Measles

Officials in Barisal, Banlgadesh, reported that three children recently died after being injected with a measles vaccine at Kalikapur Community Health Clinic in Hijla upazila of Barisal.

Tido von Schoen-Angerer

A recent study has shown that free malaria drugs sent to Africa by international donors are being stolen and resold on commercial markets.

Elizabeth Winzeler

An international team of scientists plans to begin clinical trials for a new malaria vaccine later this year.

Only 52 percent of California hospital employees have received flu vaccinations, a new study has shown, despite a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommendation that at least 60 percent be vaccinated.

Swine flu

Officials with the European Medicines Agency are looking into the safety of the swine flu vaccine Pandemrix after reports surfaced that the treatment may be linked to a rare sleep disorder.

Officials with Walmart and Sam’s Club announced this week that they will be offering flu shots in more than 4,100 stores across the country.

A dramatic rise in the number of dengue hemorrhagic fever cases has led the Philippines Department of Health to issue a national warning against the disease.

Polio

Africa has made significant progress in efforts to eradicate polio, but some remedial actions need to be taken, according to a paper discussed on September 1 by the World Health Organization Regional Committee for Africa in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.

Measles

In an effort to eliminate measles, nearly 100 million children in China will be vaccinated against the disease this month.

Hepatitis B

Dynavax Technologies has received funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious diseases to study the differences between individuals who do and do not respond to vaccinations against the hepatitis B virus.

The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America has called for mandatory flu vaccinations for all healthcare personnel in a recently released position paper jointly released with the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Rift Valley fever

Officials with the Midwest Research Institute have announced that they have won a $1.6 million federal contract to study a virus that could be a biological threat.

Dengue mosquito

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

Sonia Saxena

A decline in English children’s pneumonia has been linked to increased levels of vaccination.

Anne W. Rimoin

With cases of monkeypox are now raging in parts of Africa, University of California researchers say the world’s victory over smallpox may have had consequences.

Influenza

New flu shot guidelines recently released by the American Academy of Pediatrics advise that all children six months of age and older should receive the annual trivalent influenza vaccine this flu season.

West Nile virus

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

HPV

GlaxoSmithKline’s European license for Cervarix was amended recently to reflect Cervarix’s success in treating additional strains of human papillomavirus.

A new pneumococcal vaccine will replace the existing one used in Hong Kong government’s Childhood Immunization Program, officials have announced.

Influenza

Officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have backed away from a decades-long estimate of the number of people who die annually from the flu, taking a new position that flu deaths vary widely from year to year.

Polio

Health officials in Pakistan are scrambling to shore up the nation’s threatened health care networks following floods that have caused untold damage to the nation.

Novartis has announced that it will open a new vaccine facility in Brazil.

A lower court's findings rejecting a causal connection between childhood vaccines and the onset of autism have been upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

A link between the Pandemrix swine flu vaccine and the sleeping disorder narcolepsy will be probed by the European Medicines Agency after concerns have been raised in Finland and Sweden.

With California reporting more than 3,000 cases of whooping cough and sitting on the cusp of its worst whooping cough outbreak in 50 years, a new Rasmussen Reports study has shown that more than half of American adults are concerned about the safety of va

Whooping cough

The number of whooping cough cases in California continues to grow as San Diego county has reported three new cases this week, raising the total number of infections in the state so far this year to 3,311 cases.

A recently released report by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology outlines ways to improve the nation’s response to global pandemics.

Concerns about latex labelings have led to FDA-mandated warnings on several prominent flu vaccines.

Cholera

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

Mumps

A recent study suggested that more vaccinations are required in order to prevent future outbreaks of the mumps.

Whooping cough

A rise in reported cases of whooping cough in causing concern in the greater Philadelphia area, health officials say.

Rotavirus

Australian health officials recently announced that a new infant rotavirus vaccine has been successful in preventing rotavirus and non-rotavirus acute gastroenteritis hospitalizations in vaccinated children and older individuals who are unvaccinated.

Shingles

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

The World Health Organization has granted Pfizer Inc.'s Prevenar 13, a children's pneumococcal vaccine, prequalification status, which opens the door for United Nations agencies and governments to begin ordering the vaccine.

Eastern equine encephalitis

Two cases of eastern equine encephalitis have been reported in Michigan, coming on the heels of four EEE-related deaths in Florida earlier this season.

Thomas Frieden

Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recently told the annual Flu Conference that he did not raise false alarms about the seriousness of the H1N1 flu last year.

Whooping cough

Health officials in Peoria, Illinois, have reported that seven cases of whooping cough, or pertussis, have been reported in the tri-county area.

Hepatitis E

Health experts in China say they have developed an experimental vaccine that safely protects people against hepatitis E infection.

H5N1

A recent study has revealed that pre-exposure to the H1N1 influenza virus, or a single dose of DNA vaccine encoding H5N1 influenza proteins, can be useful in protecting the human body from H5N1 influenza virus infection.

Four children in Lucknow, India, died after being administered the measles vaccine followed by a vitamin A solution on August 20.

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.

Candace Parker

The WNBA has teamed with the American Red Cross to support the Measles Initiative.

Kathleen Sebelius

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has issued a new report outlining a more aggressive national strategy for the production of medical countermeasures used to new viruses or superbugs in emergency situations.

Anne Schuchat

Vaccination rates among U.S. teens have increased, though they are still below the desired level and also below rates for younger children.

Whooping cough

The number of whooping cough cases in San Diego County has risen to 384 cases, surpassing the previous record set in 2005 at 371 cases.

While seasonal flu shots are already available in many local pharmacies across the country, retail pharmacy chains have begun changing their marketing plans to include new recommendations by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

Following febrile fits and deaths in children, the United States and Europe have banned an influenza vaccine for use in children produced by CSL, Ltd..

Meningitis

There are genetic differences that make some people susceptible to meningococcal meningitis and septicemia and leave others immune, according to recently released research.

Joint Commission Resources has announced the successful results of its second annual Flu Vaccination Challenge.

Nhim Vanda

The United Nations kicked off a four-day pandemic preparedness exercise this week in southeast Asia with the intent to increase the region’s ability to handle the widespread effects that accompany a pandemic.

Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine

A study conducted in Mali found that global health initiatives in developing countries to control specific diseases can often work against public health by diverting much needed resources.

Eastern equine encephalitis

A mosquito-borne horse illness has claimed four Florida lives in the last two months, according to state public health officials.

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.

Mosquitoes carrying the West Nile virus have been found in Boston for the first time this summer, public health officials have announced.

NDM-1

A Belgian man has become the first known to die from an infection caused by bacteria containing an enzyme gene called New Delhi metallo-lactamase-1, or NDM-1.

Olaf Schneewind

Two studies have emerged that suggest there may be ways to prevent infections caused by the drug resistant bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, also known as MRSA.

Dengue mosquito

Thailand's health minister recently announced that more than 50,000 citizens have been infected with dengue fever so far this year, resulting in 63 deaths.

Measles

Malawi has seen 197 deaths so far this year as the result of a measles outbreak, which is the highest number of deaths recorded from measles in the last decade, health ministry officials recently announced.

H1N1

Canada’s problems in handling the recent H1N1 pandemic have prompted three healthcare groups to call for an overhaul to the nation’s public health system.

Tim Walsh

Researchers recently warned that the ease of global travel has helped to give bacteria an increased resistance to antibiotics and will leave doctors in a struggle to help infected patients.

Paula Thaqi

Florida health officials this week confirmed the first case of dengue fever has been reported in Broward County.

Bali Pulendran

Officials with the NIH and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases have awarded $15.5 million grant to the Emory Vaccine Center to study human immune responses to vaccination.

Malaria

Members of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance met recently to discuss the continent’s malaria priorities.

Fuad El-Hibri

Emergent BioSolutions, Inc., of Rockville, Maryland, has announced it will acquire the Seattle-based Trubion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Pertussis

The Tioga County Health Department in New York state has reported five new cases of pertussis, or whooping cough, this week.

Daniel J. Abdun-Nabi

Officials with Emergent BioSolutions, Inc., and Temasek Life Science Ventures recently announced a joint agreement to develop a vaccine to protect humans from strains of H5 influenza, or Avian flu.

E. coli

Health officials warn that a new superbug that is resistant to even the strongest antibiotics has entered into United Kingdom hospitals.

MRSA

Invasive MRSA may be in decline according to a recent Journal of the American Medical Association study.

Margaret Chan

Margaret Chan, director general for the World Health Organization, announced August 10 that the swine flu pandemic was officially at an end.

HIV

Officials with the Siberia-based State Research Center for Virology and Biotechnology, Vector, reported that they have successfully accomplished development of a candidate HIV vaccine.

Anthony Fauci

Human clinical trials have begun on a tetravalent vaccine candidate to protect against the mosquito-borne dengue virus.

