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Articles on Influenza

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Feeling sorry for yourself? Why not whine about it on social media? No, seriously. William Brawley

Sniffley tweeters help researchers locate flu outbreaks

Twitter has become the latest online tool to be used to monitor the spread of disease. Researchers are looking at whether health providers can identify the locale of a disease outbreak by monitoring the…
Unnecessary anxiety is a media health risk. Vincent Yu/AP/PA

Health experts with pharma links more likely to talk up risk

When new health threats emerge, the media is often accused of hyping up the risk to the public. But we tend to believe that health experts provide rational, independent viewpoints on the real risks posed…
A tower of used books.

Google’s flu fail shows the problem with big data

When people talk about ‘big data’, there is an oft-quoted example: a proposed public health tool called Google Flu Trends. It has become something of a pin-up for the big data movement, but it might not…
In the meantime, use your hanky. David Jones/PA

A universal flu vaccine is still some time off

After standing in line for the latest year’s flu jab one might wonder why all this in necessary. The answer lies in the flu virus itself and its ability to rapidly evolve and avoid the human immune system…
The dreaded stomach flu strikes again? Not likely. RLHyde

Explainer: what is stomach flu?

Nausea, vomiting, tummy pain and cramps, watery diarrhoea … We’ve all had acute gastroenteritis at some stage. As a general practitioner, my patients usually refer to their condition in more colloquial…
A lot of the illness we think of being caused by the ‘flu’ is actually due to other viruses. Kim Keegan

Is it really the flu? The other viruses making you ill in winter

Facts about Flu - Perhaps the misery you feel when ill in winter isn’t the fault of the much-maligned influenza virus after all. RSV, hMPV, CoV… these may all sound like random acronyms, but they are influenza’s…
Not being able to give children the locally-manufactured vaccine leaves a hole in our pandemic preparations. Julian Smith/AAP

CSL’s flu vaccine leaves a hole in Australia’s pandemic plan

Facts about Flu - We often hear of an expected pandemic and had a scare in 2009 with the swine flu, but how well are we prepared? Although no longer considered an immediate risk, the recent outbreak of…
One of three major types of the flu viruses that infect people, influenza A ranges from H1 to H17 and from N1 to N9. Señor Codo

H1N1, H5N1, H7N9? What on earth does it all mean

Facts about Flu - Ever wondered what flu classifications mean? Read on. The pandemic influenza strain, or swine flu, that spread globally in 2009 was referred to as H1N1 and the new bird flu currently…
The flu is not a disease, it is what’s known as a syndrome – a series of signs and symptoms caused by a variety of agents. sunnyUK/Flickr

Of influenza, flu, potions and key opinion leaders

Welcome to Facts about Flu - Our week-long series of articles about influenza. Ever wonder why the flu, coughs and colds that you suffered from in your youth have become a monster killer that rolls out…
Flu jabs made faster. Leave patients happier. Make fighting pandemics easier. ekigyuu

‘Clone by phone’ means faster vaccine preparation

The 2009 influenza pandemic prompted the fastest effort in history to develop a vaccine. Within six months of the pandemic declaration, vaccine-makers had developed, produced and distributed hundreds of…
Influenza symptoms include high fevers and chills, as well as pains and aches in muscles and joints. Davide Taviani

Explainer: what is the flu?

When people say they have “the flu”, what they’re experiencing most of the time is the common cold, which is not caused by the influenza virus at all. But the term “flu season”, which Australia is in the…
Pandemics produce an extraordinary outpouring of emotion which is out of proportion to the number of actual cases and deaths. EPA/Wu Hong

No evidence H7N9 spreads between humans – but fear does

It’s ten years since SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) upset our complacency about infectious diseases and now we are faced by another “new” disease. H7N9 bird flu is currently spreading through…
CSL TIV is no longer recommended for children less than five years of age in Australia. Image from shutterstock.com

Better regulation needed for kids’ flu vaccine

Flu vaccines given to children should be more rigorously tested before before being allowed onto the market, researchers say, to prevent a repeat of the 2010 vaccine release, which caused a spate of high…
Sneezing into your hands is more likely to spread cold and flu germs around than prevent infection of others. NSW Strategic Communications

Cough and sneeze into elbows, not hands

NSW Health authorities should withdraw advertisements urging people to cover their coughs and sneezes with their hands and instead tell people to use their inner elbow, according to a letter to the editor…
Indonesian health officers take blood samples for bird flu tests from residents in Jakarta. AAP

Bird flu researchers return to the lab after year-long debate

Controversial research into the H5N1 virus, more commonly known as bird flu, is set to recommence, after it was delayed in 2011 following a request from the US government. The research had raised biosecurity…
The effectiveness of influenza drug Tamiflu has been called into question. AAP / Gatean Bally

Tamiflu effectiveness questioned as drug company refuses to release data

Public health researchers have stepped up their campaign to access clinical trial data about influenza drug Tamiflu, amid concerns about its effectiveness. Professor Peter Gøtzsche, leader of the Nordic…

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