Student Researcher Finds New Clues About Flu with Old Data

NIH: Do you like to find new uses for old things? Like weaving old shirts into a rug, repurposing bottles into candle holders or turning packing crates into tables? Katie Gostic, a University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) graduate student, likes finding new uses for old data. She channeled this interest when she analyzed existing data to study whether childhood exposure to flu affects a person’s future immunity to the disease.

What’s in a Flu Vaccine

Pennsylvania: If you’re a person that gets a flu shot every year, chances are you have received it by now, along with the millions of others in the United States who have also been vaccinated. According to Centers for Disease Control survey data collected through early November 2016, forty percent of people have received a flu vaccine so far this year. Although getting the shot is simple enough, what goes into the vaccine, from a biological perspective to a policy point of view, is anything but. Flu vaccines work by priming the immune system with purified proteins from the outer layer of killed flu viruses. This induces immune cells to make antibodies that stop foreign invaders from infecting cells. Educating the immune system in this way readies it to attack flu viruses if the body sees them again.

First Childhood Exposure Determines How Sick You Get From Flu As Adult

Medical Research: Monique Ambrose: Influenza pandemics pose a serious, recurrent threat to human public health. One of the most probable sources of future pandemic influenza viruses is the pool of influenza A virus (IAV) subtypes that currently circulate in non-human animals. It has traditionally been thought that the human population is immunologically naïve and unprotected against these unfamiliar subtypes. However, our work suggests that an individual ‘imprints’ to the influenza A virus (IAV) encountered in early childhood in such a way that they retain protection against severe disease if they later encounter a novel IAV subtype that belongs to the same genetic group as their first exposure.

No Association Between Mother Flu in Pregnancy and Increased Child Autism Risk

JAMA: A study of more than 196,000 children found no association between a mother having an influenza infection anytime during pregnancy and an increased risk of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) in children, according to a new study published online by JAMA Pediatrics. The study by Ousseny Zerbo, Ph.D., of Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, and coauthors included 196,929 children born in the health system from 2000 through 2010 at a gestational age of at least 24 weeks.

First time flu infection may affect lifetime immunity

NHS: "A person's chances of falling ill from a new strain of flu are at least partly determined by the first strain they ever encountered, a study suggests," BBC News reports. Researchers created a modelling study, based on historic data, which aimed to look at the reasons why past flu epidemics of influenza A – commonly referred to as "bird flu" – have affected different age groups. It seems it comes down to the strains that were circulating when you were born.

Why a pandemic flu shot caused narcolepsy

Science: The 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic left a troubling legacy in Europe: More than 1300 people who received a vaccine to prevent the flu developed narcolepsy, an incurable, debilitating condition that causes overpowering daytime sleepiness, sometimes accompanied by a sudden muscle weakness in response to strong emotions such as laughter or anger. The manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), has acknowledged the link, and some patients and their families have already been awarded cpmpensation. But how the vaccine might have triggered the condition has been unclear.

Core immune cells reduce symptoms and spread of flu

London: A four-year study of 1,414 unvaccinated people across England found that 43% of them had immune cells that protected them from symptoms of both seasonal and pandemic influenza, and reduced their chances of shedding the virus by two thirds. The work led by researchers from UCL, Oxford University and Public Health England was funded by the Medical Research Council and Wellcome Trust. The research, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, shows that certain T cells, immune cells that fight infection, can help to control influenza infections by targeting a core structural protein common to all strains of influenza A. Influenza A is the most common type of influenza and is the only type that can cause pandemics.

Homebody vs globetrotting influenza

Scimex: An international study, which includes Australian researchers, has found that not all influenza viruses circulate around the world in the same way, with some preferring to hang around in localised regions for longer periods of time. The scientists report that influenza viruses that evolve quickly tend to move between regions and cause epidemics more frequently than those that don't, and say that the results will help health officials to better track the viruses in the future.

Virus evolution and human behaviour shape global patterns of flu movement

Melbourne: New research from The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity published in Nature today has revealed surprising differences in how each of the four types of influenza that cause seasonal viruses is spread. Researchers showed that the rate at which each virus evolves is important for determining which flu virus is in circulation. All four influenza viruses that cause seasonal flu in humans - influenza A viruses H3N2 and H1N1, and influenza B viruses Yamagata and Victoria - cause similar symptoms and evolve by similar mechanisms.

Memory code for flu-killing assassin cells cracked: in quest for one-shot flu vaccine for life

Melbourne: A University of Melbourne-led research team has cracked the riddle of how flu-killing immunity cells memorise distinct strains of influenza, which could lead to novel cellular memory-implant technologies resulting in a one-shot flu jab for life. The extraordinary breakthrough in how ‘killer’ CD8 + T cells - the body’s ‘army of hitmen’ tasked with taking out new viruses - retain memories of virus strains they encounter was published in the prestigious Nature Communications journal this week (May 13).

