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(CIDRAP News) – Flu activity in the United States showed a moderate spike last week, with a jump in states reporting widespread activity, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today.
The number of respiratory specimens testing positive for flu, another marker of flu activity, also showed a steady rise last week, increasing to 18.4%, compared with 14.4% the week before.
(CIDRAP News) – A study published this week adds another to a short list of recent investigations suggesting that standard influenza vaccines yield only modest reductions in the risk of hospitalization or death in elderly people.
(CIDRAP News) – The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday approved the first quadrivalent influenza vaccine, an inhaled live attenuated influenza vaccine developed by MedImmune and modeled after its FluMist product.
The vaccine includes a second influenza B strain, which is designed to broaden protection against circulating strains. MedImmune plans to have the quadrivalent vaccine ready for the 2013-14 flu season.
Mar 1, 2012
Feb 29, 2012
(CIDRAP News) – The mutant H5N1 virus generated in one of two controversial studies was less lethal and contagious than has been generally understood, and the US government's biosecurity advisory committee will be asked to examine new and clarified data from the study, scientists and government officials revealed today.
Feb 28, 2012
(CIDRAP News) – An advisory group to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today selected two new strains for the 2012-13 seasonal flu vaccine, based on a recent recommendation from the World Health Organization (WHO).
(CIDRAP News) – A research team today announced the discovery of a new influenza A virus in Guatemalan fruit bats, but in its current form the virus doesn't pose a threat to humans, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The researchers, who included scientists from the CDC, reported their findings today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
(CIDRAP News) – A 22-year-old man in Vietnam is in critical condition with an H5N1 avian influenza infection, according to media reports.
Nguyen Van Vin Chau, Ho Chi Minh City's director of tropical diseases, said the man is from Binh Duong province, located in the southeastern part of the country, Asia News Network (ANN) reported today. He was hospitalized on Feb 23 after experiencing a high fever and respiratory symptoms.
(CIDRAP News) – A recent set of articles in Vaccine has confirmed previous preliminary reports that young children who received influenza shots in the 2010-11 flu season had a slightly increased risk of a febrile seizure after vaccination, especially if they received a new pneumococcal vaccine at the same time.
(CIDRAP News) – Just why the US influenza season has been so tame thus far is uncertain, but the possible reasons include mild weather, vaccination, and high population immunity owing to a fairly stable set of circulating viruses, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) official said today.
Feb 24, 2012
(CIDRAP News) – Two leading voices on the potential threat of lab-modified H5N1 viruses laid out their arguments about the human H5N1 fatality rate and undetected cases today and yesterday, with one group claiming "millions" likely have been infected and the other group saying current World Health Organization (WHO) fatality-rate estimates are about right.
(CIDRAP News) – A coalition of 51 medical and health groups is urging congressional leaders to act within the next few months to boost the development of new antibiotics, saying the ongoing loss of effective ones due to bacterial resistance is becoming a crisis.
(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) today recommended changing two of the three strains in next season's influenza vaccine for the Northern Hemisphere, ending a couple of years of stability in the vaccine's makeup.
The WHO's flu experts called for changing the A/H3N2 and B components of the vaccine but continuing to use a strain of the pandemic 2009 virus for the A/H1N1 component.
Feb 22, 2012
