H1N1 'Swine Flu' Vaccine Unlikely to Raise Birth Defect Risk
Swedish study finds that babies born to women who got the shot had no overall higher odds (Source: WebMD Health)
Source: WebMD Health - September 19, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
H1N1 Vaccine in Pregnancy: No Increase in Overall Congenital Malformations (FREE)
By Amy Orciari Herman
Edited by David G. Fairchild, MD, MPH, and Jaye Elizabeth Hefner, MD
Receipt of the H1N1 influenza vaccine during pregnancy is not associated with increased risk for overall congenital malformations in offspring, according to an … (Source: Physician's First Watch current issue)
Source: Physician's First Watch current issue - September 19, 2016 Category: Primary Care Source Type: news
H1N1'Swine Flu' Vaccine Unlikely to Raise Birth Defect Risk
MONDAY, Sept. 19, 2016 -- Swedish researchers report that the vaccine against the H1N1 " swine flu " strain of influenza doesn ' t seem to have a link to birth defects.
One obstetrician who reviewed the research said the findings should ease concerns... (Source: Drugs.com - Daily MedNews)
Source: Drugs.com - Daily MedNews - September 19, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Source Type: news
Contraceptive pills not proven to protect against the flu
Conclusion
These are interesting scientific findings but they have limited implications.
Animal studies are useful for giving an indication of how biological processes may work in humans but we're not identical. Then the scenarios tested here – the progesterone, or the flu injection – can be taken as representative of real-life in humans.
For one thing all the mice had surgery to remove their ovaries before being infected. It makes sense that the mice that had been given some additional recovery boost in the form of hormone replacement may have been in a better health state than those left hormone depleted.
They wer...
Source: NHS News Feed - September 19, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Medication Source Type: news
Is The Shocking News of the Sugar Industry's Influence Over Harvard Researchers Really Shocking?
Hey, Sugar, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
Today, the Journal of the American Medical Association dropped an alleged bombshell when it disclosed that the sugar industry lobby influenced research on coronary heart disease by effectively bribing Harvard researchers to promote the theory that dietary fat, and not sugar, causes heart disease.
The story is trending on Facebook at this very moment, and the JAMA Facebook post states that "Policymaking committees should consider giving less weight to food industry-funded studies, and include mechanistic and animal studies as well as studies appraising the effec...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - September 14, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
[Perspective] Zika vaccine trials
Promising data for candidate vaccines against Zika virus infection reported by Abbink et al. (1) on page 1129 of this issue raise hopes that one or more Zika virus vaccines may soon be ready for efficacy trials. Recent years have seen a barrage of emerging infectious diseases, including those caused by new pathogens such as Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronavirus, and those that are newly salient because of increased geographic spread, higher incidence, or genetic change, such as influenza A(H1N1)pdm09, Ebola virus, and Zika virus. Developing effective vaccines is a central goal for such pathogens.
Authors: Mar...
Source: ScienceNOW - September 8, 2016 Category: Science Authors: Marc Lipsitch Tags: Infectious Disease Source Type: news
How Effective is Oseltamivir?
Discussion
Oseltamivir (Tamiflu®) is an oral neuraminidase inhibitor of influenza viruses types A and B. It first came on the market in Switzerland in 1999 and currently is used around the world along with other neuraminidase inhibitors to treat seasonal and pandemic influenza.
Oseltamivir is easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract, and circulates to the liver where it is converted to its active metabolite oseltamivir carboxylate (OC). In adults approximately 75% of the oral medication is converted and it then travels to the upper and lower respiratory tracts. Unchanged oseltamivir is eliminated in the urine. ...
Source: PediatricEducation.org - September 5, 2016 Category: Pediatrics Authors: pediatriceducationmin Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news
Engineers design programmable RNA vaccines
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology) MIT engineers have designed programmable RNA vaccines that could be rapidly manufactured and deployed. The vaccines have been shown effective against Ebola, H1N1 influenza, and Toxoplasma gondii, in tests in mice. They could also be useful against other infectious diseases and cancer. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - July 4, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Source Type: news
A bummer for kids: Nasal flu vaccine not effective
Follow me at @drClaire
Every year, many of my patients have been able to skip the needle — and still get vaccinated against the flu. That was the great thing about the nasal spray version of the flu vaccine, known as the LAIV (live attenuated influenza vaccine): kids scared of needles could get a squirt up each nostril and be all set.
