FDA Expands Gardasil’s Cancer-Preventing Uses

In 2006, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the vaccine, Gardasil, for girls and women between the ages of 9 and 26 as a means of preventing cervical cancer caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV).  In a September 12 announcement, the FDA has expanded the vaccine’s cancer-preventing protections to some forms of vulvar and vaginal cancers, too. Read more

Flu Vaccination Does Not Prevent Death in Elderly?

Many people think getting a flu vaccination will protect them from getting the flu and, by extension, reduce the number of deaths attributed to an influenza outbreak.  New research, however, reveals the flu vaccination does not prevent death in elderly patients to the degree widely believed.  With meticulous evaluation strategies upon which to base their conclusion, a team of researchers in Alberta, Canada, suggests the flu vaccine’s benefits have been exaggerated over time and that “good” patients may sway the outcome of studies of the vaccine. Read more

Measles Vaccine Cleared of Autism Charges

With the hope of putting to rest the question, posed in 1998, that the widely used childhood measles vaccine is linked to gastrointestinal (GI) illness that heralds the onset of autism, researchers at Columbia University have released the findings of a recent study that found no association between the measles vaccine and the development of either GI illness or autism. Read more

Vaccine Allergies No Reason to Shun Childhood Inoculation

Measles, mumps, and whooping cough outbreaks have been reported in the United States in recent months.  In other countries, children have become ill with the measles and polio.  All these diseases, once common to childhood, can be avoided by a full regimen of vaccination but more and more parents are choosing to forego immunizing their children.  One reason sometimes cited for opting out of immunization is a child’s history of allergies to previously given vaccines.  A new report from the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, however, says vaccine allergies are no reason to shun childhood inoculation. Read more

Bird Flu Vaccine Ready to License

The biotechnology research firm, Novavax, announced impressive results in a human trial of the vaccine it is developing for the H5N1, or Indonesian, strain of bird flu discovered in 2005.  This particular strain of bird flu has made 385 people sick and killed 243 of them since 2003, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Read more

More Measles in 2008 Than Previous Decade

Between January and July of this year, 131 cases of measles have been reported to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). One single outbreak in Illinois affected 30 individuals but people in 15 states and the District of Columbia have come down with infection from the measles virus. Europe and Asia are reporting soaring numbers of measles infection, too. Read more

Gardasil Administration Best to Focus on Young Women

During 2007, more than 11,000 women in the United States were diagnosed with cervical cancer. Another 3,600 women died from it. The recently introduced Gardasil vaccine is expected to reduce the incidence of cervical cancer but it is most effective when girls get vaccinated before becoming sexually active. Read more

FDA Announces Selection of This Season’s Flu Vaccine

The typical vaccination for influenza contains three strains of the influenza virus, carefully chosen to bring the greatest relief to the largest audience. One or two of those virus strains changes each year, based on year-round, worldwide collaboration on influenza tracking and data analysis. This year, in a highly unusual move, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has chosen three strains entirely different from last year’s flu vaccines, according to an August 5 FDA press release. Read more

Flu Vaccine Seems Less Effective for Elderly

The final results of a study involving thousands of male and female pneumonia patients, aged from 65 to 94, has revealed a questionable degree of benefit of annual influenza vaccinations in the elderly population.  In spite of the findings, however, Michael L. Jackson, a co-author of the report describing the study, says he still wants his grandmother to get her annual flu shots. Read more

HIV Vaccine Study Halted as Too Logistically Complex

A vaccine that will prevent infection by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is thought to be the best hope for ending the HIV/AIDS pandemic sweeping the globe and the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) has developed one said to be scientifically intriguing and different enough from vaccines that have been previously explored that further testing is highly desired.  Plans for a widespread test of the vaccine have been halted now for a second time, however, due to concerns stemming from a previous trial of another vaccine that failed to reduce viral load as expected. Read more

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