H7N9 avian flu, which emerged in humans in China in the spring of 2013 and has since caused more than 450 cases, was found to replicate well in both the upper and lower respiratory tracts of cynomolgus macaques, a model for humans, and to show extended replication in the upper tract, indicating the possibility of prolonged shedding and transmissibility, say findings of a study today in mBio.
A World Health Organization (WHO) emergency committee has extended a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) over the global polio situation and the temporary recommendations that came with it, the WHO said in a statement yesterday. The group met by teleconference on Jul 31, its first meeting since it first declared the PHEIC on May 5.
Resistance to artemisinin, the main drug for treating malaria, has now spread throughout Southeast Asia, including critical border regions, and a genetic mutation in the Plasmodium falciparum parasite that causes the disease may be the culprit, according to a study today in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Producers recently began shipping doses of a US supply that has more quadrivalent products in the mix this year.
Genetic comparisons between variant H3N2 (H3N2v) influenza viruses collected from swine at Ohio fairs in 2012 and those collected from case-patients from a large outbreak that year showed an almost 100% match, according to a study today in Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Officials from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday that it might be impossible to trace how H9N2 avian flu samples it sent to a US Department of Agriculture (USDA) lab in Athens, Ga., became cross-contaminated with the lethal H5N1 strain, Reuters reported yesterday.
An analysis of flu vaccine effectiveness (VE) during the 2012-13 season in the United Kingdom found moderate protection against influenza B, good protection against the 2009 H1N1 virus, but very poor protection against H3N2.
Canada's only flu vaccine plant, owned by London-based GSK, must respond within 30 days to unspecified problems identified by Health Canada inspectors at the Quebec City facility, according to a Canadian Press report yesterday.
Health Canada requested a plan and timeline for resolving the issues noted in the inspection report, which it presented to GSK on Jul 3.
In a rare move, CDC advisors gave a nod to nasal spray over shots for kids 2 to 8.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning to GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) over cleanliness shortcomings at its plant in Ste. Foy, Quebec, which makes Canada's seasonal flu vaccine, the Canadian Press reported today.
