Influenza A (H1N1) Blog

Archive for the ‘vaccine’ Category

1. June 22, 2010

   Pigs are reservoirs of Influenza

   Why were the older people less affected by the new flu?

   ©be_khe

   The elderly, especially those older than 65 years, that is, born before 1944, constitute the part of the population less affected by H1N1. It was suggested and later confirmed by CDC that it is about the prior immunity to the virus. These people probably have [...]

2. June 13, 2010

   A universal flu vaccine

   Will we have a universal Influenza vaccine someday? Will we find something that eliminates the need of developing a new vaccine every year and ensuring that great part of the population receives it?

   The annual development of flu vaccines is a very expensive way of avoiding this disease even if it is the most efficient way. [...]

3. May 12, 2010

   Contaminated Vaccines

   Although H1N1 is circulating around us at least a little bit before 1918, we passed almost 20 years free of it. In 1957, a line of influenza virus received three genes of an avian virus, among them new HA and NA, and started to be called H2N2. With these new proteins, it did not meet [...]

4. January 22, 2010

   Mutations and the escape from immunity

   If measles is caused by a virus and it can only be caught once in a life time, why do we catch the flu every year?

   When we have the flu, in a few days the body seems to get rid of the virus. The symptoms rarely last for two weeks and, in a higher period; [...]