Dengue mosquito

The Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University has begun human clinical testing for a dengue fever vaccine.

West Nile virus

The first human case of West Nile Virus to be documented in Massachusetts this year has been recorded in Boston.

Cholera

In only three months time, a cholera epidemic in Nigeria has resulted in 352 deaths.

Shingles

GlaxoSmithKline announced on Monday that is has begun final trials for a new vaccine meant to prevent shingles.

HIV

As part of a joint Phase I trial of an experimental AIDS vaccine, Dutch biopharmaceutical company Crucell NV and Harvard will enroll HIV-free adults in the United States and Africa to test a vaccine combining two adenovirus-based vaccines.

Whooping cough

Whooping cough infections in Michigan are currently on track to be more than double what they have been in recent years, health experts have warned.

The MMR vaccine

Dynavax Technologies Corp., announced on Wednesday that it has started the first human clinical trials for its universal flu vaccine.

H1N1

MedPage Today reports that recent studies have shown one of the two vaccines used in England to prevent the H1N1 pandemic from spreading was more effective on children but also caused more side effects.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced backing for 78 science projects on Tuesday, including a vaccine triggered by human sweat and a laser vaccine.

Polio

As a result of the continuing threat posed by militants in North Waziristan, a planned three day anti-polio drive had to be canceled, leaving experts worried that the country stands on the brink of a polio epidemic.

A/H1N1

As of Sunday, more than one million Cubans have been vaccinated against A/H1N1 flu as part of the first stage of a vaccination campaign, Cuba's government announced on Tuesday.

Dendreon, a Seattle biotech company, is awaiting a decision due this week by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to bring the nation's first cancer treatment vaccine to market.

salmonella

A link has been found between salmonella, which causes food poisoning, and HIV, leading scientists to believe that the discovery could lead to a salmonella vaccine.

The board of The Health Protection Agency has begun finalizing its Strategic Plan for 2010-15, making the draft plan available to the public for the first time.

Health Protection Agency

The Centre for Infections in Colindale, London, has announced a symposium on scientific issues in immunization to be held May 12.

Chicken pox virus

An outbreak of chickenpox has been confirmed in Delmar, Del., affecting children with the highly contagious disease at Delmar Middle and High School.

HIV

Researchers report that they've gained more insight into how the body fights off HIV, a finding that offers a possible new avenue toward a vaccine against the virus, which causes AIDS.

Measles

New Zealand health officials fear an outbreak of measles in a small community in the Far North has made its way to Wellington.

Dengue

Health officials in Latin America report an earlier than usual outbreak of potentially deadly dengue fever, and are bracing this year for a particularly virulent outbreak of the mosquito-borne tropical disease, Agence France Presse reported March 24.

World Health Organization

The World Health Organization is investigating reports of a potential smallpox outbreak in Uganda but says the cases likely involve chickenpox instead.

H1N1

LONDON — Pregnant women in Australia and New Zealand who had pandemic H1N1 flu were 13 times more likely to become critically ill and be admitted to hospital, researchers said March 19.

Dynavax Technologies Corp. said March 23 that the safety profile of its experimental hepatitis B vaccine Heplisav was comparable with GlaxoSmithKline’s hepatitis B vaccine Engerix-B, which recently got a regulatory approval.

HPV

A cervical cancer vaccine is not getting to many of the girls who need it the most, a new study shows.

BEIJING — China's Health Ministry is investigating the safety of inoculations in a northern province after a report that defective vaccines possibly killed four children and seriously sickened dozens.

World Health Organization

GENEVA — The World Health Organization said March 18 that it was suspending the use of the Indian-developed Shan5 combination vaccine, which is used against infections such as diphtheria, tetanus and hepatitis B.

H1N1

While the pandemic H1N1 influenza vaccine seems to be just as safe as seasonal flu vaccines, the federal government has been getting some letters from people saying they plan to seek compensation for injuries caused by the injection.

