Flu season worst in years, vaccine ineffective

siemens submitted, created time 7 months 1 week (edition.cnn.com)

This year's flu season has shaped up to be the worst in three years, partly because the vaccine didn't work well against the viruses that made most people sick, health officials said Thursday.

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Why winter is "flu season"

Barrier to bird flu transmission found in humans

jane2007 submitted, created time 10 months 3 weeks (www.nature.com)

Umbrella-shaped sugars that decorate proteins in the nose and throat could be preventing widespread human-to-human transmission of avian flu, new research suggests. Whereas normal winter flu viruses easily latch onto these sugars, the H5N1 virus that causes bird flu cannot. This helps to prevent it from colonizing the upper respiratory tract — a key step in triggering an epidemic.

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