The Organization of Teratology Information Specialists (OTIS), a non-profit organization based at the University of California, San Diego with affiliates across North America, urges pregnant women to receive the influenza vaccine as soon as possible.
Johns Hopkins has a wide range of experts available for interviews and comments about seasonal flu, H1N1, emergency preparedness, infection control, flu transmission in children, vaccine safety, flu treatment, public health ethics, flu in cancer patients, and related public communications strategies. If you would like to interview a Johns Hopkins expert, call or e-mail the designated information officer in the list below.
As the United States prepares for the upcoming flu season, a group of researchers supported by the National Institutes of Health continues to model how H1N1 may spread.
Public health officials have long believed that notifying the public about outbreaks of infectious disease could help reduce transmission rates and the overall impact of a pandemic. Now, researchers have modified the most widely used infectious disease model to account for the impact of media coverage.
Fears over the influenza A virus (H1N1; sometimes referred to as swine flu) have motivated researchers to investigate the antimicrobial activity of the Aganocide® compounds against viruses.
An analysis of data from influenza cases in Wisconsin indicates individuals with 2009 H1N1 infections were younger than those with H3N2 (2007-2008), and that the risk of most serious complications was not higher in adults or children with 2009 H1N1 compared with recent seasonal strains, according to a study in the September 8 issue of JAMA.
Children with sickle cell disease are especially hard-hit by the H1N1 flu strain, causing more life-threatening complications than the seasonal flu, according to a study from Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.
The best way to prevent the spread of disease in rural areas may be by targeting select popular hangouts, according to a new study by the Kansas State University EpiCenter research team.
Acclaimed virologist Robert Webster, Ph.D., of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, presented the 2010 Leeuwenhoek prize lecture, a prestigious recognition awarded by the Royal Society in London.
Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have determined people who were vaccinated against the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus may also be protected against the lethal 1918 Spanish influenza virus, which killed more than 50 million people worldwide.
Pregnant women who contract the H1N1 flu strain are at risk for obstetrical complications including fetal distress, premature delivery, emergency cesarean delivery and fetal death, according to a report in the May 24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Direct Immunofluorescence Assay (DFA) testing for H1N1 influenza (“swine flu”) is unreliable in ICU patients, according to a new study from Stanford University. Multiple methods exist for diagnosing influenza, but data on the utility and accuracy of these tests for H1N1 are still emerging, given the relatively recent onset of the epidemic.
1) Parents favor email access to their pediatricians; 2) Pediatric residents say they are unprepared for emotional turmoil that comes with critically ill children; 3) Photos may help mothers with end-of-life decisions for high-risk premature babies; 4) Mock drills during H1N1 outbreak expose gaps in infection protection among hospital staff.
Tamiflu and two other drugs used to treat influenza appear safe for pregnant women and their babies, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found in a retrospective study of 239 cases of women who received the medications during pregnancy.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital staff helps investigators gauge the lingering impact of the 1976 vaccine.
The H1N1 flu epidemic has lessons to offer health care providers. The limited amount of vaccine available initially left pregnant women, small children with medical conditions, and other high-risk populations waiting in long lines. The problems encountered in reaching certain segments of the population apply to the provision of dental care as well as other disciplines.
Pregnant women had a disproportionately higher risk of death due to 2009 influenza A(H1N1) in the U.S., and early antiviral treatment appeared to be associated with fewer admissions to an ICU and fewer deaths, according to a study in the April 21 issue of JAMA.
An analysis of blood samples taken before, during and after an epidemic wave of influenza A(H1N1) in Singapore in 2009 finds variation in infection risks and antibody levels, with younger age groups and military personnel having higher infection rates than other groups, according to a study in the April 14 issue of JAMA.
A new study finds that reports of a neurologic disease called Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) have been low after 2009 H1N1 vaccination, according to a research study that will be presented as part of the late-breaking science program at the American Academy of Neurology’s 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto, April 10 – 17, 2010. The study is one of the first national reports of the occurrence of GBS after 2009 H1N1 vaccination.
Health officials are carefully monitoring a steady stream in the Southeast of cases of pandemic H1N1 flu, especially in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. Now is a crucial time to pay heed to upper-respiratory maladies such as congestion, runny nose and cough, says David Kimberlin, M.D., a preeminent influenza specialist at UAB. If the symptoms are accompanied by a high or persistent fever, a call to the doctor’s office is warranted. Also, it is still a good time to get the H1N1 vaccine, he says.
A team of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute and other institutions has solved the structure of a key protein from the virus that caused last year’s “swine flu” influenza epidemic. The structure reveals that the virus shares many features with influenza viruses common in the early 20th century, helping to explain why, in general, older individuals have been less severely affected by the recent outbreak than younger ones.
– Obesity may limit the body’s ability to develop immunity to influenza viruses, particularly secondary infections, by inhibiting the immune system’s ability to “remember” how it fought off previous similar bouts of illness, according to new research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
If the behavior of the seasonal form of the H1N1 influenza virus is any indication, scientists say that chances are good that most strains of the pandemic H1N1 flu virus will become resistant to Tamiflu, the main drug stockpiled for use against it.
Doctor discusses why this is the peak time for the flu but it's no where in sight.
A novel compound is highly effective against the pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus, including some drug-resistant strains, according to new research led by a University of Wisconsin-Madison virologist.
Genetic interactions between avian H5N1 influenza and human seasonal influenza viruses have the potential to create hybrid strains combining the virulence of bird flu with the pandemic ability of H1N1, according to a new study.
