Adults 65 and older who are hospitalized for fever or respiratory symptoms are less likely to have a flu test than younger patients – an especially sobering finding given the seriousness of this year’s flu season. The research, published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, is especially important given the fact that the… Continue reading More Senior Patients Should Be Tested for Influenza
Tag: Flu
Cold and Flu: Prevention, Symptoms, Treatments
Cold and flu viruses are always around. So why do we seem to be especially vulnerable during the fall and winter months? For the most part, it’s because we spend more time indoors, and the viruses that cause the sniffles, congestion, and body aches of a cold or the flu can spread more easily… Continue reading Cold and Flu: Prevention, Symptoms, Treatments
15 Doctor Recommended “To Do’s” to Fight the Flu
As we head into flu season there are many things we can do to “flu proof” ourselves. Regardless of whether you choose to get a flu vaccine or not, there are things YOU can do to heighten Your chances of not getting sick this winter. Here is a comprehensive list of 15 to do’s to… Continue reading 15 Doctor Recommended “To Do’s” to Fight the Flu
5 Flu-Fighting Foods
American Family Care, the nation’s leading urgent care provider, shares strategies to avoid the flu in the coming months. Besides getting your flu shot, they say, eating these five foods can help ward off the pesky ailment: GARLIC Garlic contains allicin, a compound that is known to boost immunity. You can crush, slice or chew… Continue reading 5 Flu-Fighting Foods
Childhood Diseases that Can Affect Adults
Many childhood diseases can actually cause worse symptoms for adults than children. Adults may even find themselves requiring hospitalization for serious symptoms beyond the rash or fever a child may get. The good news is that many adults are immune from most childhood diseases either because they had them when they were young or because… Continue reading Childhood Diseases that Can Affect Adults
Do Birth Years Affect Flu Pandemics?
Researchers now say that the year you were born can predict to a certain extent how likely you are to get seriously ill or die in an outbreak of an animal-origin influenza virus. The study was conducted by investigators from the University of Arizona and UCLA and could hold important clues for public-health measures aimed… Continue reading Do Birth Years Affect Flu Pandemics?
Get Set for a Healthy Winter
Here, experts from the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) share tips on how you can get through the cold-weather season while doing what you need to avoid colds and flu. Although contagious viruses are active year-round, we’re most vulnerable to them in fall and winter. That’s because, in large part, we spend more time… Continue reading Get Set for a Healthy Winter
What You Should Know about This Year’s Flu Vaccine
Influenza – commonly known as the flu – is a serious and potentially fatal virus that causes familiar symptoms like fever, coughing and muscle aches, according to the Mayo Clinic. It can also lead to far graver complications like pneumonia, bronchitis and even death in some cases. Mayo, in an article released on its news… Continue reading What You Should Know about This Year’s Flu Vaccine
An Unexpected Benefit of Progesterone?
The female hormone progesterone, widely used in birth control, appears to ward off the worst effects of influenza and may also help damaged lung cells to heal more quickly, researchers have found in an animal study. The findings, by researchers from the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, were published in PLOS Pathogens. The… Continue reading An Unexpected Benefit of Progesterone?
ACP, CDC Offer Advice on Prescribing Antibiotics
The American College of Physicians an the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advise physicians to think twice before prescribing antibiotics for common respiratory infections. Antibiotics are overused for the common cold, bronchitis, sore throat, and sinus infections – illnesses that often resolve on their own In a paper published in January 2016 in Annals… Continue reading ACP, CDC Offer Advice on Prescribing Antibiotics
Get Set for A Healthy Winter
Although contagious viruses are active year-round, we’re most vulnerable to them in fall and winter. That’s because, in large part, we spend more time indoors with other people when the weather gets cold. Fortunately, you can fight back with several FDA-approved medicines and vaccines. Colds and Flu Most respiratory bugs come and go within a… Continue reading Get Set for A Healthy Winter
It’s Not Too Late to Get Your Flu Shot
Meant to get vaccinated in the fall to ward off the flu, but somehow didn’t get around to it? Think it’s too late to get vaccinated now? Not so. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), vaccinations can be protective as long as flu viruses are circulating. And although seasonal flu outbreaks can happen… Continue reading It’s Not Too Late to Get Your Flu Shot
Senior Vaccination Rates Are Too Low
While influenza, pneumococcal, tetanus, and shingles vaccines are effective, routinely recommended for older adults and covered in varying degrees by health insurance, vaccination rates among older adults are much lower than current targets set by the U.S. government’s Healthy People 2020 Initiative. The undesirable rates of vaccines have far-reaching results: Older Americans are much more… Continue reading Senior Vaccination Rates Are Too Low
Should You Keep Your Dentist Appointment or Stay Away?
Spring is headed our way, along with hay fever, allergies, and occasionally even that last winter cold. If you are due for your six-month dental checkup but have come down with the sniffles, how do you know whether or not it’s best to skip your dentist appointment? Knowing the difference between an allergy and a… Continue reading Should You Keep Your Dentist Appointment or Stay Away?
Tamiflu Gets Patients Back on Their Feet Faster
Early in January 2015, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended the use of antiviral drugs to help treat influenza in a year when the available vaccine is not a good match for the current strain. Now, new evidence about a popular antiviral often criticized as ineffective shows that it can alleviate symptoms and… Continue reading Tamiflu Gets Patients Back on Their Feet Faster
A Call for A Better Flu Vaccine
A 10-year analysis of statistics on the influenza B virus could lead to better flu immunization programs, researchers say. The study was led by Assistant Professor Vijay Dhanasekaran and Associate Professor Gavin Smith from Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School (Duke-NUS). It’s the largest comparative analysis of the human influenza B virus to date. Influenza epidemics, which… Continue reading A Call for A Better Flu Vaccine
Toward Inhalable Vaccines for Flu, Pneumonia & TB
Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University have uncovered a novel approach to creating inhalable vaccines using nanoparticles that shows promise for targeting lung-specific diseases such as influenza, pneumonia and tuberculosis. A release from UNC explains that the work, led by Cathy Fromen and Gregory Robbins, members… Continue reading Toward Inhalable Vaccines for Flu, Pneumonia & TB
Single-Dose Flu Drug Appears Safe and Effective
An analysis of phase 2 and phase 3 clinical trials shows that a single injected dose of the neuraminidase inhibitor (NAI) peramivir is safe and effective at alleviating influenza symptoms, including fever and viral shedding, when administered within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms. Researchers reported their findings in September 2014 at the 54th… Continue reading Single-Dose Flu Drug Appears Safe and Effective