OraSure Technologies on Tuesday announced that the Food and Drug Administration's Blood Products Advisory Committee recommended that the OraQuick In-Home HIV test be made available without a prescription.

Budget cuts have added an extra challenge to the response of health authorities in Washington state to an epidemic of whooping cough, according to published reports.

University of British Columbia researchers may have found a way to develop universal flu vaccines and eliminate the need for seasonal flu vaccinations, university officials announced Tuesday.

Since the development of the first smallpox vaccine in 1796, vaccines have saved countless lives around the world and helped to make such deadly scourges as smallpox and polio things of the past.

It seems that many U.S. adults are unaware of what inoculations are government-recommended vaccinations, while more than half are not diligent about regular checkups with their primary care physician, according to a Walgreens survey.

Children under the age of 10 years old may be especially susceptible to a new strain of influenza, according to an article published Friday in the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's "Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report."

The Food and Drug Administration has approved a generic version of a drug for diarrhea made by Watson, the company said Tuesday.

An intranasal vaccine that includes four weakened strains of influenza could do a better job in protecting children from the flu than current vaccines, research released Tuesday by St. Louis University found.

Supervalu announced that its Albertsons/Sav-On banner is offering inoculations for whooping cough at 54 of its pharmacies in Washington.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved what it called the first flu vaccine to prevent four strains of the influenza virus.

As of the beginning of February, the cough-cold season had yet to materialize and illness levels were only just beginning to climb. If that’s the case, then an expected illness peak in late February/early March would make the 2011-2012 cough, cold and flu season one of the later-peaking seasons in recent years.


The flu season is in full swing as California reported widespread influenza activity, according to data reported by state and territorial epidemiologists and published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.