Influenza News

Atlanta - Ginseng can help treat and prevent the flu and other respiratory viruses that infect the lungs and breathing passages, according to new research findings.

A protein produced by the flu virus helps it outwit one of our body's natural defense mechanisms. This makes the protein a potentially good target for antiviral drugs directed against the influenza A virus.

Research suggests that Northern sea otters living off the coast of Washington state were infected with the same H1N1 flu virus. Thus the findings suggest that human flu can infect sea otters.

London - Hundreds of millions of dollars may have been wasted in the U.K. on a drug for flu that works no better than paracetamol, according to a new scientific report.

Scientists have developed a formula that can predict the evolution of the seasonal flu for the next year. This will allow health providers to prepare and the public to be aware of the most serious instances of flu.

The strain of influenza that caused the 1918 flu pandemic (Spanish flu) probably came from birds, according to a new study.

Every season, flu causes on average 200,000 Americans to go to the hospital and kills thousands to tens of thousands of people, according to the U.S. CDC. This is the startling headline in a new report about flu.

Canadian researchers estimate that this season's flu vaccine is about 70 percent effective so far, which is much higher than the recent 24 percent estimate reported by a Spanish team.

The differences in the seasonal flu strains relate to tiny mutations in the influenza virus genes. However, major pandemics are connected to major genetic shifts. By studying these differences, scientists hope to predict the seriousness of the flu season.

The Chinese government has reported the first two human cases of H10N8 avian influenza. One case is linked to the death of a 73-year-old woman.