Gervais Ondobo

A cholera outbreak in Cameroon has killed more than 150 people since May, with public health officials calling it the worst outbreak in a decade.

Approximately 16 million remaining doses of monovalent 2009 H1N1 vaccine made by Sanofi Pasteur and packaged in multidose vials will expire sooner than expected.

Joshua Sharfstein

Fewer and fewer antibiotics are being restocked, leading some doctors to fear that this practice could have a devastating overall impact.

John Kerry

Sen. John Kerry (D – Mass.) introduced legislation on August 4 that would fund and direct the Department of Health and Human Services to create a national strategy to control viral hepatitis.

Rowen Chang

Protein chemists from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston are working towards the development of a therapeutic vaccine for the Parkinson’s disease.

Salmonella

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has begun investigating two salmonella outbreaks that have been ongoing since April.

Meningitis

Medical researchers in London and Singapore say they might have discovered a breakthrough in finding a vaccine for one of the most fatal strains of meningitis.

H3N2

Two small outbreaks of influenza A/H3N2 in Iowa and cases of H3N2 in 11 other states have caused the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to urge healthcare providers to be vigilant.

Yoshihiro Kawaoka

The H1N1 influenza virus uses a unique and never before seen means of hijacking host cells and amplifying its infection in humans, a new study reports.

Rotavirus

Researchers in Asia and Africa said this week that trials have shown rotavirus vaccines can save the lives of young children and that vaccination programs should begin immediately.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has recommended that doctors not use one specific brand of flu vaccine this upcoming influenza season due to problems with the vaccine in Australia and New Zealand.

Mumps

American’s immunity against the mumps is at a level barely capable of preventing an outbreak, experts have revealed.

Measles

Dr. Thomas Peebles, the doctor who isolated a strain of the measles virus that lead to the creation of a vaccine, died on July 8 at his home in Port Charlotte, Fla., at the age of 89.

Officials with Seattle’s Virginia Mason Medical Center, the first U.S. hospital to successfully institute mandatory flu vaccinations for its healthcare workers, said the payoffs have been well worth some of the challenges.

Polio

Officials with UNICEF and the World Health Organization have put out a call to all sectors of government and the community to help participate in Angola’s upcoming polio immunization campaign to make sure all 5.5 million children under the age of five are

Yellow fever

Oxfam and the U.N. Children’s Fund recently reported that West Africa is not yet fully prepared for the rapid outbreaks of cholera, dengue fever and yellow fever that are expected to coincide with the onset of this year’s rainy season.

Cholera

Northern Cameroon is facing an outbreak of cholera that has left 94 dead and appears to be spreading.

An experimental vaccine may be able to block tumor growth in some forms of cancer even when an immune system has become suppressed, a recent Journal of Clinical Investigation study has revealed.

Dengue mosquito

Officials with the Florida Department of Health have confirmed an increase in the number of cases of dengue fever in the Key West area.

The French drug manufacturer Sanofi-Aventis announced on August 3 that one of its subsidiaries in India, Shantha Biotechnics Ltd., had failed to meet quality standards for the World Health Organization with regards to its Shan5 combination vaccine.

Pertussis

Nebraska is the latest state to show a surge in pertussis, or whooping cough, cases, while national totals continue to rise.

While health officials in California have reported the seventh infant death in the state this year, other states across the country are beginning to report an increase in pertussis whooping cough cases.

Officials with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced last week that they have approved vaccines for the 2010-2011 influenza season.

Scientists from the Infectious Disease Research Institute of Seattle hope to have a new leprosy vaccine ready for safety trials by 2011.

Case Western Reserve University investigators have recently used tailored genetic assays and non-traditional mathematical analysis to uncover and track the deadliest forms of drug-resistant malaria.

The third recorded fatality in southern Florida this year attributed to Eastern Equine Encephalitis has many area residents wondering what they can do to protect themselves and their loved ones.

Officials with Immunovaccine Inc. recently announced that Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Albert Scardino has joined its board of directors.

A malaria vaccine for children, dubbed RTSS, is currently being tested in Uganda.

Researchers have found that public immunization rates may be more sensitive to changes in a vaccination’s cost than previously thought, and that social networks can play a vital role in determining the severity of an outbreak.

The Food and Drug Administration recently cited several major problems it found during an inspection at a Sanofi Pasteur vaccine manufacturing facility in Marcy l’Etoile, France.

As public health groups begin to shift gears from focusing on the pandemic H1N1 influenza vaccine to the new seasonal vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control has adopted its advisory board’s call for universal influenza vaccination.

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative's new strategy to stop polio in Africa has reached a major objective, announcing that Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda have reported no wild poliovirus cases for more than a year.

Whooping cough

A seventh infant has died as a result of California's whooping cough epidemic, which officials have said could be the worst outbreak in 50 years.

Malaria

European researchers, in what is being touted as a major breakthrough for malaria treatment, have shown that infected mice that are administered antibiotics develop immunity against becoming infected again.

Dengue mosquito

An epidemic of dengue fever that has hit Latin America and the Caribbean has increased the risk of a similar outbreak occurring in South Florida, an expert on the disease has told Reuters.

H1N1

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared the ProFast+ assay for use as a simultaneous test for the seasonal A/H1, seasonal A/H3 and 2009 H1N1 strains of influenza.

Whooping cough

Oregon health officials have expressed concern that the whooping cough epidemic currently taking place in California could soon cross the border into their state.

Antigenics, a Massachusetts-based biotech firm, recently reported positive results for a human trial of a potential herpes vaccine.

Dynavax Technologies Corporation has recently begun Phase I human testing of its universal influenza vaccine.

A second round of emergency immunizations in Haiti against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, measles, rubella and polio has been announced by the United Nations to aid an additional 500,000 children.

J. Tyler Martin

J. Tyler Martin has been promoted by Dynavax Technologies to the newly-created position of president.

Pertussis

Federal health officials are currently searching for the cause of what is set to be California’s worst pertussis, or whooping cough, outbreak in the last 50 years, in hopes that the information may be able to slow the disease's transmission.

Steve Reed

Immune Design, a biotech company based in Seattle, Wash., has received $32 million in Series B investment to finance the next stage of its development plans for new and better vaccines.

Whooping cough

As California faces one of the state's worst whooping cough outbreaks in more than 50 years, which has resulted in six infant deaths and 1500 confirmed infections, Texas health department officials have now begun reporting increases in whooping cough infe

Polio

Fourteen provinces in Afghanistan began seeing more than 20,000 volunteers and health workers moving door-to-door to administer two drops of the oral polio vaccine to children under the age of five on Monday.

A lawsuit filed by the Nigerian victims of the 1996 Trovan meningitis vaccine test hit a snag after officials with Federal High Court in Abuja, Nigeria, set aside the service of the court’s processes on Pfizer Specialties.

HIV

Researchers with the Oslo University and Bionor Immuno at the XVIII International AIDS Conference in Vienna, Austria, recently released the results of a re-vaccination study of Norway’s largest hospital using the company's furthest advance HIV vaccine can

Smallpox

According to a new study released on July 22, smallpox inoculation may offer some protection against primary HIV infection.

Trinidad has announced its third fatality from the hemorrhagic form of dengue fever, health officials reported on July 25.

Streptococcus pneumoniae

A pneumococcal conjugate vaccine introduced a decade ago in the United States appears to reduce pneumonia and serious associated complications in children under one year of age, researchers have recently revealed.

Shipments of FluMist have begun to influenza vaccine distributors servicing healthcare providers nationwide today, MedImmune has announced.

Celiac disease

It has been 60 years since scientists found the link between gluten and celiac disease, but only recently have they found the precise cause of the immune reaction that can cause so much pain and discomfort to sufferers.

Pertussis

Twice the average numbers of cases of pertussis, or whooping cough, have been reported so far this year in Idaho.

Merck & Co. has agreed to purchase the dengue fever vaccine research unit of Hawaii Biotech.

MabVax Therapeutics, Inc., has announced the enrollment of patients into a Phase II clinical trial to assess the efficacy and safety of a vaccine to prevent or delay the recurrence of sarcoma.

California health officials have recently urged residents to take precautions after the first two positive cases of West Nile Virus were reported in the state.

Meningitis

Nigerian victims of the 1996 Pfizer meningitis Trovan vaccine test announced July 20 that they are suing the company for $384 billion.

Pertussis

Officials with the L.A. Dept. of Public Health have reported the third death attributed to whooping cough, or pertussis, in the county this year, bringing the death toll in California's whooping cough outbreak to six.

Human papillomavirus

The results of a four-year study released on July 20 by the British Medical Journal show that vaccination against certain types of human papillomavirus gives protection against genital warts and pre-cancerous growths of the cervix.

A new vaccine against the deadly rotavirus is being developed in Melbourne, Australia that, unlike current vaccines, has the potential to protect infants from birth.

Officials with the World Health Organization have announced that the WHO's emergency committee will not meet this week to review the H1N1 pandemic and that it will not declare an end to the pandemic.

