Word: influenza
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...public-health risks of this trade are manifest. The outbreak of avian influenza in Southeast Asia in 2003 was accelerated by the transport of chickens between farms—the crowded and unsanitary conditions of transport, coupled with the weak immune systems of hungry birds, furthered disease transmission. SARS and Exotic Newcastle Disease spread through similar processes...
When it comes to this year's flu season, health experts are saying so far, so good. The vaccine appears to be effective against the most widely circulating strains of influenza, and there is plenty of the drug to go around. The only dark cloud has been a disturbing rise in drug-resistant flu, but new data published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggest that despite the resistant strain, things aren't as bad as they could be. (Read "What You Need to Know About Drug-Resistant...
...Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) first reported in December that 2% of influenza strains circulating in the 2007-08 season were resistant to the most popular antiflu remedy, oseltamivir, or Tamiflu. They warned that the prevalence of these strains would probably continue to increase, and indeed, early data from the current season suggest they have. Influenza is composed of three subtypes of virus, and last year 12% of one of those subtypes, known as H1, were resistant to oseltamivir. This year almost all of the H1 contingent, 98%, are resistant. (Read "Getting Closer...
...resistant strain is also treatable with antiviral medications other than Tamiflu; zanamivir, or Relenza, still combats all three subtypes of influenza. And for those for whom zanamivir is inappropriate - the drug comes as an inhaled powder and is not recommended for children under age 7 - the combination of Tamiflu and an older antiviral, Flumadine (rimantadine), can be effective in fighting the disease. (In 2006 the CDC recommended against prescribing Flumadine because another of influenza's three subtypes was resistant to the drug. But in combination with Tamiflu, the medication can be effective.) (Read "A Brief History Of: The Flu Vaccine...
...single strain of the virus, influenza-A, causes the majority of flu cases, but comes in sixteen varieties—evidence of the great difficulty of finding a general cure for the disease...