European flu season nearly at an end
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… Read more »
Tag: influenza
Increase in seasonal flu across Europe
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… Read more »
Google Flu Trends more useful than government data
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… Read more »
Obesity limits effectiveness of flu vaccines
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… Read more »
DNA “priming” may be key to universal flu vaccine
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)… Read more »
Swine flu common in African livestock
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…. Read more »
Drug resistant flu more likely to result from mutation than overprescription
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… Read more »
Test predicts immune responses to flu vaccines
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… Read more »
Study: Flu vaccination during pregnancy protects infants
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… Read more »