To reduce the risk of influenza infection and in accordance with the Government’s Influenza Vaccination Programme for 2006-07, the General Out-Patient Clinics (GOPCs) and Specialist Out-Patient Clinics of the Hospital Authority will start providing influenza vaccination to eligible people from today (November 6) until the end of December.
The Elderly Health Service of the Department of Health today (November 6) started the free influenza vaccination programme for more than 60,000 elderly people living in more than 700 residential care homes.
The 2006-07 Influenza Vaccination Programme will start tomorrow, covering 300,000 people considered to be in the eight needy or high-risk groups.
Going into another flu season, a new study reports that hospitalizing children for influenza may cost up to three or four times the previously accepted estimates. Pediatric researchers from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia say their finding strengthens the economic justification for broadly vaccinating children against flu. The cost of influenza-related hospitalizations in children was about $13,000 each — compared to prior estimates of $3,000 to $4,000.
Public health communications professionals from around the country honored a joint effort by the University of Washington and Public Health – Seattle & King County to prepare public health workers and people in related fields to get emergency information out to the general public quickly and effectively.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today launched a national public education and awareness campaign on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), a weakening and often devastating illness for millions of Americans. The campaign, called “Get Informed. Get Diagnosed. Get Help”, is designed to increase awareness among clinicians and the public, because 80 percent of Americans afflicted with CFS illness may not know they have it.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) have been following a multi-state investigation by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) into recent illnesses caused by the bacteria Salmonella typhimurium believed to be associated with fresh produce.
The MS Trust is concerned that people with multiple sclerosis MS are not getting access to flu vaccinations.
It’s flu season, but it may not be the best time to schedule your child’s flu shot, according to one Penn State physician and researcher. Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center pediatrician Ian M. Paul recently studied vaccination records of two high-risk pediatric groups — infants less than age 2 years and children with asthma — and found that year-round scheduling of flu shot appointments contributes significantly to better vaccination rates.
With the help of some high tech equipment, well-defined mouse models and analytical know how, researchers are trying to understand why a flu virus kills some people but not others. Studies to be presented at “Physiological Genomics and Proteomics of Lung Disease” found that a strain of mice more likely to die of influenza infection mounts a dramatically enhanced immune response in the lungs compared to a strain of mice that generally develops milder disease.