Influenza News

A health worker sprays disinfectant near the house of a 4-year-old boy infected with the H7N9 strain in Beijing on April 15, 2013.

Via WHO, today's Sixty-sixth World Health Assembly: daily notes on proceedings offer a number of important statements and documents.

Health officials said Friday 146 influenza-associated pediatric deaths were reported during the U.S. flu season, which is nearly over.

The 2009 influenza pandemic prompted the fastest effort in history to develop a vaccine.

Chinese and U.S. scientists have used virus isolated from a person who died from H7N9 avian influenza infection to determine whether the virus could infect and be transmitted between ferrets.

Chinese and U.S. scientists have used virus isolated from a person who died from H7N9 avian influenza infection to determine whether the virus could infect and be transmitted between ferrets.

The human-isolated avian influenza A virus can infect ferrets, the main mammal model for research into human influenza, and transmit from ferret-to-ferret via close contact and air-borne exposure, albeit the latter less efficiently, according to a report released on Friday by Hong Kong experts.

By creating a completely artificial flu-like structure, researchers are on their way to reducing yearly flu shots to just once in a lifetime.

"Our findings highlight how IL-21 could be important in the development of antiviral vaccines," says research associate Ata Ur Rasheed Mohammed, PhD, the first author of the paper.

Health officials investigating a cluster of mysterious illnesses in Alabama closed their investigation Thursday after determining the illnesses were unrelated and no new bacteria or viruses were involved.

The H7N9 bird flu virus responsible for this spring's explosive outbreak in China transmits well among ferrets and even sometimes spreads among them by the airborne route thought to be the way seasonal flu viruses transmit among people, a new study suggests.

Health officials say Minnesota topped 200 influenza-related deaths this flu season.

A new approach for immunizing against influenza elicited a more potent immune response and broader protection than the currently licensed seasonal influenza vaccines when tested in mice and ferrets.

In its final weekly report until next fall, the Minnesota Department of Health on Thursday said there were a total of 201 flu-related deaths during the 2012-13 influenza season.

World Health Organization officials said Thursday that their probe into the deadly new coronavirus that has now claimed 22 lives is being delayed because of a dispute over the ownership rights to a sample.

World Health Organization officials said Thursday that their probe into the deadly new coronavirus that has now claimed 22 lives is being delayed because of a dispute over the ownership rights to a sample -- a claim disputed by the researcher at the center of the issue.

As part of ongoing efforts by the Public Health Agency of Canada to enhance disease surveillance, a retrospective epidemiologic study was undertaken to investigate the usefulness for influenza surveillance of data on changes in the volume of prescriptions for antiviral medications.

As state and federal officials continue to investigate a cluster of serious respiratory illnesses in Alabama, one person remained hospitalized Wednesday in critical condition in the southeastern part of the state battling an unknown strain of influenza-like illness complicated by pneumonia.

Based on a study by Procter and Gamble , the bus is the dirtiest of all public utility vehicles traversing EDSA, with contamination levels higher than that of a trash bin.

A new type of vaccine has been developed which could provide long-term protection and last a lifetime against all types of influenza.