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(Reuters) - When 22 bird flu experts meet at the World Health Organization this week, they will be tasked with deciding just how far scientists should go in creating lethal mutant viruses in the name of research. The hurriedly assembled meeting is designed to try to settle an unprecedented row over a call to ban publication of two scientific studies which detail how to mutate H5N1 bird flu viruses into a form that could cause a deadly human pandemic. But experts say whatever the outcome, no amount of censorship, global regulation or shutting down of research projects could stop rogue...

The days of medical masks at airports and widespread panic may be coming back—that's because at least 12 humans are believed to have been infected with a new strain of swine flu that's not covered by this season's vaccine. The new swine flu strain, H3N2v, has shown at least some potential for human-to-human transmission in those 12 individuals, which makes it especially dangerous. Between 2009 and mid-2010, more than 17,000 people died worldwide from the highly contagious H1N1 swine flu strain, leading the World Health Organization to call the strain a pandemic. The 12 people with the new swine flu...

— The number of reported cases of a novel swine influenza virus has risen to 12 since July, encompassing 5 states, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The virus includes a gene from the human pandemic strain and affects mostly children. The infections in question involve a variant of the A(H3N2) virus that circulates among pigs. It contains a gene from the pandemic 2009 influenza A(H1N1) virus that codes for matrix proteins found in the viral shell. In 3 of the 5 states where the A(H3N2)v virus has surfaced — Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Maine —...

Statins, traditionally known as cholesterol-lowering drugs, may reduce mortality among patients hospitalized with influenza, according to a new study released online by the Journal of Infectious Diseases. It is the first published observational study to evaluate the relationship between statin use and mortality in hospitalized patients with laboratory-confirmed influenza virus infection, according to Vanderbilt's William Schaffner, M.D., professor and chair of Preventive Medicine. "We may be able to combine statins with antiviral drugs to provide better treatment for patients seriously ill with influenza," said Schaffner, who co-authored the study led by Meredith Vandermeer, MPH, of the Oregon Public Health Division.

A natural lipid in the fluid lining the lungs inhibits influenza infections in both cell cultures and mouse models, according to researchers at National Jewish Health. These findings, combined with previous studies demonstrating effectiveness against respiratory syncytial virus, suggest that the molecule, known as POPG, may have broad antiviral activity. “Supplemental POPG could be an important, inexpensive and novel approach for the prevention and treatment of influenza and other respiratory virus infections,” said Dennis Voelker, PhD, Professor of Medicine, and senior author in the report, published online in the American journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology.

Bird flu and human flu could merge into 'one of biggest biological threats of our time', warn scientists A new deadly strain of super-flu could spread to Britain within 24 hours, experts have warned. The potential for bird flu and human flu to combine and form a new virus has been described as 'one of the biggest biological threats of our time'. The alert comes as people have started to fall victim to seasonal flu and the more virulent swine flu at the same time, according to the Daily Express.

Annual flu shots protect only about 59 percent of the population -- far less than previously thought -- according to a new study led by University of Minnesota researchers. The study found "major holes and gaps'' in the vaccine given to tens of millions of Americans every year to prevent influenza and its complications, said Michael Osterholm, the lead scientist and head of the university's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. But until a better vaccine comes along, Osterholm said, 59 percent "is a lot better than zero." --SNIP-- "This is the most comprehensive review of influenza vaccine that...

HILADELPHIA -- There's more than one way to mop up after a flu infection. Now, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report in Nature Immunology that a previously unrecognized population of lung immune cells orchestrate the body's repair response following flu infection. In addition to the looming threat of a deadly global pandemic, an estimated 200,000 people are hospitalized because of the flu and 36,000 die each year in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control. However, many influenza-related deaths are not a direct result of the invading virus but instead are...

Examination of lung tissue and other autopsy material from 68 American soldiers who died of respiratory infections in 1918 has revealed that the influenza virus that eventually killed 50 million people worldwide was circulating in the United States at least four months before the 1918 influenza reached pandemic levels that fall. The study, using tissues preserved since 1918, was led by Jeffery K. Taubenberger, M.D., Ph.D., of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. The researchers found proteins and genetic material from the 1918 influenza virus in specimens from 37 of...

Bacteria that cause pneumonia and meningitis are only able to spread when individuals are infected with flu, says a scientist reporting at the Society for General Microbiology's Spring Conference in Harrogate. The work could have implications for the management of influenza pandemics and could help reduce incidence of pneumococcal infections in very young children, who are more susceptible to disease. Streptococcus pneumoniae normally lives harmlessly in the nasal passage. Up to 80% of young children carry the bacterium in their nose. It is already known that if a colonized individual is infected with influenza virus, the bacterium is more likely...

