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(CIDRAP News) – Winter influenza outbreaks in the United States typically follow periods of unusually low absolute humidity (AH), and this pattern suggests it may be possible to develop short-term forecasts of flu epidemics, according to a study published this week.

(CIDRAP News) – Racial minority groups have been more heavily impacted by pandemic H1N1 flu hospitalizations, with severe illness during the fall wave hitting American Indian and Alaska Native populations especially hard, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday in an update.

Hospitalizations strongly linked to chronic conditions

(CIDRAP News) – In the wake of the H1N1 influenza pandemic, the US Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) today took the long-discussed step of recommending seasonal flu immunizations for nearly everyone, leaving out only small babies.

(CIDRAP News) – Some of the nation's emergency departments are noting increases in flu-like illness cases that appear to be pandemic H1N1, and colleges are reporting the first increase in flu-like illness since the end of November, but it's not clear if these are early signs of a third pandemic flu wave.

WHO gains scientists' support for H1N1 response

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization's (WHO's) emergency committee of experts yesterday recommended holding at the current pandemic alert level based on evidence of new community spread of the virus in West Africa and the possibility of a second wave of illnesses as the Southern Hemisphere enters its winter months.

(CIDRAP News) – Egypt's health ministry has reported three more H5N1 avian influenza infections, two boys and a 30-year-old woman, pushing country's confirmed cases to 102, an Egypt-based avian influenza Web site reported today.

Feb 23, 2010

(CIDRAP News) – Vietnam's health ministry announced the country's first H5N1 avian influenza case of the year, a 3-year-old girl who is recovering in the hospital, according to media reports.

(CIDRAP News) – At least 63 million Americans, 21% of the population, may have been infected by pandemic H1N1 influenza, Pittsburgh researchers estimate—creating enough population-wide immunity to potentially explain the lack of a third wave of H1N1 so far.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) vaccines committee voted today to follow the World Health Organization's advice and fold the pandemic H1N1 influenza vaccine into the seasonal flu vaccine for next season.

(CIDRAP News) – Human seasonal flu strains that reassort with avian H5 influenza can produce a more pathogenic avian flu strain, highlighting the importance of virus genetic surveillance and the need to protect people who have close contact with birds, researchers reported today.

Feb 22, 2010

(CIDRAP News) – Pandemic flu activity in the United States stayed level for the fourth week in a row, though the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported slight increases in the number of outpatient visits for flu-like illnesses and deaths from pneumonia and influenza.

(CIDRAP News) – An overwhelming majority of Americans would probably follow public health advice to pick up antibiotics after an anthrax attack, but a sizable minority wouldn't take them right away, according to a poll by the Harvard School of Public Health.

Report details outbreak on Navy ship