Is Advertising the Flu Vaccine a Shot in the Dark? SJU Consumer Behavior Expert Studies Strategies to Promote Flu Shots
Saint Joseph's University
In this issue, find research on gun storage, LARCs and abortion, flu vaccine disparities, air pollution disparities, Brazil birthrate after Zika and more
Researchers from the University of Chicago, Harvard University and others show that poor immune responses, not egg adaptions, may explain the low effectiveness of the vaccine that year.
With this year’s severe flu season, one statistic is especially chilling. Each year, around 50 percent of all children under 5 years old who die from the flu were previously healthy, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Adults who die from the flu, on the other hand, typically had a medical condition that increased their risk of mortality. A new study published in the Journal of Immunology offers new insights as to why healthy children are much more vulnerable. It also opens new opportunities for treatment.
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has signed a five-year cooperative agreement worth up to $28 million with Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) to develop methods for preventing the global spread of viruses like chikungunya and Zika.
As the flu virus spreads this year, NewYork-Presbyterian breaks down how to prevent its spread and lessen symptoms.
People who believe Princess Diana was murdered or that John F. Kennedy’s assassination was an elaborate plot are more likely to think that vaccines are unsafe, despite scientific evidence to the contrary, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.
A pandemic flu outbreak could kill millions. Now, researchers have found features of the virus's genome that influence how well it multiplies. The findings could help target pandemic flu surveillance efforts to make it easier to find the next outbreak before it spreads widely.
Scientists at the Morgridge Institute for Research have discovered a promising new target to fight a class of viruses responsible for health threats such as Zika, polio, dengue, SARS and hepatitis C.
Researchers have developed a universal vaccine to combat influenza A viruses that produces long-lasting immunity in mice and protects them against the limitations of seasonal flu vaccines, according to a study led by Georgia State University.
Southern Research scientists are working on several fronts to help limit the death toll from a catastrophic flu outbreak that one day slams the nation.
More than 700,000 Americans were hospitalized due to illnesses associated with the seasonal flu during the 2014–15 flu season, according to federal estimates. A radical new approach to vaccine development at UCLA may help lower that figure for future flu seasons.
Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, in collaboration with a team of researchers at the George Washington University and the René Rachou Institute, have received funding from the National Institutes of Health for a Phase Ib clinical trial for a Schistosomiasis vaccine in an endemic area of Brazil.
Wistar is pleased to announce it has been awarded a $1,494,972 grant by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to advance a DNA-based vaccine candidate for protection against malarial infection utilizing a synthetic DNA platform created in the lab of David B. Weiner, Ph.D., executive vice president, director of the Vaccine & Immunotherapy Center at The Wistar Institute and the W.W. Smith Charitable Trust Professor in Cancer Research.
A Rutgers medical expert explains why this year’s flu season is so fierce and how you can protect yourself
New data analysis suggests that people born at the time of the 1957 H2N2 or Asian Flu pandemic were at a higher risk of dying during the 2009 H1N1 Swine Flu pandemic as well as the resurgent H1N1 outbreak in 2013-2014. And it is not the first time this has happened.
Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have discovered the workings of the first promising treatment for Marburg virus, a pathogen with the same pandemic potential as Ebola virus.
Influenza is a serious illness that sometimes can result in death. Jonathan Grein, MD, Cedars-Sinai medical director of Hospital Epidemiology, is available to discuss ways to keep healthy as flu activity surges dramatically.
As flu season swings into high gear, a new poll suggests nursing homes and other long-term care facilities should be doing more to get their staff and patients vaccinated before it’s too late. Nearly three-quarters of people over age 50 say all staff in such facilities should definitely be required to get the flu vaccine. More than 60 percent say that patients should definitely get vaccinated too.
The development of an HIV vaccine has proven extraordinarily difficult. One of the reasons is that naïve precursor B cells that can give rise to mature B cells producing broadly neutralizing antibodies are exceedingly rare within the average human. Yet, despite their low frequency these B cell precursors can outcompete their B cell competitors under the right conditions.
