influenza pandemic

The first U.S. facility to use a faster and more flexible technology to make influenza vaccine was dedicated today, as part of an initiative that could provide vaccine supplies sooner in an influenza pandemic.

The plant in Holly Springs, N.C., can create vaccine using cultured animal cells instead of the conventional process of using fertilized eggs.

The facility is a public-private partnership of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Inc. of Cambridge, Mass.

This partnership will be maintained under contract for at least 25 years.

(Children's Hospital Boston) During the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, many previously healthy children became critically ill, developing severe pneumonia and respiratory failure, sometimes fatal.

The largest nationwide investigation to date of influenza in critically ill children, led by Children's Hospital Boston, found one key risk factor: Simultaneous infection with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus increased the risk for flu-related mortality eight-fold among previously healthy children.

(University of Louisville) Building on the success of Louisville's response to the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, Ruth Carrico, Ph.D., plans to use a $250,000 one-year cooperative agreement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to create an emergency countermeasure staffing plan that utilizes nursing, pharmacy and public health students.

(MedPage Today) -- With the aim of enhancing the country's ability to react quickly to another influenza pandemic, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded two contracts for the development of next-generation recombinant influenza vaccines that do not require egg-based technology.

(University of Chicago Medical Center) Although the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic infected an estimated 60 million people and hospitalized more than 250,000 in the United States, it also brought one significant benefit -- clues about how to make a vaccine that could protect against multiple strains of influenza.

(NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) History's first recognized influenza pandemic originated in Asia and rapidly spread to other continents 500 years ago, in the summer of 1510.

A new commentary by researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, explores the 1510 pandemic and what we have learned since then about preventing, controlling and treating influenza.

(MedPage Today) -- In Canada, the second wave of the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic affected many more people than the first, although the percentage of severe cases declined, researchers found.

(Public Library of Science) In this week's PLoS Medicine, Gabriel Leung from the government of the Hong Kong SAR and Angus Nicoll from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control offer their reflections on the international response to the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, including what went well and what changes need to be made on the part of global and national authorities in anticipation of future flu pandemics.

(MedPage Today) -- The H1N1 influenza pandemic that struck during 2009 was characterized by severe neurologic complications in a small group of hospitalized children, a retrospective study found.

(MedPage Today) -- Director-General of the World Health Organization Margaret Chan, MD, MPH, has declared an end to the H1N1 influenza pandemic, following the advice of an emergency committee convened to address the issue.