The joke that's going around is that the Mayans got it wrong: The world is ending this year, not 2012. Here's the lates sign of that. A superbug is spreading around America, and has hit Southern California. LA Times: A dangerous drug-resistant bacterium has spread to patients in Southern California, according to a study by Los Angeles County public health officials. More than 350 cases of the Carbapenem-Resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae, or CRKP, have been reported at healthcare facilities in Los Angeles County, mostly among elderly patients at skilled-nursing and long-term care facilities, according to a study by Dr. Dawn Terashita,...

How can this happen in 2011? I was just talking with him 3 weeks ago about possibly going bass fishing with him in Mexico this Spring. Seems he checked into the hospital about a week ago complaining of respiratory troubles after contracting the flu. They released him shortly after. He posted on his Facebook page at that time about how it sucks being sick, and how good it would be just to walk 20 feet without gasping for breath. 2 days later, hie son and ex-wife found him dead in bed. I am stunned. He was in good health. No...

So how many people do you know who are sick with the latest round of cough/flu? And have been for weeks, if not months? About a third of my friends and family are. I was, but I catch just about everything - and then recover quickly thanks to an overactive immune system (which has problems of its own). So let's go conspiracy theory here: Are we in the middle of a bio attack? After all, I cannot remember when this many people I know spread around the US and two continents were sick the same way this long. But decades...

A team at Oxford University has had success testing a vaccine that can neuter any strain of flu virus. Photograph: Science Photo Library The treatment ... targets a different part of the flu virus to traditional vaccines, meaning it does not need to be expensively reformulated every year to match the most prevalent virus that is circulating the world. Developed by a team led by Dr Sarah Gilbert at Oxford's Jenner Institute, the vaccine targets proteins inside the flu virus that are common across all strains, instead of those that sit on the virus's external coat, which are liable...

"consideration of antiviral treatment for any previously healthy, non high-risk symptomatic outpatient with confirmed or suspected influenza, based upon clinical judgment, if treatment can be initiated within 48 hours of illness onset." The above comment is included in the recent CDC health alert on influenza antiviral treatment and diagnostic tests. This January 14, 2011 alert follows a significant outbreak of H1N1 in the UK and reports of increased H1N1 activity in the northern hemisphere. Initial reports from the UK indicated most fatal cases were young adults without underlying conditions. Subsequent reports have focused on patients with underlying conditions, but the...

Convalescent plasma therapy—using plasma from patients who have recovered from an infection to treat those with the same infection—has been used to treat multiple diseases. However, the efficacy of this treatment in patients with severe 2009 H1N1 influenza is unknown. A study published in the February 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases suggests that convalescent plasma may reduce the death rate in patients severely ill with this type of influenza. (Please see below for a link to the embargoed study online.) From September 2009 through June 2010, patients from a hospital cluster in Hong Kong with severe 2009 H1N1 infection...

Cold weather really does spread flu 12:19 19 October 2007 by Debora MacKenzie Scientists have finally confirmed what your mother knew all along - that flu spreads best in cold, dry weather. As the first few cases of the northern hemisphere's annual flu epidemic are trickling in this week, scientists may finally know why winter is flu season. It appears the virus lasts longer in cold, dry air, and our sluggish, cold-weather mucus cannot clear it out. Astonishingly it has taken until the publication of research this week to settle the basic question about how flu spreads, and why it...

[EMBARGOED FOR JAN. 5, 2011] For those infected with the 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus, extreme obesity was a powerful risk factor for death, according to an analysis of a public health surveillance database. In a study to be published in the February 1, 2011, issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, researchers associated extreme obesity with a nearly three-fold increased odds of death from 2009 H1N1 influenza. Half of Californians greater than 20 years of age hospitalized with 2009 H1N1 were obese. (Please see below for a link to the study online.) Data from 500 adults hospitalized with H1N1 in...

Intensive care units across Britain are almost full as the NHS faces one of the worst flu outbreaks in a decade. Some hospitals have only one or two life-support machines left and critically ill patients are being transferred by ambulance to other trusts.... >snip< Senior doctors report that they are seeing the highest number of flu cases in more than 20 years and expect the situation to worsen over the coming weeks.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- When Lesley Ley, an Oklahoma City-based practical nurse heard that a national company was hiring nurses to administer flu shots in a local mall, she jumped at the chance to make some extra money prior to a trip. Ley said she first became aware of the flu clinic, to be set up at Penn Square Mall, in September. She provided a copy of an email that was circulated and stated: “WellCheck will be operating its 2010 seasonal flu shot program in 150 malls in 35 states.” The email was sent out on Sept. 3, 2010 by a...

