As part of its ongoing influenza pandemic preparedness efforts, the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling for the development of candidate vaccine viruses based on H5N1 viruses from recent human cases in Egypt and an H5N8 virus that was found in a wild bird in Washington state in December.
A low-pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) virus of the H7N3 subtype has hit a commercial turkey farm in California's Central Valley, causing only mild illness in the birds, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Republican and Democratic lawmakers who head a House oversight and investigations subcommittee yesterday sent letters to five federal health officials asking how lessons learned from this flu season—with its flu vaccine mismatched to the main circulating strain—could be used to improve the nation's flu preparedness in time for the next season.
Nineteen new H7N9 avian influenza cases have been reported in seven of China's provinces over the past 3 days, though basic epidemiologic details are known for only six of them, according to official reports, including health department notices translated and posted by FluTrackers, an infectious disease news message board.
The change of 2 strains was expected but was not without considerable discussion.
The latest estimate of the overall effectiveness of this year's seasonal influenza vaccine puts it at just 19% (95% confidence interval [CI], 7%-29%), slightly lower than the 23% reported in mid-January, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported yesterday.
Faced with new data, the ACIP drops its preference for nasal-spray flu vaccine in 2- to 8-year-olds.
The World Health Organization (WHO) today recommended changing two of the three strains in trivalent flu vaccines for use in the Northern Hemisphere's 2015-16 flu season.
A Scottish study of this year's vaccine found effectiviness of 33%, higher than elsewhere.
An additional case of H7N9 avian flu in China's Guangdong province has been reported to Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection (CHP), according to a machine-translated statement posted today by FluTrackers, an infectious disease news message board.