HIV

Officials with the Finnish pharmaceutical company Fit Biotech announced recently that results of an HIV vaccination they have been developing are promising.

Whooping cough

Researchers with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced this week that the whooping cough vaccine is not linked to toddler seizures.

Ebola

The results of NanoViricide, Inc.’s research into anti-Ebola agents were presented on July 17 to the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Virology at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana.

Dengue mosquito

Health officials across the Caribbean are concerned about the near epidemic level of mosquito-borne dengue fever, saying it could get more severe as the rainy season progresses.

Giardiasis

A new study has revealed that three waterborne illnesses cost the U.S. healthcare system up to $539 million a year.

Michael Horberg

A recent study showed that nearly half the HIV-negative people who participate in clinical trials for potential vaccines end up testing positive although they are not infected with the virus.

Mark Prausnitz

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, in collaboration with researchers from Emory University, have developed a new method of vaccine delivery that requires a simple patch and could potentially be done at home.

The Infectious Diseases Society of America has formally requested in a July 15 letter that the Centers for Disease Control recommend mandatory vaccinations for influenza for healthcare workers.

Michael Riehle

Scientists from the University of Arizona have successfully developed a mosquito that is immune to the parasite Plasmodium, the cause of malaria, and hope to one day replace wild mosquitoes with their lab-bred population.

Researchers announced a new, two-step influenza vaccine this week that uses DNA to "prime" the body's immune system followed by a traditional seasonal flu vaccine that potentially protects the body against all strains of the influenza virus.

Dengue mosquito

Officials with the Miami-Dade Health Department this week reported the first suspected case of dengue fever in the county.

Paul Lucas

The government of Queensland, Australia, has invested 300,000 for the development of an antibody for the Hendra virus.

Margaret Chan

The experts handling the H1N1 pandemic for the World Health Organization may wait until the end of August to reassess the outbreak’s status, according to WHO head Margaret Chan.

H1N1

Despite warnings that it would aid in the spread of H1N1, approximately one out of every four people failed to cover their mouths when they cough, research presented at the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases revealed.

Officials with Health Canada have recently approved the first nasal vaccine to protect users against seasonal influenza.

Measles

The Connecticut Department of Health issued a warning this week that members of the public may have been exposed to measles.

Francis Nano

By replacing some of the genes in mammalian pathogens with those found in arctic bacteria, Francis Nano of the University of Victoria in Canada may have found the key to make a new class of vaccines.

H1N1

Pharmaceutical companies have begun the process of finding out where things went wrong in their experiences during the less damaging than expected H1N1 pandemic.

Dengue mosquito

According to government research released this week, five percent of the population of Key West, Florida, has been infected at some point with the dengue virus.

Pertussis

The state of California and the city and county of San Francisco have recommended a pertussis vaccine for women in their third trimester in light of the recent whooping cough epidemic in the state.

Dr. James Kazura

The National Institute of Health has given a $7.9 million grant to the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine to send a research team to Southeast Asia to help eradicate malaria.

CDC

The Centers for Disease Control recently asked for the public to comment on its new guidance for preventing transmission of influenza in health care settings, as well the replacement for its interim guidance for H1N1.

Human papillomavirus

Researchers with QIAGEN said a recent study has shown that Latin American women who used its human papillomavirus test showed improved cervical cancer control when compared to regular cytology testing.

Rotavirus

Florida researchers have announced the results of an investigation into the effectiveness of two Rotavirus vaccines in a retrospective study that shows the vaccines may have resulted in fewer hospitalizations.

Whooping cough

As many as 900 people may have been exposed to an whooping cough by someone with an undiagnosed case of the infection at Michigan State University's Grandparents University from June 29 to July 1.

A new, quicker and more efficient manner for developing vaccines against flu strains has been developed by scientists.

Pertussis

California county and state health reports have debunked speculation that the reason Fresno County was hardest hit by the current whooping cough epidemic was because of unvaccinated Hispanic farmworkers spreading the disease.

An anti-vaccination group in Australia has been ordered by the Health Care Complaints Commission to include disclaimers on its Web site after the group was found guilty of providing misleading information on immunizations,.

Whooping cough

Health officials in Orange County, California, have reported that whooping cough cases continue to climb, although no new local deaths have been reported.

HIV

Researchers have discovered three human antibodies that neutralize HIV, raising hopes of a breakthrough HIV vaccine.

Joseph Vinetz

The National Institutes of Health have given the University of California San Diego a seven-year, $9.2 million grant to develop a joint Peruvian/Brazilian malaria research center.

H1N1

The World Health Organization is preparing to downgrade the status of the H1N1 influenza pandemic at a meeting of its emergency committee, which is expected to take place in late July

The MMR vaccine

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

Mumps

The Center for Disease Control has issued a preliminary set of data regarding mumps cases for 2010 in the United States.

The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has called for an investigation into the vaccine pricing polices of two pharmaceutical companies.

Pertussis

Officials from the Southern Nevada Health District, which includes the city of Las Vegas, urged that residents, particularly children, be immunized against pertussis, also known as whooping cough.

Pertussis

Following the declaration by the California Department of Public Health of a pertussis epidemic, reports of pertussis activity have spiked nationwide.

H5N1

The reason for the failure of a Phase II clinical trial of Intercell AG's Vaccine Enhancement Patch for H5N1 influenza could be a faulty hemagglutinin inhibition assay, a newly released report reveals.

Human papillomavirus

Officials with Dynavax Technologies Corporation announced on July 6 that they were awarded a $600,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a universal vaccine for human papilloma virus .

HIV

Officials with the AIDS Research Consortium of Atlanta recently called for volunteers to test a DNA-based AIDS vaccine by GeoVax.

Human papillomavirus

Medical experts from across the world are meeting this week in Montreal, Canada, for the 26th annual International Papillomavirus Conference.

H1N1

Health officials in the United Kingdom have received good marks by an independent review committee for their response to the H1N1 pandemic.

Smallpox

In the state of Washington, a woman in her 20s has reportedly been infected with smallpox after having sexual relations with her boyfriend in the military who had recently been vaccinated for smallpox.

Dengue mosquito

Puerto Rico’s health secretary issued a warning on July 5 that the island could potentially face its worst outbreak of dengue fever if action is not taken immediately.

Pertussis

The whooping cough epidemic in California - the worst in 50 years - has given credence to a proposed bill for mandatory whooping cough booster shots.

Two former World Health Organization consultants have said that communication missteps fueled accusations that the organization exaggerated the H1N1 threat in order to enrich pharmaceutical companies.

The surge in childhood vaccination coverage for hepatitis A that began in 2006 has since fallen off, the July 2 issue of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report reveals.

Tularemia

Scientists from the University of Texas at San Antonio's South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases have been granted a U.S. patent that covering the development of a process to create a vaccine for tularemia.

Marburg

According to research published online in the July edition of Emerging Infectious Diseases, an experimental post-exposure vaccine for the Marburg haemorrhagic fever virus allowed five of six monkeys to survive infection.

The drug and medical device manufacturer Abbott Laboratories is considering selling its vaccine unit.

American and Chinese health officials have opened en epidemiology center in Shanghai this week that will be used to train professionals in detecting and preventing epidemic diseases.

H1N1

June 30 marked the expiration date of 40 million doses of H1N1 swine flu vaccine that had been manufactured for the U.S. public.

Hepatitis B

According to the researchers at the Centers for Disease Control, rates of hepatitis B in children and young adults in the U.S. are down significantly.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration released a copy of a June 28 letter sent to CSL Biotherapies, the operators of an Australian influenza vaccine producing facility, detailing irregularities there.

H1N1

Officials with SciClone Pharmaceuticals and its partner. Sigma-Tau S.p.A., recently announced the final results from the clinical trial of ZADAXIN, an H1N1 vaccine enhancer.

Meningitis

The development of a new meningitis vaccine may help prevent epidemics in Africa for the first time.

Cancerous cells

Progress has been announced on a vaccine to fight pancreatic cancer, which currently kills three-quarters of those diagnosed within a year and 95 percent within five years.

Whooping cough

California's low immunization rates might be at the heart of the recent whooping cough epidemic, public health officials have said.

Pertussis

While health officials in California have recently declared a whopping cough epidemic, their counterparts in Columbus, Ohio have also noted a significant rise in cases.

H1N1

Molecular diagnostic tests used during the peak of the H1N1 outbreak in 2009 have officially had their emergency use statuses terminated last week.

Type 1 diabetes

Bacillus Calmette-Guerin, a vaccine that could reverse Type 1 diabetes, has passed a Phase 1 clinical trial.

After the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Provenge, Dendreon's groundbreaking prostate cancer vaccine, in late April, the company announced that it would only be able to supply 2,000 patients over the following 12 months.

