Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Recombinant attenuated Salmonella vaccines hold promise against infectious diseases

A powerful new class of therapeutics, known as recombinant attenuated Salmonella vaccines (RASV), holds great potential in the fight against fatal diseases including hepatitis B, tuberculosis, cholera, typhoid fever, AIDS and pneumonia.

30 Jun 2011

Most cases of facial nerve paralysis in children can be treated successfully

A half-paralyzed face with a motionless, drooping side can be alarming at any age, but when it occurs in a child it can be especially devastating.

30 Jun 2011

S. aureus pneumonia rates in children have doubled over past decade

The rate of pneumonia in children caused by infection with Staphylococcus aureus bacteria has doubled over the past decade, according to a paper in the July issue of The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

30 Jun 2011

State roundup: Minn. officials looking at health cuts to avert shutdown

With just two days to negotiate an agreement with Republican lawmakers before a potential government shutdown, Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican leaders are trying to find additional cuts in health and human services spending, the fastest-growing part of state government.

30 Jun 2011

Botox for asthma

Botox, or botulinum toxin type A, which is best-known for smoothing away facial wrinkles is to be tested as an asthma treatment at Melbourne's Monash University. A recent survey by the university found that about half of severe asthmatics suffer problems with their voice box as well as their lungs. The problems were similar to vocal cord dysphonia – or loss of voice through overuse – a condition which Botox is frequently used to fix.

29 Jun 2011

Vaccines may be given in food in the near future

Soon children could be vaccinated with bacteria mixed in milk and people in the developing world given unprecedented access to immunisations under a scheme proposed by an Australian Nobel laureate, Barry Marshall.

29 Jun 2011

First Edition: June 29, 2011

In today's news, two senators offer a new plan for Medicare cuts -- which includes increasing the eligibility age -- but top Democrats lined up against it.

29 Jun 2011

President steps in as debt talks remain divided — Medicare savings in exchange for added revenue?

As the high-level negotiations continue, health care advocates are stepping up their campaigns to protect against Medicare and Medicaid cuts. Meanwhile, organizations representing physicians — including the American Medical Association — maintain that a permanent fix to Medicare's physician payment formula should be included in the debt-ceiling legislation.

29 Jun 2011

GAO reports on government response to H1N1 pandemic

GAO on Monday published two reports on the government's response to the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic.

29 Jun 2011

Impulsivity linked to superstitions in pathological gamblers

Research led by the University of Cambridge has found a link between impulsivity and flawed reasoning (such as believing in superstitious rituals and luck) in problem gamblers.

29 Jun 2011

Medivir, Meda renegotiate agreement for cold sores medicine, Xerese

Medivir AB, the emerging research-based specialty pharmaceutical company focused on infectious diseases, today announced that it has renegotiated the terms of its commercial partnership with Meda for Xerese, its unique marketed product for cold sores (herpes labialis).

29 Jun 2011

Nine-year-old recovers with experimental heart pump

Nine-year-old Greer Underwood was healthy until February 2011. What seemingly began as sinusitis on a Tuesday became almost fatal by the weekend when her heart began to fail. Now, after a historic series of events at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, she's the only child in the country to have used the experimental heart pump, Heartware, as a bridge to transplant.

28 Jun 2011

Number of adults with diabetes doubled over past three decades, study shows

The number of adults with type 2 diabetes has doubled worldwide over the last three decades, rising from 153 million in 1980 to 347 million, "a sign that the epidemic will impose an ever-greater cost burden on health systems," according to a study published on Saturday in the Lancet, the Wall Street Journal reports.

28 Jun 2011

Microbix renegotiates key terms of Hunan influenza vaccine joint venture

Microbix Biosystems Inc., a biotechnology company commercializing novel technologies for influenza vaccine manufacturing and biological products announced today that it is renegotiating key terms of the original joint venture agreement with their Joint Venture partner Hunan Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd.

28 Jun 2011

UNICEF representative warns Filipino children displaced after flooding face disease risk

About 450,000 children, displaced by severe flooding in the southern Philippines, could face an outbreak of diarrhea and pneumonia, Vanessa Tobin, UNICEF's representative in the Philippines, said on Sunday, Agence France-Presse reports.

28 Jun 2011

Wildfire exposure may increase risk of heart failure

An EPA study published online Monday in Environmental Health Perspectives finds that the 2008 peat bog wildfires in NC led to an increase in emergency room visits for respiratory and cardiovascular effects.

28 Jun 2011

Australian Nobel Prize winner closer to delivering vaccines in food after positive first study in humans

The Australian scientist who won a Nobel Prize for identifying a cancer-causing stomach bacterium, today said a clinical trial had shown that some strains of the bacteria (Helicobacter pylori or H. pylori) were safe and well tolerated in humans.

27 Jun 2011

Diabetes numbers on the rise: Experts worried

According a new international study more than 350 million in the world now have diabetes. The analysis, published online by the Lancet on Saturday, adds several tens of millions to the previous estimate of the number of diabetics and indicates that the disease has become a major global health problem.

27 Jun 2011

Researchers identify new component of plague causing bacterium that can be used as a vaccine

Researchers from the Smiley lab at the Trudeau Institute have now identified a single component of the plague causing bacterium that can be used as a vaccine. This single "subunit" could potentially be used to create a safer form of a T cell-stimulating plague vaccine. The new data is featured in the July issue of The Journal of Immunology.

27 Jun 2011

Viewpoints: Supreme Court drug decisions; Medicaid's burden; Concierge medicine questioned

The image of Justice blindfolded, holding her scales, is familiar from courthouses all over the United States and the world. Sadly, in its Thursday ruling in the case of PLIVA v Mensing, the U.S. Supreme Court made a decision that makes one wonder if that blindfold made the court unable to see the right thing to do.

27 Jun 2011