familymednews.com
Pregnant women are susceptible individuals in whom flu can lead to serious complications like pneumonia and the associated high fever can lead to birth defects in the unborn child By Dr Ritu Sethi “There is no cure for love or flu, they both pass with time” Influenza or seasonal ‘flu’ as it is commonly called is a viral illness that […]
Continue reading »
People were less likely to catch either influenza or a common cold-causing rhinovirus if they were already infected with the other virus, a new study by scientists from the Medical Research Council-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research has found. Understanding how these distinct viruses inhibit each other could help public health planning to improve forecasting models that predict respiratory […]
Continue reading »
Only a few cases of the newly discovered Bourbon virus have been reported, and two of them ended in death, partly because no specific treatments are available for the tick-borne illness. Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified an experimental antiviral drug that cures mice infected with the potentially lethal virus. The drug, favipiravir, […]
Continue reading »
Stomach bugs come in different sizes. Norovirus, best known for sweeping through daycares and cruise ships, can form small, medium, and large structures depending on the viral strain. The discovery, reported June 10, 2019, in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, overturns nearly two decades of conventional wisdom about norovirus. Until now, the only structural data about […]
Continue reading »
One of influenza virus’s main weapons is actually a double-edged sword. The virus’s ability to rapidly mutate lets it escape from the immune system’s memory and explains why people can be repeatedly re-infected with flu—unlike measles or polio. But those mutations can also blow the virus’s cover, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator Jesse Bloom and colleagues reported May 8, 2019, […]
Continue reading »
Persuading more health workers to have the flu jab to protect themselves and their patients cannot be done through facts and statistics alone, new research by a leading behavioural scientist from Kingston University has revealed. Instead it demands a new approach that connects with people emotionally to sustain immunisation rates at effective levels. Nearly one third of nurses, GPs and […]
Continue reading »
The influenza virus can evolve resistance to an anti-flu drug currently in development for use in pandemics but only if there are multiple genetic mutations, a study has found. Scientists at Imperial College London, in collaboration with Public Health England, have discovered that two genetic mutations would be needed for the virus to develop resistance to favipiravir, an experimental antiviral […]
Continue reading »
In an era when for-profit companies collect a wealth of data about us, new research from The University of Texas at Austin shows that data collected by health care companies could—if made available to researchers and public health agencies—enable more accurate forecasts of when the next flu season will peak, how long it will last and how many people will […]
Continue reading »
School’s back in session, which means that germs that are carrying illnesses such as influenza can start to spread rapidly among classmates, and to their families outside of school. But the good news is that with a variety of flu vaccination options, almost everyone can find just the right one for their needs, says an expert at Baylor College of […]
Continue reading »
Flu killed more U.S. children in the past year than during any other regular flu season in recent history. Health officials on Friday said they’ve received reports of 172 pediatric flu deaths since October. An average season sees about 110. There were more deaths in 2009-2010, when a rare flu pandemic occurred involving a new strain. More than 300 children […]
Continue reading »