Influenza

A Seattle biotech company on the trail of a universal flu vaccine has announced the discovery of a common weakness in virtually all strains, past and present, of the flu virus.

The MMR vaccine

A higher risk of brief, fever-related seizures has been tied to a combination vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox as compared to giving two separate shots.

The discovery of the existence of West Nile virus in mosquitoes has been announced in Benton County, Wash.

H1N1

In response to the pandemic H1N1 virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently recommended that unvaccinated children from the ages of six months to nine years of age be administered two doses of next autumn’s trivalent vaccine.

While California faces one of its worst whooping cough outbreaks in 50 years, New York, Indiana and Oregon have seen cases of the disease steadily increase, worrying public health officials.

Pertussis

In the face of one of the worst whooping cough outbreaks in the state's history, California's rural doctors have raised concerns that vaccines to prevent the disease are too expensive.

H1N1

H1N1 influenza, in federal terms, is no longer a public health emergency.

H1N1

Medical News Today reports that American employers were proactive in dealing with the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic according to a recently released survey.

Officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a rough draft Wednesday of proposed guidelines for preventing H1N1 and seasonal influenza in a healthcare setting.

Pertussis

Health officials in California have reported that almost 1,000 cases of whooping cough have been confirmed in the state since June 15, with five infant deaths attributed to the outbreak.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that it has developed a test to diagnose human infections with the H1N1 influenza virus that can now be used by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Polio

A polio vaccine that requires just one-fifth of what was commonly thought to be needed to defend babies from the crippling virus may be as effective as what was previously thought needed as long as the vaccine is injected just beneath the skin.

H1N1

Officials with the World Health Organization have announced that swine flu containment measures failed to work as planned and will likely need to be revised before future pandemics occur.

A recent study has indicated that mass media coverage of flu-related stories has actually helped to increase vaccination rates.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recently declined to include mandatory vaccination policies for healthcare workers as a strategy to improve vaccination rates.

Stony Brook University biologists and computer scientists announced recently that they have used a novel approach to weaken the influenza virus.

West Nile Virus

Several cases of West Nile Virus have been reported in Georgia so far this year, leading experts to worry that the virus has appeared earlier than usual.

Rift Valley Fever

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Center for Vaccine Research have announced two new approaches that could possibly lead to the first vaccine for Rift Valley Fever.

H1N1

Chinese researchers have announced that a hybrid virus that has been found in pigs in Hong Kong contains elements of the 2009 human pandemic flu virus as well as two swine flu strains.

Tamiflu

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has released a warning about a potentially harmful product representing itself as "Generic Tamiflu" sold over the Internet.

Swiss researchers recently announced that they have created a “one size fits all” shot that could be used to combat multiple ailments, including asthma and hay fever.

H1N1

Two recent medical studies have concluded that secondary transmission of H1N1 virus in households is low. Both reports were published recently on the online edition of Epidemiology and Infection.

Dengue mosquito

Approximately 11,000 people in Honduras have been infected with dengue and at least 10 have died, leading the nation's authorities to announce a nationwide red alert.

The FDA announced last week that it would be extending its review of Merck's application to broaden the age range for Gardasil to include women between the ages of 27 and 45.

Malaria

Officials with Mymetics Corporation announced have announced that the company's malaria vaccine has successfully completed Phase Ib clinical trials in Tanzania.

Malaria

A novel discovery could lead to an effective vaccine against malaria, according to a news.oneindia.in news report.

The results of safety evaluations for recently approved drugs and vaccines are now being posted online by the Food and Drug Administration.

Testing has resumed on an experimental lung cancer vaccine by Germany's Merck KGaA and Oncothyreon, its U.S. partner.

H5N1

A new DNA-based therapy to be used in the battle against the flu could give current flu vaccine makers "a run for their money," according to the company that's developing it.

Dengue mosquito

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday that the number of dengue fever in U.S. travelers returning home has risen drastically in the past few years.

Colonel Geoffrey Ling

The preliminary results of a study aimed at predicting the demonstrable outbreak of certain illnesses soon after initial exposure were announced this week at the 8th Annual Biodefense Vaccines and Therapeutics in Washington, D.C.

H1N1

In a finding that could reduce concern over a potential release of the strain, a team of researchers in the U.S. reported this week that the current H1N1 vaccine protects mice and possibly humans against the 1918 pandemic virus.

The global economic downturn is now threatening the launch of new vaccination projects, according to the head of the UN-backed Global Alliance on Vaccines and Immunisation.

DNA

Officials with Inovio Pharmaceuticals have announced the publication of an article exploring the “rebirth” of DNA vaccines in the July issue of Scientific American magazine.

Malik Peiris

An international influenza conference, titled Options for the Control of Influenza VII, will be held this September in Hong Kong.

Malaria

The World Health Organization has certified Morocco - a country with a population of approximately 31.6 million people - as malaria-free, according to a press release from the WHO.

H1N1

The Gaea Times reports that a published study in the British Medical Journal links long-haul flights to possibly contracting the H1N1 virus.

Kenneth Shea

Researchers in California have reported a first – that a plastic antibody works in the body of a living animal.

H1N1

French researchers now believe that the effects of H1N1 may not have differed from seasonal flu epidemic effects on certain age groups as much as was initially believed.

A recent workshop at the University of Florida looked at the possibility of an insect-based form of terrorism that could be launched in the state.

Carlos Slim

Bill Gates and Carlos Slim, two of the wealthiest men in the world, will team up with Spain to donate $150 million to fight dengue fever, malaria and malnutrition in Mexico and Central America.

H1N1

Oseltamivir ring prophylaxis helped slow down H1N1 influenza outbreaks in Singapore military camps in 2009, according to the results of a study reported in the June issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Hhelicobacter pylori

According to The Global Times in China, scientists in Chongqing believe they have created an oral vaccine that can combat stomach bacteria helicobacter pylori, which is strongly tied to the development of stomach cancer.

H1N1

Pandemic flu activity is picking up in parts of India and Colombia, and New Zealand is seeing a rise in flu-like illnesses in young children, CIDRAP News has reported.

Yellow fever

Government officials, researchers and pharmaceutical representatives agreed last week at the Congressional Malaria and NTD Caucus in Washington, D.C., that progress is being made to curb neglected tropical diseases.

Bill Gates

Officials with the Argentine government announced recently that a local scientist’s vaccine development program will soon receive funding from Bill Gates’ foundation, according to a news report in the Latin American Herald Tribune.

Meningitis bacteria

Officials with GlaxoSmithKline have announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has requested more information about the company’s experimental meningitis vaccine, MenHibrix, before deciding if they will approve it.

Novavax officials announced this week that they have completed construction of a new vaccine facility in India.

Health officials in West Virginia are hoping to encourage influenza immunizations by holding the state's first annual flu summit.

H1N1

Health officials in Hong Kong announced on Thursday that they intend to throw away 2.8 million doses of unwanted swine flu vaccines valued at approximately $28.2 million.

Shingles

Although a vaccine for shingles has been available since 2006, a report released by the New York TImes said many people aren’t getting the vaccine.

Measles

Approximately 142 Walmart shareholders in Fayettville, Arkansas, were given measles vaccines as a precautionary measure after an attendee took ill with measles-like symptoms, according to officials with the Arkansas Department of Health.

Hepatitis A

Officials with the Pueblo City-County Health Department in Pueblo, Colorado, alerted the public to a possible hepatitis A exposure that may have occurred on May 31 at Desert Hawk at Pueblo West golf course.

Pertussis

The San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department in San Luis Obispo, California, has identified more than 100 cases of whooping cough this year, according to a San Luis Obispo Tribune news report.

Polio

Officials with the World Health Organization reported this week that they have vaccinated more than 1.2 million children in Afghanistan in an effort to fight polio following an outbreak in Tajikstan, according to a news report filed by the UN News Centre.

Two investigations suggesting that the World Health Organization exaggerated a pharmaceutical industry warning of the H1N1 flu becoming a pandemic have been rejected by scientists.

A solar powered refrigerator has been developed by Appropriate Technology Collaborative that will allow vaccines to be cooled in parts of the world without electricity.

Malaria

Researchers at Rockefeller University may have found a way to fend off malaria by using a yellow fever vaccine, according to a newswire.rockefeller.edu report.

World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan fired back Tuesday in response to an investigative report recently published in British Medical Journal.

Pollen

For many, hay fever could be a thing of the past, thanks to a vaccine that may be available as early as 2011, according to the London Daily Mail.

German researchers have announced that Tamiflu given to infants hospitalized with influenza had similar benefits to those in older children, though mild gastrointestinal symptoms were a common side effect.

Bill Gates

Although Nigeria has seen a 99 percent drop in reported cases of polio between 2009 and 2010, Microsoft founder Bill Gates recently told 234next.com that more contributions are needed from the richer nations and global donors.

Swine flu

Officials with AVI BioPharma Inc., recently announced that they have entered into an $18 million deal with the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency, according to a Portland Business Journal news report.

