Influenza affects the nose, throat and lungs, and spreads through coughs and sneezes. While most recover, some cases become serious. Flu shots, handwashing, masks and clean air help prevent infection and protect vulnerable groups from severe infection.
Two UF researchers collaborated with international colleagues to measure how an individual’s immunity to flu is shaped over a lifetime of exposures to multiple influenza viruses. The team devised new metrics to analyze a person’s antibody profile and how it changes over time.
A commentary published this week in one of the world’s premier journals on vaccination raises concerns about the CDC’s recommendation against using the popular “FluMist” vaccine during the 2016 – 2017 flu season.
School-located influenza vaccination programs led by local health departments could be cost-effective throughout the state of Florida, according to a study published recently in the journal Vaccine.
University of Florida Health researchers found that most people brought to a Florida hospital during the 2014-2015 flu season had a strain of the flu that was not found in the flu shot that year. Their findings suggest a need for regional monitoring to develop a better flu vaccine each year.
Recently, University of Florida Health researchers discovered why an influenza virus was making young people admitted to UF Health Shands Hospital so sick: It contained a mutation that allowed it to infect the patients’ lower respiratory tracts.
Mathematical models predicted it, and now a University of Florida study confirms it: Immunizing school-aged children from flu can protect other segments of the population, as well.
