Most immunisation campaigns continue to primarily focus on infants and children, but almost 4 million Australian adults are not vaccinated against preventable diseases.
Flu virus mutates so quickly that one year’s vaccine won’t work on the next year’s common strains. But a new way to create vaccines, called ‘rational design,’ might pave the way for more lasting solutions.
It took a computer to discover the potential threat of a drug-resistant strain of swine flu that was about to spread from New South Wales. So how close did we come to a global pandemic?
The flu vaccine – which prevents one from getting influenza – changes every year, because it is based on the strains of the virus that presented in the previous year.
While studies suggests that cholesterol-lowering statins can make the flu shot less effective, the vaccine remains the best available tool for reducing flu-related complications and death.
Missing links make a good story, but not good science. Outdated metaphors don’t help us understand the rapid evolution of infectious diseases such as flu and malaria.
Predicting infectious disease outbreaks is a tricky task to begin with. And it’s made harder still by the fact that any individual outcome is subject to unpredictable – or stochastic – effects.
The immune system protects us from the constant onslaught of viruses, bacteria and other types of pathogens we encounter throughout life. But it can sometimes misbehave.