H1N1

Many provinces in Canada are beginning to report that their swine flu vaccination programs are failing.

The movement for mandatory flu shots in medical facilities is beginning to catch on, according to a recent report by healthleadersmedia.com.

Tuberculosis

The Bangladesh New Nation reports that new tuberculosis vaccines are promising but need to be researched far more before they become available to the public.

The Med Guru reports that the World Health Organization is under fire for declaring that the H1N1 virus was a pandemic.

Brain cancer

Officials with ImmunoCellular Therapeutics Ltd. announced las week that the early clinical trial of its brain cancer vaccine is showing progress, Reuters reports.

Tamiflu

Caltech biologists have identified molecular changes that have assisted resistance in the antiviral drug Tamiflu, according to a statement released by Caltech officials.

Gardasil

FoxNews has reported that only a third of young women are being vaccinated for cervical cancer prevention.

H1N1

There is no more notable risk of a form of paralysis for people who received H1N1 pandemic influenza vaccine compared to those who received a seasonal flu shot.

H1N1

In a statement released on its website, the World Health Organization's Emergency Committee said on Tuesday that the worst of the H1N1 pandemic influenza outbreak that spread rapidly last summer appears to have passed, though it did not go so far as to ca

Dengue fever

There are no approved vaccines for the prevention of Dengue virus, but that could change, according to NanoVircides, Inc.

Flu vaccine

The recently-published results of a new Harvard study concluded that a significant portion of the American public may not be willing to get immunized with another new flu vaccine, according to a Homeland Security Today news report.

Dengue mosquito

After a 65-year absence, dengue fever has returned to the United States, according to a report by newscientist.com.

Pertussis

Whooping cough is making a comeback on the West Coast, HealthNews reports in a May 30 article.

Melanoma

British researchers have begun testing a new vaccine that could potentially end up reversing the deadly skin cancer melanoma, according to a recent report by TopNews.in.

Measles

The largest vaccination campaign in Zimbabwe history, which will fight measles, will kick off soon, European Commission medical expert and overseer of the campaign Dr. Torben Bruhn recently told ReliefWeb.int.

Researchers in the U.K. say that a trial of swine flu vaccines has shown to provide “good protection” against the virus, according to the results of a Health Production Agency study released by the BBC.

Hepatitis

Officials with Dynavax Technologies recently announced the second of its planned safety assessments have been completed for Phase III trials of Heplisav, a vaccine designed to protect against hepatitis B., according to a tradingmarkets.com report.

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.

Measles

Health officials in Greene County, Mo., are reporting three confirmed cases of measles in May, according to the Springfield News-Leader.

Gardasil

Time Magazine reports that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says men can also benefit from the HPV vaccine Gardasil and that it is a safe method of preventing genital warts.

Scientists at the University of California - Berkeley have found that molecular pumps in Listeria bacteria that expel antibiotics, which make the bug harder to kill with standard drugs, also expel small signaling molecules that stimulate a strong immune r

Typhoid fever

More than 70 employees at a Chili's restaurant in Miami are being screened by health officials after a cook was diagnosed with typhoid fever.

Wendy E. Parmet

A legal expert says the way that the H1N1 flu pandemic unfolded could be an important reference for how future laws can make vaccines more readily available at a time of need but can also hinder efforts to immunize the public.

Tevi Troy

Tevi Troy, the former Deputy Secretary of United States Department of Health and Human Services, says in an an article penned for the National Review that disgraced British doctor Andrew Wakefield "has a lot to answer for" about his study linking the meas

Andrew Wakefield

A “vaccine choice” rally was recently held in Chicago's Grant Park that featured the doctor at the center of the vaccine-autism debate, chicagobreakingnews.com reports.

Malaria

Advanced Life Sciences Holdings recently announced that studies testing the effectiveness of its drug Restanza, an oral antibiotic used to combat a type of Plasmodium that cause malaria, have been positive.

H1N1

The H1N1 virus outbreak appears to be contained and conquered in Alabama, according to a report by WAFF.

H1N1

Quicker identification of pandemic viruses and a switch from egg to cell-based production were short term measures President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology made to help quicken influenza vaccine production, according to a report by

Dengue mosquito

Advanced BioScience Laboratories, Inc., and Hawaii Biotech, Inc., announced on May 25 that they will be joining forces with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for preclinical development of a dengue vaccine.

At the conclusion of their five-day meeting, World Health Organization delegates decreed that they will promote efforts to reduce the child morality rate, according to CIDRAP News.

H1N1

A test for the 2009 H1N1 Influenza Virus in patients displaying signs and symptoms of respiratory infection has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Flu vaccine

A new influenza vaccine has been developed by researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine that brings a universal influenza vaccine one step closer and would eliminate the need for seasonal flu shots.

Two University of Louisville School of Medicine doctors have concluded that delaying childhood vaccinations does not improve children’s health, according to a study in the medical journal Pediatrics.

Andrew Wakefield

In an eight-page decision released on May 24, Britain’s General Medical Council revoked the license of a doctor whose now debunked work found a link between autism and vaccines.

Tuberculosis

Pharmaceutical giant Archivel Farma has announced that it is considering a new theory about tuberculosis and is taking steps to combat the disease, which has caused two million deaths in the past year.

Measles

Children may not be able to avoid the trip to the doctor, but they may soon be able to avoid getting a measles shot if a new vaccine makes it through human trials successfully.

Hendra virus

A girl that attended a dying horse may have been exposed to the lethal Hendra virus on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, according to a news report in the Solomon Star.

Ebola

Researchers recently announced that they have designed a vaccine that protects monkeys from at least three different strains of the Ebola virus.

Polio

Scientists and researchers gathered in Geneva this week at the World Health Organization's annual meeting of health ministers discussed a new strategy to rid the world of polio, The Associated Press reports.

Mumps virus

The Associated press reports that more mumps cases have been confirmed in Iowa this week.

H1N1

While the reasons varied, the overall consensus was the same – most people who did not receive the H1N1 vaccine last year did not think the flu was a serious risk according to a review that was recently published in the online version of the New England J

Brain tumor

Officials with the vaccine company Antigenics announced on May 20 that data from a clinical trial for its product Oncophage was encouraging.

The Coalition for Vaccine Safety

The Coalition for Vaccine Safety has called for creation of an independent vaccine safety agency according to a news report by the Biloxi Sun Herald.

Dengue Fever

The Fort Collins Coloradoan reports that a biotech company located in Fort Collins, Colo., is beginning its first clinical trials of a vaccine for dengue fever.

Measles

A U.S. News & World Report article states that babies can become vulnerable to measles as early as two to three months after they are born.

Tuberculosis

Greater than nine out of ten cases of tuberculosis could be avoided by 2050 through better testing, medicine and vaccines, according to a recently published review in the medical journal The Lancet.

The immune system at work

A new study reports that gender can play a role in how an immune system responds to certain vaccines and their side effects.

Polio

The Eurasia Review reports that Tajikistan is expected to see a sharp decrease in polio cases thanks to a nationwide immunization effort.

Smallpox vaccine

The discontinuation of the smallpox vaccine may have been a factor in the spread of AIDS , according to the results of a study recently published in BMC Immunology.

World Health Organization

The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization hopes a resolution to increase efforts to combat pneumonia will be approved when they appear later this week before the World Health Organization, according to an Associated Press wire report.

Flu vaccine

Extra precautions are being put in place in South Africa to prevent a potential flu outbreak during next month's World Cup, FT.com reports.

Smallpox

Danish biopharmaceuticals group Bavarian Nordic began deliveries of its Imvamune smallpox vaccine to the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile on Monday, the 30 year anniversary of the eradication of smallpox.

MRSA

Drug resistant child staph infection cases are on the rise according to a study involving 25 children’s hospitals across the nation, the Associated Press reports.

H1 Hemagglutinin

Xcellerex officials announced this week that they have successfully produced swine flu H1 Hemagglutinin, California strain.

Rotavirus

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says two vaccines created to combat rotavirus are safe to use despite the presence of a pig virus found in each.

Measles

Five confirmed cases of measles in Alberta, Canada, have led to officials with Alberta Health Services requesting residents to get measles vaccines, according to iNews880.com.

Metastatic melanoma cells

Cancer researchers in the U.K. say they have created a new vaccine that may ultimately offer a cure for certain types of cancer.

The American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists' National Biotechnology Conference will be held this weekend in the Hilton San Francisco Union Square starting this Sunday, May 16.

Dr. Klaus Stohr

CIDRAP News reports that the former head of the World Health Organization's flu program, Dr. Klaus Stohr, believes scientists should attempt to develop a prepandemic vaccine in an effort to "get the jump" on the next flu pandemic.

Mumps virus

China-based vaccine manufacturer Biotech Ltd. has submitted an application to the China State Food and Drug Administration to begin human clinical trials for a mumps vaccine, Medical News Today reports.

