Vaccine News and Research

Latest Vaccine News and Research

State mandates for HPV vaccination unwarranted and unwise

The HPV vaccine, sold as Gardasil in the U.S., is intended to prevent four strains of the human papillomavirus, the most common sexually transmitted infection in the world.

12 Nov 2008

Expert warns it would be ill-advised to mandate HPV vaccinations at this time

Vaccinating girls against the human papillomavirus (HPV) before they are sexually active appears to be successful in protecting them against cervical cancer, however, a Johns Hopkins University researcher and health policy expert warns it would be ill-advised to mandate vaccinations at this time.

12 Nov 2008

Comprehensive assessment of burden of HPV-associated cancers in the U.S.

Professor Vivien Chen, PhD,. Associate Professor Xiao Cheng Wu, MD, PhD and Assistant Professor Edward Peters, DMD, SM, ScD, at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Public Health contributed five papers to the largest most comprehensive assessment of the burden of human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated cancers in the United States to date.

11 Nov 2008

Calls for a more flexible approach to vaccine funding

Governments should take a broader perspective - including quality-of-life impacts - when considering whether to fund vaccines, according to a paper from the University of New South Wales (UNSW).

11 Nov 2008

Latest research on diagnosis and treatment of allergic diseases

Researchers are presenting more than 450 abstracts on investigational findings in the diagnosis and treatment of allergic diseases at the ACAAI Annual Meeting in Seattle, Nov. 6-11. Following are highlights of some key studies on asthma.

11 Nov 2008

Cells exhausted from fighting HIV infection can be rescued

Researchers at the University of Toronto and the University of California, San Francisco, have revealed new hope for HIV treatment with the discovery of a way to 'rescue' immune cells that are exhausted from fighting off HIV infection.

11 Nov 2008

1918 Spanish flu records could hold the key to solving future pandemics

Ninety years after Australian scientists began their race to stop the spread of Spanish flu in Australia, University of Melbourne researchers are hoping records from the 1918 epidemic may hold the key to preventing future deadly pandemic outbreaks.

10 Nov 2008

Food allergies are on the rise but effective treatment in the pipeline

Experts in the U.S. say food allergies are on the rise and although strict avoidance is currently the only treatment, new effective therapies are currently being developed.

10 Nov 2008

Flu shots cut the risk of blood clots forming in veins

According to new research by French scientists flu shots may reduce the risk of venous thrombotic embolism.

10 Nov 2008

T-cell-based strategy for HIV-1 vaccines still viable option

The question of whether or not to continue to pursue the development of T-cell-based HIV-1 vaccines has been a source of controversy following last year's widely publicized failure of the field's most promising candidate, a vaccine developed by Merck known as V520.

10 Nov 2008

Scientists engineer immune cells to act as "bionic assassins" that see through HIV's many disguises

HIV is a master of disguise, able to rapidly change its identity and hide undetected in infected cells.

10 Nov 2008

Flu shots may reduce risk of blood clots forming in veins

Flu shots may reduce the risk of blood clots forming in veins by 26 percent, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2008.

10 Nov 2008

Scientists engineer T cells to recognize HIV-1 strains that have evaded the immune system

The findings of the study, published online in the journal Nature Medicine, have important implications for developing new treatments for HIV, especially for patients with chronic infection who fail to respond to antiretroviral regimens.

10 Nov 2008

Scientists at MIT create backpacks for cells which deliver chemotherapy agents

MIT engineers have outfitted cells with tiny "backpacks" that could allow them to deliver chemotherapy agents, diagnose tumors or become building blocks for tissue engineering.

7 Nov 2008

GSK initiates major seasonal influenza vaccine efficacy trial

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announced today that it has started a worldwide clinical efficacy trial to evaluate an innovative vaccine for the prevention of seasonal influenza.

6 Nov 2008

Flu shot still best protection against flu

The failure of the flu vaccine to protect many Americans against the virus last year shouldn't prevent you from getting your annual flu shot this year.

6 Nov 2008

Most adults not up to date on their vaccinations

Most adults are not up to date on their vaccinations, says a new report from Harvard Medical School.

5 Nov 2008

New findings on STEP HIV vaccine trial

The study is the result of the collaboration between scientists at the Institut de Genetique Moleculaire de Montpellier, Universite Montpellier I & II, Montpellier, France, the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) and at the Swiss Vaccine Research Institute, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.

4 Nov 2008

Researchers look at spread of dengue virus in rural Thai villages

In a new study reported in PLoS Medicine, Mammen P. Mammen Jr. of the Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences (AFRIMS) in Bangkok and colleagues investigated the spread of dengue virus infection in rural Thai villages.

4 Nov 2008

Call to explore broader use of human papillomavirus vaccines

A call to explore a broader use of HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccines and the validation of a simple oral screening test for HPV-caused oral cancers are reported in two studies by a Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center investigator.

4 Nov 2008