Influenza News and Research

Latest Influenza News and Research

Measles outbreak in Illinois underscores critical need for vaccination

Study reports a measles outbreak among five unvaccinated children in Illinois, highlighting the disease's high transmissibility even among those not in direct contact, underscoring the critical importance of vaccination.

17 Mar 2024

Long COVID manifests as a post-viral syndrome indistinguishable from other respiratory illnesses

Long COVID appears to manifest as a post-viral syndrome indistinguishable from seasonal influenza and other respiratory illnesses, with no evidence of increased moderate-to-severe functional limitations a year after infection, according to new research being presented at this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2024) in Barcelona, Spain (27-30 April).

14 Mar 2024

AI framework can identify and track new and concerning COVID-19 variants

Scientists at The Universities of Manchester and Oxford have developed an AI framework that can identify and track new and concerning COVID-19 variants and could help with other infections in the future.

11 Mar 2024

Why covid patients who could most benefit from paxlovid still aren’t getting it

Evangelical minister Eddie Hyatt believes in the healing power of prayer but "also the medical approach." So on a February evening a week before scheduled prostate surgery, he had his sore throat checked out at an emergency room near his home in Grapevine, Texas.

11 Mar 2024

"Copy-paste" genetic mechanism increases the genetic diversity of malaria parasite

By dissecting the genetic diversity of the most deadly human malaria parasite – Plasmodium falciparum – researchers at EMBL's European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) have identified a mechanism of 'copy-paste' genetics that increases the genetic diversity of the parasite at accelerated time scales.

7 Mar 2024

COVID-19 booster enhances virus neutralizing antibodies in breast milk, new study reveals

The potential of COVID-19 booster vaccine products (antibodies) passed from mother to offspring through breastmilk.

7 Mar 2024

CUNY and Pfizer launch new project to track acute respiratory infections across the United States

The City University of New York (CUNY) Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health (ISPH) and the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH), in collaboration with Pfizer, are initiating a critical two-year prospective epidemiologic study in the spring of 2024 to track acute respiratory infections across the United States.

5 Mar 2024

Only 9% of older Americans vaccinated against RSV, study finds

A new study from the Texas A&M University School of Public Health found that only 9 percent of older Americans had been vaccinated against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) prior to this fall and winter, despite the threat of increased rates of hospitalization and deaths nationwide from the virus.

1 Mar 2024

Newly identified antibodies target a hard-to-spot region of the influenza virus

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have identified antibodies targeting a hard-to-spot region of the influenza virus, shedding light on the relatively unexplored "dark side" of the neuraminidase (NA) protein head.

1 Mar 2024

Latest COVID-19 booster halves risk of moderate or severe disease in adults

The most recent COVID-19 booster shot reduces adults' risk of moderate or severe COVID by more than half, according to a new nationwide data study from September 2023 through January 2024, a period of JN.1 variant dominance.

1 Mar 2024

U.S. flu vaccines expected to shift from quadrivalent to trivalent, researcher says

U.S. flu vaccines are likely to move from quadrivalent to trivalent due to a change in circulating influenza viruses, says a University of Michigan researcher.

29 Feb 2024

H5N1 variant spreads between species, endangering wildlife

The highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 has adapted to spread between birds and marine mammals, posing an immediate threat to wildlife conservation, according to a study from the University of California, Davis, and the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) in Argentina.

29 Feb 2024

Scientists uncover a new doorway for SARS-CoV-2 into human cells

Research identifies the human transferrin receptor as an alternative pathway for SARS-CoV-2 infection, offering potential new targets for COVID-19 therapies.

27 Feb 2024

Study finds October-born kids less likely to catch flu post-vaccination

Study shows October as the optimal month for influenza vaccination in young children, aligning with CDC guidelines to maximize protection against seasonal flu.

26 Feb 2024

Study reveals BCG vaccine's unexpected role in fighting influenza

As Canada's flu season collides with record strep A cases and ongoing COVID-19 concerns, a new study is shedding light on our understanding of respiratory immune responses.

26 Feb 2024

Healthcare leaders advocate for restoring Canada's hypertension control program

A passionate plea for the re-establishment of Canada's health coalition focused on hypertension prevention and control appears as an editorial in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, published by Elsevier.

26 Feb 2024

Researchers develop promising recombinant flu vaccine using nanoliposome technology

Recombinant protein vaccines, like the Novavax vaccine used to fight COVID-19, offer several advantages over conventional vaccines.

24 Feb 2024

Global health boost as new vaccine SKYTyphoid gains WHO prequalification

SK bioscience and the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) announced today that the typhoid conjugate vaccine developed by SK bioscience with technology transfer from IVI has achieved the World Health Organization prequalification (PQ), which paves the way for public procurement of the vaccine by UN organizations and gives a boost to the global TCV supply.

23 Feb 2024

October found to be the optimum time to vaccinate against influenza

The optimum time to vaccinate young infants against influenza.

22 Feb 2024

October births linked to higher flu vaccination and lower diagnosis rates

Children born in October are both more likely to be vaccinated against influenza and least likely to be diagnosed with influenza compared with children born in other months, finds a US study published by The BMJ today.

21 Feb 2024