News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) is recommending that influenza vaccines for the Southern Hemisphere's 2013 flu season should contain the same three strains as the vaccines now being administered to millions in the Northern Hemisphere.

(CIDRAP News) – Signaling that the current flu strains are likely to persist over the next several months, the World Health Organization (WHO) today recommended sticking with the current trio of vaccine strains for the Northern Hemisphere's next influenza season.

The WHO's vaccine strain advisory committee met on Feb 15 and 16 and released its recommendation on the WHO's Web site. The group recommends the following for next season's vaccine:

(CIDRAP News) – An analysis of more than 600 H5N1 avian influenza viruses collected from several Asian countries suggests that two older antiviral drugs could be more useful in fighting a flu pandemic triggered by H5N1 than previously believed.

Editor's note: This story was revised July 31 to clarify information about previous reports of H5N1 influenza viruses in Russia.

(CIDRAP News) – News services said today the avian influenza outbreak reported last week in Russia involves the dangerous H5N1 strain, while two more fatal human cases of the illness were reported in Vietnam.

(CIDRAP News) – Thailand reported its eighth fatal human case of H5N1 avian influenza today, while China announced it was lifting quarantine orders for the last two of 49 areas affected by the disease, according to news service reports.