The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the first approval in the United States of a vaccine for humans against the H5N1 influenza virus, commonly known as avian or bird flu.
Concerns about the high perceived costs of eradicating the relatively low number of polio cases worldwide have led to recent suggestions that it is time to shift from a goal of eradication to control?abandoning eradication and allowing wild poliovirus to continue to circulate, which proponents of control believe can sustain the low number of cases.
An influenza vaccine produced with the use of insect cells appeared safe and produced an immunogenic response in healthy adults, suggesting promise as an alternative to using embryonated eggs for the development of influenza vaccine, according to a preliminary study in the April 11 issue of JAMA.
Tai Chi, a traditional Chinese form of exercise, may help older adults avoid getting shingles by increasing immunity to varicella-zoster virus and boosting the immune response to varicella vaccine in older adults, according to a new study publishsed in print this week in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Routine infant immunization with pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) has caused a 39 percent fall in all-cause pneumonia hospital admission rates for American children under 2, according to an article published in this week?s edition of The Lancet.
Rabies, a relentless, ancient scourge, may hold a key to defeating another implacable foe: HIV. Scientists at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia have used a drastically weakened rabies virus to ferry HIV-related proteins into animals, in essence, vaccinating them against an AIDS-like disease.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announced it is awarding $23 million per year for seven years to establish six Centers of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance.
A vaccine has been shown to help reduce the number of infants and toddlers developing frequent ear infections, according to new research from Katherine A. Poehling, M.D., a pediatrician at Brenner Children?s Hospital, part of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.
Infants with whooping cough were most likely infected by the people they live with, according to a multi-country study led by researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has adopted the unanimous recommendation of its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) for the use of GARDASIL? [Quadrivalent Human Papillomavirus (Types 6, 11, 16, 18) Recombinant Vaccine] in girls and women ages 11 through 26.