Colds & Flu

Research at Imperial College London examining influenza transmission in ferrets suggests that the virus can be passed on before the appearance of symptoms. If the finding applies to humans, it means that people pass on flu to others before they know they're infected, making it very difficult to contain epidemics.

Details of a treatment that could help asthmatics fight infections that trigger 80% of asthma attacks, developed by University of Southampton spin-out company Synairgen, will be presented to European respiratory experts on Sunday 2 September. The study provides the first evidence that boosting asthmatics' immune systems can help reduce the number of asthma attacks due to the common cold and other viral infections for the 5.4 million asthmatics in the UK.

Building on previous work with the botanical abscisic acid,* researchers in the Nutritional Immunology and Molecular Medicine Laboratory (NIMML) have discovered that abscisic acid has anti-inflammatory effects in the lungs as well as in the gut. The results will be published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry.

The common cold virus may be more common than previously thought in university students not reporting any symptoms. Rhinovirus, the virus responsible for the common cold was found at some point during an 8-week study period in an estimated 60% of university students that were asymptomatic. Researchers from Canada report their findings at the 2012 General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.

Research shows iOlder adults who get infections of any kind -- such as urinary, skin, or respiratory tract infections -- are nearly three times more likely to be hospitalized for a dangerous blood clot in their deep veins or lungs, University of Michigan Health System research shows.

Cold-like infections make 'cough receptors' in the airways more sensitive, making asthmatics more prone to bouts of coughing and wheezing, reveal scientists presenting their findings at the Society for General Microbiology's Spring Conference in Dublin. The work could lead to drugs that reduce virus-induced coughing in those suffering chronic lung diseases

Thought you were spared? Flu season is hitting California -- finally. The United States is experiencing its latest flu season in nearly three decades, and California is one of two states now reporting widespread activity with the typical sore throats, stuffy noses, nagging coughs and achy muscles.

Battling colds and doing (or pledging to do) more exercise are familiar activities for most of us in January. But different levels of exercise can actually significantly increase or decrease your chances of catching a respiratory infection, says Professor Mike Gleeson from Loughborough University.

Throughout the interior spaces of humans and other warm-blooded creatures is a special type of tissue known as brown fat, which may hold the secret to diets and weight-loss programs of the future.

With flu season just around the corner, scientists are reporting development of a new material for the fiber in face masks, air conditioning filters and air cleaning filters that captures influenza viruses before they can get into people's eyes, noses and mouths and cause infection. The report on the fiber appears in ACS' journal Biomacromolecules.

Most bacterial infections can be treated with antibiotics such as penicillin, discovered decades ago. However, such drugs are useless against viral infections, including influenza,...

Why do some folks who take every precaution still get the flu, while others never even get the sniffles? It comes down to a person's...