists have taken a major step toward the goal of altering viruses, bacteria and tumor cells so that they demand attention from immune cells designed to destroy them.

26 Jul 2005

Bird flu could spread to Europe on wings of Asian wild geese

Migratory wild birds from China, which were found to have contracted bird flu from poultry, could potentially spread the disease to Europe, as well as Australia, Chinese scientists report.

26 Jul 2005

First large-scale effort to sequence the flu genome

Multiple strains of the flu virus, circulating in a population at the same time, can reshuffle their genes and create a new virus, one capable of infecting many more people, according to a new study in the open-access journal PLoS Biology.

26 Jul 2005

Models may risk making overly optimistic predictions about the levels of public health interventions needed to bring a disease under control

Mathematical models have become invaluable decision-making tools for public health officials. As demonstrated during the United Kingdom's foot-and-mouth epidemic of 2001, models can be useful in two ways: they can reveal the underlying characteristics of an infection and they can allow the comparison of alternative control measures.

26 Jul 2005