flu vaccines

Pharma's niche focus spurs US aid for antibiotics Associated Press

(American Society for Microbiology) The following articles appear in the November 2011 journals of the American Society for Microbiology: "Annual Childhood Flu Vaccines May Interfere With Development of Crossresistance"; "External Capsule Protects Gum Disease-Causing Bacteria From Immune Response"; "Probiotics Appear to Mitigate Pancreatitis: Surprising Hypothetical Mechanism Warrants Further Investigation"; "Fleas Collected from Norway Rats in Downtown LA Carry Human Pathogen"

(MedPage Today) -- Flu vaccines work, but not as well as they might and there are significant gaps in the evidence of their efficacy, researchers found.

(Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology) Ever get a flu shot and still get the flu? If so, there's new hope for flu-free winters in the years to come thanks to a new discovery by researchers who found that a drug called DMXAA, originally developed as anti-tumor agent, enhances the ability of flu vaccines to ward off this deadly virus.

This discovery was published in the March 2011 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology.

(NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) The costly, time-consuming process of making, distributing and administering millions of seasonal flu vaccines would become obsolete if researchers could design a vaccine that confers decades-long protection from any flu virus strain.

Making such a universal influenza vaccine is feasible but licensing it may require innovation on several fronts, including finding new ways to evaluate the efficacy of vaccine candidates in clinical trials

Everyone around you sniffling and sneezing?

Take heart, there's still time for flu prevention!

(MedPage Today) -- Two flu vaccines -- one grown in cell culture and one in chicken eggs -- were both highly effective against placebo in a large randomized trial, researchers said.

A novel DNA-based influenza vaccine strategy successfully immunized mice and ferrets against infection with multiple flu strains, suggesting that future flu vaccines may not have to be reformulated every year.

(Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America) Health-care personnel influenza immunization rates have remained low, despite recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other leading health-care organizations that all health-care personnel receive annual flu vaccines.

Experts say these levels are perilous. Increasing vaccination rates substantially improves patient safety, lowering flu deaths by 40 percent.

LONDON (AP) -- Canadian doctors have been advised not to use a batch of 170,000 doses of swine flu vaccine while authorities investigate reports of allergic reactions among recipients, drug maker GlaxoSmithKline PLC said Tuesday....