Vaccine News and Research

Latest Vaccine News and Research

White House tests bird flu drill as death toll reaches 70

White House staff have carried out a set of tests to assess its preparedness for what they warn is an inevitable bird flu pandemic.

11 Dec 2005

Disaster or pandemic - U.S. needs to get real!

According to a report by the organization Trust for America's Health (TFAH), hospitals in the U.S. are not properly prepared to handle patients who would arrive after a disaster or a pandemic.

7 Dec 2005

Nasal flu vaccine just as safe as a jab

According to U.S. government researchers, a new nasal vaccine against influenza, which helps patients avoid the needle, has caused no unexpected side-effects.

7 Dec 2005

Buttock injections do not provide proper dose

Women may not be getting the most out of vaccines and other injections, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

7 Dec 2005

Local health officials don't rate U.S. government bird flu plans

Health officials in the U.S. have predicted, in the event of a bird flu pandemic, businesses and government can expect 40 percent of their employees to be absent during it's peak.

6 Dec 2005

Two more cases of bird flu in China makes experts jumpy

The confirmation of two new outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu in poultry in China is causing concern among health experts as the virus continues to take its toll on Asia, and the world searches for ways to contain it.

29 Nov 2005

Vaccinating chickens shown to halt the spread of bird flu

Dutch scientists say that vaccinating chickens against avian flu can prevent a major outbreak of the disease by stopping birds from passing on the virus.

29 Nov 2005

Drug partners in fight against AIDS say measles shot could be the answer!

Major drug company GlaxoSmithKline is hoping to develop an experimental AIDS vaccine by "piggy-backing" on a shot against measles.

29 Nov 2005

Completion of the genetic sequencing of the 1918 influenza A virus

An article by Robert Belshe, M.D., of Saint Louis University School of Medicine in the New England Journal of Medicine reviews recent "spectacular achievements of contemporary molecular biology" that hold great importance as the world prepares for a possible flu pandemic.

28 Nov 2005

Indonesia to produce bird flu vaccine with help from U.S. company

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says the authorities there will cooperate with the U.S.-based Baxter International to produce human vaccines for the H5N1 bird flu virus.

28 Nov 2005

MRI to detect magnetic probes of tiny iron oxide particles successfully tracks implanted cells in cancer patients

By using MRI to detect magnetic probes of tiny iron oxide particles, an international research team for the first time has successfully tracked immune-stimulating cells implanted into cancer patients for treatment purposes.

28 Nov 2005

Enhancement of vaccine-mediated antitumor immunity in cancer patients after depletion of regulatory T cells

Duke University researchers have now shown that selectively killing the population of regulatory T cells in cancer patients - cells that normally function to restrain the activity of the immune response - improves the ability of a cancer vaccine to stimulate tumor-specific T cells.

28 Nov 2005

Potential new treatment for pancreatic cancer

Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers are encouraged by early results of a treatment vaccine for pancreatic cancer, a disease with few options and low odds for long-term survival.

28 Nov 2005

Mother of all rows over flu jabs

British Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt when she blamed doctors for a shortage of the flu vaccine has triggered the mother of all rows with the British medical fraternity.

24 Nov 2005

Health experts in the UK warn flu vaccine will run out

Fear of a flu pandemic has triggered an unprecedented demand for winter flu vaccines and health officials in the UK are warning that the NHS could run out of supplies.

22 Nov 2005

Who gets bird flu vaccine first when there's not enough to go round?

According to the top health official in the U.S., it will be three to five years before the United States can produce enough bird flu vaccine to inoculate its population against a potentially deadly outbreak in humans.

21 Nov 2005

Two tests in a lifetime will halve cervical cancer numbers in poor countries

Most women in developed countries are regularly screened for cervical cancer, but this is often not the case in poorer countries.

20 Nov 2005

Bird flu spreads in China while Bush's $ 7.1 billion pandemic fund stalls

As World health experts predicted there will be more human bird flu infections in China, the U.S. Congress has stalled the funding of President George W. Bush's plan to cope with a pandemic.

20 Nov 2005

Pancreatic cancer vaccine extends survival

In a long awaited positive development, an experimental pancreatic cancer vaccine seems to be extending survival rates higher.

16 Nov 2005

New plan to defeat Malaria in Africa

Achieving victory over malaria in Africa, a disease that each year kills millions and imposes costs that cripple entire economies, requires a new internationally funded effort dedicated to training and supporting a critical mass of African malaria researchers

14 Nov 2005