GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announced that it has entered into an agreement with the UK Government to provide its pandemic influenza vaccine in the event of a flu pandemic. It is one of the largest contracts signed by GSK to date for its proprietary adjuvanted pandemic flu vaccine.
Australia is experiencing a worse than normal influenza season in 2007, with increased numbers of cases being reported across several states and territories.
Scientists at Cure Lab, Inc., a biotechnology company based in Canton, Massachusetts, in collaboration with researchers at Boston University and Harvard Medical School have discovered a potential new target for the development of anti-influenza (flu) drugs, including those that may be effective against potentially pandemic influenza strains like H5N1.
Most flu immunization plans in the United States do not address how to vaccinate hard-to-reach populations — undocumented immigrants, substance users, the homeless, homebound elderly, and minorities — and this potentially dangerous omission can lead masses of people to become ill during an outbreak of pandemic flu or other contagious disease, according to a new study by the New York Academy of Medicine in the current issue of the Journal of Urban Health.
In a new study in the American Journal of Chinese Medicine, kinesiologists at the University of Illinois suggest that older adults who adopt an exercise regimen combining Taiji and Qigong may get an extra boost from their annual flu shot.
An Indonesian woman aged 29 years died this weekend on the island of Bali. Samples have tested positive for bird flu after an initial test, officials reported.
The United Nations health agency called on South-East Asian countries to take prompt action to prevent and contain mounting outbreaks of dengue fever, a potentially fatal flu-like viral illness spread by mosquitoes breeding in artificial containers and improperly managed garbage.
Preparing vaccines and therapeutics that target a future mutant strain of H5N1 influenza virus sounds like science fiction, but it may be possible, according to a team of scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and a collaborator at Emory University School of Medicine.
Although physicians have imposed quarantine orders since at least 1374, when the Port of Venice officially isolated foreigners and shippers for 40 days to keep out infectious scourges, there has been no definitive evidence that public health measures like quarantining the sick and isolating people after exposure to ill people would save lives during an influenza pandemic.
When it comes to coverage for recommended child and adolescent vaccinations, privately insured children are surprisingly often at a greater disadvantage than those children who are publicly insured or even uninsured.