World Health Organization

LONDON — An additional $4.3 billion is needed if a global vaccines alliance is to meet its goal of supplying life-saving immunizations to millions of children in poor countries by 2015, the organization said March 15.

H1N1

NEW DELHI — India is “most likely” to administer imported swine flu vaccine to the high-risk groups from next week, a senior health ministry official said March 10.

Leukemia

BioSante Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced positive results of a human clinical study that show that its GVAX leukemia vaccine may be able to reduce or eliminate the last remaining cancer cells in some chronic myeloid leukemia patients.

Charleston Area Medical Center has been recognized by a state group for "going above and beyond the call of duty" in getting the flu vaccine to employees and preventing the potential spread of the disease, The Charleston Gazette reported March 11.

ROCKVILLE, Md. — Novavax Inc. announced March 8 that more than 3,500 volunteers ages 18 to 64 in Mexico have been enrolled in Stage B of its 2009 H1N1 virus-like-particle pandemic influenza vaccine study.

Vitamin D

LONDON — Vitamin D is vital in activating human defenses and low levels suffered by around half the world's population may mean their immune systems' killer T cells are poor at fighting infection, scientists said March 7.

Meningitis

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The seven bacterial meningitis cases at Ohio University the past two years have been declared an outbreak by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The Columbus Dispatch reported March 7.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is not planning to seek advice from its outside advisers over Dendreon Corp.'s experimental prostate cancer vaccine, Reuters reported March 5.

Health officials in the west African country of Burkina Faso are worried about an increase in deaths from meningitis which has killed about 250 people so far this year, up from 203 in the same period last year.

H5N1

Inovio Biomedical announced March 3 that it got the go-ahead to begin human trials of a preventive vaccine for H5N1 avian flu in Korea.

H5N1

Researchers from Hungary and the United Kingdom have developed a single-dose H5N1 influenza vaccine that induces a protective level of immunity against infection in healthy adult and elderly volunteers.

S. Aureus

PERTH, Australia — Researchers here are calling for volunteers to help test an investigational vaccine against Staphylococcus aureus.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A new version of the Prevnar childhood vaccine that federal regulators approved Feb. 24 will be partly produced at the company's drug factory in Sanford.

H5N1

SAN DIEGO — Vical Inc. announced Feb. 24 the publication in the online edition of Vaccine1 detailed data from two Phase 1 trials of its Vaxfectin-adjuvanted DNA vaccines for H5N1 (avian-origin) influenza.

WASHINGTON — Genetically altered mosquitoes that cannot fly may help slow the spread of dengue fever and could be a harmless alternative to chemical insecticides, U.S. and British scientists said Feb. 22.

INDIANAPOLIS — BioCrossroads' Indiana Seed Fund has invested in Bioscience Vaccines Inc. to accelerate the development of biologic materials, which may boost the effectiveness of a wide range of life-saving vaccines.

BOGOTA, Colombia — An intensive effort is under way in Haiti to immunize approximately 1.5 million Haitians amid concerns of increased risks of disease outbreaks after last month's catastrophic earthquake, AlertNet reported Feb. 18.

H1N1

LONDON — The World Health Organization is recommending that swine flu be added to regular flu vaccines next season, The Associated Press reported Feb. 18.

DOHA, Qatar — Qatar's Supreme Council of Health has decided to cancel imports of the H1N1 vaccine, after a drop in the number of H1N1 influenza cases in the country, The Peninsula reported Feb. 10.

Researchers at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey are investigating the development of a series of vaccine injections to see if they will produce an immune response against pancreatic cancer, the institute said

Ragweed

OXFORD, England — Circassia Ltd. announced Feb. 12 that its ToleroMune ragweed allergy T-cell vaccine achieved positive results in a recently completed phase II clinical trial.

Whooping Cough

The bacteria that causes whooping cough in Australia has mutated, scientists have warned, eroding the protection provided by the vaccine now given to children, the Australian Associated Press reported Feb. 10.

H1N1

Growing concern in Romania about the opaque circumstances in which a vaccine against H1N1 flu is being tested on children has forced health authorities to postpone the launch of the vaccination campaign by at least one month.

