Collection Of Vaccination Data Accelerated By New Hi-Tech Survey
New technology now makes it possible to collect 'near real-time' data about whether people are having any side effects from vaccination. By studying people who received the 2009-10 swine flu vaccination in Scotland, researchers showed that this rapid reporting can add another layer of safety to future vaccination campaigns. In addition, the data collected revealed no significant safety issues in patients exposed to the vaccine. The project's report has just been published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.
Theory That Seasonal Flu Strains Originate In Tropical Regions Rebutted By NIH Grantees
Influenza researchers have found that flu strains migrate back and forth between different regions of the world, evolving along the way. This is contrary to the common belief that flu strains from the tropics are the source of global seasonal epidemics. The research appeared online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It was supported in part by the Centers of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance and the Influenza Genome Sequencing Project, funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.
The Achilles' Heel For Malaria? Parasite Requires A Single Receptor To Invade Human Red Blood Cells
Researchers have just revealed a key discovery in understanding how the most deadly species of malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, invades human red blood cells. Using a technique developed at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, they have found that the parasite relies on a single receptor on the red blood cell's surface to invade, offering an exciting new focus for vaccine development. Malaria kills approximately one million people every year, mostly children under the age of five in sub-Saharan Africa.