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A massive, data-crunching computer search program that matches fragments of potential drug molecules to the known shapes of viral surface proteins has identified several FDA-approved drugs that could be the basis for new medicines -- if emerging viruses such as the H5N1 (avian flu) or H1N1/09 (swine flu) develop resistance to current antiviral therapies.
Hanoi - A 23-year-old man has died of avian influenza, bringing Vietnam's bird-flu death toll to five this year, health officials said Tuesday, also confirming two more deaths from swine flu. The Ministry of Health reported the man, from the north-we...
Computer screening reveals possible drugs the H1N1 and H5N1 flu viruses wouldn’t be able to resist.
Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Alan Sipress needed more than a pen and paper to report on bird flu. To interview the mother of two victims in Java, he showed up wearing a white hooded jumpsuit with goggles, a respirator and rubber gloves that made it hard to take notes.
WHO warns countries to stay on guard for H5N1 threats The World Health Organization (WHO) today warned that recently confirmed cases of H5N1 avian influenza in poultry in Egypt, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam serve as a reminder that the virus is still a threat to humans.
Egyptian boy recovering from H5N1 infection Egypt's health ministry recently confirmed a new human H5N1 avian influenza case, a 3-yaer-old boy is hospitalized in stable condition, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Nov 27. His illness is Egypt's 89th confirmed H5N1 case to date, of which 27 were fatal.
Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Flu vaccine shortages in developing nations may destabilize global security should the H1N1 virus become more deadly, said David Heymann , a former deputy head of the World Health Organization.
Dec 9, 2009 (CIDRAP News) – In an update of a review on the role of neuraminidase inhibitors in seasonal flu prevention and treatment, the authors reversed a previous conclusion that oseltamivir (Tamiflu) prevents complications like pneumonia in healthy patients because they were unable to reconstruct the data in one of the key studies that found a benefit.
Fragments of known drugs could lead to a more robust antiviral for H1N1 and other flu variants.
The global swine flu pandemic has major implications for solid organ transplants, including donor selection and transplant management and care. There are also significant concerns that swine flu could combine with seasonal or bird flu to create a strain with unpredictable virulence. American and Canadian experts have teamed up to provide expert advice on the infection risks to transplants.
( Wiley-Blackwell ) The global swine flu pandemic has major implications for solid organ transplants, including donor selection and transplant management and care. There are also significant concerns that swine flu could combine with seasonal or bird flu to create a strain with unpredictable virulence. American and Canadian experts have teamed up to provide expert advice on the infection risks ...
Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- A fresh wave of bird flu outbreaks in Egypt, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand highlights the threat to public health caused by the H5N1 virus, which risks swapping genes with other influenza strains to spawn new variants, the World Health Organization in Manila said in a statement today.
Study casts doubt on statins as defense against severe flu Statin drugs have been suggested as a tool to prevent severe flu illness, but a large population-based study in Ontario found that the drugs seem to provide only minimal protection against hospitalization and death from seasonal flu.
Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- The World Health Organization, facing criticism that it exaggerated the threat of swine flu, said it’s too soon to decide whether the pandemic is more or less deadly than seasonal flu and comparing death rates may be misleading.
DILI, 23 November 2009 (IRIN) - Ask Afonso de Jesus what he knows about avian influenza (H5N1) and the answer is worrying.
Cases of the H1N1 virus appear to be subsiding locally after a busy period from mid-September through mid-October, TriCounty Health Department Director Joseph Shaffer told listeners at Thursday’s Uintah Basin Regional Council meeting.
