Although early reports during the 2010-11 flu season suggested possible safety concerns over febrile seizures in kids with the trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (TIV) Fluzone, just-released epidemiologic findings show no statistically significant association, according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Chinese health officials have confirmed what appears to be the first known H5N6 avian influenza infection in a human, a farmer from Sichuan province who had severe pneumonia and died, according to a post yesterday from ProMED-mail, the online reporting system of the International Society for Infectious Diseases.
A US-Chinese team of scientists has reported the discovery of three human monoclonal antibodies with a potent ability to neutralize MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus), a find they say may point the way toward a drug to prevent or treat the infection.
Health officials have been heard to say that even though influenza vaccine doesn't provide complete protection against flu, it may reduce symptoms if you do get sick. Now a study out of Wisconsin offers some evidence in support of that view.
Federal researchers have found antibodies to the 2009 H1N1 (pH1N1) flu virus in almost three fourths of sea otters they tested that were from off the coast of Washington state, according to a letter today in Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Canadian scientists may have solved the mystery of low vaccine efficacy against the H3N2 strain.
China reported one new H7N9 infection today, as well as a death from the virus in a previously confirmed patient. Both are from Guangdong province, according to a health department statement translated and posted by FluTrackers, an infectious disease news message board.
A 2-year-old Cambodian girl has died from H5N1 avian flu, the country's ninth case this year, according to a joint statement today from Cambodia's Ministry of Health (MoH) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
The girl, from Kandal village in Kampot province, which borders Vietnam in southern Cambodia, developed a fever on Mar 8. She was admitted to a private clinic on Mar 10 and to Kantha Bopha Children's Hospital in Phnom Penh on Mar 13.
Libya's agriculture ministry today reported the country's first highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza outbreak, according to a report to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
Study says this year's vaccine provided moderate protection against serious flu outcomes.
