Cold and Flu News

September 25, 2023

Top Headlines

Flu: Interferon-Gamma from T Follicular Helper Cells Is Required to Create Lung-Resident Memory B Cells

Sep. 13, 2023 — During a bout of influenza, B cells interact with other immune cells and then take different paths to defend the body. One path is the B cells that differentiate into lung-resident memory B cells, or ...

Researcher Helps Boost Immune System Memory Against Influenza

Sep. 11, 2023 — Researchers are one step closer to making the T cell army stronger. In a recent study, researchers found that by manipulating one molecular signaling pathway in the T cells that participate in clearing influenza virus in the lungs, the strength and ...

Climate Change Can Alter the Risk of Succumbing to Infectious Diseases

Sep. 11, 2023 — A new Europe-wide study investigated the prevalence of protozoans, bacteria and viruses potentially pathogenic to humans and domestic animals in birds and bats in varying climatic conditions. The prevalence of many of these pathogens was associated ...

Bird Flu Is Undergoing Changes That Could Increase the Risk of Widespread Human Transmission

Sep. 5, 2023 — A new study has shown that a subtype of avian flu virus, endemic in poultry farms in China, is undergoing mutational changes, which could increase the risk of the disease being passed on to ...

Latest Headlines

updated 8:27pm EDT

How to Inactivate Common Cold Viruses

Sep. 5, 2023 — Every year, respiratory syncytial viruses (RSV) cause countless respiratory infections worldwide. For infants, young children and people with preexisting conditions, the virus can be ...

Scientists Unpick How Lung Cells Induce Immune Response to Influenza

Aug. 31, 2023 — Researchers have discovered some new and surprising ways that viral RNA and influenza virus are detected by human lung cells, which has potential implications for treating people affected by such ...

How Brucellosis -- Which Can Jump from Animals to Humans -- Impacts the Brain

Aug. 29, 2023 — Brucellosis is a disease, caused by the members of bacterial Brucella family, that mainly infects cattle, goats and sheep, leading to pregnancy loss, ...

Immune Cells Present Long Before Infection Predict Flu Symptoms

Aug. 17, 2023 — Scientists found that immune cells present in individuals long before influenza infection predict whether the illness is ...

Several Vaccines Associated With Reduced Risk of Alzheimer's Disease in Adults 65 and Older

Aug. 16, 2023 — Prior vaccination against tetanus and diphtheria, with or without pertussis (Tdap/Td); herpes zoster (HZ), better known as shingles; and pneumococcus ...

Molecules in Vegetables Can Help to Ease Lung Infection

Aug. 16, 2023 — Researchers have found that molecules in vegetables like broccoli or cauliflower help to maintain a healthy barrier in the lung and ease ...

Common Cold Virus Linked to Potentially Fatal Blood Clotting Disorder

Aug. 10, 2023 — A new observation suggests that a life-threatening blood clotting disorder can be caused by an infection with adenovirus, one of the most common respiratory viruses in pediatric and adult ...

Influenza Shows No Seasonality in Tropics, Posing Challenges for Health Care

Aug. 4, 2023 — In temperate climates, like North America and Europe, flu season starts in the fall, peaks in the winter and ends in the spring. While public health ...

Mutation Accessibility Fuels Influenza Evolution

July 28, 2023 — Scientists showed that fixed mutations within a viral population most likely stem from how easy it is to acquire that mutation (i.e., mutation accessibility) rather than just its ...

'Swine Flu' Strain Has Passed from Humans to Swine Nearly 400 Times Since 2009

July 27, 2023 — A new study of the strain of influenza A responsible for the 2009 H1N1 pandemic -- pdm09 -- shows that the virus has passed from humans to swine ...

Earlier Headlines

Summaries
Headlines

Researchers Discover Molecule With Promise to Enhance Vaccine Efficacy

July 24, 2023 — Taking a significant leap in the field of vaccine development, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry researchers have discovered a potential 'super molecule' that can bolster the ...

Study Explores How Often Children Diagnosed With Flu Experience Serious Neuropsychiatric Side Effects

July 24, 2023 — While the incidence of influenza-associated neuropsychiatric events in children in the United States is unknown, the controversy over the use of a common antiviral medication typically administered ...

