https://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. At the moment, an influenza vaccine called FluMist is the only licensed intranasal vaccine approved for use in humans. The vaccine is administered through a spray of fluid in the nose, rather than with an injection. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-nose-gateway-stronger-immune.html Wed, 29 Apr 2026 14:00:06 EDT news696676322 A new study by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai overturns a longstanding assumption about how mRNA vaccines generate immunity, revealing that certain non-immune cells help determine vaccine effectiveness. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-rethinking-mrna-vaccines-liver-suppress.html Wed, 29 Apr 2026 05:00:01 EDT news696613741 A new study found that infants receiving maternal Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccination or Nirsevimab after birth had significantly lower RSV infection and health care use compared to unprotected infants. It also showed fewer severe complications in RSV-positive infants with prevention. These findings highlight the positive impact of RSV preventive measures in high-risk populations. Findings from the study will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2026 Meeting, taking place April 24–27 in Boston. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-effectiveness-maternal-rsv-vaccination-nirsevimab.html Fri, 24 Apr 2026 11:20:05 EDT news696245641 Imagine you and your partner are sitting in the waiting room of your doctor's office, waiting for your appointment to get birth control—and instead of calculating how many other people will be called before you, or perusing old magazines, a nurse hands you a digital tablet and encourages you to play a game. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-health-video-game-bridge-communication.html Thu, 16 Apr 2026 13:20:07 EDT news695561102 NTU Singapore is working with China's Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) and Swedish biotechnology company Lipigon Pharmaceuticals AB to develop a new inhaled treatment aimed at helping patients recover faster from severe lung infections. The treatment is designed to reduce excessive inflammation in the lungs, which can continue even after viruses or bacteria have been cleared from the body. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-inhaled-rna-therapy-lung-inflammation.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 15:20:01 EDT news695309641 Osteoarthritis affects around 600 million people globally. It causes pain, stiffness, and reduced joint function—most commonly in the knees, hands, and hips. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-steroid-joint-pain.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 10:40:03 EDT news695293982 Researchers at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine have identified a possible way to make longer-lasting vaccines for respiratory viruses like influenza and the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The work, published March 25 in the journal Cell Reports, focuses on T cells, a type of immune cell that helps control infections by killing virus-infected cells. Unlike antibodies—the basis of most current vaccines, which can lose effectiveness as viruses mutate—T cells recognize more stable parts of viruses, offering a path to broader protection. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-bacterial-vaccine-cues-immunity-evolving.html Tue, 31 Mar 2026 13:20:01 EDT news694177742 Beyond both being viruses, HIV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 don't seem to have a lot in common. HIV-1 is a retrovirus that integrates with its host's DNA for life and can be passed down from mother to child, while SARS-CoV-2 is contagious but temporary and cannot be inherited. And while antivirals can repress the symptoms caused by each infection, effective vaccines exist only for one. But for Rockefeller virologist Theodora Hatziioannou, the viruses have one very important thing in common: They both cause deadly pandemics. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-qa-viruses-strategies-potent-antiviral.html Mon, 30 Mar 2026 17:50:07 EDT news694109462 A growing body of evidence suggests that long COVID (or post-COVID syndrome), a condition affecting more than 10% of people after a SARS-CoV-2 infection, may be driven by the immune system turning against the body. Now, new research coordinated by UMC Utrecht and Amsterdam UMC provides some of the strongest functional evidence yet that autoantibodies (antibodies that mistakenly target the body's own tissues) could play a causal role. The work appears in Cell Reports Medicine. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-autoantibodies-implicated-drivers-covid.html Tue, 24 Mar 2026 11:00:06 EDT news693562922 An Australian tech entrepreneur has helped create what appears to be a made-to-measure cancer vaccine for his dog, Rosie, using artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT as part of the process. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-ai-cancer-vaccine-dog-oncologist.html Mon, 23 Mar 2026 18:30:04 EDT news693483426 Vaccine programs are being challenged by rising misinformation and an uncertain pipeline for research funding, the World Health Organization's immunization experts said Wednesday. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-vaccines-misinformation-spike-experts.html Wed, 18 Mar 2026 14:10:01 EDT news693058998 In recent years, scientists have discovered that some chemotherapy drugs not only kill cancer cells directly, but at least in some patients, mysteriously also trigger their immune system to attack the cancer. That would seem all but impossible, given that the immune system has a built-in safety mechanism called "self-tolerance" that blocks it from attacking a person's own cells, even abnormal cells (ones that have become cancerous). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-experimental-chemo-drug-triggers-viral.html Wed, 11 Mar 2026 16:50:05 EDT news692464921 Vaccines have traditionally worked by teaching the immune system to recognize a specific virus or bacterium—in effect, showing it a wanted poster for a single suspect. But what if one vaccine could protect against dozens of different infections at once? Researchers have now developed a potential candidate for such a vaccine, and a study in mice, published in the journal Science, offers promising results. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-universal-vaccine-colds-flu-covid.html Tue, 24 Feb 2026 15:10:06 EST news691168081 Why can the human immune system often remember a vaccination for a whole lifetime? Researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen have now investigated this question. Their study provides a surprisingly clear answer: The immune cells responsible for immunological memory seem to switch to a type of standby mode at an early stage. They can survive for many decades in this state. The findings have now been published in the journal Nature Immunology. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-immune-vaccinations-decades.html Tue, 24 Feb 2026 14:40:03 EST news691160161 A "game-changer" jab to treat opioid dependence could ease pressure on health care services, outperforming other standard treatments, a new report involving University of Hertfordshire academics suggests. But the injection, known as Buvidal, should be offered as part of a wider, person-centered treatment system, integrated with psychological support and meaningful social activities, rather than positioned as a standalone solution, authors of the report recommend. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-game-changer-jab-opioid-treatment.html Wed, 18 Feb 2026 12:08:37 EST news690638882 Ketamine, a decades-old anesthetic and fast-acting treatment for severe depression, may also offer some people rapid relief from chronic fatigue, according to a small proof-of-concept study led by researchers at Rutgers Health and the National Institutes of Health. The study is published in the journal Pharmacological Reports. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-ketamine-chronic-fatigue.html Thu, 12 Feb 2026 12:58:38 EST news690123482 Throughout the past decade, Northwestern University scientists have uncovered a striking principle of vaccine design: Performance depends not only on vaccine components but also on vaccine structure. After proving this concept across multiple studies, the team developed therapeutic cancer vaccines to tackle one of the most challenging targets yet—HPV-driven tumors. In a new study published in the journal Science Advances, the scientists discovered that systematically changing the orientation and placement of a single cancer-targeting peptide can lead to formulations that supercharge the immune system's ability to attack tumors. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-hpv-cancer-vaccine-tumor-growth.html Wed, 11 Feb 2026 14:00:15 EST news690023321 Amid a surprisingly severe flu season and a COVID-19 resurgence, those highly contagious respiratory illnesses are drawing the largest share of media coverage and public attention. But it is also the season for another respiratory illness, respiratory syncytial virus or RSV, and RSV cases are "elevated in many areas of the country," according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-rsv-immunizations-older-pregnant-people.html Wed, 21 Jan 2026 16:50:10 EST news688236541 Self-administered injectable contraceptives have been available in the United States for more than two decades, yet a new study has found only about a quarter of reproductive health experts prescribe it—and many are unaware it's even an option. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-birth-option-attention.html Thu, 08 Jan 2026 17:00:08 EST news687099421 COVID rarely rates a mention in the news these days, yet it hasn't gone away. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-12-covid-booster-shot-lp81.html Tue, 16 Dec 2025 11:29:32 EST news685106942 It may feel like you are surrounded by sniffles and coughs, but flu season activity is still low in many parts of the U.S. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-12-winter-virus-season-bad-doctors.html Sat, 13 Dec 2025 06:52:03 EST news684831073 Food and Drug Administration officials have opened a safety review of two injectable drugs used to protect babies and toddlers from RSV, the respiratory virus that sends thousands of American children to the hospital each year. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-12-fda-safety-rsv-drugs-babies.html Wed, 10 Dec 2025 04:48:21 EST news684564460 A new way to deliver protective antibodies against COVID-19 was tested in a Phase I clinical trial. Instead of injecting pre-made antibodies into patients, this approach encouraged the body to produce its own antibodies to fight off the disease-causing viruses. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-10-clinical-trial-dna-encoded-therapy.html Tue, 28 Oct 2025 09:00:01 EDT news680860730 A widely available and affordable drug has been shown to be effective in treating seriously ill COVID-19 patients, according to a new international study led by researchers at the Australian National University (ANU) in collaboration with King's College London. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-09-inhaled-heparin-ventilation-death-severe.html Sun, 28 Sep 2025 07:20:01 EDT news678262658 An mRNA vaccine developed by researchers from Japan suppressed abnormal blood vessel growth or neovascularization in the retina of mouse models. Neovascularization is a condition that is caused by age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of vision loss for elderly people. The vaccine can be delivered intramuscularly and is as effective as current therapies that require frequent eye injections, offering a more comfortable and easier-to-administer alternative for treating AMD and other neovascular eye diseases. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-09-mrna-vaccine-age-macular-degeneration.html Fri, 26 Sep 2025 13:09:04 EDT news678110941 When a new immunization to protect newborns from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) became available in late 2023, pediatricians at Temple University Hospital noted an unusually strong early interest from parents. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-09-parents-eager-newborns-rsv-hesitancy.html Thu, 25 Sep 2025 11:21:05 EDT news678018062 Four Western states are taking a different approach from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on vaccines for COVID-19, flu and RSV. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-09-west-coast-states-issue-covid.html Fri, 19 Sep 2025 11:23:08 EDT news677499783 When the first cells appeared on Earth approximately 3.8 billion years ago, viruses were already here to greet them. Ever since, viruses have been devising ways to infect cells, and cells have been responding by evolving ways to stop these infections. This evolutionary dance eventually led to the development of your immune system. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-09-immune-drugs-viruses-paradoxically-cancer.html Wed, 17 Sep 2025 12:52:04 EDT news677332321 Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s new vaccine advisory committee meets this week, with votes expected on whether to change recommendations on shots against COVID-19, hepatitis B and chickenpox. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-09-kennedy-vaccine-committee-vote-covid.html Tue, 16 Sep 2025 04:14:58 EDT news677214886 A new study led by the Centenary Institute and the University of Sydney shows that a nasal vaccine could offer powerful protection against COVID-19. It works by stopping infection in the nose before the virus spreads through the body. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-09-nasal-vaccine-approach-covid.html Thu, 04 Sep 2025 10:04:04 EDT news676199041