I just got my flu shot on Tuesday and for the past couple of days I have been lightheaded and having mild nasuea. I checked and discovered that the swine flu strain was included in this years vaccine, even though I asked the nurse if this was for the seasonal flu only. This is also the first time I have ever had a reaction to a vaccine.

The Seasonal Flu Vaccine A seasonal vaccine is distributed routinely every year. •Unlike last flu season, when you needed to get two vaccines, the 2009 H1N1 and the seasonal vaccine, this flu season you only need the seasonal vaccine. •The 2010-2011 flu vaccine protects against an influenza A H3N2 virus, an influenza B virus and the 2009 H1N1 virus that caused so much illness last season.

I was checking around online to find a convenient place nearby to get an annual flu shot, as is my habit, but so far, every place offering shots this year I have gone to is stating something along the lines of this: "The H1N1 component is included in this year's Seasonal Influenza Immunization." They don't offer a "plain vanilla" flu shot, so to speak, that is, a regular flu shot, WITHOUT any H1N1. If I am unable to find a flu shot offered without H1N1 included, then I will be skipping it this year. My wife is a health care...

Or will your decision be based more on the premise that you have a right to dictate what happens to your body? You may think that your freedoms are being impinged by the mandatory part of the flu shot. What if the mandatory shot to save your job turned into a mandatory shot for your entire family in order to save your job?

In early June of this year, European countries were strongly criticizing the WHO over the handling of the H1N1 flu. They accused the WHO of exaggerating the threat posed by the H1N1 flu. They also said that the WHO had been influenced by the pharmaceutical companies.

Previously I have highlighted the benefits vitamin D has with regard to improving the immune response and helping keep infections such as flu at bay. It has been mooted that the upsurge in viral infections during the winter is connected with the generally lower vitamin D levels at this time. The traditional view is that winter infections are due to “indoor crowding.”However, research indicates that flu epidemics do not occur in the summer in crowded workplaces despite the presence of the flu virus around people who should be susceptible to infection. This is based on research by the Centers for...

Grassley says he is worried about wasting tax dollars. The United States still has 71 million doses of H1N1 swine flu vaccine that have not been used, but it is not yet time to throw them out, the federal government said on Monday. States and other providers should hang on to the vaccine and continue to offer them to people until drug companies can start distributing seasonal vaccine for the coming influenza season in the autumn, said Health and Human Services Department spokesman Bill Hall. Senator Chuck Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance committee, released a letter on...

Although experts are not sure to what degree, seasonal flu cases and deaths dropped in Maryland and nationwide this year, during the height of the novel H1N1 pandemic. While flu cases are not perfectly tracked, epidemiologists believe the decreases were caused by increased health campaigning and vaccination rates, a weaker seasonal flu strain, and other causes. Epidemiologists all over the world think next flu season's primary strain will mutate around H1N1, or swine flu. Although officials and health professionals do not know how strong the 2010-2011 flu season will be, they are encouraging vaccination. "Overall flu deaths are down this...

(NaturalNews) I remember the H1N1 "swine flu" season of 2009 very well. People were rushing out to get vaccinated, scared half to death by the mainstream media which was pushing false reports that the swine flu would kill tens of millions of people and that only a vaccine could save you. The CDC and health authorities were pushing a double-barreled vaccine strategy that demanded people get both a seasonal flu shot as well as an H1N1 pandemic flu shot. Those who questioned the sensibility of vaccines for fighting the flu were attacked as "baby killers" for not kow-towing to the...

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Inoculating children against flu protects more people of all ages in the larger community, probably because young people tend to spread viruses through physical play, Canadian researchers said on Tuesday. Researchers at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario found there were 61 percent fewer flu cases in isolated communities where children and adolescents received the seasonal influenza vaccine, compared to communities where children received an unrelated vaccine. Targeting children with a vaccine could protect the wider population, researcher Mark Loeb and colleagues concluded in their report in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Influenza struck 2,326 unvaccinated...

This has been a flu season like few others. Normally at this time of year, influenza is rampant in the U.S., prompting hundreds of thousands of people to stay home in the dead of winter with fever, aches and pains. Now, after raging through college campuses and communities last summer and fall, cases of the new H1N1 swine flu virus have dwindled to a trickle, and run-of-the-mill seasonal flu has barely made an appearance. Not one state reported widespread flu illness to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the week ended Feb. 20, the latest data available. The...

