THE INFLUENZA VIRUS Type of influenza How the virus spreads Virus activity & reports SYMPTOMS Influenza symptoms Flu or Cold? Complications PREVENTION How to prevent it Healthy habits Vaccination TREATMENT How to treat it Natural remedies Pharmaceutical drugs Influenza: What is it? Influenza, or as it is commonly known, the flu, is a contagious respiratory disease caused by a virus. The influenza virus can cause mild to severe illness, and while most people recover without complications in 1-2 weeks, the disease at times can lead to death. The best approach to influenza is through prevention but once the infection takes place and the symptoms appear (high fever, headache, extreme tiredness etc) the disease needs to be treated. Today serious concern is caused by a particular form of influenza called Avian influenza or bird flu. Research Centers | Pharmaceutical Companies | News Archives | About influenza.info | News 14 April 2005: MORE INFLUENZA VACCINES ON THE MARKET The health department says the country is faced with a shortage of influenza vaccine this year as a result of a discrepancy in the quantification of the haemagglutinin content of one of the vaccines and release of this vaccine has been suspended pending re-evaluation ... more info 13 April 2005: DEADLY INFLUENZA VIRUS SENT TO 4000 LABS WORLDWIDE Samples of an influenza A/H2N2 virus were sent to 3747 laboratories in 18 countries. The WHO (World Health Organization) considers the risk for the general population to be low. The viruses were contained in proficiency testing samples ... more info 4 April 2005: OBESITY BOOSTS DEATH RISK OF INFLUENZA LOS ANGELES: Obesity apparently reduces laboratory mice's ability to turn on immune systems necessary for controlling influenza infection, US researchers reported Monday.The findings indicate that obesity ... more info 17 March 2005: PHARMAC PLEDGES INFLUENZA VACCINE REVIEW Pharmac will undertake a review into its flu vaccine buying system after the country was left with insufficient supplies. It has been in the firing line after the purchase of an under-strength vaccine batch from French company Sanofi Pasteur ... more info 16 March 2005: SINGAPORE FINALISING INFLUENZA PANDEMIC PREPAREDNESS PLAN An influenza pandemic preparedness plan is currently being finalised, according to the media spokesperson of the Health Ministry in Singapore ... more info 15 March 2005: ID BIOMEDICAL TO SEEK ACCELERATED APPROVAL FOR INFLUENZA VACCINE VANCOUVER - ID Biomedical Corporation said Tuesday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is allowing it to seek accelerated approval of its influenza vaccine ... more info 14 March 2005: FLU PANDEMIC PLAN STILL LEAVES MILLIONS AT RISK SYDNEY: The outbreak of bird flu that is spreading across South Asia is rapidly taking on the proportions of a global health crisis. The World Health Organisation says bird flu poses the single biggest threat to the world, and there are doubts as to whether we possess the tools to confront it adequately ... more info 12 March 2005: INFLUENZA IN JAPAN UNUSUALLY LARGE AND LATE TOKYO: Officials at Japan's National Institute of Infectious Diseases say this year's level of type B influenza is unusually large and late."We haven't seen type B spread this much in the past decade," an institute representative said Saturday ... more info 11 March 2005: INFLUENZA PANDEMIC: A REAL AND PRESENT THREAT NEW ZELAND: Influenza is a very real and present threat to New Zealanders and a global pandemic in the near future could seriously challenge the capacity of our public and primary health systems ... more info 28 February 2005: ARE WE PREPARED FOR AVIAN INFLUENZA (BIRD FLU)? Experts say it is no longer a case of if but when a pandemic of bird flu hits the human population. Some countries have already started stockpiling drugs and testing vaccines to beat the virus ... more info 27 February 2005: CORPORATIONS BRACE FOR ACTION TO FIGHT DEADLY INFLUENZA LOS ANGELES - Increasing concern over the prospect of a bird flu pandemic is raising the profile of companies both large and small, any one of which could end up being a critical link in warding off the disease ... more info 26 February 2005: FLU SPREAD WORRIES OFFICIALS CANADA - Influenza’s swift spread across the region has health care officials concerned. 'We don’t like the way it’s spreading so rapidly in the population,' Northwestern Health Unit spokesman Bill Limerick said Friday. ... more info 25 February 2005: US PREPARES TO TEST VACCINE FOR BIRD FLU WASHINGTON - The federal government is getting ready to test a bird flu vaccine and stockpiling both vaccine and antiviral drugs as the threat grows that a deadly strain of avian influenza will begin spreading from Asia. ... more info 25 February 2005: VIETNAM REPORTS ANOTHER BIRD FLU CASE As an international conference calls for a long-term strategy to prevent a bird flu pandemic, a 21-year-old man has been diagnosed with Vietnam's first case in three weeks ... more info 24 February 2005: [VIETNAM] CONCRETE MEASURES TO TACKLE AVIAN INFLUENZA HO CHI MINH CITY - China has taken concrete measures to prevent outbreaks of avian influenza and is working closely with international organizations in the prevention work, said Chinese experts here Thursday ... more info 20 February 2005: BIRD FLU HAS PANDEMIC POTENTIAL The bird flu virus could mutate to pass from human to human and trigger a pandemic, latest evidence suggests, according to scientists ... more info 18 February 2005: THREAT TO HUMAN HEALTH AS BIRD FLU ADAPTING TO MAMMALS Bird flu could be far more prevalent and humans more susceptible than previously thought, according to new research by British scientists ... more info 19 December 2004: [USA] SOUTHEAST IDAHO CONTINUES TO LACK INFLUENZA VACCINE Although some areas of the country are finally flush with adequate flu vaccine, the Southeastern District Health Department has run out ... more info 18 December 2004: [USA] OFFICIALS: PREVENTION BEST FLU FIX Cleaner habits are needed to help keep the flu bug in check this season after the vaccine shortage this fall, said Lenawee County Medical Director Dr. Dennis Chernin ... more info 18 December 2004: [USA] FH OFFICIALS TO EXPAND LIST OF WHO SHOULD GET FLU VACCINE Federal health officials, concerned that scarce flu vaccine may go unused, yesterday announced plans to relax the guidelines on who should receive shots ... more info 15 December 2004: ASIA HOLDS ITS BREATH OVER BIRD FLU THREAT There are chilling warnings in Asia that an inevitable global influenza pandemic could kill millions. This warning comes after the fight against SARS and bird flu left many countries weary... more info 15 December 2004: [USA] CHIKEN POX INFLUENZA HIT MOUNTAIN AREA The Mountain Area has recently been hit by a large number of children out of school with either the chicken pox or influenza in the past few weeks ... more info 15 December 2004: [EU] WHO STUDIES WAYS TO COPE WITH POSSIBLE FLU PANDEMIC About 60 experts meeting at the Geneva-based World Health Organization have agreed on a strategy to try to prevent and contain a global influenza outbreak that they say could kill millions of people ... more info Influenza.info is a brought to you by Digit Design Ltd. Terms of Use