What to Do about the Flu?

A roundup of recent articles about influenza and scientific efforts to head off a pandemic

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Standard Vaccines Can Offer Protection against H5N1 Pandemic Avian Flu
A test vaccine has been found to be protective against a synthetic version of the H5N1 virus, but the result might not predict performance on real pandemic H5N1

Teenager creates new flu drugs
Eric Chen, 17, of San Diego became the third Grand Prize winner in Google Science Fair history

Pandemic Flu Plan Predicts 30 Percent of U.S. Could Fall Ill
A newly declassified government plan for a flu pandemic suggests a challenging scenario, as vaccine production could take months and basic services could be disrupted

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Is Bird Flu Waiting to Explode?
By concocting bird flu viruses that could potentially spread easily among humans, researchers have ignited a debate about the need for safety versus open inquiry

Warmer Winters Linked to Earlier Flu Outbreaks
An analysis of influenza patterns show that warmer-than-average winters coincided with more severe outbreaks, bad news for a warming world

6 Common Misconceptions about the Flu—and Flu Shots
Popular confusion about the influenza vaccine—how effective and how safe it is—is part of a broader misunderstanding about the flu in general

FDA Approves Recombinant Flu Vaccine
The agency's approval of the first seasonal flu vaccine made of recombinant proteins rather than inactivated or weakened virus comes as emergency rooms are clogged with victims of an early and severe flu season

What Will the Next Influenza Pandemic Look Like?
Predicting pandemics might still be impossible, but with millions of lives at stake, researchers are using the latest science and lessons from history to best prepare for the next big one

A Man-Made Contagion
Scientists build a pandemic flu strain in the lab

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