When viruses infect the body’s cells, those cells face a difficult problem. How can they destroy viruses without harming themselves? Scientists at University of Utah Health have found an answer by visualizing a tiny cellular machine that chops the viruses’ genetic material into bits.
A Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory biomedical technology that can deliver vaccines and drugs inside the human body has been licensed for use in cancer treatments to a Michigan company.
A virologist involved in the debate over "gain of function" and dual-use infectious disease research reflects on the issue, in the wake of NIH action.
Nearly a century after the influenza pandemic of 1918–1919 ravaged communities worldwide, the threat of another pandemic looms large as the scientific and global health communities find ways to prepare for, and battle, future outbreaks.
An updated practice parameter from the Joint Task Force on Practice Parameters stresses that people with egg allergy should receive their yearly flu shot, and that no special precautions are required.
Men infected with HPV16, the type responsible for most HPV-related cancers, are 20 times more likely to be reinfected with the same type of HPV after one year. That is according to a new study published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The article shows the same effect in both men who are sexually active and celibate, suggesting that they are not reacquiring the virus from another sexual partner.
A team of researchers working across disciplines and universities is developing a flu nanovaccine that preliminary studies suggest could be more effective than today's seasonal shots. The NIH is supporting the research with a five-year, $2.8 million grant.
Chickenpox is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus. Although the incidence of chickenpox has declined significantly since the development of the chickenpox vaccine, there are still children who develop chickenpox every year, say dermatologists from the American Academy of Dermatology. Fortunately, there is a lot parents can do at home to help ease their children’s symptoms.
Pets have become an integral part of human medical research. However, a recent collaboration between Penn Med and Penn Vet has turned the tables on the arrangement.
An alternative animal model that mimics key features of the Zika virus infection, including its lingering presence in bodily fluids, has been developed at Texas Biomedical Research Institute in San Antonio.
Although the insidious bacterium Salmonella typhi has been around for centuries, very little is actually known about its molecular mechanisms. A new study from researchers at the College of Veterinary Medicine addresses this knowledge gap and may lead to novel, targeted treatments.
From protecting us from dangerous infections to redefining the future of artificial intelligence to advancing the use of natural gas to bring economic benefit to the state, the depth and breadth of West Virginia University’s research and its potential to improve the lives of the citizens of the state is being recognized.
More than 90 percent of study volunteers in the 3 trials who received the investigational vaccine demonstrated an immune response to Zika virus.
An analysis of HPV in men shows that infection with one type strongly increased the risk of reinfection of the same type. The study highlights the importance of vaccination for preventing the spread of HPV in young men before they become sexually active and in older men who have already contracted the virus.
Healthy adults mounted strong immune responses after receiving an investigational whole inactivated Zika virus vaccine, according to interim analyses of three Phase 1, placebo-controlled, double-blind trials conducted at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), and Saint Louis University School of Medicine. The findings were published today in The Lancet.
international partners are announcing the first efficacy study for an investigational HIV-1-preventive “mosaic” vaccine. Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson are joining forces with The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and National Institutes of Health on this study, and they have enlisted the aid of top researchers worldwide to conduct the trial.
UCLA researcher Dr. Roshan Bastani will lead a $6.6 million research study awarded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to investigate the comparative effectiveness of strategies designed to increase receipt of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine among adolescents. By advancing the understanding of which health system interventions are most effective and efficient, the research has the potential to dramatically increase HPV vaccination and prevent HPV-related cancers nationwide.
Researchers at the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering have developed a synergistic cancer nanovaccine packing DNA and RNA sequences that modulate the immune response, along with anti-tumor antigens, into one small nanoparticle. The nanovaccine produced an immune response that specifically killed tumor tissue, while simultaneously inhibiting tumor-induced immune suppression to block lung tumor growth in a mouse model of metastatic colon cancer.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have discovered a genetic mutation in the FluMist intranasal flu vaccine that has the potential to be altered to enhance the vaccine’s protective effect.
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Institut Pasteur have announced that they are forming a joint research unit to study viral pathogens.
Scientists at UdeM's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine design better molecules that make it harder for plasmids to move between bacteria.