This coming flu season, everyone is getting the shot.
It turns out that the nasal spray just didn’t work that well. Despite studies from the 2002-2003 and 2004-2005 flu seasons that seemed to show that the nasal spray actually worked better than the shot in children ages 2-8 years, over t...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - June 28, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Claire McCarthy, MD Tags: Children's Health Cold and Flu Infectious diseases Parenting Prevention Source Type: news
Well: Sorry, Kids: Flu Shots Work Better Than Nose Spray
FluMist does not work against the H1N1 strain, which has been circulating more widely in recent years and causes the most serious disease in children. (Source: NYT Health)
Source: NYT Health - June 23, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: NICHOLAS BAKALAR Tags: Children and Childhood Influenza Vaccination and Immunization Family Featured Live Source Type: news
Well: Flu Shots Protect Babies, Too
Here’s one more reason pregnant women should get a flu shot: It not only protects mothers, but a large study suggests it prevents flu in the infant, too. (Source: NYT)
Source: NYT - May 3, 2016 Category: Nutrition Authors: NICHOLAS BAKALAR Tags: Epidemics Influenza Pregnancy and Childbirth Swine Influenza Vaccination and Immunization Women and Girls Family Featured Parenting Source Type: news
There Is An Optimal Time Of Day To Get A Flu Shot, Study Suggests
There is an optimal time of the day to get a flu shot: the morning, according to a new study by researchers from the University of Birmingham and published in the journal Vaccine.
In the study, senior citizens who got their flu vaccines in the mornings produced higher levels of antibodies to certain flu strains than those who got their shots in the afternoon. This is especially important for people over 65, who are more likely to have weaker immune systems than the general population and are more likely to be hospitalized and die from the flu.
If the effect is confirmed in wider studies, giving seniors a shot in the m...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - April 27, 2016 Category: Science Source Type: news
The Zika Virus Lesson? A New Approach Is Needed to Combat Pandemics
The Zika virus attracted many headlines this winter, but a recent admission by the chief medical officer at a leading vaccine manufacturer -- that the world is ill-prepared to deal with pandemic outbreaks -- underscores a fundamental problem. To ensure safety and efficacy, the federal government's regulatory approval process for new vaccines may extend development timelines for years. So when The New York Times reports that "eighteen organizations are working on developing a vaccine for the Zika virus," it is likely that those companies will labor for a very long time. Vaccinations rightly require strict federal appro...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - April 12, 2016 Category: Science Source Type: news
The Rise of Zika
By Drs. David Niesel and Norbert Herzog, Medical Discovery News Have you noticed in the past few years, we seem to be continuously assaulted by microbial menaces? Some years back it was SARS, which set off a global panic. People were screened for fevers at many major international airports. Then came the West Nile virus, which started from a single case in New York and in a matter of years marched across the U.S. Who can forget the avian flu or swine flu, which happened around the same time? More recently, the MERS virus has emerged, with outbreaks in the Arabian Peninsula and then whole villages in Korea. We are just now...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - April 6, 2016 Category: Science Source Type: news
The Rise of Zika
By Drs. David Niesel and Norbert Herzog, Medical Discovery News
Have you noticed in the past few years, we seem to be continuously assaulted by microbial menaces? Some years back it was SARS, which set off a global panic. People were screened for fevers at many major international airports. Then came the West Nile virus, which started from a single case in New York and in a matter of years marched across the U.S. Who can forget the avian flu or swine flu, which happened around the same time? More recently, the MERS virus has emerged, with outbreaks in the Arabian Peninsula and then whole villages in Korea. We are just now...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - April 6, 2016 Category: Science Source Type: news