Novavax, Inc.

Novavax, Inc., has published results of a pandemic H1N1 vaccine pre-clinical trial in the May 12 online edition of the journal Vaccine.

Merck & Co., Inc. announced in April that it has entered into an agreement that provides the company with exclusive rights to market and distribute a tetanus and diphtheria toxoids adsorbed vaccine produced by vaccine maker MassBiologics in 49 states.

Giardia lamblia

A Howard Hughes Medical Institute international research scholar has reported in the journal Nature Medicine that advances have been made in creating a vaccine against the intestinal parasite Giardia lamblia.

World Health Organization

The World Health Organization is not advising international travel restrictions to South Africa for those attending this summer's World Cup tournament despite a recently reported Rift Valley Fever outbreak.

Harvard Professor Bruce Walker

A study published in the online journal Nature says that a small percentage of people who are slow to progress to AIDS are helping researchers learn why some have a natural protection against HIV and may help in developing a vaccine for AIDS.

Pertussis

Just one booster dose helped adults ages 55 and older respond well to a series of antigens that included diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, Doctor's Guide Channels reports.

Measles

Authorities in British Columbia confirmed 83 measles cases in the Canadian province, according to The Province, and said the high number is due in part to many in Western Canada who refuse to be vaccinated.

H1N1

Zydus Cadilla, an Ahmedabad, India-based drug company, announced that it has become the first Indian firm to market the country’s first H1N1 flu vaccine, officials told LiveMint.com.

Malaria

Crucell N.V. announced Thursday that it has begun the first phase of a clinical study for irs AdVac-based malaria vaccine in Burkina Faso.

Ray Arthur

"Global health security is only as strong as the weakest link," Ray Arthur, Associate Director for Global Health at CDC National Center for Infectious Diseases, said as part of a presentation on the CDC's Global Disease Protection Plan at last week's 2010

The Food and Drug Administration, with the help of a panel of experts, has determined that recent findings regarding rotovirus vaccines Rotateq, made by Merck and Co. Pharmaceuticals, and Rotateq, made by GlaxoSmithCline, should not lead to the continued

According to a news release from MarketWire, a second human safety study of a Cleveland BioLabs, Inc., drug used to treat Acute Radiation Syndrome is underway.

Influenza vaccine

Researchers at the Trudeau Institute reported in the current Journal of Experimental Medicine that they have identified two signaling components that could potentially allow for cellular immunity against the influenza virus and lead to vaccines against re

The National Vaccine Information Center formally called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration this week to increase its labeling practices and legal vaccine safety testing.

Chickenpox

Florida's Lee County has issued an outbreak warning for chickenpox after 41 confirmed cases of the disease have hit children since February.

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

Pentacel

One of the world's largest vaccine producer's Canadian branch will pay more than $2.5 million after government regulators found the company overcharged for two vaccines that protect against childhood illnesses.

The People's Daily Online reports that the A/H1N1 flu continues to affect Brazil.

World Health Organization

World Health Officials announced last week that outbreaks of dengue fever have risen in the Asia Pacific region in the past year, killing three times more victims in 2008 than in recent years.

Malaria

Researchers claim they have developed a new anti-malaria drug that can kill the parasite that causes the disease, according to an article published May 5 in the Journal Nature.

Hepatitis B

Dynavax Technologies reports that it has completed immunizing over 2,000 subjects in a Phase 3 study of HEPLISAV, an adult hepatitis B vaccine.

Zostavax

Merck & Co.'s shingles vaccine does not appear to have a risk of serious side effects, according to a new study.

Tuberculosis

Archivel Farma, S.L. has announced at the 2010 BIO International Convention that its therapeutic TB vaccine, RUTI(R), can cut treatment time for the virus from nine months to one month when used with an antibiotic.

Rotateq vaccine

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration reported May 6 that fragments of two types of pig viruses were found in Merck & Co.'s Rotateq vaccine.

Dengue mosquito

Scientists may have discovered new clues as to how the body fights off the tropical disease Dengue fever, according to research published in the journal Science.

Pertussis

Several confirmed cases of pertussis, also known as whooping cough, have resulted in a California county issuing a public alert warning of the disease.

Dr. Igor Gonda

Aradigm Corporation announced that it has received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its inhaled liposomal ciprofloxacin Investigational New Drug application.

E.coli vaccine

Novartis scientists say they are getting closer to creating a universal E.coli vaccine.

More U.S. parents are refusing or delaying vaccinations for their children, a study presented May 4 at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies in Vancouver has revealed.

Staphylococcus

GlycoVaxyn AG and Professor Jean Lee, principal investigator at the Channing Laboratory, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, announced on May 4 that they received a $ 3.4 million U.S. Food and Drug Administration NIH grant to finance pre

Gardasil

The Associated Press reports that, on behalf of her teenage daughter, an Albuquerque, N.M., woman has sued the producer of a vaccine that is supposed to protect women from cervical cancer.

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.

Dr. Chandan Guha

Advaxis, Inc., a biotechnology company that develops proprietary, live, attenuated Listeria monocytogenes immunotherapeutics that deliver engineered tumor antigens, which are used to fight cancer, announced that it is advancing the clinical development of

W. James Jackson, Ph.D.

W. James Jackson, Ph.D., the senior vice president and chief scientific officer at Emergent BioSolutions, Inc., will speak this week on a panel titled "Vaccines for the 21st Century."

Testing of an experimental prostate cancer drug begun almost two years after the research was stopped will soon restart, BioSante Pharmaceuticals, Inc. said on Monday.

Guthrie S. Birkhead

Stressing that concerns are most likely a false alarm, federal health officials have begun investigating the possibility that there could be significant complications from H1N1 vaccine.

The number of whooping cough cases in Fresno, California, is on the rise, health officials have said, adding that a Fresno County infant died from the disease recently.

Technical experts have been sent by the World Health Organization to Tajikistan to investigate an outbreak of seven polio cases in the country.

UNICEF in Haiti

A major immunization campaign will begin on Saturday in Haiti to give life-saving vaccinations to an estimated 60,000 Haitian children, the United Nations Children's Fund has announced.

CDC

A record 40 percent of adults and children, fearing swine flu, received the ordinary seasonal flu last year, federal health officials said this week.

A recall and destruction for all of the lots of Shantha Biotechnics pentavalent Shan5 vaccines has been recommended by the World Health Organization as a precautionary measure following the discovery of undissolved white sediments in the vaccine.

Michael W. Marine

The Sabin Vaccine Institute has announced that Michael W. Marine, the former U.S. Ambassador to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, has been appointed as the institute's new chief executive officer.

liposomes

Positive results have been received by the biopharmaceutical Lipoxen for two of its ImuXen proprietary candidates for influenza vaccine and malaria vaccine.

H1N1

Thousands of doses of the H1N1 flu vaccine in Florida are on the verge of expiration or have already expired following a dip in demand for the vaccine.

V. M. Katoch

Proper guidelines for trials of an HPV vaccine among young girls in India were not followed, the Union Health Ministry admitted this week.

Dr. Markus Mohrs

Researchers at the Trudeau Institute have made a new discovery that may allow for the delivery of more effective vaccines to prevent chronic parasitic worm infections.

influenza

Drug developer Dynavax has announced that human clinical trials will begin soon for its vaccine that is intended to protect against several flu strains.

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.

FLUVAX

A Melbourne-based pharmaceutical company that made the flu vaccine being implicated in a rash of Western Australia children falling ill and one death has denied that a bad batch of vaccine is the result.

PPD U.S. headquarters

A vaccine clinical research center has been opened by PPD, Inc., in Taizhou, China, one of the country's major regions for conducting vaccine studies.

The third phase of testing for the world's most clinically advanced malaria vaccine candidate began last year and researchers at the Kenya Medical Research Institutes and Centers of Disease Control believe it could lead to the nation's first malaria vacci

Alzheimer's

Testing is expected to begin soon on a new vaccine developed by Affiris, an Austrian biotechnology firm, to fight Alzheimer's.

Nabi Biopharmaceuticals has reported promising signs in the early clinical trials for its vaccine to aid people in stopping smoking.

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.

Wayne Pisano

The 2010 World Vaccines Congress met last week just outside Washington D.C., with attendees discussing the latest news in the vaccine world.

World Health Organization

An expert on influenza with the World Health Organization has said that it is unlikely that the bad reactions seen in western Australian children are the result of a bad batch of seasonal flu vaccine.

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.

measles

Parents in China are being urged by the United Nations health agency to get their children vaccinated against measles and hepatitis B to protect their children against premature death and long-term liver problems.

nanopatch

Scientists at the University of Queensland have developed a patch the size of a postage stamp that they claim can be used in delivering cheap, needle-free vaccines with much smaller doses while achieving the same results of a traditional needle.

Lentigen

A collaboration has been announced between the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and Lentigen to design a preventive AIDS vaccine based on Lentigen's technology.

