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Back to school is an annual reminder to make sure children are fully vaccinated. But vaccination is a life-long health concern and the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) urges adults to use the seasonal cue to ensure their own immunizations are up to date.

A web-based program to encourage more frequent handwashing reduces the risk of catching and passing on respiratory tract infections to other household members, a randomized trial of more than 16,000 UK households published in The Lancet has found. Users of the program, called PRIMIT, also reported fewer gastrointestinal infections, a lower demand for consultations with their doctors, and fewer antibiotic prescriptions.

Scientists from the Florida campus of the Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have shown how aging cripples the production of new immune cells, decreasing the immune system’s response to vaccines and putting the elderly at risk of infection. The study goes on to show that antioxidants in the diet slow this damaging process.

National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists report that a single dose of an experimental Ebola virus (EBOV) vaccine completely protects cynomolgus macaques against the current EBOV outbreak strain, EBOV-Makona, when given at least seven days before exposure, and partially protects them if given three days prior. The live-attenuated vaccine, VSV-EBOV, uses genetically engineered vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) to carry an EBOV gene that has safely induced protective immunity in macaques. The experimental vaccine is currently undergoing testing in a global clinical trial in humans. VSV, an animal virus that primarily affects cattle, has been successfully tested as an experimental vaccine platform against several viruses.

Our bodies have 10 times the number of microbes than human cells. This set of bacteria is called microbiota. In some instances, bacterial pathogens can cause infectious diseases. However, these microorganisms can also protect us from certain diseases. Researchers from Inserm, Paris Descartes University and the CNRS (French National Centre for Scientific Research), through collaboration with teams from China and Sweden, have recently shown how microbiota protects against the development of type 1 diabetes. This research was published in the Immunity journal, on Aug. 4, 2015.