By mid-August, the 2017 year had recorded more flu notifications across Australia than the previous five years. So why is the flu season so bad this time around?
What can a single person’s flu infection tell you about how the virus changes around the world?
Xue and Bloom
This antivirus software protects health, not computers. Researchers are beginning to combat deadly infections using computer-generated antiviral proteins – a valuable tool to fight a future pandemic.
When resources are scarce, deciding who should be front of the queue for the flu vaccine is an ethical minefield.
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As we head towards flu season, many people are wondering if it’s worth getting vaccinated against influenza and if so, when. Here’s what you need to know.
After the Spanish flu we didn’t see any new flu strains for forty years. Now novel strains are increasingly popping up.
Carlos Barria/Reuterspics
Most immunisation campaigns continue to primarily focus on infants and children, but almost 4 million Australian adults are not vaccinated against preventable diseases.
What if it wasn’t back to the drawing board every year for a new flu shot?
Andrew Kelly/Reuters
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.
HIV plays hide and seek with the body’s immune system to evade detection. But we can learn from its tactics to make a range of vaccines against infectious diseases.
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Public health experts enlist the molecular biology tools that create genetically modified organisms – as well as the GMOs themselves – in the fight against emerging infectious diseases.
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.
During World War II the US military forged partnerships with industry and academia that translated laboratory findings into working products at an unprecedented pace.
For certain members of the community, catching flu can lead to severe illness or death.
Piotr Marcinski
Aeron Hurt, WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza
It’s that time of year again when scientists and doctors make predictions about the impending flu season and we must decide whether to go out and get the flu vaccine.
Helping parents decide to immunize their children may be a matter of communication.
frankieleon