The World Health Organization (WHO) has agreed on the recommended composition of the trivalent influenza vaccine for the northern hemisphere 2015-2016.
The WHO recommendations reflect the currently circulating viruses in the southern hemisphere, and the change of both A(H3N2) and B virus components is based on the available surveillance and virus characterisation data.
The results from three animal species all point in the same direction: it seems possible to develop influenza vaccine candidates with at least broader cross-protection and possibly universal ones using different technologies.
On 11 September, authorities in Valencia,Spain acknowledged that the case of Chikungunya reported 3 August 2015 is a false positive. Laboratory investigation conducted by the National Reference laboratory in Madrid did not confirm the initial results.
Since the previous update of the ECDC Rapid Risk Assessment on MERS-CoV (30 June 2015), 13 new cases and seven deaths have been reported globally from South Korea (4 cases and 4 deaths), Saudi Arabia (8 cases and 3 deaths) and the Philippines who reported a travel-related MERS case related to travel in the Middle East on 6 July 2015.
This new publication from Novartis in collaboration with public health and academic researchers in Finland and the US adds to the evidence-base on how narcolepsy might have been triggered in genetically susceptible individuals.