You've got a stuffy nose, a sore throat, and a pounding headache, but how do you know if it's a cold or the flu?
Cold, Flu, and Sinus News
New Hope for Vaccine Against Germ That Causes ‘Mono’:
The Epstein-Barr virus is also believed to help drive a number of types of cancer.
In mice and monkeys, the nanoparticle-based vaccine triggered the animals’ immune system to release powerful antibodies against Epstein-Barr, according to a study published Aug. 13 in the journal Cell.
Nanoparticles are microscopic particles being investigated as potential delivery vehicles for vaccines. The new findings suggest that this could be a promising approach for developing an Epstein-Barr virus vaccine for people, according to researchers led by virologist Dr. Jeffrey Cohen at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
While the work is promising, “there is still a long way to go before a vaccine that shows promise in mice and non-human primates will be ready for safe and effective protection of people,” said infectious disease expert Dr. Paul Lee, who was not involved in the new research.
According to NIAID, the Epstein-Barr virus was first identified in 1964 and is one of the most common human viruses, infecting 90 percent of people worldwide at some point in their lives. It is most commonly spread through saliva.
Most people infected with the virus do not get ill or have only mild symptoms, and Epstein-Barr is a major cause of infectious mononucleosis. It’s also linked with nearly 200,000 cases of cancer worldwide each year, including stomach and nasopharyngeal cancers, Burkitt and Hodgkin lymphoma, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, the agency said.
Currently, there is no approved vaccine to protect people against Epstein-Barr virus.
Lee said while most cases of mononucleosis linked to Epstein-Barr are “mild,” about one in 10 cases are “very significant, and sometimes have prolonged symptoms.”
“Typically, this infection occurs in adolescents and young adults — usually the most healthy segment of the population,” said Lee, who works in the Infectious Diseases Program at Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, N.Y.
“There is also the fatigue which Epstein-Barr virus is notorious for — that can be severe and prolonged, and can take a month or more to resolve,” he said.
“In some studies, more than 10 percent of patients are still experiencing significant fatigue six months later,” Lee noted. “This can have a huge impact on adolescents and young adults who may be trying to graduate, apply to college or graduate school, or even work at a job, where poor performance can negatively affect their future lives, hopes and potential.”
According to the NIAID team, the nanoparticle vaccine design might also be used to create or redesign vaccines against other types of infections.
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about Epstein-Barr virus.
Vaccine Combo Shows Promise Against Common, Dangerous Infection:
WEDNESDAY, Aug. 12, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Researchers report they are closer to finding a vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a common illness that few recognize by name but one that’s a major cause of lower respiratory infection in babies and the elderly. Two new studies of the same vaccine combination, one involving people, don’t prove that it will work in humans. Still, “they certainly do offer hope for the development of vaccines,” said Dr. Peter Openshaw, a senior investigator at the National Institute for Health Research in London, England. Openshaw was not involved in the study, but is working on potential vaccines for the disease.RSV is the most common cause of severe respiratory illness in infants, experts say.
“Nearly all children are infected with the virus by 2 years of age,” said Geraldine Taylor, a researcher with The Jenner Institute Laboratories in Oxford, England, and lead author of one of the two new studies. “However, infections occur several times throughout life and can cause a range of symptoms, from mild, coldlike symptoms through to severe breathing difficulty.”
Across the world, the virus is thought to kill 200,000 children under the age of 5 each year, she said, and it causes 30 million severe infections. Only malaria is believed to kill more babies under the age of 1.
In the United States, the virus causes the death of an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 seniors a year, she added.
Openshaw noted, “A vaccine for RSV is one of the last major challenges left for vaccinologists.” But there are big obstacles.
For one, getting infected doesn’t grant a person immunity, he noted. “Second, there were disastrous trials in the 1960s where children were injected with formalin-killed RSV. Subsequent natural infection of these children sometimes resulted in very severe disease that was lethal in at least two cases. This put people off trying to make a vaccine, for fear of causing similar disease augmentation,” Openshaw said.
Now, the researchers behind the two new studies are testing approaches in calves, which suffer from a similar illness, and adults.
In Taylor’s study, researchers found that they were able to protect calves against the similar illness by vaccinating them with a combination of harmless viruses that carried genes from the human disease.