Genetic interactions between avian H5N1 influenza and human seasonal influenza viruses have the potential to create hybrid strains combining the virulence of bird flu with the pandemic ability of H1N1, according to a new study. In laboratory experiments in mice, a single gene segment from a human seasonal flu virus, H3N2, was able to convert the avian H5N1 virus into a highly pathogenic form. The findings are reported the week of Feb. 22 in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "Some hybrids between H5N1 virus and seasonal influenza viruses were more pathogenic than...

A key U.S. Food and Drug Administration Advisory Committee recommended today that protection against the 2009 H1N1 virus, which was first identified last April, be included in the 2010-2011 seasonal influenza vaccine starting this fall. That means that, barring some unforeseen circumstance, this fall, most Americans will be able to return to the traditional routine of having one flu vaccine to protect them against the major circulating flu viruses. As is always the case with seasonal vaccine, younger children who have never had a seasonal vaccine will still need two doses.

All the animal-inspired influenzas that have been cropping up recently bring to mind many important questions. Which flu strain will cause the next pandemic? Should I invest in at least a dozen N95 respirators for each person in my household? Is leaving my dorm room a bad idea? But the most pressing question is clearly the following: if a pig and a bird challenged one another in a cage match, who would emerge victorious? Let’s examine the strengths and weaknesses of each opponent so that we can make an informed decision. Pig’s strengths: Brain larger than bird’s Can bribe...

GENEVA (Reuters) – The coming year's seasonal flu vaccine in the northern hemisphere should contain three strains, including the pandemic H1N1 virus, vaccine experts recommended on Thursday. The composition of the vaccine, announced by the World Health Organization after a closed-door four-day meeting of influenza experts means governments that have stockpiled doses of H1N1 swine flu vaccine may now use them for part of the seasonal flu vaccine mix. > That raised the question of whether to replace the current H1N1 seasonal strain with the pandemic strain -- also known as California 7 -- which is now circulating more widely....

Officials with RiverStone Health in Billings confirm that two employees were fired, one resigned and one retired after refusing to get flu shots. RiverStone Health ...policy ...included both the seasonal flu shot and the swine flu shot... Pat Leikam...said her work didn't include contact with patients.

Research published in the journal Genetics suggests that mutagenic drugs designed to kill viruses may make them strongerAs the flu season continues in full-swing, most people can appreciate the need for drugs that stop viruses after they take hold in the body. Despite this serious need for new drugs, a team of researchers from the University of Texas at Austin raise serious concerns about an emerging strategy for stopping viral infections. According to their research report appearing in the January 2010 issue of the journal GENETICS, medications that cause viruses to die off by forcing their nucleic acid to mutate...

Poland stands alone in refusing swine flu vaccines By VANESSA GERA The Associated Press Wednesday, January 13, 2010; 10:02 AM WARSAW, Poland -- The decision seemed fraught with risk: a government refusing to import swine flu vaccines amid worldwide warnings of a spreading epidemic. But Poland did just that, becoming the only country worldwide known to reject the vaccines over safety fears and distrust in the drug companies producing them - concerns international health experts reject as unfounded. Now that the current outbreak appears to have peaked in much of Europe, many Poles feel their government has been vindicated: Countries...

Some of you may find this to be a big surprise, but a Harvard study shows that the great swine flu pandemic was oversold. Shocking I know, as one doctor points out, “The H1N1 pandemic was a pandemic that never materialized.” Then I guess you could call the swine flu pandemic oversold, wouldn’t you think? The Harvard study uses the deaths from H1N1 back in the spring and projecting what they would have been in the fall suggests that the swine flu pandemic was indeed oversold by a government willing to allow its citizens to be in a constant state...

Drugmaker MedImmune is recalling nearly 5 million doses of H1N1 flu vaccine because the nasal spray appears to lose strength over time, federal health officials announced Tuesday. The vaccine recall is the second this month caused by declining potency and comes as public health officials urge millions of Americans to get vaccinated against swine flu. The action affects more than 4.6 million doses, but the vast majority have already been used, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Agency officials said the vaccine was strong enough when it was distributed in October and November.

Milwaukee, WI – Researchers from the Medical College of Wisconsin, the Children's Research Institute, and the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin have developed a rapid, automated system to differentiate strains of influenza. The related report by Beck et al, "Development of a rapid automated influenza A, influenza B, and RSV A/B multiplex real-time RT-PCR assay and its use during the 2009 H1N1 swine-origin influenza virus (S-OIV) epidemic in Milwaukee, Wisconsin," appears in the January 2010 issue of the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics. In pandemic infection, such as the present H1N1 influenza outbreak, rapid automated tests are needed in order to make...