RSV Is a Serious Heath Threat, but the Public Knows Little About It

June 21, 2023 — A new survey finds that the American public is ill-informed about RSV, unfamiliar with its most common symptoms, and more hesitant to recommend a vaccine against it to pregnant people than to older ...

How the Flu Virus Hacks Our Cells

May 31, 2023 — Influenza epidemics, caused by influenza A or B viruses, result in acute respiratory infection. They kill half a million people worldwide every year. These viruses can also wreak havoc on animals, as ...

Genetic Change Increased Bird Flu Severity During U.S. Spread

May 30, 2023 — Scientists found the virus strains that arrived in 2021 soon acquired genes from viruses in wild birds in North America. The resulting reassortant viruses have spread across the continent and caused ...

Study Shows Key Role for Human T Cells in the Control of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Infection

May 24, 2023 — A new study has shown that human T cells have an important role to play in controlling ...

A Multiomics Approach Provides Insights Into Flu Severity

May 22, 2023 — Researchers were able to identify changes in the accessibility (that is, the 'readability') of transposable elements. To do this, the researchers used an approach combining various sets of ...

Traditional Medicine Plant Could Combat Drug-Resistant Malaria

May 11, 2023 — Much of what is now considered modern medicine originated as folk remedies or traditional, Indigenous practices. These customs are still alive today, and they could help address a variety of ...

Luring the Virus Into a Trap

Apr. 25, 2023 — Viruses like influenza A and Ebola invade human cells in a number of steps. Research teams investigated the final stages of viral penetration using electron tomography and computer simulations. ...

Exposure to Air Pollution During Pregnancy Increases Risk for Flu

Apr. 19, 2023 — A new study shows that exposure to ultrafine particles (UFPs) during pregnancy enhances respiratory viral infection risk. According to the researchers, it is imperative that pregnant women in urban ...

Why This Bird Flu Is Different: Scientists Say New Avian Influenza Requires Urgent Coordinated Response

Apr. 19, 2023 — A new study tracks arrival and spread of highly pathogenic Avian Influenza (H5N1) decimating wild birds, impacting poultry and pushing up egg prices. The team found that the deadly impact on wild ...

First Nations Populations at Greater Risk of Severe Flu, Research Finds

Apr. 13, 2023 — New research has found that First Nations populations around the world are significantly more likely to be hospitalized and die from influenza compared to non-Indigenous ...

Physicians Should Be on Alert for Group A Strep as Cases Experience Historic Rise, Study Finds

Apr. 6, 2023 — The U.S. experienced an unprecedented number of group A streptococcal infections in children from October to December of 2022, which should alert physicians to check for the potentially deadly ...

Is It COVID-19 or the Flu? New Sensor Could Tell You in 10 Seconds

Mar. 28, 2023 — Have a cough, sore throat and congestion? Any number of respiratory viruses could be responsible. Today, scientists report using a single-atom-thick nanomaterial to build a device that can ...

Memory B Cell Marker Predicts Long-Lived Antibody Response to Flu Vaccine

Mar. 22, 2023 — Memory B cells play a critical role to provide long-term immunity after a vaccination or infection. Researchers have now described a distinct and novel subset of memory B cells that predict ...

Next Epidemic Could Be Spotted Early in Wastewater

Mar. 22, 2023 — Researchers behind the UK's first pilot public health surveillance system based on analysis of wastewater say that routine monitoring at sewage treatment works could provide a powerful early ...

Bird Flu Associated With Hundreds of Seal Deaths in New England in 2022

Mar. 15, 2023 — Researchers have found that an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was associated with the deaths of more than 330 New England harbor and gray seals along the North Atlantic coast in ...

How the Brain Senses Infection

Mar. 8, 2023 — Researchers discovered specific airway neurons in mice that alert the brain about the ...

Enhancing at-Home COVID Tests With Glow-in-the Dark Materials

Mar. 7, 2023 — Researchers are using glow-in-the-dark materials to enhance and improve rapid COVID-19 home ...

The Achilles Heel of the Influenza Virus: Ubiquitin Protein May Be an Approach for Future Medicines

Feb. 24, 2023 — Influenza viruses are becoming increasingly resilient to medicines. For this reason, new active ingredients are needed. Important findings in this regard have been provided: for the virus to ...

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