Malaria

The first results from a study of key anti-malarial medicines reveal that a high percentage of medicines circulating on national markets are of substandard quality and may contribute to the growth of drug-resistant strains of malaria.

NicVAX

ROCKVILLE, Md. — Nabi Biopharmaceuticals announced Feb. 8 that it has completed the manufacture and transfer of specified materials associated with the sale of the PentaStaph vaccine candidate to GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals.

Prostate Cancer

Researchers in Cork, Ireland, have developed a vaccine that enables a person’s immune system to attack cancer cells directly, The Irish Times reported Feb. 5.

Malaria

A new vaccine tested in 100 West African children triggers the immune system to produce antibodies against the malaria parasite at levels normally seen only in adults who have strong resistance to the disease.

A mandatory influenza vaccination policy improves immunization rates among health care workers, according to a recent study of a large health care organization.

NEW DELHI — Cadila Pharmaceuticals’ plans to manufacture H1N1 flu vaccines has hit a roadblock as the drug regulator has expressed concerns over the technology to be used.

E. coli

TD Vaccines A/S announced Jan. 25 the early results of a preliminary vaccine to combat a leading cause of bacterial diarrhea that afflicts millions of international travelers as well as children in the developing world.

Bill Gates

Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and co-chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation released an open letter that addresses what he called the “miracle of vaccines.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released updated guides for relief workers and others traveling to Haiti in the aftermath of the Jan. 12 earthquake that decimated the country.

Malaria

A biomedical researcher at the University of Central Florida has developed what promises to be the first low-cost dual vaccine against malaria and cholera, school officials announced Jan. 26.

H1N1

An Iowa legislator said she wants state health officials to disclose more details about people who die in epidemics, in part to raise more awareness than ad campaigns can.

Kate Rittenhouse-Olson

BUFFALO, N.Y. — A University at Buffalo cancer researcher has received a $300,000 grant from King Saud University to continue her work with a Saudi researcher on a vaccine for breast cancer, the schools announced Jan. 21.

SYDNEY — Australians face the risk of catching diseases not seen in wide circulation for decades as childhood vaccination rates slip into serious decline, AAP reported Jan. 21.

WASHINGTON — Most of the adverse effects to the H1N1 flu vaccine are "non-serious," according to the commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, UPI reported Jan. 20.

The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee will meet Feb. 22 to discuss and make recommendations on the selection of strains to be included in the influenza virus vaccine for the 2010-11 season.

Malaria

LONDON — The chief executive of the world's second biggest pharmaceutical company will announce Jan. 20 that he is putting into the public domain thousands of potential drugs that might cure malaria, The Guardian reported.

Malaria

BETHESDA, Md. — The PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative announced a new collaboration Jan. 15 to initiate development toward a vaccine that may eventually help eliminate and eradicate malaria.

Many travelers are expected to visit Asia in the upcoming weeks to celebrate the beginning of the Year of the Tiger when it begins Feb. 14.

A new study may explain the intense disagreement about proposals to vaccinate elementary-school girls against human papillomavirus, ScienceDaily reported Jan. 14.

HPV

A new study of new couples found that 56 percent of young adults in a new sexual relationship were infected with human papillomavirus, ScienceDaily reported Jan. 14.

H1N1

VaxInnate Corp. has granted Indian biopharmaceutical company Biological E. Ltd. a license to its recombinant H1N1 flu vaccine and is collaborating to facilitate the manufacture, clinical development and commercialization of the vaccine in India.

Dengue Virus

Sanofi-Aventis’ experimental vaccine against dengue protected healthy volunteers against all four strains, bringing the drugmaker closer to providing the first vaccine against a disease that threatens 40 percent of the world’s population.

H1N1

LONDON — Sanofi-Aventis is meeting all its U.S. contracts for sales of H1N1 flu vaccine, despite Washington's decision to cut supplies from rival drugmaker CSL, a company spokesman told Reuters on Jan. 11.

