Below is a brief roundup of news and story ideas from the experts at UCLA Health. For more information on these stories or for help on other stories, please contact us at [email protected].
Influenza viruses have an enormous impact in the U.S., with an estimated 25 million illnesses and 18,000 deaths in the 2022-23 flu season alone. However, the majority of virus particles are not infectious or are only partially infectious. How, then, do they become such a contagious and deadly virus?
Researchers at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University found that an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was associated with the deaths of more than 330 New England harbor and gray seals along the North Atlantic coast in June and July 2022, and the outbreak was connected to a wave of avian influenza in birds in the region.
The next pandemic that cascades through the human population could be caused by a new influenza virus strain concocted in animals, against which humans will have little to no immunity.
In reviewing data from previous studies, a team lead by researchers at the University of Chicago and the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) found that individuals who had fewer than six hours of sleep per night in the days surrounding vaccination had a blunted antibody response. That indicates efforts to promote heathy sleep duration ahead of an immunization could be an easy way to improve vaccine effectiveness.
A new study led by researchers at Harvard Medical School illuminates how the brain becomes aware that there is an infection in the body.
To evaluate best strategies for increasing vaccination rates, researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, collaborated with Danish researchers to develop and implement a nationwide trial in Denmark testing nine different electronic messaging tactics among adults over age 65.
Schools are among the most notable settings people associate with picking up viral infections such as the common cold, various types of the flu or other respiratory viruses.
Every year, the influenza season presents a challenge to hospitals. Despite having been vaccinated, older people and patients with health problems in particular run a heightened risk of falling prey to a severe bout of influenza.
A new University of California, Irvine-led study uncovers how a protein, APOBEC3B, could protects cells against many different types of RNA viruses like respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), SARS-CoV2, influenza virus, poliovirus and measles, helping to prevent disease. The study was published in Nature Communications.
Internationally renowned expert will focus on growing St. Jude into a global leader in infectious diseases research.
Viruses use the molecular repertoire of the host cell to replicate. Researchers from the Cluster of Excellence ImmunoSensation2 at the University of Bonn, together with Japanese researchers, want to exploit this for the treatment of influenza.
For the first time, researchers at UC San Diego have created an atomic-level computer model of the H1N1 virus that reveals new vulnerabilities, suggesting possible strategies for the design of future vaccines and antivirals against influenza.
Nonpharmaceutical interventions slowed the spread of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases but now, as NPIs are lifted, countries are seeing a resurgence in several respiratory diseases. In Chaos, scientists, using data from Hong Kong to develop their model, describe a threshold control method that can be used to predict the best time to lift NPIs without overwhelming the hospital systems when these other respiratory diseases inevitably surge back. They found that reintroducing NPI measures when a threshold of 600 severe cases is reached could ensure that the hospital system in Hong Kong is not overwhelmed by severely infected patients.
NEW YORK, NY – Jan. 17, 2023 – The American Thoracic Society is starting the new year poised to improve vaccination rates with three health system partners: University of Arizona/ Banner Health; West Virginia University Hospitals, Inc.; and San Francisco Health Network/ University of California.
A new test that ‘fishes’ for multiple respiratory viruses at once using single strands of DNA as ‘bait’, and gives highly accurate results in under an hour, has been developed by Cambridge researchers.
Results of the 18-month study, published in Lancet Regional Health - Americas and led by Amit Bahl, M.D., M.P.H., emergency medicine with Corewell Health East, formerly Beaumont Health, showed that while omicron cases had the highest hospital admission rates among children ages 0 to 17, serious, even deadly, cases of illness were less likely during omicron than during the delta and alpha variants. In fact, the odds of severe disease were 65% lower during omicron compared to alpha.
Researchers at Hokkaido University have revealed the effects of high pathogenicity avian influenza virus infection on an Ezo red fox and a Japanese raccoon dog, linking their infection to a recorded die-off of crows.
To provide vital resources during current RSV surge, AACN and Children's Hospital Association offer new eLearning course on pediatric respiratory care, available to all nurses and other clinicians at no charge.
Flu season came a month early this year in Tennessee and hit hard, disproportionately affecting children, according to Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) data gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Tennessee Department of Health and Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
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