Getting a flu shot 2 years in a row apparently can, under certain circumstances, backfire.
A recent study in the Journal of Human Lactation showed that pasteurizing breast milk kills both Ebola and Marburg viruses. The research was done at the Mother's Milk Bank of North Texas (MMBNT), and was conducted in the wake of the 2013-2016 Ebola outbreak.
A review of 4 previous studies shows that solid data on health worker immunization are lacking and highlights the implausability of some of the results.
On the eve of Lunar New Year in China, ringing in the year of the rooster, two of the country's provinces reported new H7N9 avian flu cases, Hunan and Guizhou, according to provincial health department statements translated and posted by FluTrackers, an infectious disease news message board.
A new study published today in PLOS Medicine shows that the Zika virus triggers Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) and causes congenial birth defects. Though these findings have been demonstrated by other studies, this is the largest systemic literature review of the most devastating outcomes of Zika infection to date.
Saudi Arabian health officials have reported three new MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) infections in recent days, two of them involving exposure to camels. All three patients have symptoms and are in stable condition, officials said.
About 40% of people in the United States had received a flu vaccine by early November, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today, adding that it estimated the intervention prevented an estimated 5 million flu illnesses, 71,000 flu hospitalizations, and 3,000 deaths.
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison today described a new technique that could improve the production of influenza B vaccine viruses, consisting of a "backbone" for adding specific components to protect against both the Victoria and Yamagata lineages. They reported their findings today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The study finds the flu vaccine did not reduce school absenteeism in kids 5 to 17.
In a MERS-CoV situation report today, the World Health Organization (WHO) said there are 58% fewer cases reported in September and October of this year compared with the same period last year.