Preliminary studies show that a vaccine made with leukemia cells may be able to reduce or eliminate the last remaining cancer cells in some chronic myeloid leukemia patients taking the drug Imatinib mesylate (Gleevec).

TAMPA, Fla. — Biovest International Inc. announced Jan. 7 that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted orphan drug designation to BiovaxID, Biovest’s personalized lymphoma vaccine.

As the number of H1N1 flu cases in some regions of the world continues to fall, developing countries scheduled to receive donated H1N1 vaccines from the World Health Organization are reassessing just how many vaccines their countries need.

The CDC's adult immunization guidelines includes a new recommendation that women 19 to 26 be immunized with either the quadrivalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine or the recently approved bivalent HPV vaccine to reduce their risk of cervical cancer.

Chicken Pox

Children whose parents refuse the varicella (chickenpox) vaccine appear more likely to develop the disease, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

H1N1

More than 30 health care provider groups sent an open letter Dec. 30 to the American people emphasizing that the H1N1 vaccine is safe, effective and the best way to protect against the flu.

World Health Organization

NEW YORK — Pfizer Inc. announced Dec. 30 that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not yet completed its review of the biologics license application for Prevnar 13, its candidate pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.

MTV is making sure the general public is up to date on the basics of the H1N1 virus.

TB

Public health officials are concerned about the implications of the first U.S. case of extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis, diagnosed in a 19-year-old Peruvian who is visiting here to study English, Homeland Security Today reported Dec. 29.

H1N1

WASHINGTON — The H1N1 flu outbreak has exposed serious underlying gaps in the nation's ability to respond to public health.

Flu Vaccine

WASHINGTON — The White House confirms that President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama have each received the H1N1 shot.

Australian health authorities are fighting dengue fever on two fronts and are fearful that hot summer weather will intensify the chances of more outbreaks, The Courier-Mail reported Dec. 18.

H1N1

The second wave of the H1N1 influenza pandemic continued to fade last week, as the number of states with widespread cases dropped to 11 and reported deaths in children also declined.

The Center for Disease Control has reported only nine cases of flu-related pediatric mortality across seven states during the week ending December 19.

MMR Vaccine

The uptake of the MMR vaccine in Wales has reached its highest level in 12 years but health officials warn that the target rate has still not been reached, BBC News reported Dec. 17.

MRSA

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Syntiron announced Dec. 16 that it has granted Sanofi Pasteur an exclusive worldwide license to its human vaccine against Staphylococcus aureus.

Polio

KABUL — A new vaccine against polio will be used for the first time Dec. 15 in polio immunization campaigns in Afghanistan, according to the World Health Organization.

TB

Health experts will in the coming weeks converge in Mayuge and Iganga districts for a clinical trial, to test the world's first experimental tuberculosis vaccine in nearly a century, allAfrica.com reported Dec. 9.

Hepatitis E

KAABONG, Uganda — An outbreak of Hepatitis E has killed 12 people out of 210 infected in Uganda’s northeastern region of Karamoja, The New Vision Web site reported, citing Michael Lochiyo, the health educator of Kaabong district in the region.

Hartmut Schubert

Six weeks after Germany began vaccinating against swine flu, only about five percent of the population has gotten the shots.

Universal Flu Vaccine

RECHOVOT, Israel — BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd. announced the success of the Phase I/II clinical trial of its Multimeric-001 universal flu vaccine on Dec. 7.

Human Papillomavirus

The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine Cervarix protects women from infection for longer than six years, new research has found, HealthDay News reported Dec. 2.

world health organization

Two recently treated patients at the Johns Hopkins Hospital had drug-resistant forms of the 2009 H1N1 flu virus, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Since the national voluntary H1N1 vaccination campaign began in early October, more than 70 million doses of vaccine have been allocated by the federal government to all 50 states, U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Agriflu for people ages 18 years and older to prevent disease caused by influenza virus subtypes A and B.