The other study, led by Christopher Green, from the Oxford Vaccine Group at Oxford University in England, tested different levels of the same vaccine combination in 42 healthy adults. The team reported that there appeared to be an immune response and there were no serious side effects, which represents the first of three phases of research required before a vaccine can get approval for use in the United States.
What’s next? For now, the vaccine combination is now being tested in older adults and heading toward testing in children later this year, Taylor said. It could take up to 10 years to develop a vaccine, which would prevent illness in babies and boost immunity in adults and the elderly, she said.
The cost could be $50 to $100 per dose, she added.
Meanwhile, research released this week by Novavax Co. reported that an experimental vaccine reduced cases of the disease in the elderly by 40 percent to 60 percent.
“The Novavax vaccine is currently the most advanced in the vaccine pipeline, and certainly shows considerable promise,” Openshaw said. “We will have to wait and see how it will play out compared to these other vaccine approaches.”
The two latest studies were published Aug. 12 in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
More informationFor more about RSV, try the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
12 Deaths Now Reported in NYC Legionnaires’ Disease Outbreak:
MONDAY, Aug. 10, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Two more deaths were reported Monday in the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in New York City, bringing the total to 12.
The number of reported cases also increased, from 100 to 113, officials from the New York City Department of Mental Health and Hygiene said in a news release.The outbreak has been traced to water-filled cooling towers in the South Bronx.
Health experts note that the elderly, smokers and those with respiratory conditions are most vulnerable to the potentially deadly bacteria. New York City health officials said last week that of those who had died, all were older individuals with other medical conditions.
“There are probably going to be more cases because the disease has a long incubation period — 10 to 14 days,” said Dr. Robert Glatter, an attending physician in the department of emergency medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.
Another expert explained that the disease is more likely to get a foothold during warm weather.
“Every summer, when we are using air conditioning, the odds of an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease increases,” said Dr. Debra Spicehandler, an infectious diseases specialist at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, N.Y.
Hospitals routinely test their water for Legionnaires’, she said. However, hotels, apartment buildings and offices are not required to test for it.
Glatter said that most of the people who are affected by Legionnaires’ are the elderly, people who smoke and those with chronic medical conditions, such as emphysema or asthma. Children and young adults are usually not affected, he said.
According to Glatter, the bacteria is commonly found in water and soil. “However, when it is able to set up shop in cooling towers where the water is warm, it can reproduce quickly and spread,” he said.
But Spicehandler noted that “it’s a very simple, treatable disease most of the time.”
Among the young and healthy, the infection runs its course without treatment, but among those at high risk, up to 30 percent can die, Glatter said.
Fortunately, Legionnaires’ cannot be spread person-to-person, Glatter said. “It is airborne and is contracted by inhaling it or, in theory, through drinking water,” he said.
Legionnaires’ causes fever, cough and chills, Glatter said. If caught early, it can be treated with antibiotics.
“Death is usually caused by respiratory failure,” Glatter said. “The bacteria overwhelms the lung tissue and reduces the ability to get oxygen into the lungs. Asphyxia [suffocation] is the main cause of death,” he said. “Death can occur within three to five days or sooner.”
Legionnaires’ disease was first seen among 2,000 American Legionnaires attending a convention in Philadelphia in the summer of 1976, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The outbreak was linked to air conditioner cooling towers in the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel. That outbreak sickened 221 people, and 34 died.
“People should not be alarmed at this point,” Glatter said. “The cooling towers are being cleaned and disinfected, and these measures should make the public feel safer,” he said.
More information
Visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more on Legionnaires’ disease.
Twelve Deaths Now Reported in NYC Legionnaires’ Disease Outbreak:
MONDAY, Aug. 10, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Two more deaths were reported Monday in the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in New York City, bringing the total to 12.
The number of reported cases also increased, from 100 to 113, officials from the New York City Department of Mental Health and Hygiene said in a news release.
The outbreak has been traced to water-filled cooling towers in the South Bronx.
Health experts note that the elderly, smokers and those with respiratory conditions are most vulnerable to the potentially deadly bacteria. New York City health officials said last week that of those who had died, all were older individuals with other medical conditions.
“There are probably going to be more cases because the disease has a long incubation period — 10 to 14 days,” said Dr. Robert Glatter, an attending physician in the department of emergency medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.
Another expert explained that the disease is more likely to get a foothold during warm weather.
