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The new H1N1 strain mirrors the change the WHO made last September for the Southern Hemisphere flu vaccine.
The vaccine cut deaths 36.4% in a severe flu season but not at all in the next season.
The incidence type of birth defects seen with congenital Zika infections in the United States rose 20 times higher than it was before the virus started circulating in the Americas region, researchers reported today in the latest issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
Also, Taiwan notes new H5N6 outbreaks, and China detects more highly pathogenic H7N9 in poultry markets.
Officials said the shifts haven't changed the epidemiologic or clinical patterns in people.
Neuraminidase inhibitors, the antiviral drugs given to fight and prevent influenza, pose no safety risks to fetuses or newborns, according to a new study published today in BMJ. This is the largest study on antiviral use and safety in pregnancy conducted to date.
Receiving two or more antibiotic regimens is associated with an increased risk of gram-negative pathogens in patients with hospital-onset urinary tract infections (UTIs), according to a study yesterday in BMC Infectious Diseases.
H5N8 has now been confirmed in 40 countries, and South Korean scientists shared genetic findings from a recent H5N6 isolate.
A federal ethics committee that reviewed a research proposal to experimentally infect humans with Zika virus to help gauge the best approach to a vaccine has rejected the application, according to a report posted last week and first reported today by Stat.
The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a statement today reaffirming the need for more research and development on new antibiotics for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB).
Agency officials say new antibiotics for the identified bacteria are urgently needed.
So far there's no sign that H7N9 epidemiology is changing for humans, but for poultry, the virus has become more deadly.
A case series of 87 infected babies from Brazil's epicenter finds an 82% rate of microcephaly.
Egypt today reported two human H5N1 avian flu cases, one of them fatal, according to notifications from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Few details were reported. One of the cases occurred in Minya governorate and was observed on Feb 1. The fatal case was reported from Faiyum governorate and was observed on Feb 5. Both governorates are in upper Egypt.
France reports 68 new H5N8 poultry outbreaks, and Hungary confirms 455,000 affected birds.
Over the 8-year study period MDR bacterial infections increased sevenfold.
Also, UK scientists yesterday reported a novel subclade of the H3N2 strain of influenza.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday cleared the expanded use of a diagnostic test for lower respiratory tract infections and sepsis and allowed marketing for a test that can identify organisms that cause bloodstream infections, according to two agency news releases.
A World Health Organization (WHO) working group recently updated its Zika vaccine target profile, a document used to inform vaccine developers, regulators, and other stakeholders. The group published the first version of the profile in July 2016, and the revision takes into account new data from the past 6 months.
