Because of increased risk of complications from influenza, vaccination of adults and children with asthma is recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The Healthy People 2010 Objectives call for annual influenza vaccination of at least 60% of adults aged 18-64 years with asthma.

Targeting children may be an effective use of limited supplies of flu vaccine, according to research funded by the Wellcome Trust and the EU. The study suggests that, used to support other control measures, this could help control the spread of pandemics such as the current swine flu.

When mothers become infected with influenza during their pregnancy, it may increase the risk for schizophrenia in their offspring. Influenza is a very common virus and so there has been substantial concern about this association. A new study in the June 15th issue of Biological Psychiatry, published by Elsevier suggests that the observed association depends upon a pre-existing vulnerability in the fetus.

New data on the persistence of avian influenza viruses in the environment has allowed a team of University of Georgia researchers to create the first model that takes into account both direct and indirect transmission of the viruses among birds. The model, which is detailed in the early online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has the potential to shed new light on how outbreaks begin in wild bird populations.

Influenza is and remains a disease to reckon with. Seasonal epidemics around the world kill several hundred thousand people every year. In the light of looming pandemics if bird flu strains develop the ability to infect humans easily, new drugs and vaccines are desperately sought.

Last month during an influenza conference organized by the European Scientific Working Group on influenza (ESWI), the Elsevier journal Vaccine released a supplement dedicated to influenza vaccines. This publication provides a comprehensive, state-of-the-art overview on influenza vaccines and was supported by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA).

Researchers from the University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom have developed a new antiviral using naturally occurring influenza virus "protecting virus" that may defend against any influenza A virus in any animal host. They report their findings in the September 2008 issue of the Journal of Virology.

A new discovery could lead to treatments which turn off the inflammation in the lungs caused by influenza and other infections, according to a study published today in the journal Nature Immunology.

Findings just published in the scientific journal Immunity by researchers at the Trudeau Institute shed new light on how a previously-unknown messaging mechanism within the human immune system prompts specific influenza-fighting cells to the lung airways during an infection.

Panic, staffing issues and geographic boundaries are some of the challenges that public health experts need to address as they plan for a possible influenza pandemic, according to a new report from Purdue University.

Influenza outbreaks were shorter and resulted in fewer cases and fewer deaths at long-term care facilities that started residents on preventive antiviral medications within five days of the first case, compared to those that started later, according to a new study in the July 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, currently available online.

GPs are not an integral part of Australian influenza planning, despite the important role they will play in limiting deaths in the event of a pandemic hitting the country, according to research from The Australian National University.