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Why do older people seem to get sick less often than younger people?

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Immunity as You Age

From how the virus got its name to researchers’ deepest fears about its potential, here are eight things we bet you haven’t heard about H1N1.

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Eight Surprising Facts About Swine Flu

Tired of having to get a different flu shot every year — and sometimes even having to get two? Someday we may have one shot that protects us against all the strains.

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Flu Breakthrough: The Search for a Universal Vaccine

Australian researchers report that one H1N1 swine flu shot may be enough for kids — but the CDC warns that most kids will need two vaccine doses for protection.

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Single H1N1 Swine Flu Shot for Kids?

Flu season is here, and this year, people are actually taking notice. The outbreak of the H1N1 influenza virus, commonly known as swine flu, has people reevaluating the way they live, travel, interact with each other, and even how they eat. The World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the virus a pandemic in June, and it announced in early September that at least 3,205 people have died from the virus. And while more than 60% of Americans say they are “not too” or “not at all” worried about swine flu affecting them or their families, according to a Washington Post –ABC News poll, the scare has left its mark on many parts of society, both in the United States and abroad. Here, eight ways swine flu is changing the world. 1

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8 Ways Swine Flu Is Changing Society

Pseudoephedrine 
 (SOO-doh-eff-ed-rin) What is it? Commonly found in nonprescription cold and allergy medications like Sudafed and Advil Cold & Sinus, pseudoephedrine eases stuffy noses by shrinking swollen blood vessels in your nasal passages, says John Sundy, MD, an asthma and allergy specialist at Duke University Medical Center. The buzz: Meds with pseudoephedrine were moved behind the pharmacy counter in 2006, and limits were imposed on how much you can buy

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What You Should Know About Pseudoephedrine

No one wants the aches, fever, and nausea associated with influenza—especially not fibromyalgia patients who already deal with chronic pain and discomfort on a daily basis.

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Flu Shots, Swine Flu, and Fibromyalgia: Should Pain Patients Get Vaccinated?

THURSDAY, Nov. 5, 2009 (Health.com) — A preliminary report suggesting that N95 respirators—filtering devices worn over the mouth and nose—protect against swine flu better than surgical face masks seems to be incorrect, researchers revealed during a meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). In fact, surgical face masks, which are cheaper and easier to wear, may be just as good as N95 respirators. At the very least, researchers can’t prove that one is better than the other. It’s the latest wrinkle in a continuing debate over how to protect health-care workers from the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu. Raina MacIntyre, PhD, a professor of infectious diseases epidemiology and the head of the University of New South Wales School of Public Health and Community Medicine, in Sydney, Australia, says the research team didn’t exactly retract the findings

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Respirator or Face Mask? Best Swine Flu Protection Still Debated

MONDAY, Oct. 12, 2009 (Health.com) — An analysis of the sickest swine flu patients in Australia, Canada, Mexico, and New Zealand suggests that relatively healthy adolescents and young adults are among the most likely to get very sick after an H1N1 infection, a pattern similar to that seen in the 1918 influenza pandemic. Almost all critically ill patients in the studies were sick for only a few days before rapidly progressing to more severe symptoms and respiratory failure, which required treatment with a breathing machine, according to three studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association . The mortality rate ranged from 14.3% to 41.4%, depending on the country. The findings may help shine some light on what the 2009 H1N1 flu season may bring, and who may be hit the hardest by the swine flu during the next few months

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Studies: Swine Flu Hits Young the Hardest

Swine flu vaccines are rolling out this month—finally. Health-care workers in Indiana and Tennessee were the first to get the nose-spray version, while New Yorkers clamoring for the H1N1 vaccine finally had their chance too

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Swine Flu To-Do (and Don’t Do) List