User-generated content can assist epidemiological surveillance in the early detection and prevalence estimation of infectious diseases, such as influenza. Google Flu Trends embodies the first public platform for transforming search queries to indications about the current state of flu in various places all over the world. However, the original model significantly mispredicted influenza-like ill...

Vaccination against seasonal influenza viruses is the most effective way to prevent infection. A key factor in the effectiveness of the seasonal influenza vaccine is its immunological compatibility with the circulating viruses during the season. The high evolutionary rate, antigenic shift and antigenic drift of influenza viruses, represents the main obstacle for correct prediction of the vaccin...

Pneumonia and influenza together represent the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. 2 Approximately 90 percent of those who die due to these conditions are persons age 65 and older. 4 Vaccines, however, are available against both of these diseases. The pneumococcal vaccination, for pneumonia and other diseases caused by the same bacteria, is a one-time intervention in most cases; ...

The World Health Organization recommends flu vaccination as the most effective way to prevent the disease and its severe outcomes and has established the minimum vaccination coverage for people at risk at 75%. Even though healthcare workers (HCWs) represent a strongly recommended target group for flu vaccination campaigns, the average coverage among them is still inadequate. In flu season 2015/...

BACKGROUND There is a need to increase flu vaccination rates in England particularly among those under 65 years of age and at risk because of other conditions and treatments. Patients in at risk groups are eligible for free vaccination on the National Health Service (NHS) in England, but despite this, some choose to pay privately. This paper explores how prevalent this is and why people choose ...

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) issued a memo September 12, 2008, regarding the recommendations for influenza immunization for the upcoming flu season to Wisconsin physicians and others. The memo, which is reprinted here, was signed by Jeffrey P. Davis, MD, DHS’s chief medical officer and state epidemiologist for communicable diseases; Jonathan L. Temte, MD, PhD, chair of the ...

The sniffles, sneezes, aches, and pains of flu are a dreaded part of the winter season. The fear of another deadly pandemic is ever imminent, and this issue’s Select looks at recent efforts to understand this ever-shifting virus. From efforts aiming to predict its geographical spread to those that elucidate the basic viral biology and host response, researchers are looking for new ways to stay ...

Table A1. Search Terms Generated by the Crowd (a) Influenza – Crowd-Squared Search Terms and % of Turkers Mentioning Each Term Search Term % Mention Search Term % Mention Search Term % Mention Search Term % Mention sick 68% influenza 4% achy 2% fatigue 1% fever 39% coughing 4% weak 2% home 1% cough 21% germs 4% bad 2% hospital 1% cold 16% headache 4% shots 2% nyquil 1% shot 13% ache 4% body ach...

According to California's state Environmental Protection Agency (Cal EPA), the people of Lompoc have been lodging formal complaints about pesticide drift and health problems for at least six years, since 1993. George Rauh, a teacher who moved to Lompoc in 1989, says, "For the first two years, I thought it was great. Then I got chronic bronchitis. I had never had anything like it, and I knew som...