Influenza News

Weather patterns exhibited by La Niña in the equatorial Pacific drastically alter the patterns of migratory birds, which are considered to be primary carriers of human influenza, according to study results published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Residents of long-term care facilities should receive prompt testing for influenza, followed by treatment with antivirals when indicated, to avoid excess morbidity and mortality, according to a recent CDC report.

City-level Google Flu Trends data correlated with influenza activity, including the number of patients visiting the ED with influenza and influenza-like illness, as well as patient-volume, according to Andrea Freyer Dugas, MD, and colleagues.

In the last 4 months of 2011, the CDC received reports of 12 cases of human infections with influenza A (H3N2) variant viruses that have the matrix gene from swine-origin influenza A and pandemic influenza A 2009 viruses, according to a recent report from the CDC.

A new manufacturing plant in North Carolina can create influenza vaccine using cultured animal cells instead of the conventional process of using fertilized eggs, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Children with sickle cell anemia are not more likely to have a serious complication related to their illness after receiving the trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine than those who do not receive the vaccine, according to data published online this week.

A group of children who had cystic fibrosis and received annual influenza vaccines developed lower cross-reactive virus-specific CD8+ T-cell responses than unvaccinated children, according to a study by Rogier Bodewes, DVM, and colleagues from the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam.

In years past, influenza vaccinations used to nearly come to a halt after Thanksgiving, but the CDC is encouraging physicians to continue giving influenza vaccinations into January.

BOSTON — Because the 2009 H1N1 virus caused the most serious morbidity and mortality in those aged younger than 65 years, a substantial number — about 9.9 million — of life years were lost, according to calculations from the CDC.

BOSTON — The way in which influenza vaccines are made may be changing in the near future, based on new cutting-edge research presented here at the 49th Annual Meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.