Pandemic Influenza

(CIDRAP News) – Government researchers reported this week that they have developed a vaccine that protects mice from the deadly 1918 "Spanish flu" virus, demonstrating that immunization against it is possible.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued new guidance calling for stronger respiratory protection for healthcare workers in the event of an influenza pandemic.

(CIDRAP News) – Low doses of a cell-based avian flu vaccine triggered a good immune response to the H5N1 avian influenza virus, according to preliminary results of a clinical trial by Baxter International of Deerfield, Ill., maker of the vaccine.

(CIDRAP News) – The human immune system may respond better to a vaccine for a new strain of H5N1 avian influenza if it is prepared in advance with a vaccine based on an existing H5N1 strain, the preliminary results of a government-sponsored study suggest.

(CIDRAP News) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) plans to fund eight studies on whether simple measures such as handwashing, "cough etiquette," and face masks could help limit the extent of the next influenza pandemic.

The CDC announced this week it would provide a total of $5.2 million to research institutions, some outside the United States, to assess nonpharmaceutical measures for battling pandemic flu.

(CIDRAP News) – Public health and infectious disease experts today called on the United States to develop a "master plan" for development of pandemic influenza vaccines in order to translate scientific advances more rapidly into improved pandemic preparedness.

(CIDRAP News) – A microbiologist who reviewed the evidence about how influenza viruses spread says that some official guidelines, including the US pandemic influenza plan, may not go far enough in protecting healthcare workers who take care of flu patients.

(CIDRAP News) – A study in which mice were infected with the resurrected 1918 Spanish influenza virus has yielded fresh evidence for the view that the virus could trigger a suicidal immune response—one that has often been compared with the effects of the H5N1 avian flu virus on susceptible humans.

(CIDRAP News) – An international group of experts that will advise the World Health Organization (WHO) on avian and pandemic influenza issues met for the first time yesterday in Geneva, Switzerland.

(CIDRAP News) – A new project to help improve control strategies for avian influenza has been initiated in eight Asian countries, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) announced yesterday.