Two years ago, pharmaceutical giant, Roche, promised the BMJ to release key Tamiflu trial data for an independent investigation. However, Roche refuses to provide full access to all its data. According to a new report by the Cochrane Collaboration, Roche’s refusal to provide access leaves critical concerns about how the drug works unresolved…

There’s more than one way to mop up after a flu infection. Now, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report in Nature Immunology that a previously unrecognized population of lung immune cells orchestrate the body’s repair response following flu infection…

Most bacterial infections can be treated with antibiotics such as penicillin, discovered decades ago. However, such drugs are useless against viral infections, including influenza, the common cold, and deadly hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola…

Six manufacturers have had their flu vaccines approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) for the coming 2011-2012 season. The Agency explained in a communiqué that vaccination is crucial in the drive to control influenza, a contagious respiratory infection caused by influenza virus strains…

Using a combination of sophisticated modelling and statistical analyses, David Fisman and colleagues show that infection with influenza likely increases the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD)…

When children with asthma get the flu, they often land in the hospital gasping for air. Researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston have found a previously unknown biological pathway explaining why influenza induces asthma attacks…

New research on mice has shown that pulmonary administration of granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) significantly reduces flu symptoms and prevents death after a lethal dose influenza virus…

Bacteria that cause pneumonia and meningitis are only able to spread when individuals are infected with flu, says a scientist reporting at the Society for General Microbiology’s Spring Conference in Harrogate…

Using sinus tissue removed during surgery at University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have managed to grow a recently discovered species of human rhinovirus (HRV), the most frequent cause of the common cold, in culture…

Historically, black elderberries were among the most regarded folk remedies for coughs, colds, and flu. Now modern science has authenticated these therapeutic properties. In February 2011, researchers at Justus-Liebig University in Geissen, Germany reported that a concentrated liquid extract of black elderberries (Sambucus nigra L.), commercially available as Rubini® - Elderberry Extract 3…