A nurse herself for many years, the 47-year-old Milliken has spent the last 38 days in medical care. Her boyfriend and family said she may have been struck down by what's called Guillain-Barre Syndrome -- which starts with pain and ends with paralysis. Milliken's family said they believe the H1N1 flu shot she received in the first week of November may be to blame for her suffering. "Right now, she's in a lot of pain, mostly in her extremities. A lot of nerve sensations such as burning in her legs is what she's feeling," said Milliken's daughter Michelle Mellett. The...

MADISON — The specter of a drug-resistant form of the deadly H5N1 avian influenza is a nightmare to keep public health officials awake at night. Now, however, a study published this week (Dec. 21) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) suggests that a new compound, one on the threshold of final testing in humans, may be more potent and safer for treating "bird flu" than the antiviral drug best known by the trade name Tamiflu. Known as T-705, the compound even works several days after infection, according to Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a University of Wisconsin-Madison virologist and...

Investigators identify host factors that help multiple influenza strains thrive and could be targeted for new antiviralsA JOLLA, Calif., December 21, 2009 -- Investigators at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham), Mount Sinai School of Medicine (Mount Sinai), the Salk Institute for Biological Studies (Salk) and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) have identified 295 human cell factors that influenza A strains must harness to infect a cell, including the currently circulating swine-origin H1N1. The team also identified small molecule compounds that act on several of these factors and inhibit viral replication, pointing to new ways to...

f you've been waiting to get a swine flu shot, here's your chance. New Hampshire Public Health Director Dr. Jose Montero announced yesterday that anyone over the age of 6 months may receive a swine flu vaccine. The shot had previously been limited to people in high-risk groups, such as pregnant women, health care workers and those with a serious health condition. "The supply has caught up with the demand and allowed us to move forward," said Montero. "I know it has been difficult to wait, but it has been the right thing to do to protect the people of...

CHICAGO (Reuters) – U.S. researchers have discovered antiviral proteins in cells that naturally fight off influenza infections, a finding that may lead to better ways to make vaccines and protect people against the flu. They said a family of genes act as cell sentries that guard cells from an invading influenza virus, the team reported on Thursday in the journal Cell. "This prevents the virus from even getting into the cell," said Stephen Elledge of Harvard Medical School and a Howard Hughes Investigator at Brigham & Women's Hospital. "It is out there fighting the flu all of the time," Elledge...

ATLANTA (AP) - Health officials are recalling hundreds of thousands of doses of swine flu vaccine after tests indicated they may not be potent enough to protect against the virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notified doctors about the recall Tuesday. The recall involves about 800,000 doses made by Sanofi Pasteur. The doses are pre-filled syringes intended for young children, ages 6 months to almost three years. Health officials recommend children those ages get two doses, spaced about a month apart. Health officials say it's not clear how many doses have already been given, but they don't think...

Hey, stop worrying about a massive government takeover of health care. You’re in good hands: Health officials are recalling hundreds of thousands of doses of swine flu vaccine after tests indicated they may not be potent enough to protect against the virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notified doctors about the recall Tuesday. The recall involves about 800,000 doses made by Sanofi Pasteur. The doses are pre-filled syringes intended for young children, ages 6 months to almost three years. …Health officials say it’s not clear how many doses have already been given, but they don’t think children need...

800,000 Doses Of Kids' H1N1 Vaccine Recalled ATLANTA (CBS) ― Health officials are recalling hundreds of thousands of doses of swine flu vaccine after tests indicated they may not be potent enough to protect against the virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notified doctors about the recall Tuesday. The recall involves about 800,000 doses made by Sanofi Pasteur. The doses are pre-filled syringes intended for young children, ages 6 months to almost three years. Health officials recommend children those ages get two doses, spaced about a month apart. Health officials say it's not clear how many doses have...

A Tennessee woman is learning to walk again after she came down with a deadly nerve disease only eight days after receiving the swine-flu vaccine. Clarksville resident Suzanne Hogan is recovering at Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Stallworth Rehabilitation Center from Guillain-Barre Syndrome, or GBS, an illness she believes is associated with the H1N1 vaccination. GBS attacks the lining of the nerves, causing paralysis and inability to breathe, and can be fatal. Symptoms may include "pins and needles" sensations in fingers and toes; weakness or tingling in legs and upper body; inability to walk; difficulty with eye movement, facial movement, speaking,...