respiratory infections

(MedPage Today) -- Recent respiratory infections may be linked to adult-onset asthma according to the results of a population-based incident case-control study.

(NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) 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.

Infants at age 3 months who had newborn blood levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D -- a measurement of vitamin D -- below 25 nanomoles per liter (nmol/L) were twice as likely to develop respiratory infections compared with infants who had levels at 75 nmol/L or higher, according to an international study.

(MedPage Today) -- Low vitamin D intake during gestation appears to be associated with increased respiratory infections and wheezing in children, but not with a higher incidence of asthma, researchers reported.

(Massachusetts General Hospital) The vitamin D levels of newborn babies appear to predict their risk of respiratory infections during infancy and the occurrence of wheezing during early childhood, but not the risk of developing asthma.

A virus which causes respiratory infections has been linked to childhood obesity, in a study that is likely to reignite a controversial debate.

SAN FRANCISCO (MedPage Today) -- Consistent use of N95 respirator masks prevents 75% of respiratory infections for high-risk healthcare workers regardless of whether seal against the skin is confirmed, according to the first randomized clinical trial of their efficacy.