Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

US Government to fund development of a 'universal flu vaccine'

The US government is to provide up to 400 million USD in funding to develop a “universal” flu vaccination at Duke University over the next seven years.

1 Oct 2019

Researchers confront mystery of tropical fungal outbreak in the Pacific Northwest

The Great Alaskan Earthquake of 1964 and the tsunamis it spawned may have washed a tropical fungus ashore, leading to a subsequent outbreak of often-fatal infections among people in coastal regions of the Pacific Northwest, according to a paper co-authored by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the nonprofit Translational Genomics Research Institute, an affiliate of City of Hope.

1 Oct 2019

New round of Medicare readmission penalties hits 2,583 hospitals

Medicare cut payments to 2,583 hospitals Tuesday, continuing the Affordable Care Act's eight-year campaign to financially pressure hospitals into reducing the number of patients who return for a second stay within a month.

1 Oct 2019

Mount Sinai researchers receive NIH award to develop universal flu vaccine

Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have received a contract award of up to $132 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as part of a new Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Centers (CIVICs) program to further develop the universal flu vaccine.

1 Oct 2019

What are the health effects of vaping?

Vaping and its effects have gained immense popularity over the past weeks due to the emergence of a mysterious and severe lung disease. Electronic cigarettes or e-cigarettes, also called vapes, electronic nicotine delivery systems, vape pens, or mods, have become very popular across the globe, especially among teens.

1 Oct 2019

NIAID initiates new Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Centers program

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, has initiated the Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Centers program, a new network of research centers that will work together in a coordinated, multidisciplinary effort to develop more durable, broadly protective and longer-lasting influenza vaccines.

30 Sep 2019

University of Georgia signs contract with NIH to develop advanced influenza vaccine

The University of Georgia has signed a contract with the National Institutes of Health for an initial award of $8 million to develop a new, more advanced influenza vaccine designed to protect against multiple strains of influenza virus in a single dose.

30 Sep 2019

Infectious disease experts explain how to stay healthy during the flu season

About 40 million people contracted the flu last year, with hundreds of thousands hospitalized and 35,400 to 61,000 deaths, including 134 children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

30 Sep 2019

Duke Human Vaccine Institute participates in a large national effort to improve flu shots

As part of a massive national effort to improve and modernize flu shots, the Duke Human Vaccine Institute has received three research contracts from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, with an initial award of approximately $29.6 million in first-year funding.

30 Sep 2019

AI system takes 10 seconds to accurately identify key findings in chest X-rays of pneumonia patients

From 20 minutes or more to 10 seconds. Researchers from Intermountain Healthcare and Stanford University say 10 seconds is about how quickly a new system they studied that utilizes artificial intelligence took to accurately identify key findings in chest X-rays of patients in the emergency department suspected of having pneumonia.

30 Sep 2019

Vaping linked to over 200 health problems, but still safer than smoking

Vaping has been linked to hundreds of health problems in the UK over the last five years, including heart conditions, chest pain and pneumonia.

30 Sep 2019

Nanoparticles moving through airway mucus may predict severity of COPD

In a proof-of-concept experiment, researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine say they have successfully used microscopic man-made particles to predict the severity of patients' chronic obstructive pulmonary disease by measuring how quickly the particles move through mucus samples.

30 Sep 2019

Deer can pass tuberculosis to humans, CDC warns

Tuberculosis or TB is a highly contagious infection that usually affects the lungs, but it can spread to other parts of the body, such as the spine and brain. Commonly caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which can spread through the air from person to person.

30 Sep 2019

Nintedanib drug can benefit patients with broad range of scarring lung diseases

Nintedanib, a medication approved for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, slows the decline in lung function among patients with a broad range of scarring lung diseases.

30 Sep 2019

Smart shirt technology is a promising tool for monitoring lung disease

A smart shirt that measures lung function by sensing movements in the chest and abdomen has proved to be accurate when compared to traditional testing equipment, according to research presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress.

30 Sep 2019

Lipid produced in response to cold helps reduce blood sugar

Researchers based in Brazil, the United States and Germany have discovered that 12-HEPE, a lipid produced in response to cold by brown adipose tissue in the human body, helps reduce blood sugar. The results of their experiments with mice pave the way for new treatments for diabetes.

27 Sep 2019

Scientists discover T cell homing beacons for lungs

Scientists have identified a pair of molecules critical for T cells, part of the immune system, to travel to and populate the lungs. A potential application could be strengthening vaccines against respiratory pathogens such as influenza.

27 Sep 2019

Washing machine could be a reservoir of multidrug-resistant pathogens

For the first time ever, investigators have identified a washing machine as a reservoir of multidrug-resistant pathogens. The pathogens, a single clone of Klebsiella oxytoca, were transmitted repeatedly to newborns in a neonatal intensive care unit at a German children's hospital.

27 Sep 2019

Vapors from tank-style e-cigarettes have higher concentrations of harmful metals

A team of scientists at the University of California, Riverside, has found the concentration of metals in electronic cigarette aerosols -- or vapor -- has increased since tank-style electronic cigarettes were introduced in 2013.

27 Sep 2019