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Many black seniors not getting flu shots

David Orenstein-Brown — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 16:06:50 +0000

BROWN (US) — African-American nursing home residents are less likely to get flu shots than whites, even within the same facility, according to a new study.

Overall, vaccinations have yet to reach the 90 percent level sought by Medicare and Medicaid. In most cases patients go unvaccinated because they refuse the shots, suggesting better communication about the vaccine may be needed.

Flu’s evolution strikes perfect balance

Emily Butler-Rochester — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:01:54 +0000

U. ROCHESTER (US)—The flu’s secret formula for effectively evolving within and between species appears to be a balancing act—producing enough mutations to spread and adapt to its environment but not so many that they lead to its demise.

“These new findings give us insights into how we may be able to control viral evolution,” says Baek Kim, professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Rochester and lead study author.

Why do college grads get fewer colds?

Jacob Levich-Stony Brook — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 16:19:31 +0000

A recent survey suggests that people with lower education and income levels are more likely to experience symptoms of colds and flu, headaches, and pain than those with higher levels. The survey also reveals that on any given day 23 percent of the adults in the United States report feeling physical pain while the rate among people earning less than $12,000 is 46.6 percent.

STONY BROOK (US)—High school dropouts are roughly twice as likely to catch a cold as those with a college degree, new research suggests.

The findings identify a link between socioeconomic status and common symptoms of disease, including pain, headaches, and the common cold.

Pain killers dull flu shot’s effectiveness

Leslie Orr-Rochester — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:49:30 +0000

“What we’ve been saying all along, and continue to stress, is that it’s probably not a good idea to take common, over-the-counter pain relievers for minor discomfort associated with vaccination,” says Richard Phipps.

U. ROCHESTER (US)—With flu vaccination season in full swing, researchers caution that use of many common pain killers—Advil, Tylenol, aspirin—at the time of injection may blunt the effect of the shot and have a negative effect on the immune system.

Richard Phipps, professor of environmental medicine, microbiology and immunology, and of pediatrics at the University of Rochester, has been studying this issue for years and recently presented his latest findings to an international conference on inflammatory diseases.

Exercise offers some protection from flu

Mike Ferlazzo-Iowa State — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:05:44 +0000

“Perhaps the moderate stress from repeated exposure to moderate exercise might then improve your ability to respond to other stresses, such as influenza,” says lead researcher Marian Kohut. “We’re continuing to try and find out if that’s true, then what are the mechanisms?”

IOWA STATE (US)—Researchers have found one more reason that exercise is good for you: Moderate daily workouts appear to lessen the severity of flu symptoms and even help keep the flu at bay in mice.

Scientists at Iowa State University found mice that regularly ran on a treadmill over a three-and-a-half month period developed less severe symptoms from the flu virus and had less influenza and lower levels of inflammatory factors in their lungs than those that were not subjected to exercise. Findings have been published online and will appear in the Nov. 1 print issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

African-American seniors more wary of flu shots

Patricia Donovan-Buffalo — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:04:05 +0000

“We often tell people the vaccine doesn’t ’cause’ flu but in failing to address why they might assume that it does, we leave the door open for them to think they are avoiding illness by avoiding the vaccine,” says Lance Rintamaki.

U. BUFFALO (US)—Only 48 percent of African-American seniors get influenza vaccinations, largely because of inaccurate and incomplete information about the flu itself, safety of inoculations, and ease and necessity of the shots.

Also contributing is a lingering distrust of public health inoculation programs, because of misinformation about the notorious 1932-72 Tuskegee syphilis studies of African-American men, Lance Rintamaki, assistant professor of communications at the University at Buffalo, says in a new study published in Health Communications.

Needles necessary to stem seasonal flu

Futurity-Jenny Leonard — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:25:50 +0000

Ultrastructural details of a number of influenza virus particles, or “virions”. (Courtesy: CDC)

U. MICHIGAN (US)—A flu shot is 50 percent more effective than nasal spray vaccine in preventing seasonal influenza in healthy adults, a new study shows.

The study compared the effectiveness of a vaccine that uses an inactivated influenza virus with a vaccine that uses a live but weakened virus, says Arnold Monto, professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. The inactivated vaccine is delivered by injection, the live vaccine by nasal spray.

Patch takes the ‘ouch’ out of flu vaccines

Futurity-Jenny Leonard — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:59:19 +0000

The vaccine patches used in the experiments contained an array of stainless steel microneedles coated with inactivated influenza virus.

EMORY (US)—Flu vaccine delivered through microneedle skin patches is just as effective at preventing influenza in mice as immunization by hypodermic needle, researchers at Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology find.

Supercomputer takes on super flu

Futurity-Jenny Leonard — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:20:05 +0000

A view of the drug buried in the binding pocket of the A/H1N1 neuraminidase protein, a mushroom-shaped projection on the surface of the influenza virus that plays a crucial role in the virus’ reproductive cycle.

TEXAS-AUSTIN (US)—A team of researchers has been using one of the world’s fastest supercomputers to look inside the swine flu virus and study how antiviral medications interact with the flu’s proteins.

Future vaccines may target fierce antibodies

Futurity-Jenny Leonard — Wed, 13 May 2009 19:28:32 +0000

Manipulating the multistage immune process, known as antibody interference, to our advantage, scientists believe it may be possible to design more powerful vaccines than exist today.

PRINCETON (US)—Scientists may have found a better way to make a flu vaccine. Though theoretical, work at Princeton University takes a closer look at the poorly appreciated interaction between a virus and the antibodies that fight infection.

By manipulating this multistage interactive process—known as antibody interference—to advantage, the scientists believe it may be possible to design more powerful vaccines than exist today.