Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast to hear flu expert Ian Barr describe how the global system works to choose the strains of flu to vaccinate against each year.
WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza
We are one of five WHO Collaborating Centres for Reference and Research on Influenza that analyse specimens and virus isolates from influenza patients around the globe. Throughout the year we collect and analyse human influenza viruses for epidemiological, antigenic (immune response) and genetic characteristics. Data from all five Collaborating Centres are reviewed to determine which circulating influenza strains are predominant in the community and therefore would be appropriate components of seasonal vaccines.
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We may have an autumn surge in flu cases. So best start planning for your flu shot soon.
Flu vaccines will soon be available. And this year, you can get your COVID shot at the same time.
We don’t yet know what this winter’s influenza season will bring. But here’s what we can expect from the 2021 crop of flu vaccines.
Decades of experience with influenza offers insights into how we should handle new SARS-CoV-2 variants, and the threat they pose to vaccine effectiveness.
A man in the Northern Territory recently received a “weak positive” test result for COVID-19. Understanding how coronavirus tests work shows us why this can happen from time to time.
Headlines about this year’s flu season have been alarming. It’s true, we are having a serious season – but the data doesn’t indicate it’s the worst one we’ve ever had.
The 2018 flu season was mild, while 2017 was a particularly bad year. It’s impossible to predict what the 2019 flu season has in store, but we’ve seen more cases so far this year than usual.
Protection wanes after four or five months, so for most people, it makes sense to get a flu shot in mid to late May or early June so you’re protected when the flu season peaks in August or September.
It’s that time of year again when scientists and doctors make predictions about the impending flu season and we must decide whether to go out and get the flu vaccine.
A new oral antiviral drug may be a future tool in the global fight against measles, according to a new international study. The research, published today in the journal Science Translational Medicine…
Antiviral drugs are largely ineffective for reducing hospital admissions and complications from influenza, and come with serious side-effects, according to a research review published by the Cochrane Collaboration…
Facts about Flu - Today, Ian Barr considers advice about who should get a flu shot. Questions about who should be vaccinated against influenza are asked each year as the winter (and influenza) season approaches…
A paper published in the Medical Journal of Australia today provides a possible reason for CSL’s 2010 flu vaccine causing febrile convulsions in children. The authors hypothesise that suboptimal use of…
The United Nations Food and Agricultute Organisation is warning authorities to be on high alert after a mutant strain of bird flu was found to be spreading across Asia. While bird flu hasn’t traditionally…
Have you ever wondered why you need to get an influenza vaccination each year to protect yourself? Or even why it seems like another pandemic threat is announced before every flu season? Well, it’s all…
It’s almost exactly two years since the emergence of the swine flu virus was announced by the World Health Organisation (WHO). This was the first flu pandemic in 41 years and the start of another flu season…
