Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Aid groups should work to make Haiti self-sufficient, former President Clinton says

Former President Bill Clinton asked aid groups working in Haiti on Thursday to focus on making the nation more self-sufficient, the Associated Press reports. Clinton, the U.N. special envoy to Haiti, spoke ahead of a U.N. donor conference on rebuilding Haiti next week.

27 Mar 2010

Study: Surgical masks prevented hospital staff from acquiring H1N1

The effectiveness of ordinary surgical masks as opposed to respirators in protecting health care workers against the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus has been the subject of debate. An observational study published in the April 1, 2010 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, available online, suggests that surgical masks are just as effective as respirators in this regard.

26 Mar 2010

Researchers identify link between socioeconomic status and common disease symptoms

Researchers have identified the link between socioeconomic status and common symptoms of disease, prompting new questions about the causal connections between them.

26 Mar 2010

Positive data from Shire's Phase III trial of TKT-034 in Type 1 Gaucher disease patients who switched to VPRIV

Shire plc, the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, today presented positive data from a Phase III clinical trial (TKT-034) designed to evaluate the safety of switching to VPRIV (velaglucerase alfa for injection), from imiglucerase, as well as an interim analysis of safety data from an ongoing multicenter open-label treatment protocol (HGT-GCB-058) implemented to provide VPRIV to patients affected by the continuing shortage of imiglucerase.

26 Mar 2010

Lay health workers can help reduce childhood mortality

Lay persons in many countries who are given special training to promote or carry out some health care services may reduce childhood mortality.

26 Mar 2010

Positive results from Stage A pivotal study of 2009 A/H1N1 VLP pandemic influenza vaccine

Novavax, Inc. announced today positive results from the entire 1,000 subject Stage A of its two-stage pivotal study evaluating the safety and immunogenicity of Novavax's unadjuvanted 2009 A/H1N1 virus-like particle pandemic influenza vaccine.

26 Mar 2010

IMDx 2009 Influenza A H1N1 Real-Time RT-PCR Assay granted EUA from FDA

IMDx announced today that its IMDx 2009 Influenza A H1N1 Real-Time RT-PCR Assay has been granted Emergency Use Authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

26 Mar 2010

Beaumont Hospital opens women's urology center

It’s something that women don’t talk about even to their best friends or their doctors. That’s why Beaumont Hospitals has created a new Women’s Urology Center offering leading-edge treatments, innovative research and the most advanced minimally invasive procedures for women’s urological conditions such as incontinence, pelvic pain and sexual dysfunction.

25 Mar 2010

Lack of good health care curtails academic performance: Study

"Educationally relevant health disparities" are key drivers of the achievement gap, "but they are largely overlooked," said Charles Basch, the Richard March Hoe Professor of Health Education at Teachers College, Columbia University.

25 Mar 2010

Clinical Reference Laboratory completes validation testing of DNA Genotek's Oragene-DNA saliva collection kits

Clinical Reference Laboratory today announced that it has completed validation testing of DNA Genotek's Oragene-DNA saliva collection kits and will adopt Oragene-DNA for use with its molecular diagnostic services.

25 Mar 2010

FDA approves Riverain Medical's Softview Enhanced Chest Imaging technology

Riverain Medical, a leading image enhancement and computer-aided detection company dedicated to providing physicians with tools to assist in image interpretation, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the SoftView Enhanced Chest Imaging technology.

25 Mar 2010

Glaxosmithkline, Pfizer will supply 60M doses of reduced-price pneumococcal vaccines to developing countries over 10 years, GAVI says

The GAVI Alliance on Tuesday formally announced that drugmakers GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer had signed off on a "10-year deal … to supply 60 million doses a year of cut-price pneumococcal vaccines to developing nations," Reuters reports.

25 Mar 2010

Clinic sites seek gay men to participate in HIV vaccine study

Clinic sites in 13 cities across the U.S. are looking for a total of 1,350 HIV-negative gay men to participate in the latest HIV vaccine study from the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN). And they're using social media to help reach these individuals where they are, which, these days, is increasingly online.

25 Mar 2010

Swine flu closely related to 1918 Spanish flu pandemic

In research on the swine flu virus it has been seen that the virus may seem new, but it has old relatives. An influenza virus which was pandemic in 1918 is seen to be very closely related, structurally speaking, to the H1N1 swine flu vaccine. This virus has the dubious distinction of having claimed between 40 million to 100 million lives in the flu wave of 1918.

25 Mar 2010

New study investigates effects of influenza among pregnant women

This spring, pregnant women in Bergen and Oslo will be invited to take part in the Norwegian Influenza Study (NorFlu). The aim is to find out how influenza in pregnancy affects maternal health and childhood development. NorFlu will also study any implications of vaccination during pregnancy.

25 Mar 2010

FDA approves Custom Spine's anterior cervical interbody device

Custom Spine announced today that it has received FDA clearance to market PATHWAY ACIF, an anterior cervical interbody spacer. This cervical interbody device compliments the company's low-profile anterior cervical plate system, Regent ACP, which was released this past November.

25 Mar 2010

Community awareness can help fight tuberculosis

Pennsylvania Health Secretary Everette James today stressed the importance of increasing awareness of tuberculosis, or TB, and continuing efforts to control the infectious airborne disease that killed nearly 2 million people in 2008.

24 Mar 2010

The Children's Aid Society applauds healthcare reform bill

The following is a statement by Richard R. Buery, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer, The Children's Aid Society: "This morning when President Obama signed the historic Affordable Health Care for America Act, he took great strides towards improving the health of all children in the U.S.

24 Mar 2010

Pfizer to supply pneumococcal conjugate vaccines for infants and children

Pfizer Inc. today announced it has signed a 10-year Provisional Supply Agreement to supply Prevenar 13* (Pneumococcal Polysaccharide Conjugate Vaccine [13-valent, adsorbed]), the company’s 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, for infants and young children in the world’s poorest countries under the terms of the Advance Market Commitment (AMC) pilot project against pneumococcal disease.

24 Mar 2010

Pharmaceutical firms, GAVI Alliance agree to provide long-term supply of Pneumococcal vaccine

Millions of infants and young children in the world's poorest countries will receive potentially life-saving vaccines that help protect against pneumococcal disease, including pneumonia -- the world's biggest childhood killer, thanks to new agreements made with two major pharmaceutical firms, the GAVI Alliance announced today.

24 Mar 2010