Word: influenza
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...second year in a row, Harvard University Health Services (UHS) is going into dining halls and other campus locations to offer free influenza vaccines to students, faculty and staff...
...pamphlet also warns that people sometimes mistake any illness involving fever, aches and pains for influenza, even though it could be a completely different virus...
Like a real Asian influenza, the virus first emerged in Hong Kong. From there it sped westward with the sun, lying silently in wait in corporate e-mail accounts until unsuspecting office denizens punched in, logged on and double-clicked on the file. Shufiyan Shukur, managing editor of an online news service in Malaysia, was infected when he got an e-mail from a friend in Hong Kong. He knew this guy liked practical jokes but clicked it open anyway. Too late. Twenty minutes later, he laments, "our internal-security people sent out a warning about this virus...
JUST SHOOT ME For heart patients, there's good reason to get a flu shot, aside from preventing a dreaded bout of fever, aches and pains. The shot may reduce the risk of a heart attack. A small study suggests that influenza inoculations can cut the odds of suffering a second heart attack by as much as two-thirds. How come? Researchers think an influenza infection may inflame artery-clogging plaque, making it more likely to break off and trigger a heart attack...
Looks like someone at the FDA thinks so. Last week the government agency issued a public-health advisory to remind physicians that Relenza and Tamiflu (as well as two older antiviral drugs) do not cure influenza and should not be viewed as substitutes for standard treatment. Apparently, a few patients died when they developed bacterial infections--a common complication of flu--and were treated solely with antiviral medications, which don't work against bacterial infections and were never meant to. Only antibiotics can tame bacterial infection. In addition, some people with asthma and other lung problems saw their condition worsen...