"America needs to produce vaccines and therapeutics faster and less expensively than we have been because we might not have six months of advance warning for the next pandemic."

ATLANTA, Ga. — The Centers for Disease Control issued a warning Nov. 25 that catching the H1N1 virus can put patients at risk, not only of developing complications, but also serious bacterial pneumonia.

Joel Kettner

LONDON -- Canadian doctors have been advised not to use a batch of 170,000 swine flu vaccines after six reports of serious allergic reactions among recipients.

Flu Vaccine

WASHINGTON -- Novartis will officially open the first next-generation flu vaccine plant in the United States on Nov. 24, but it will be years before it makes its first vaccine.

Leaders of the U.S. Senate Homeland Security Committee sharply critiqued the federal government's H1N1 vaccination strategy saying health officials should have recommended targeting only the highest-risk groups as soon as the vaccine delays came.

Andrin Oswald

Novartis’ recently sanctioned unadjuvanted influenza H1N1 2009 monovalent vaccine may be effective at just half the dose currently stipulated under its FDA approval, according to interim data from ongoing clinical trials.

Kansas University has been awarded a five-year, $6.85 million research contract with the goal of boosting the effectiveness and safety of vaccines that treat infectious diseases.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of the CSL Limited’s 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine to include children ages 6 months and older. This vaccine was previously approved only for use in adults, ages 18 years and older.

World Health Organization

MORRIS PLAINS, N.J. — Temptime Corp. announced that it will donate its vaccine vial monitors to the World Health Organization to monitor potential heat damage of H1N1 vaccines.

Dr. Michael Gale Jr.

SEATTLE— Kineta Inc. has announced that it has been awarded a $6.8 million subcontract from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to develop novel vaccine adjuvants (agents that help boost the immune system).

Flu Finder

This year, it's especially important to have clear information on what you can do to prepare for the flu season.

Jean Stéphenne

BRUSSELS —The World Health Organization has endorsed for global use a vaccine against pneumonia, a life-threatening disease affecting many children younger than 5 in developing countries.

Kazakhstan Flag

ASTANA, Kazakhstan — Kazakhstan will start testing a domestically produced H1N1 vaccine soon, the country's chief sanitary official Kenes Ospanov said Nov. 4.

Richard T. Clark

WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. — Merck & Co. Inc. outlined its global plans following the completion of Merck's merger with Schering-Plough Corp. announced Nov. 3.

Bevan Baker

MILWAUKEE — More than 900 doses of Milwaukee's allotted H1N1 flu vaccine will have to be returned to the manufacturer, officials said, after a truck used to transport the vaccine was stolen.

Richard Blumenthal

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has written 13 makers and distributors of scarce seasonal flu vaccine regarding allegations of price fixing and preferential treatment for big retailers.

First Family

WASHINGTON — Yes, President Barack Obama and his family have had their shots. According to the White House, all four members of the Obama family have received their seasonal flu vaccine.

Dr Margaret Chan

Reversing a downward trend, immunization rates are at their highest ever and vaccine development worldwide is booming, according to an assessment released Oct. 21 by the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the World Bank.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Oct. 16 that it approved the use of the vaccine Gardasil to prevent genital warts caused by the human papillomavirus types 6 and 11 in males ages 9 to 26.

The Oxford-Emergent Tuberculosis Consortium Ltd. has signed an agreement with Vivalis to evaluate large-scale commercial production capabilities for MVA85A, the consortium’s new TB vaccine candidate.

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. announced in September 2009 that it received a grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to continue the development of an advanced anthrax vaccine candidates known as dmPA7909.

ROCKVILLE, Md. — The Department of Health and Human Services requested that bidders in the competitive range for a contract to develop an rPA vaccine candidate submit its product development plans to the FDA for review in advance of an award.

Dr Steven Chatfield

GAITHERSBURG, Md. —Emergent BioSolutions Inc. announced the commencement of dosing of volunteer subjects in a clinical study in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of the company’s single-dose oral typhoid vaccine.