Doctors Fear Flu-Superbug Combo

Researchers back more cost-effective, targeted testing to catch superbug

(NEWSER) - Widespread screening of hospital patients for the drug-resistant staph bacteria MRSA doesn’t appear to reduce the number of infections, a new study finds. Swiss researchers screened more than 10,000 patients for the superbug when they were admitted to the University of Geneva Hospitals. Another 10,000 weren’t tested. The rates of MRSA infections were similar for both groups, the Chicago Tribune reports. More»

Antibiotic-resistant staph kills more Americans than AIDS

(NEWSER) - An antibiotic-resistant strain of staph kills more Americans each year than HIV, accounting for almost 19,000 deaths annually, the first national stats on the superbug reveal. The super-staph is treatable but can quickly lead to dangerous "flesh-eating" infections. "We really need to be on guard against these emerging organisms," one epidemiologist tells the Washington Post. More»

Drug is successfully tested on humans for the first time

(NEWSER) - Soon, you may be able to forget about getting a flu shot each year—because just one jab could cover you for all strains of the illness. Oxford University scientists tested a universal flu vaccine on humans for the first time, and found it to be successful, the Guardian reports. The vaccine works by targeting proteins inside the virus—which are common across the known strains—rather than those on the external part of the virus, which often mutate and require new formulas of the flu shot to be created each year. More»

Agency orders worldwide vaccines

(NEWSER) - Concerns continue to mount about swine flu in the wake of the World Health Organization's declaration that the illness is "unstoppable" and the deaths in Britain of two apparently strong individuals, a 6-year-old girl and a doctor. WHO officials are calling for worldwide vaccines to protect populations before they contract the disease. The CDC estimates at least 1 million people are currently infected in the US alone. More»

(NEWSER) - A Massachusetts hospital has a novel way to administer influenza vaccinations: the drive-through. Caritas Norwood, south of Boston, has nurses on hand to administer the shot in a designated areas of the hospital’s driveway, the Boston Globe reports. Some 250 people, at $20 a pop, have received the vaccine already this year. “It makes sense, and you don't tie up the general practitioners,” one car-bound patient said. More»