Bird flu, Covid-19, and influenza are all respiratory infections spreading through respiratory droplets. While influenza generally causes milder symptoms, Covid-19 and bird flu can lead to more severe illnesses.

Influenza viruses are shifty entities. They accumulate small genetic changes on a regular basis, necessitating yearly updates to the flu vaccines because the prior year’s strain may not look much like the following year’s. But they can also make sudden ...

In the UK and other northern hemisphere countries, flu season tends to run from mid-November to mid-February. In the southern hemisphere, it runs from May to July.

Questions abound about how to best inoculate the world against swine flu as health officials plan for a campaign that could dwarf any previous flu vaccination effort. Among the issues to be resolved are the amount of vaccine likely to be available,

“We’re being vigilant in testing, and there have been no cases on campus,” Cliatt said in an e-mail. “We’re screening students who arrive at McCosh [Health Center] with significant flu-like symptoms, including sending tests to local labs.”

Dr. Richard Besser traveled to China to report on the bird flu outbreak. April 16, 2013— -- HONG KONG -- A new strain of bird flu has been reported in China, and it has sickened 63 people and killed 14. I spoke with my former colleagues at the Centers ...