Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Unveiling the structure of the influenza virus

The flu season is coming, and the frigid temperatures make it worse. The influenza B virus is the causative agent of the common flu, but over the past years, it has become more potent in causing disease. Now, a team of MIT scientists has found and unveiled the structure of the virus, particularly the key influenza protein, in the hopes to develop new drugs to combat influenza.

4 Feb 2020

FDA-approved OIT product marks major milestone in management of peanut allergies

In February 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Palforzia, the first peanut powder product designed to help reduce the risk of severe peanut-induced allergic reactions through desensitization over time.

4 Feb 2020

Coronavirus could be dangerous for vulnerable populations, says UGA epidemiologist

Wearing a surgical mask is unlikely to protect healthy people from the novel coronavirus that originated in China, and influenza likely poses a much greater threat to Americans, according to José Cordero, professor of epidemiology and biostatistics in the University of Georgia's College of Public Health.

4 Feb 2020

Communicating effectively about coronavirus outbreak can be tricky

Communicating effectively during an outbreak can be tricky for government agencies charged with protecting the public, according to Glen Nowak, former director of media relations at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and professor of advertising and public relations at the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

4 Feb 2020

First responders need to take special precautions to protect themselves from coronavirus

Healthcare personnel working on the front lines to contain and prevent the spread of the new coronavirus that originated in China need to take special, yet common, precautions to keep themselves and others safe.

3 Feb 2020

Coronavirus could spread explosively, tight control needed

The coronavirus may be taking a higher toll of life than we thought, say scientists, in a new study published on January 30, 2020, in The Lancet. But another startling new study based on mathematical modeling, published in the same journal, predicts that almost 76,000 people may have acquired the infection in Wuhan city, and that multiple epidemics in major connected cities inside and outside China may already be brewing. Yet the death rate is markedly low, in this case.

3 Feb 2020

Cigarettes kill even after you put them out

There are more than 5 trillion (that’s 5 thousand billion, or 5 million million or, 5,000,000,000,000) cigarette butts littering the world. These cause dust and dirt to pile up, clutter public places, and may have an adverse influence on ground water and wildlife. But little thought has gone into whether they also pollute the air.

3 Feb 2020

New vaccine designs could reduce rates of dangerous bacterial disease

New research has found that rates of disease caused by the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae could be substantially reduced by changing our approach to vaccination.

3 Feb 2020

Institut Pasteur's scientists isolate strains of coronavirus 2019-nCoV detected in France

As well as sequencing the whole genome of coronavirus 2019-nCoV, the Institut Pasteur continued to work on the samples taken from the first confirmed cases. The quality of these initial samples enabled rapid cell-culture isolation of the new virus.

3 Feb 2020

Researchers reveal mutation's role in blood cancers

A genetic mutation that disrupts how DNA sends messages to the rest of a cell has been linked to a large number of blood cancers.

3 Feb 2020

Public health officials offer scant details on U.S. coronavirus patients

Disclosure this week of a sixth case in the United States of a new viral infection emerging from China — and the first confirmed case of the virus passing from person to person in this country — is fueling public concerns about how easily the deadly virus can spread.

3 Feb 2020

Coronavirus taking an economic toll on China

The novel coronavirus or 2019-nCoV outbreak has negatively impacted the economy of China and other countries worldwide. With China’s isolation from other countries and travel bans imposed, the economic toll is rippling across the world.

3 Feb 2020

China reports H5N1 bird flu in Hunan amid coronavirus crisis

China has reported an outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu in Hunan, which borders the province of Hubei, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

3 Feb 2020

Unilever considers selling tea brands as UK hot tea sales are on a downward trend

Following on from the recent news (30th Jan 2020) of Unilever looking to sell their PG Tips and Lipton brands, Arian Bassari, Consumer Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data analytics company, offers his view on these developments.

From Unilever PLC 31 Jan 2020

GENOMICA is developing new Wuhan coronavirus diagnostic kit

GENOMICA, a wholly owned company of PharmaMar Group, is developing a kit to reliably detect and identify the new virus known as "Wuhan pneumonia" (coronavirus 2019-nCoV).

31 Jan 2020

No masking the best way to avoid the scary coronavirus: Wash your hands

Americans are watching with alarm as a new coronavirus spreads in China and cases pop up in the United States. They are barraged with information about what kinds of masks are best to prevent viral spread. Students are handing out masks in Seattle. Masks have run out in Brazos County, Texas.

31 Jan 2020

First exposure to influenza virus dictates our lifelong ability to fight flu

Were you born in an H1N1 year or an H3N2 year? The first type of influenza virus we are exposed to in early childhood dictates our ability to fight the flu for the rest of our lives, according to a new study from a team of infectious disease researchers at McMaster University and Université de Montréal.

30 Jan 2020

Coronavirus outbreak now a global health emergency says WHO

The Wuhan coronavirus or 2019-nCoV outbreak continues to spread in mainland China and in more than a dozen countries. In the last 24 hours, 42 had succumbed to the infection, making the death toll hit 213, with 9,692 confirmed cases, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare the coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency.

30 Jan 2020

Masks signal cultural disconnect as L.A.’s Chinese community braces for coronavirus

Several staff members of a small community health clinic in L.A.'s historic Chinatown spoke on the phone with patients Tuesday while wearing face masks that muffled their voices.

30 Jan 2020

Do masks protect from Coronavirus?

As the new Wuhan coronavirus, designated 2019-nCoV, spreads around the world, people are increasingly turning to face masks for protection. The question is, are masks really needed?

30 Jan 2020