People who are seen after a patient with an influenzalike illness are 31.8% more likely to return to their doctor’s office within 2 weeks with similar symptoms, new research shows. Prior research has examined the issue of hospital-acquired infections. A 2014 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, for example, found that 4% […]
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Syphilis cases in California drive a record-setting year for STDs nationwide
In certain circles of San Francisco, a case of syphilis can be as common and casual as the flu, to the point where Billy Lemon can't even remember how many times he's had it. "Three or four? Five times in my life?" he struggles to recall. "It does not seem like a big deal." At […]
No Flu Season Will Affect Next Year’s Vaccine Prep
Experts predicted that the 2019/20 flu season in the Northern Hemisphere would be a bad one. And then it wasn’t. The COVID-19 pandemic hit, international travel ground to a halt, physical distancing and mask wearing became more common, and the flu went away. Rachel Baker, PhD, who studies public health and infectious disease at Princeton […]
AstraZeneca, Sputnik Vaccines Face Hurdles With Annual COVID Shots
ZURICH (Reuters) – Vaccines from AstraZeneca, Russia’s Gamaleya Institute and Johnson & Johnson fight the coronavirus with another virus, leaving scientists concerned the shots may lose potency if annual inoculations become necessary to fight new variants. So-called viral vector shots – also used by several Chinese COVID-19 vaccine developers – use harmless modified viruses as […]
Study explores the perceptions and use of antibiotics among older adults
While most adults over 50 understand that overuse of antibiotics is a problem, and say they're cautious about taking the drugs, a sizable minority have used antibiotics for something other than their original purpose, and appear to think the drugs could help treat colds, which are caused by viruses not bacteria. These findings, contained in […]
Latinos are especially reluctant to get flu shots – how a small clinic in Indiana found ways to overcome that
Every year, tens of millions of Americans avoid the flu vaccine. During the 2019-2020 flu season, fewer than half of U.S. adults got the shot. The Latino population is more reluctant than most other groups to get the flu vaccine and often pays a high price with their health. An analysis by the Centers for […]
How the flu virus spreads within cities
New insights into the local transmission of seasonal influenza may be valuable for planning interventions to combat the spread of respiratory diseases within cities, according to a study published November 19, 2020 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Nicola Müller and Tanja Stadler of ETH Zürich, and colleagues. As shown with the current severe […]
Flu season is off to a slow start; COVID-19 precautions may be helping
As coronavirus surges in much of the United States, that other virus we start to worry about this time of year—flu—is slowly starting its annual invasion. There have been a few cases in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, but the numbers are still low, as they are in most of the country. This could be because […]
Has Covid killed off the flu?
Has Covid killed off the flu? Experts pose the intriguing question as influenza cases nosedive by 98% across the globe Many feared ‘twin-demic’ of flu, which kills thousands, and Covid-19 this winter Thirty million people – 20 per cent more than normal – now eligible for the flu jab ‘Surveillance’ data collected by WHO shows how […]
Flu activity low in Southern Hemisphere in June to August 2020
(HealthDay)—There was very low influenza activity during June to August 2020 in the Southern Hemisphere, according to research published in the Sept. 18 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Sonja J. Olsen, Ph.D., from the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues note that by mid to late […]