Kim Hames

The West Australian Health Minister has announced that more than 60 West Australian children may have had adverse reactions to a flu 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.

diphtheria

An agreement has been announced between MassBiologics of the University of Massachusetts Medical School and Merck & Co., Inc., that provides the exclusive rights to market and distribute MBL's tetanus and diphtheria toxoids adsorbed vaccine in the United

HHS Secretary Sebelius

The recent H1N1 swine flu pandemic has revealed a dangerous mistrust of vaccines in doctors and minorities, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced on Monday.

World Health Organization

At least 15 million doses of polio vaccine destined for a West Africa vaccination campaign have been delayed at airports in Germany and France as a result of the volcanic ash cloud, a U.N. official has revealed.

Health Protection Agency

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

hepatitis B

An initiative has been announced by NanoBio Corporation to develop an intranasal vaccine for the treatment of hepatitis B.

Prof. Warren Lenney

In a study published in The Lancet, scientists have revealed that a virus responsible for wheezing and pneumonia claims the lives of as many as 200,000 children worldwide each year.

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.

streptococcus pneumonia

The Boston University School of Medicine's Richard Goldstein, a professor of pediatrics, has been awarded a three-year, $300,000 grant to aid in his research to create a more effective pneumonia vaccine.

A new study in mice has shown that a transcription factor normally found in male germ cells could become a target for cancer vaccines, according to a report by HealthDay News.

Dr. Glenn Bauman

The human papilloma vaccine, which is intended to prevent cervical cancer, is now believed by cancer doctors to prevent other cancers in both men and women.

Dr. Huan Huu Nguyen

Antibodies found in common eggs laid by hens vaccinated against the H5N1 virus can possibly prevent an H5N1 pandemic, new research has shown.

HPV virus

Following the deaths of six children who had been administered the controversial Human Papilloma Virus vaccines in India, a phase-3 trial of the vaccines has been canceled by the nation's government.

H5N1 virus

Fears of 2006's bird flu epidemic have been raised again as five countries have been identified as potentially still being infected with the disease, which poses a global threat to human and animal health

Margaret Chan

The head of the World Health Organization has warned that the H1N1 flu pandemic might not be conquered until 2011 and that continued vigilant is necessary against the mutating virus.

Plasmodium vivax malaria

Support from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease of the NIH has given Protein Potential, LLC support in its research for a vaccine to prevent malaria caused by the Plasmodium vivax parasite.

hepatitis C

PHILADELPHIA — Inovio Biomedical Corp. and its university research partners were awarded a $2.8 million Pennsylvania state grant to develop a DNA vaccine to treat hepatitis C, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported April 9.

Dr. Pere Santamaria

A new study, published online April 8 by Cell Press in the journal Immunity, describes a therapeutic "nanovaccine" that successfully reverses diabetes in a mouse model of the disease.

NEW YORK — French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis said April 12 that it will work with the U.S. Naval Medical Research Center to develop and test a vaccine for traveler's diarrhea, The Associated Press reported.

Dr. Kaufman

LONDON — A vaccine being tested in the United Kingdom has helped been shown to help some patients fully recover from melanoma, even in its advanced stages, The Telegraph of London reported April 11.

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.

NEW YORK — The flu shot is safe for most kids with egg allergies, according to a new report in Pediatrics released April 5.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the 2009 H1N1 flu viruses are expected to circulate throughout 2010, including during the Southern Hemisphere flu season.

HIV

Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced April 5 the publication of data showing phosphatidylserine (PS)-targeting antibodies can block one of the key ways the AIDS virus gains entry into certain blood cells.

Measles

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

Mumps

Urologists at a leading Irish hospital have reported an alarming increase in the number of teenage boys and young men developing mumps orchitis, in a paper published in the April issue of the urology journal BJUI.

TB

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) possesses extraordinary survival ability by masking itself from the host immune system and persisting for decades inside the host.

OTTAWA — Canada has pulled the plug on funding to one of the largest AIDS vaccine development agencies in the world, the Winnipeg Free Press reported March 31.

NEW YORK — British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline PLC said March 20 that it is launching a program in the United States to provide free vaccines to adults who don't have health insurance.

H1N1

Despite months of dire warnings and millions in taxpayer dollars, less than half of the 229 million doses of H1N1 vaccine the government bought to fight the pandemic have been administered.

Measles

The British Columbia Centre for Disease Control is warning health care professionals and the public to be on the alert for measles after nearly a dozen people in Vancouver were diagnosed recently with the disease, Canwest News Service reported.

DETROIT — Detroit Pistons forward Jonas Jerebko and NBA legend Bob Lanier teamed up with NBA Cares and the Society for Adolescent Medicine on March 29 to bring Vaccines for Teens to the Metro Detroit community.

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis rates in the United States dropped more than 10 percent last year compared with 2008, the sharpest decrease ever recorded in a single year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported March 31.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the vaccination rates for the pandemic H1N1 influenza virus are different around the country. New England has the highest rates while the South is having the lowest.

A Massachusetts startup that uses nanotechnology to engineer safer and more effective vaccines is expected to say April 5 that it has raised another $15 million in venture capital to finance the further development of its products according to the Boston

ROCKVILLE, Md. — The Tech Council of Maryland has selected finalists for its awards that recognize individuals and organizations for innovation, dedication and outstanding service to Maryland's technology community.

World Health Organization

Cuba will begin vaccinating nearly 10 percent of its citizens against swine flu this week, reversing its previous skepticism about the high cost and effectiveness of immunization to combat the virus, The Associated Press reported March 26.

H1N1

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington’s limit on the amount of mercury allowed in H1N1 flu vaccines for certain people is ending, the state’s Department of Health announced March 23.

Q-fever

Doctors in the Netherlands have urged the country’s caretaker health minister, Ab Klink, to order a batch of Q fever vaccines for people at risk of developing complications from the goat and sheep disease, DutchNews.nl reported March 29.

World Health Organization

A group of outside experts will scrutinize the WHO's response to the H1N1flu outbreak and likely examine whether the global body could have been clearer when it declared a pandemic of what has turned out to be a relatively mild disease.

Flu indicators are showing signs of increased and sustained pandemic flu activity in some Southeastern states, though rates remain steady at the national level, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said March 26.

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.

H1N1

Two people with compromised immune systems who became ill with 2009 H1N1 influenza developed drug-resistant strains of virus after less than two weeks on therapy, doctors from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases reported March 26.

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

The influenza viruses responsible for the pandemics of 1918 and 2009 share a structural detail that makes both susceptible to neutralization by the same antibodies, according to research by the NIAID.

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.

Leukemia

BioSante Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s treatment for acute myeloid leukemia received orphan-drug designation from the Food and Drug Administration on March 23 as the vaccine led to increased remission rates in a Phase II study.

H1N1

ROCKVILLE, Md. — Novavax Inc. confirmed March 24 that its potential H1N1 flu vaccine prompted an immune response in patients during a midstage study.

FRANKFURT, Germany — German drugmaker Merck KGaA put on hold all testing on humans of its experimental cancer vaccine Stimuvax after a Phase II trial participant contracted encephalitis.

Dr. Stephen Lockhart

When researchers at Oxford University took their development of a vaccine candidate against tuberculosis as far as they could, they found a commercial partner in Emergent BioSolutions.

Tevi Troy

There is relatively little interest about tuberculosis in the United States because there is a perception that this is just a developing world issue, says Tevi Troy, a writer and consultant on health care and domestic policy

Dr. Helen McShane

Although tuberculosis remains a global threat and a strengthening foe, the most effective vaccine against it is more than 80 years old.

This year's World TB Day theme, "On the move against tuberculosis: Innovate to accelerate action," addresses a critical aspect of the core business and values of the European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership.

World TB Day is March 24. This annual event commemorates the date in 1882 when Dr. Robert Koch announced his discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that cause tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis

In remarks March 24, World Tuberculosis Day, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged everyone to "reaffirm our commitment to tackle this deadly disease together."

On March 24, Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation recommitted itself to developing new and better TB vaccines and observed World TB Day 2010 by participating in events on three continents, the group said in a press release.

Last fall, as H1N1 flu cases mounted and parents desperately sought to protect their kids, the hard-to-get vaccine was handed out in some surprising places.

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.

Pneumococcal

LONDON — Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline signed a landmark 10-year deal March 23 to supply 60 million doses a year of cut-price pneumococcal vaccines to developing nations.

Officials from the Food and Drug Administration are advising that doctors should temporarily stop using the vaccine against a diarrhea-causing virus because the vaccine is contaminated with an apparently harmless pig virus.

TB

Even with tuberculosis cases falling sharply in the United States to historic lows, strains of drug-resistant disease are gaining ground elsewhere in the world, the Centers for Disease Control Prevention and the World Health Organization report.

