Influenza News and Research

Latest Influenza News and Research

OTIS urges pregnant women to get vaccinated against influenza

The Organization of Teratology Information Specialists (OTIS), a non-profit organization based at the University of California, San Diego with affiliates across North America, urges pregnant women to receive the influenza vaccine as soon as possible. The recommendation comes shortly after the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Committee on Obstetric Practice issued new guidelines regarding the influenza vaccine during pregnancy.

15 Oct 2010

Oseltamivir reduces mortality in influenza A/H5N1 patients

A study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases indicates that treatment with oseltamivir significantly reduces mortality in patients with influenza A/H5N1, or 'bird flu', even when given late in the course of illness.

15 Oct 2010

LifeBridge Health reveals two ways to prevent seasonal flu

You're having that dreaded feeling. Your muscles are aching, you've got a a fever and sore throat . Get ready: It is flu season again! The flu is a respiratory virus that's contagious. In addition to the symptoms above, a, cough and headache, as well as diarrhea may indicate the virus is present.

15 Oct 2010

NanoViricides files financial year end annual report with SEC

NanoViricides, Inc. reports that it has filed its financial year end annual report (Form 10K) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) yesterday in a timely manner.

14 Oct 2010

Top citations for scientific paper on Inovio's SynCon DNA vaccines and ID DNA delivery technology

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leader in the development of therapeutic and preventive vaccines against cancers and infectious diseases, announced today that a scientific paper demonstrating strong and protective immune responses from candidate SynCon™ DNA vaccines in preclinical studies using Inovio's intradermal (ID) DNA delivery technology was one of the top cited scientific articles in the past three years in the journal Vaccine.

14 Oct 2010

Scientists identify environmental conditions that could enable H5N1 bird flu virus to survive

On the eve of the 2010-11 influenza flu season, scientists and engineers have identified the environmental conditions and surfaces that could enable a highly pathogenic (H5N1) bird flu virus to survive for prolonged periods of time at least two weeks and up to two months. Among them: The virus appears to thrive at cooler temperatures and low humidity.

14 Oct 2010

Medicago and PATH partner on development of broad coverage influenza vaccine

Medicago Inc., a biotechnology company focused on developing highly effective and affordable vaccines based on proprietary manufacturing technologies and Virus-Like Particles (VLPs), today announced that it has been awarded $946,000 in funding by U.S.-based PATH pursuant to a research collaboration agreement. Medicago and PATH will work together on a broad coverage influenza vaccine based on Medicago's proprietary plant-based Virus-Like Particle (VLP) technologies for the developing world.

13 Oct 2010

$1.5 million DOD award allows U-M scientists to pursue new application for nanoemulsion technology

The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded $1.5 million over three years to the Michigan Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine and Biological Sciences and to Ann Arbor-based NanoBio Corporation to develop and test nanoemulsions with potential to fight a wide range of wound infections, including drug-resistant forms.

13 Oct 2010

CSL to distribute Cerus' INTERCEPT Blood System in Australia, New Zealand

Cerus Corporation announced today that it has entered into an agreement with CSL Limited, Biotherapies division to distribute Cerus' INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets in Australia and New Zealand. The INTERCEPT Blood System is designed to provide increased protection from a broad range of transfusion-transmitted pathogens, including bacteria and emerging pathogens such as the dengue and chikungunya viruses.

13 Oct 2010

QIAGEN, Abbott enter agreement to strengthen testing menus for automated in-vitro diagnostic applications

QIAGEN and Abbott today announced that they have entered into an agreement that significantly strengthens both companies' testing menus for automated in-vitro diagnostic applications in the United States and Canada. Financial terms were not disclosed.

From QIAGEN Manchester Limited 13 Oct 2010

Teen Art Show shares teenagers' emotions in artistic fashion

With the help of the Child Life Program at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 22 new pieces of art were revealed from 19 talented adolescent patients during the Teen Art Show. The artwork is on display in a hospital hallway that was transformed permanently into the Teen Art Gallery.

12 Oct 2010

Older people who do not get vaccinated rely on indigenous health practices

Eating steamed pears, having a soothing massage or bathing in a herbal mixture are just some of indigenous health practices used by older people to ward off or treat influenza, according to research published in the October issue of the Journal of Advanced Nursing.

12 Oct 2010

Loyola continues mandatory employee flu-vaccination policy for second straight year

The best way to prevent the spread of the flu to patients in a medical setting would be to require all health-care workers to get an annual flu shot, says the American Academy of Pediatrics.

12 Oct 2010

Family-centered care approach may improve children's care

As physicians and scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital work to find new insights into pediatric cancer and other catastrophic diseases, a central tenant of any treatment plan is to keep families at the center of children's care.

12 Oct 2010

Researchers investigate mechanism of immune system to decipher gut-dwelling worms

A billion people living in underdeveloped areas around the world are infected with parasitic helminthes, worms that survive by residing in and feeding on their hosts. These infestations can cause chronic intestinal (and occasionally systemic) illnesses leading to long-term disability. Irah King and Markus Mohrs, biomedical researchers at the Trudeau Institute, are investigating illnesses caused by these gut-dwelling worms in an effort to decipher how immune cells send and receive signals that determine the specific immune response to mount.

12 Oct 2010

BiondVax commences Multimeric-001 flu vaccine Phase IIa clinical study

BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd., an Israeli biopharmaceutical company at the forefront of global efforts towards the development of a Universal Influenza Vaccine, today announced that it has begun to immunize subjects in a Phase IIa clinical trial of the Multimeric-001 Universal Flu Vaccine candidate. The study will evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of the Multimeric-001 vaccine.

11 Oct 2010

HHS awards Sanofi Pasteur 3-year, $56.94M egg supply contract for pandemic vaccine preparedness

Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of the sanofi-aventis Group, has been awarded a three-year contract for $56.94 million by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to maintain flocks to enable manufacturing pandemic influenza vaccine at full capacity on a year-round basis.

11 Oct 2010

Flu season looking 'typical,' CDC says

Flu activity in the Southern Hemisphere, where the flu season is ending, has been 'typical,' the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. All three types of flu that normally circulate are present, although the H1N1 'swine flu' strain that caused last year's pandemic has replaced the seasonal H1N1 strain that circulated before 2009.

11 Oct 2010

CDC issues new universal influenza vaccination recommendation for all Americans

With the influenza vaccine already available and more supply anticipated than ever before, the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases convened ten of the country's leading medical and public health groups to call on all Americans to get vaccinated this season.

8 Oct 2010

Firm sees drugs sales rising 5 to 7 percent next year, other drug industry news

The Associated Press reports that global prescription drug sales should rise 5 percent to 7 percent next year reaching at least $880 billion, fueled by new drugs and rising sales in developing countries, according to drug data firm IMS Health.

8 Oct 2010