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Little Kids Still Need 2 Swine Flu Shots

Older kids, like adults, get effective H1N1 inoculation from just 1 dose

(Newser) - Kids over age 9 can safely join adults in receiving just one shot of swine flu vaccine, the Washington Post reports. A test of 650 subjects showed 76% of children between 10 and 17 had a response to a vaccine produced by Sanofi Pasteur, and it was strong enough that...

Swine Flu Can Burrow Deep Into Lungs: Docs

H1N1 can infect cells where seasonal flu can't: study

(Newser) - Swine flu can worm its way deeper into the body than seasonal flu, a dangerous capability that could result in increased fatalities if the virus mutates, AFP reports. Seasonal influenza is able to bind only to the tissues in the nose, throat, and upper airway—that’s why it causes...

AIDS Charities Blast Hitler Sex Ad

Racy commercial stigmatizes those infected with virus, critics say

(Newser) - A racy ad showing Adolf Hitler having unprotected sex is designed to scare young people about AIDS, but charities say the spot vilifies victims of the disease, the Telegraph reports. The explicit commercial, which shows a couple undressing and having intercourse, takes a creepy twist when the camera pans up...

Breakthrough Raises Hope for HIV Vaccine

Antibodies could help scientists combat elusive virus' defenses

(Newser) - Researchers have found two antibodies that neutralize the AIDS virus more successfully than any identified in the past, resurrecting hopes that it may be possible to develop an effective vaccine, Time reports. The new antibodies are effective against a broad range of HIV variants, neutralizing the virus’ most effective defense:...

Scientists Find First Human Infected With Gorilla HIV

Disease continues to evolve

(Newser) - A woman from Cameroon living in Paris is the first human discovered to be infected with a form of HIV found in gorillas, HealthDay reports. The finding is yet another indication that the disease continues to mutate and to be transmitted by primates. The woman, 62, has not developed symptoms...

WHO Gives Up on Counting Swine Flu Cases

(Newser) - The World Health Organization today instructed member nations to stop counting cases of the rapidly spreading swine flu pandemic and focus instead on the most serious, Reuters reports. “Trying to register and report every single case is a huge waste of resources,” a spokesman said. Authorities should continue...

Passenger Dies on Luxury Flu-Liner
Passenger Dies on
Luxury Flu-Liner
Jul 7, 2009 2:14 AM CDT

Passenger Dies on Luxury Flu-Liner

(Newser) - A 74-year-old passenger has died after some 150 people fell ill with suspected norovirus on the luxury cruise liner Marco Polo, reports the BBC. The ship was touring the UK and Ireland with some 1100 passengers and staff when the illness broke out. The liner is currently being held at...

What if Swine Flu Meets Bird Flu?

A hybrid could stymie vaccines, increase disease's killing power

(Newser) - Among the scarier prospects for the future of swine flu, which has reached pandemic status but killed relatively few people, is that it mixes with bird flu to form a lethal hybrid. Jokes about flying pigs aside, a mix of the easily spreadable H1N1 and the especially virulent bird flu...

Safer Stem Cells Bring Real-Life Treatments Closer

New possibility of regrown tissue without risk of rejection

(Newser) - In a development that brings practical applications of manufactured stem cells closer than ever, scientists have created stem-like cells using human skin cells, Reuters reports. "After a few more flight tests—in order to assure everything is working properly—it should be ready for commercial use," a researcher...

Experts: Don't Blame Pigs for Swine Flu

H1N1 virus likely arose among jet-setting humans

(Newser) - The humble porker shouldn't be the one taking the blame for the H1N1 virus, scientists tell the Los Angeles Times. Pigs provided some of the raw material for the virus, experts say, but so did birds and humans. The most likely incubators and spreaders of the virus, according to scientists,...

Flu-Phobic Consider Intentional Infection

(Newser) - With panic over the H1N1 flu virus on the wane, some Americans are pondering allowing themselves to become infected in hopes of building immunity against potentially more virulent strains, the New York Times reports. Doctors are split on the idea. "I think it's totally nuts," says a flu...

Seasonal Flu Strain May Have Mutated

Canadian researchers say H3N2 virus mutated from vaccine strain

(Newser) - A mutated version of the seasonal strain of flu targeted by this season's vaccine has surfaced in a traveler entering Canada from Mexico, Reuters reports. The development complicates the tracking of the virus in Mexico, which has suffered the majority of infections and deaths. The variant was previously found in...

Mexico Protests 'Unjustified' Response as Flu Stabilizes

Health minister targets countries for restricting travel to country

(Newser) - Mexico is striking back at countries it says are overreacting to swine flu fears, BBC reports. The country’s foreign minister singled out China, Peru, Argentina, Cuba, and Ecuador for halting flights to Mexico, saying, “We’re surprised by the adoption of unjustified measures.” The news comes as...

Rumors as Virulent as Swine Flu Itself

Theories implicate everyone from Smithfield Foods to al-Qaeda as responsible

(Newser) - Rumors about the origins of the swine flu outbreak are spreading faster than the virus itself, with theories ranging from a group of slaughtered pigs in China to an al-Qaeda conspiracy, Reuters reports. China’s government was actually prompted into making a formal statement by international media reports suggesting that...

Mexico's First Flu Death Exposes Containment Trouble

Response quick, but follow-up efforts weak

(Newser) - After a 39-year-old woman became Mexico’s first person to die of swine flu, authorities quickly responded—but efforts were mixed, the AP finds. Medical teams interviewed 472 people who possibly had contact with the woman, a tax collector whose family runs a convenience store; they temporarily closed the ICU...

Avoid Planes, Trains, Closed Spaces: Biden

It's too late to close Mexico border, he says

(Newser) - Joe Biden is advising his family to avoid confined places where swine flu could spread easily, including airplanes, subways, classrooms, and malls, the VP told the Today Show today. A single sneeze "goes all the way through the aircraft," he noted. Biden also said it's too late to...

Twitter Amplifies Swine Flu Fear
 Twitter Amplifies 
 Swine Flu Fear 
OPINION
Apr 27, 2009 2:55 PM CDT

Twitter Amplifies Swine Flu Fear

(Newser) - Twitter and other social networks are creating a swine-flu panic out of a molehill with their instantaneous updates, Robert X. Cringely writes for InfoWorld. The quick flow of less-than-dependable information means “people with head colds decide they're really dying from a porcine-borne bug and flood emergency rooms.” And...

Swine Flu Confirmed in UK
 Swine Flu Confirmed in UK 
Apr 27, 2009 1:48 PM CDT

Swine Flu Confirmed in UK

Pair brings disease home from a trip to Mexico

(Newser) - Two British citizens have contracted swine flu, the virus that has killed at least 149 people in Mexico and sickened 20 in the US, the Guardian reports. The pair returned from a trip to Mexico last week and fell ill, the Scottish health minister said today. Seven others who had...

USDA Says Pork Is Safe to Eat
 USDA Says Pork Is Safe to Eat 
Apr 27, 2009 1:17 PM CDT

USDA Says Pork Is Safe to Eat

(Newser) - Fear of swine flu is a good reason to wash your hands, but not to take pork off the menu. Federal health officials say the virus that has triggered fears of a flu pandemic is not transmitted by food, and that all food-borne germs are killed when pork is cooked...

Swine Flu Hits Hardest Among Young Adults

Excessive immune reaction may be at fault in Mexican deaths

(Newser) - The swine flu sweeping through Mexico is wreaking havoc among young adults in particular, reports the Washington Post, with the entire death toll as of yesterday comprised of those between 25 and 50. Some believe the trouble for young adults is an overpowering immune reaction that ravages throat and lung...

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