Health care personnel influenza immunization rates have remained low, despite recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Meningitis

In the wake of an outbreak of meningococcal disease at Oologah-Talala Public Schools, state and local health officials offered free vaccinations to the school system's students and staff, according to the Tulsa World.

Walter Plowright

Walter Plowright, the British veterinarian often called one of the "heroes of the 20th century" because of his invention of a vaccine that has almost totally eliminated the cattle disease rinderpest, died recently in London. He was 86.

Meningococcal

BASEL, Switzerland — Novartis announced March 18 that the European Commission granted a marketing authorization for its vaccines against meningococcal disease.

HPV

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

Experts in Japan developed a mosquito that spreads vaccine rather than disease when it bites humans, it emerged March 19.

Streptococcus Pneumoniae

A vaccine discovery and development company on March 18 announced an exclusive worldwide license for developed countries to a portfolio of Streptococcus pneumoniae antigens from Children’s Hospital Boston.

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.

Tuberculosis

A booster shot has shown promise in improving tuberculosis resistance in previously vaccinated adults, according to new research in South Africa.

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.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Increasing vaccination rates of health care personnel substantially improves patient safety, lowering flu deaths by 40 percent, researchers suggest.

Chickenpox

HANOI, Vietnam — An outbreak of chickenpox is hitting Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi as the number of infected children admitted to hospitals in big cities has increased significantly, the Voice of Vietnam reported March 15.

TAMPA, Fla. and MINNEAPOLIS — Biovest International Inc. announced March 17 that it will present information about its personalized cancer vaccine, BiovaxID, at the following upcoming conferences:

Bavarian Nordic A/S announced that it has received notification that the U.S. FDA has accepted all the actions taken by the company to address the observations made during its inspection of the manufacturing facilities in 2009.

Chickenpox

Since the varicella vaccine was introduced in the mid-1990s, the number of people receiving medical care for chickenpox in the U.S. has decreased sharply — particularly among children.

World Health Organization

U.N. agencies and the Afghan health ministry are conducting a three-day campaign aimed at vaccinating an estimated 7.7 million children under the age of 5 against polio, which can leave patients totally paralyzed.

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.

LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill. — BioSante Pharmaceuticals received orphan drug status for its potential pancreatic cancer treatment, the company announced March 15.

Hepatitis B

Dynavax Technologies Corp. said March 16 that its auditors have expressed doubts about the company's ability to continue as a going concern as a result of the company's current financial position, according to Reuters.

Polio

GENEVA— The World Health Organization says more than 85 million children under 5 in west and central Africa will be vaccinated against polio.

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.

A new study shows that when children get vaccinated against seasonal influenza, the entire community can benefit.

WASHINGTON — The United States’ "vaccine court" has once again concluded that vaccines don't cause autism.

Dendritic Cell

LOS ANGELES — ImmunoCellular Therapeutics Ltd. announced March 10 that its dendritic cell-based vaccination with cancer stem cells demonstrated a statistically significant survival benefit in a preclinical animal model of glioblastoma.

The H1N1 flu appears to spread more slowly than "regular" seasonal flu in a household setting, but when it does spread it's more likely to affect children, a new study suggests.

A Danish scientist involved in two major studies that debunked any linkage of vaccines to autism is suspected of misappropriating $2 million in U.S. grants at his university in Denmark, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported March 12.

GlaxoSmithKline

LONDON — British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline PLC on March 12 announced two changes in the executive lineup of its vaccines business.

Fuad El-Hibri

ROCKVILLE, Md. — The World Trade Center Institute announced March 11 that Emergent BioSolutions Inc.’s chairman and CEO has been named as one of Maryland’s outstanding international business leade

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.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Baxter International Inc., in conjunction with DynPort Vaccine Co., announced Phase III study data measuring the clinical efficacy for its trivalent seasonal influenza candidate vaccine on March 11 in Miami.

An ambitious plan to build a vaccine factory in the Pittsburgh area is gaining momentum with the announcement March 11 of three new partners in the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center project, the Pittsburgh Business Times reported.

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.

Pneumococcal

LONDON — Several drug companies have agreed on a landmark deal to supply up to 200 million doses a year of cut-price pneumococcal vaccines to developing nations, according to the global immunization alliance that is overseeing the deal.

STRASBOURG, France — Transgene SA, a French biotechnology company, sold Novartis AG an option on rights to the experimental TG4010 lung cancer vaccine in a deal that may fetch as much as $960 million, Bloomberg reported.

Up to 50,000 U.S. adults die each year from vaccine preventable diseases, and the direct health care burden of vaccine preventable diseases in American adults is $10 billion a year.

Decades of vaccination and prevention efforts may have the hepatitis viruses on the run, according to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released March 10.

Cell-based vaccines are at the forefront of influenza vaccine development, according to findings presented March 10 at the 14th International Congress on Infectious Diseases in Miami and reported by Pediatric SuperSite.

NicVax

ROCKVILLE, Md. — Nabi Pharmaceuticals said March 8 that it closed an option and license agreement for the smoking vaccine candidate NicVAx with GlaxoSmithKline, the Associated Press reported.

HSV-2

Approximately 1 in 6 Americans (16.2 percent) between the ages of 14 and 49 is infected with herpes simplex virus type 2, according to a national health survey released March 9 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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.

With spring break coming up and large numbers of students expected to travel both domestically and internationally, getting vaccinated against 2009 H1N1 influenza is especially important.

LONDON — An investigation is under way after a newborn baby was given 10 times the normal dose of a tuberculosis vaccine at a hospital in North Lincolnshire, England.

LEIDEN, Netherlands — Dutch biopharmaceutical company Crucell announced March 8 that Jerald C. Sadoff was appointed chief medical officer will be a member of its management committee.

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.

Hepatits B

About one in five babies born to mothers with hepatitis B aren't getting treatments that have been shown to prevent the infection in newborns, a study whose findings were released online March 8 in advance of the April print issue of Pediatrics.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court announced March 8 that it would decide whether a federal law protects vaccine manufacturers from lawsuits in state court seeking damages for alleged design defects.

HIV

A seven-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine can protect adults with HIV against recurrent pneumococcal infection, according to research published in the March 4 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has awarded Abt Associates two new contracts to evaluate the effectiveness of the H1N1 vaccine among health care workers and children younger than 18, the company announced March 5.

H1N1

WASHINGTON — First, people were clamoring for H1N1 vaccines, but there were not enough to go around. By the time vaccines were available in any quantity, most of the public had lost interest.

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.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has received reports of several cases of malaria in Haiti since a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the country Jan. 12.

Mesothelioma

An investigational vaccine for the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma is safe, according to a new study cited in a press release March 4 from the American Thoracic Society.

Polio

More than 85 million children under five years old will be immunized against polio in 19 countries across West and Central Africa in a massive cooperation aimed at stopping a year-long polio epidemic the World Health Organization announced.

H1N1

NEW DELHI — The country's first indigenously produced vaccine against H1N1 virus will be ready for use from mid-May, The Times of India reported March 4.

H1N1

NEW YORK — New research from Australia confirms that the HIN1 flu hits pregnant women particularly hard — especially if they have asthma, obesity or diabetes.

Kanji Takada, a professor of pharmacokinetics, has developed a round vaccine "chip" measuring 1.5 centimeters in diameter that contains as many as 300 micro needles.

HSV2

LONDON — A new vaccine designed to prevent people with genital herpes from passing the virus on to their sexual partners has begun its first patient trials at a hospital in England.

Chikungunya

GALVESTON, Texas — The mosquito-borne virus chikungunya has already infected millions of people in recent outbreaks in South and Southeast Asia, the islands of the Indian Ocean, Africa and northern Italy.

A new coalition is calling for hearings to investigate HHS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other government agencies for what it describes as a failure to fully address issues of vaccine safety.

The U.S. Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices last week heard a report about the high-dose influenza vaccine that was recently approved for people 65 and older but voiced no preference for its use in that age group.

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.

H1N1

MUMBAI — Panacea Biotec announced March 3 that it has signed an advance market agreement with the government of India to manufacture Pandyflu, the company's H1N1 flu vaccine.

Dengue Fever

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Health officials in Puerto Rico have declared an epidemic of dengue fever, The Associated Press reported.

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.

NEW ORLEANS — Most children with egg protein allergies who received influenza vaccinations had no adverse reactions, researchers said at the annual meeting of American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, according to MedPage Today.

As an international crowd of athletes and supporters gathered en masse in Vancouver, some scientists used the Olympics as their virtual test tube to find out how to prevent the outbreak of diseases spread by air travel.

Virus-like Particles

Medicago Inc., and the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre have been awarded a $288,000 research grant to study plant-made virus-like particles with a focus on immune response induced.

WASHINGTON — A single dose of an experimental influenza drug saves more mice from H5N1 avian influenza than the preferred drug Tamiflu, researchers reported Feb. 26, and can also protect against infection.

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.