“Every summer, when we are using air conditioning, the odds of an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease increases,” said Dr. Debra Spicehandler, an infectious diseases specialist at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, N.Y.
Hospitals routinely test their water for Legionnaires’, she said. However, hotels, apartment buildings and offices are not required to test for it.
Glatter said that most of the people who are affected by Legionnaires’ are the elderly, people who smoke and those with chronic medical conditions, such as emphysema or asthma. Children and young adults are usually not affected, he said.
According to Glatter, the bacteria is commonly found in water and soil. “However, when it is able to set up shop in cooling towers where the water is warm, it can reproduce quickly and spread,” he said.
But Spicehandler noted that “it’s a very simple, treatable disease most of the time.”
Among the young and healthy, the infection runs its course without treatment, but among those at high risk, up to 30 percent can die, Glatter said.
Fortunately, Legionnaires’ cannot be spread person-to-person, Glatter said. “It is airborne and is contracted by inhaling it or, in theory, through drinking water,” he said.
Legionnaires’ causes fever, cough and chills, Glatter said. If caught early, it can be treated with antibiotics.
“Death is usually caused by respiratory failure,” Glatter said. “The bacteria overwhelms the lung tissue and reduces the ability to get oxygen into the lungs. Asphyxia [suffocation] is the main cause of death,” he said. “Death can occur within three to five days or sooner.”
Legionnaires’ disease was first seen among 2,000 American Legionnaires attending a convention in Philadelphia in the summer of 1976, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The outbreak was linked to air conditioner cooling towers in the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel. That outbreak sickened 221 people, and 34 died.
“People should not be alarmed at this point,” Glatter said. “The cooling towers are being cleaned and disinfected, and these measures should make the public feel safer,” he said.
More information
Visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more on Legionnaires’ disease.
Twelve Deaths Now Reported in NYC Legionnaires’ Disease Outbreak:
The number of reported cases also increased, from 100 to 113, officials from the New York Department of Mental Health and Hygiene said in a news release.
The outbreak has been traced to water-filled cooling towers in the South Bronx.
Health experts note that the elderly, smokers and those with respiratory conditions are most vulnerable to the potentially deadly bacteria. New York City health officials said last week that of those who had died, all were older individuals with other medical conditions.
“There are probably going to be more cases because the disease has a long incubation period — 10 to 14 days,” said Dr. Robert Glatter, an attending physician in the department of emergency medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.
Another expert explained that the disease is more likely to get a foothold during warm weather.
“Every summer, when we are using air conditioning, the odds of an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease increases,” said Dr. Debra Spicehandler, an infectious diseases specialist at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, N.Y.
Hospitals routinely test their water for Legionnaires’, she said. However, hotels, apartment buildings and offices are not required to test for it.
Glatter said that most of the people who are affected by Legionnaires’ are the elderly, people who smoke and those with chronic medical conditions, such as emphysema or asthma. Children and young adults are usually not affected, he said.
According to Glatter, the bacteria is commonly found in water and soil. “However, when it is able to set up shop in cooling towers where the water is warm, it can reproduce quickly and spread,” he said.
But Spicehandler noted that “it’s a very simple, treatable disease most of the time.”
Among the young and healthy, the infection runs its course without treatment, but among those at high risk, up to 30 percent can die, Glatter said.
Fortunately, Legionnaires’ cannot be spread person-to-person, Glatter said. “It is airborne and is contracted by inhaling it or, in theory, through drinking water,” he said.
Legionnaires’ causes fever, cough and chills, Glatter said. If caught early, it can be treated with antibiotics.
“Death is usually caused by respiratory failure,” Glatter said. “The bacteria overwhelms the lung tissue and reduces the ability to get oxygen into the lungs. Asphyxia [suffocation] is the main cause of death,” he said. “Death can occur within three to five days or sooner.”
Legionnaires’ disease was first seen among 2,000 American Legionnaires attending a convention in Philadelphia in the summer of 1976, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The outbreak was linked to air conditioner cooling towers in the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel. That outbreak sickened 221 people, and 34 died.
“People should not be alarmed at this point,” Glatter said. “The cooling towers are being cleaned and disinfected, and these measures should make the public feel safer,” he said.
More information
Visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more on Legionnaires’ disease.
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