News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Increased surveillance in recent years has begun to fill in some of the huge information gaps regarding influenza in Africa, which should eventually make it possible to develop or improve public health interventions, according to a big collection of articles published recently in the Journal of Infectious Diseases (JID).

(CIDRAP News) – An annual report released yesterday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) profiles a wide range of CDC influenza-related projects around the world, from flu surveillance in Indonesia to vaccine effectiveness studies in El Salvador and epidemiology training in Ghana.

(CIDRAP News) – In a look ahead to the coming flu season this fall and winter, federal officials said experts have a good grasp on the strains expected to circulate and plenty of vaccine on hand.

(CIDRAP News) – Based on an assessment of outside experts, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced today that it is sticking with its current pandemic alert level, based on recurring but low-level activity in some parts of the globe and until it has more information on the Southern Hemisphere's flu season.

(CIDRAP News) – Increased resistance to oseltamivir (Tamiflu), the leading influenza drug, has prompted federal health officials to change their advice about flu treatment, saying clinicians for now should consider using zanamivir (Relenza) or a combination of two drugs for patients suspected of having influenza A.

– WASHINGTON, DC (CIDRAP News) – Health authorities must remain alert to new and renascent disease threats, experts warned this week at an international medical meeting.