Influenza

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently met to establish new guidelines for the Southern Hemisphere’s 2017 influenza virus vaccine.

Recently, WHO published a paper outlining their decade-long initiative to increase access and regulate production of the influenza vaccine.

The transdermal vaccine route offers an opportunity to improve vaccine administration.

At this year’s annual National Foundation for Infectious Diseases news conference on influenza and pneumococcal disease, the message was clear as health experts issued a resounding call for all Americans 6 months of age and older to get their flu shot.

A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows influenza viruses currently in circulation in the United States are the same as anticipated by vaccine makers, hopefully signaling effectiveness ahead for 2016-2017 Northern Hemisphere influenza vaccines.

The World Health Organization credits contraception with preventing pregnancy-related health risks in women, reducing adolescent pregnancies, and lowering infant mortality rates. What researchers are now discovering is that hormonal contraceptives containing progesterone may also protect women against influenza infections and repair lung damage caused by inflammation.

We hear a lot about influenza types A and B every year when flu season approaches, and occasionally about the less severe type C. Now researchers have identified a newly recognized form of the virus—influenza D.

A new, adaptable antibody, has been discovered by researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute that can mutate to neutralize a number of influenza strains.

Walgreens has partnered up again with the US Department of Health in an effort to improve rates of flu vaccination by providing over $10 million in free flu shot vouchers for Americans who are uninsured.

A new study has shown that infected wild house mice will disengage from their social groups, resulting in a decreased potential for disease transmission; these findings can be applied to improve models used to predict transmission of infectious diseases spread by social contact, such as Ebola and influenza.

A wild mallard duck found near a state wildlife refuge in Fairbanks, Alaska has tested positive for the H5N2 form of avian influenza.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the new influenza vaccines AFLURIA and AFLURIA QUADRIVALENT from Seqirus.

According to the new study, the antibacterial response of white blood cells to the flu virus fails to target the S. aureus bacteria and instead causes inflammatory injury to the lungs and damage to surrounding tissue, creating a higher susceptibility to secondary bacterial infections such as MRSA pneumonia.

Researchers at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital discovered that adjuvanted flu vaccines do not protect obese mice as they do their lean counterparts from flu infection.

Investigators at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) believe they have found the key to developing a universal vaccine for influenza.

Stephen Redd, MD (RADM, USPHS), Director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shares which infectious disease he feels needs greater attention.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has voted against the use of the live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV), or “nasal spray,” for the 2016-2017 flu season.

Sequirus recently announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Flucelvax Quadrivalent influenza vaccine.

The number of expecting mothers who opt for annual vaccination for influenza during pregnancy remains relatively low; however, the results of a new study suggest this may be changing—and that there are obvious benefits for immunization for newborns.

A program designed to improve the quality of influenza surveillance capabilities in 39 countries from around the globe through partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) seems to have resulted in remarkable progress on all six of the assessed metrics, and even led to improvements in the surveillance of other pathogens, according to the results of a recent study.

The level of hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) used as the traditional gold standard for evaluating influenza vaccines in the United States and European Union may not actually be the best predictor of protection from influenza virus-induced disease.

Researchers have reported the results of an investigation of the role of an immune signaling pathway that may have an important role in mediating the immune response to influenza A virus infection.

The consequences of not understanding the actual rate of asymptomatic influenza infection can be grave, as influenza virus infection of the respiratory tract has been shown to result in severe disease and complications, including pneumonia, shock, renal failure, encephalopathy, and multiorgan dysfunction, which can be lethal.

Public health leaders have serious concerns about influenza, according to Dan Jernigan, MD, MPH, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Influenza Division during a session on influenza on May 2nd during the 65th Annual Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.

A recent review article on the status of influenza vaccines, their short-comings, and ways to improve them suggests the potential for significant improvements in the performance of future influenza vaccines.