Posts Tagged ‘influenza’
Good news for expats living in Europe, all signs point towards flu season coming to an end. In all reporting countries this week, flu cases continue to decline with some already returning to their levels outside of flu season. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has declared, after three months of active [...]
The activity of seasonal influenza continues to rise in some countries of Europe, especially western Europe. Experts advise there is still time to protect yourself and those around you by getting the flu vaccination. France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Norway have all reported a medium intensity of flu transmission. However, influenza was reported to be [...]
Move over, government health agencies. It turns out Google does a pretty good job tracking the flu. So good, in fact, that researchers at Johns Hopkins University say hospitals may be better off following Google Flu Trends than government data. They found a strong correlation between spikes in internet searches for flu information and numbers [...]
While expats have known for a long time that obesity increases their chances of developing conditions such as diabetes and heart disease, it may also limit the effectiveness of flu vaccines. New research published in the International Journal of Obesity shows that obesity impairs peoples’ immune responses to vaccinations. The study reports for the first [...]
New research has shown that “priming” a person with flu DNA improves his response to a flu vaccine. Scientists from the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) reached that conclusion after two clinical studies. The results are important because they show it may be possible to develop a universal flu vaccine. A [...]
Scientists from UCLA found swine flu (or H1N1) is becoming common place in many African villages. In one village in Cameroon, 89% of the animals were infected with the virus. The discovery has researchers concerned because the more the virus mixes in pigs, the higher the chance it will mutate into a strand highly fatal [...]
With the release of Contagion (the apocalyptic bird flu movie), attention is back on the flu’s ability to end life as we know it. In the movie, a strain of drug-resistant influenza spreads quickly, kills millions, and so on. It seems every time a new strain of influenza is discovered we get the same grim pronouncements of [...]
Researchers at the Emory Vaccine Center have developed a method of scanning genes to determine whether someone will develop an immune response to a flu vaccine. The test is administered three days after the vaccination and is 90% accurate. It predicts the body’s response for up to a month after vaccination. “It often takes several [...]
Infants born to mothers who were vaccinated against influenza are half as likely to be hospitalized for flu than those of mothers not vaccinated, found a study by researchers at Wake Forest Baptist College. It was the first laboratory-based study to reach this conclusion. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) currently recommends influenza vaccination [...]
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