THE emergence of the H1N1 swine flu has added urgency to what has become an annual ritual for millions of Americans: getting a flu shot.
Under the current guidelines, men and women are to get equal-sized doses of the H1N1 vaccine. Yet women’s bodies generate a stronger antibody response than men’s do, research shows, so more […]

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Parents, teachers, and school officials are anxiously awaiting the expected return this fall of the H1N1 virus, known as Swine Flu. Declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization, the virus may prove a significant problem to schools and families across the country.
To help both teachers and parents prepare for swine flu, the website TeachersFirst.com […]

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Differing biological response to infection between men and women may explain higher death rates among older men who are hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). The findings, published online in the Critical Care Medicine journal, may have important implications for understanding sex differences in life expectancy.
The researchers measured blood levels of inflammatory indicators, including tumor necrosis […]

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Workers age 50-64 who received influenza vaccine lost substantially fewer days of work and worked fewer days while ill, according to a new study in the Feb. 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online.
Given the concerns about antiviral drug resistance among this year’s flu strains, the study highlights the importance of vaccination to […]

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In children and adolescents with high-risk conditions, flu can lead to severe illness, hospitalization and even death. By conswequence, influenza vaccination has been recommended for adolescents with high-risk conditions for well over a decade.
A newest study finds few American adolescents with asthma and other high-risk illnesses are getting flu shots.
Researchers analyzed vaccination rates from 1992 […]

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According to an article published in the November issue of the Journal of General Virology, a single vaccine could be used to protect chickens, cats and humans against deadly flu pandemics. The vaccine protects birds and mammals against different flu strains and can even be given to birds while they are still in their eggs, […]

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Researchers in the United States have linked commonly used antidepressants to a reduction in some men’s fertility.
The researchers from the Cornell Medical Center in New York say the drugs, selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), taken by millions of men to alleviate depression, damage the DNA of the sperm.
According to scientists Peter Schlegel and Cigdem Tanrikut the […]

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With flu season fast approaching, U.S. health officials predicted Wednesday that this year’s vaccine will be a better match for the circulating influenza strains than last year’s vaccine proved to be.
Not only do officials believe this year’s vaccine will be more effective, they’re saying that supplies will be plentiful, too. So, the U.S. Centers for […]

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Canadian researchers are challenging the widely held belief that flu shots help protect older people from potentially deadly diseases such as pneumonia.
While the researchers say the vaccine does protect against certain strains of influenza, its overall benefit seems to have been exaggerated by so-called observational studies that found a big reduction in “all-cause mortality” among […]

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced that it has approved this year’s seasonal influenza vaccines that include new strains of the virus likely to cause flu in the United States during the 2008-2009 season.
The six vaccines and their manufacturers are: CSL Limited, Afluria; GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, Fluarix; ID Biomedical Corporation of Quebec, FluLaval; […]

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