As summer comes to a close and the influenza virus starts calling open season on our immune systems, one would hope that health-care workers have gotten their CDC-prescribed yearly flu shot by now — especially given their high rates of job-related exposure to infectious disease and their easy access to the vaccine. Guess again.
Flu
Death Stats For Flu Can Be Misleading, CDC Report Shows
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are revising their estimates of the number of people who die each year from flu. We need good death estimates before we can judge how well our infection-control policies are really working, researchers say — but, according to a new report released this week, earlier flu stats have …
The swine flu pandemic is over
So sayeth the World Health Organization (WHO)—and they should know, since they were the ones who declared a full, phase six-level pandemic a little more than a year ago. Now it’s done—this morning WHO head Dr. Margaret Chan announced that the group’s emergency committee of top flu experts had convinced her that the pandemic had …
Getting your flu shot — with a patch?
Expanding on previous research into the possible use of tiny “micro-needles” to deliver vaccines using a patch, researchers at Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed dissolving “micro-needles” made from freeze-dried vaccine that could not only minimize pain associated with vaccinations, but improve immune
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Study: few correctly cover coughs, sneezes
Despite our best efforts to limit the spread of germs propelled into the air when we cough or sneeze, a new study from researchers in New Zealand suggests that many of us aren’t doing a great job. As the Associated Press reports, an observational study of people in public places in the New Zealand capital of Wellington suggests that
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Some 40 million doses of H1N1 vaccine to be destroyed
As much as 43% of the U.S. swine flu vaccine supply may ultimately go unused — and be destroyed — according to a new report from the Associated Press. Roughly 40 million doses, or one quarter of the total supply produced by the U.S. to cope with the outbreak, have already expired and will be incinerated by public health authorities.
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Are we failing to stop the next flu pandemic?
The H1N1 flu pandemic last year came out of nowhere. Well, not exactly — H1N1 first emerged in human beings in Mexico. But that wasn’t where most influenza experts were looking. The focus had been on southeast Asia, where the H5N1 avian flu had been infecting — and killing — human beings for the past few years. Most flu pandemics …
WHO: Pharma ties didn’t impact swine flu decisions
In response to an investigation published last week in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) which pointed to affiliations between World Health Organization (WHO) advisers and pharmaceutical companies manufacturing H1N1 flu vaccines, WHO inspector general Margaret Chan said that industry ties had no impact on the global health agency’s
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Do men get sicker than women?
A new study from researchers at the University of Cambridge suggests that men’s immune systems are aren’t as strong as women’s—in part because, throughout evolution men’s bodies prioritized procreation over the development of immunity—and that they are more susceptible to illness, and suffer it more severely as a result, the
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A case of canine swine flu
A dog from the New York City suburb of White Plains is the first in the nation to have a case of H1N1 flu, according to the Associated Press. The 13-year-old male mixed breed, who is now recovering, was taken to a veterinary hospital in Bedford Hills, New York, after showing signs of breathing problems. The dog supposedly caught the flu
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Holy water in the era of swine flu: an electronic dispenser
Amid fears that religious ritual was eroding due to swine flu fears, an innovative Catholic from the town of Fornaci di Briosco in northern Italy has invented an electronic holy water dispenser. As Reuters first reported, inventor Luciano Marabese first developed the dispenser—which works similarly to soap dispensers, but instead
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Where can you get a flu shot? Ask Google
Google recently teamed up with the Department of Health and Human Services to create a map function that will let you find out where you can get both H1N1 and seasonal flu shots by simply entering in your zip code or home town. The recently launched “flu shot locator” is still in initial phases, and currently only has data for about 20
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More Evidence Favoring Flu Vaccines in Pregnancy
Pregnant and considering whether or not to get a flu vaccine? Three new studies—as well as a growing body of research related to the effects of flu on the developing fetus—suggest that vaccination is the best option. In the studies, vaccinated women who were pregnant during flu season were much less likely to have premature or …