A campaign that makes seasonal flu vaccinations for hospital staff free, convenient, ubiquitous and hard to ignore succeeds fairly well in moving care providers closer to a state of “herd” immunity and protecting patients from possible infection transmitted by health care workers, according to results of a survey at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
The C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health finds two-thirds of parents worry about the safety of the H1N1 vaccine while one-half are worried about H1N1 illness. Among parents worried more about the H1N1 vaccine, only 10 percent of their children have been vaccinated.
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute have signed a license agreement with Genentech, a wholly owned member of the Roche group, and Roche, that grants the companies exclusive rights to manufacture, develop and market human monoclonal antibodies to treat and protect against group 1 influenza viruses.
Providing preventive Tamiflu and educating and emphasizing the need for repeated hand sanitizer use and disinfectant spray helped stop the spread of H1N1 influenza at a boys' summer camp in northern Alabama, according to David Kimberlin, M.D., the co-director of the UAB Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases.
A research team led by Mei Hong of Iowa State University and the Ames Laboratory has determined where an antiviral drug binds to and blocks a channel necessary for the flu virus to spread. The researchers also discovered that the drug spins in the channel, meaning there could be room for developing drugs that do a better job blocking the channel and stopping the flu. The findings are published in the Feb. 4 issue of the journal Nature.
C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health finds H1N1 immunization rates are more than twice the national average if health care providers strongly recommend H1N1 vaccine
"Immunization is the best defense we have to prevent the spread of H1N1 influenza in the months ahead," says Richard Whitley, the director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and current president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). The reminder comes during National Influenza Vaccination Week, Jan. 10-16.
New schedule includes formal recommendations that children older than 6 months get the H1N1 influenza vaccine to guard against swine flu, and that combination vaccines are generally preferred over separate injections, says UAB's David Kimberlin, a member of the AAP's infectious disease committee.
It is not too late for those who have not been immunized against the novel H1N1 influenza A virus or seasonal influenza to protect themselves from a potentially serious and possibly fatal illness. “Flu is very unpredictable,” said Dr. Peter Wenger, an associate professor in the departments of Preventive Medicine & Community Health and Pediatrics at the UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School. Another wave of widespread flu illness could occur as the winter progresses, possibly even into March or April, he added. “The prudent course is to protect yourself and those around you, and the best way to do that is through vaccination,” he said. National Influenza Vaccination Week , which runs Jan. 10-16, 2010, is a great time to take action.
Lessons learned from the first 13 children at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center to become critically ill from the H1N1 virus show that although all patients survived, serious complications developed quickly, unpredictably, with great variations from patient to patient and with serious need for vigilant monitoring and quick treatment adjustments.
Brazilian researchers have performed the first-ever autopsy study to examine the precise causes of death in victims of the H1N1 swine flu.
Investigators have identified 295 human cell factors that influenza A strains must harness to infect a cell, including the currently circulating swine-origin H1N1.
Investigators have identified host factors that help multiple influenza strains thrive and which could be targeted for new antivirals.
One dose of vaccine may be effective to protect infants and children and reduce transmission of the H1N1 virus, according to a study in JAMA, published online today because of its public health implications. The study will appear in the January 6 print edition of the journal.
The NJ Poison Control Center's Hotline is telling callers there is no danger if their children received the H1N1 vaccine that was recalled by Sanofi Pasteur, according to Bruce Ruck, Pharm.D., UMDNJ Director of Drug Information and Professional Education.
At a time when an infectious disease makes international headlines, sending Americans to wait in line for hours for a standard dose of H1N1 vaccine, the Organization for the Study of Sex Differences (OSSD), the scientific partner of the Society for Women’s Health Research announces the release of Sex Hormones and Immunity to Infection, a reference resource for researchers, clinicians, teachers, and PhD students in endocrinology and immunology.
Despite a 100-fold increase in H1N1 influenza cases in the Seattle area during spring 2009, an aggressive infection control program to protect immunocompromised cancer patients and thorough screening measures resulted in no corresponding increase in H1N1 cases among the total patient population at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, according to a new study by researchers and physicians at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the SCCA.
An international team of Canadian and Spanish scientists have found the first potential immunological clue of why some people develop severe pneumonia when infected by the pandemic H1N1 virus.
An independent lab report demonstrated that BIOGUARD™ barrier gauze dressings exhibit greater than 99.9% inactivation rates against swine flu virus after exposure for 24 hours.
National Handwashing Awareness Week is from Dec. 6 to 12, and a Geisinger physician advises that with the presence of the H1N1 virus this year, handwashing is more important than ever.
Flu tips from UT Southwestern Medical Center.
The holidays are a time of parties, festive get-togethers, family reunions and catching up with old friends, all of which add up to a lot of personal contact. With the flu season and the holiday season converging and mounting concerns over catching and spreading the flu, you may be tempted to put your holiday plans on ice. But you can still be a social butterfly and go to all those holiday parties – while still taking precautions to stay healthy.
Pet owners who contract H1N1 flu may pass the disease along to their pets, especially if the pet is a cat or ferret.
As flu season got underway this fall, Dr. Catherine Monteleone, an allergist, noticed that her office started to receive an unusually high number of calls from people with egg allergy. They previously had avoided flu vaccines because of their sensitivity to eggs. This year, with all the attention being paid to the novel H1N1 influenza, those patients want to be protected against flu, and they contacted her to find out if they are candidates for inoculation.
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