Respiratory Infections

In addition to licensed pharmacists, student pharmacists can play an important role in helping more Americans get vaccinated by participating in immunization campaigns throughout their communities.

Following the recent United Nations General Assembly meeting to discuss the growing global threat of antimicrobial resistance, health experts are highlighting the role vaccines can play in preventing dangerous infections.

To assess factors associated with the likelihood that healthcare providers will accept seasonal influenza vaccine policy changes, Nova Scotia researchers examined the roles that their knowledge and attitude play in the matter.

Pharmacists are critical to expanding access to pandemic vaccination. However, little is known about the relationships and planning activities between public health programs and pharmacies.

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.

Over-the-counter diagnostic tests for Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and pathogens associated with upper respiratory tract infections such as influenza and Group A Streptococcus may soon gain approval; however, making these tests immediately available to the public would not be without challenges.

Recent research suggests those who are physically active may have a lower risk of bacterial infections than those who live a sedentary lifestyle.

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.

State health departments in Minnesota and Washington are on the alert after recent outbreaks of Legionnaire’s disease.

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.

Mumps outbreaks have recently been reported within the school systems of three states: Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New York.

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.

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.

Nearly 900,000 people in the United States get pneumococcal pneumonia each year, resulting in about 400,000 hospitalizations annually.

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.

Researchers from Stanford University have developed a new quick and easy test for tuberculosis (TB) which may help doctors in developing nations.

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

Otto Schwake, PhD, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech, lead researcher from the Flint Water Study team, explains the danger Legionella poses.

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.

Two new cases of Polio have been discovered in Nigeria.

Researchers have found that although HIV makes individuals more susceptible to acquire tuberculosis, it is not the cause of the spread of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.