Health Check: can I exercise while getting over a bug?

TheConversation: As we move into winter, the cold mornings, dark evenings and rain tend to bring out the best excuses to miss a session at the gym or run around the park. But if you’re feeling tired and run down, can exercise actually make you sick? And should you wait until you’ve completely recovered before putting those runners back on? Like many things in life, moderation and common sense are key. If your symptoms are above the neck – a runny nose, nasal congestion and a sore throat – you’ll still be able to manage a workout, though at a lighter-than-normal level.

Cold and flu tablets: which product is the best?

TheConversation: Winter is approaching. Your nose is stuffy and you feel a cold coming on. You head to the pharmacy to find an aisle full of cold and flu tablets. Each year Australians spend more than A$500 million on cold and flu medicines. Choosing between the hundreds of different cold and flu tablets available in Australia can be difficult, as each product may contain three or four different medicines. So, which product is the best one for your symptoms? And will it really help you feel better?

Flu vaccines for preventing cardiovascular disease?

Cochrane: Flu infection may make cardiovascular disease (e.g. heart attack, stroke) and associated death more likely, and flu vaccination may reduce this risk. We included randomised studies comparing people receiving flu vaccine with those receiving no vaccine (placebo or no treatment). In patients with cardiovascular disease, influenza vaccination may reduce cardiovascular mortality and combined cardiovascular events. However, studies had some risk of bias, and results were not always consistent, so additional higher-quality evidence is necessary to confirm these findings. Not enough evidence was available to establish whether influenza vaccination has a role to play in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease.

How to stop the flu spreading without drugs

Scimex: An Australian-led study has brought together previous research that looked into methods, other than drugs, that can stop the spread of seasonal influenza. The scientists found very few reliable studies on the subject, and say the only methods for which there is convincing evidence of benefits are oral hygiene and hand washing. During seasonal influenza epidemics and pandemics, virus transmission causes significant public health concern. Reduction of viral transmission by non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) has significant appeal and is often recommended. However the efficacy of such interventions is unclear.

Superflu could kill 80,000 people

NHS: "Superflu pandemic is biggest danger to UK apart from a terrorist attack – and could kill 80,000 people," is the warning in The Independent. A briefing produced by experts outlines how antibiotic resistance could pose a significant threat (PDF, 440kb) to public health. "Up to 80,000 people in Britain could die in a single outbreak of an infection due to a new generation of superbugs," reports The Daily Telegraph – one of many news sources reporting on these estimated figures from the government. The news is based on the threat of antimicrobial resistant microbes (sometimes called "superbugs" in the media) described in the government’s 2015 National Risk Register of Civil Emergencies (NRR). This is reported to be the first time the NRR has covered this threat.

Antiplatelet agents help reduce the severity of flu

INSERM: Platelets play a role in severe lung infections associated with flu viruses. This has been highlighted for the first time by a team of researchers from France’s National Institute for Agricultural Research (Inra), National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm) and Claude Bernard (Lyon 1) University in their research published on 1 April 2015 in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Their findings show that antiplatelet drugs are an effective support treatment for severe forms of flu.

What if the severity of our seasonal influenza were related to our genetic background?

INSERM: While most of us recover from influenza after a week, it can be a very severe disease, and even fatal in rare cases, with no reason for physicians to have expected such an outcome. By analysing the genome of a little girl who contracted a severe form of influenza at the age of two and a half years, researchers at the Laboratory of Human Genetics of Infectious Diseases have discovered that she has a genetic mutation, unknown until now, that causes a subtle dysfunction in her immune system.

How often do we catch the flu?

Scimex: Adults only catch the flu about twice every 10 years, according to a new study by UK, US and Chinese scientists. The researchers looked at volunteers' antibody levels for influenza strains that circulated from 1968 to 2009 and found that while children get flu on average every other year, infections become less frequent as people get older and stabilise at about two per decade from age 30 onwards.

Adults only really catch flu about twice a decade, suggests study

Imperial College. UK: Flu-like illness can be caused by many pathogens, making it difficult to assess how often people are infected by influenza. Researchers analysed blood samples from volunteers in Southern China, looking at antibody levels against nine different influenza strains that circulated from 1968 to 2009. They found that while children get flu on average every other year, flu infections become less frequent as people progress through childhood and early adulthood. From the age of 30 onwards, flu infections tend to occur at a steady rate of about two per decade.

Warning signals from the volatile world of influenza viruses

WHO: The current global influenza situation is characterized by a number of trends that must be closely monitored. These include: an increase in the variety of animal influenza viruses co-circulating and exchanging genetic material, giving rise to novel strains; continuing cases of human H7N9 infections in China; and a recent spurt of human H5N1 cases in Egypt. Changes in the H3N2 seasonal influenza viruses, which have affected the protection conferred by the current vaccine, are also of particular concern.