Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Our chromosomes also wrinkle with age, research shows

Grey hair, wisdom, and wrinkles on our skin mark us as we age, but it's the more subtle changes beneath the surface that make us old. Now, researchers have discovered that our chromosomes also wrinkle with age, changing how our immune system renews itself.

31 Oct 2017

Flu season: UAB experts recommend everyone to receive their yearly influenza vaccine

Flu season is here. The contagious respiratory illness caused by viruses that infect the nose, throat and lungs can cause mild to severe illness and at times may lead to death. People of every age - including people in good health - are at risk for flu.

28 Oct 2017

Report reveals 84% drop in global measles deaths, but disease still kills 90 000 every year

In 2016, an estimated 90 000 people died from measles - an 84% drop from more than 550 000 deaths in 2000 - according to a new report published today by leading health organizations. This marks the first time global measles deaths have fallen below 100 000 per year.

27 Oct 2017

International initiative led by Vanderbilt aims to develop universal flu vaccine

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center are leading an international effort to develop a universal influenza vaccine that would protect everyone against all strains of the flu anywhere in the world.

27 Oct 2017

Mumps outbreak in U.S. necessitates third booster dose of vaccine for at-risk individuals

According to a federal experts panel yesterday (25th October 2017), a third dose of mumps vaccine is recommended when there is an outbreak of the viral disease. There have been several mumps outbreaks since 2006 in the United States, especially among students who have already been vaccinated before. Last year 6366 cases of the highly infectious viral infection were reported in the United States.

27 Oct 2017

New research may protect Navy divers from oxygen toxicity in the deep

Special Operations divers like Navy SEALs take on life-threatening risks such as enemy combatants and harsh environments. But another hazard is silent and unseen -- oxygen toxicity, the result of breathing lethal levels of oxygen that occur at depth and pressure.

26 Oct 2017

What men need to know: Prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men. Next to skin cancers, prostate cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in American men.

25 Oct 2017

New flu forecasting tool makes better predictions by factoring evolution of virus

Each year, public health officials monitor the spread of influenza to identify which flu strains need to go into that year's vaccines and where outbreaks will occur. But it can be difficult to predict how bad a particular flu season will be until people actually start getting sick.

25 Oct 2017

UH professors developing new home test kit for kidney nephritis

With a four-year $1.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, two University of Houston engineering professors are developing a home test kit for kidney nephritis, or inflammation, in patients who have Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

25 Oct 2017

The painful side of positive health care marketing

Lori Wallace sits on a couch with her 11-year-old son and his new pet snake. It burrows under his armpit, as if afraid. Wallace is sure it’s not.

25 Oct 2017

New discovery could speed development and approval of antiviral drugs

New research shows that a new class of antiviral drugs works by causing the virus' replication machinery to pause and backtrack, preventing the virus from efficiently replicating. This discovery, made possible by a high-throughput experimental technique called "magnetic tweezers," could speed the development and approval of related antiviral drugs.

25 Oct 2017

CRISPRy bacon ! Genetically modified leaner low-fat pigs

Genetically modified leaner pigs are on the cards soon. Researchers in china used the gene-editing technology, CRISPR, to create pigs that are less fatty and leaner with more muscle. This could mean genetically modified bacon on the plates.

24 Oct 2017

Research provides insight into how two stands of double helix separate during replication

Life would be impossible if the DNA in dividing cells were replicated with anything less than near-perfect precision. Every time a nucleated cell commits to becoming two cells, every "letter" of its genome must be replicated once and only once.

24 Oct 2017

Lung microbiome plays major role in asthma severity and response to treatment

While the microbiome has gained significant attention for its impact on digestive health in recent years, its effect on lung disease has largely remained unstudied.

24 Oct 2017

KU Leuven researchers identify new rapid response mechanism against bacterial infections

When bacteria enter our body, they kick-start a powerful immune response. But this chain of reactions doesn't fully account for our immediate responses. Researchers at KU Leuven, Belgium, show that so-called ion channels play a key role as 'first responders'.

23 Oct 2017

Study offers solution to protect against vaccine-enhanced respiratory disease

Researchers have discovered that a virus-like particle vaccine can prime the body's immune response and prevent the severe respiratory disease that results when patients given an early form of a vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are exposed to RSV, according to a study led by Georgia State University.

23 Oct 2017