Did you ever wonder why it is that some people get the flu even when they’ve had a flu shot, while others seem to stay well even if they’ve never had a flu shot in their lives? To answer that question, researchers at the University of Michigan infected healthy people with the flu, and then observed what happened. According to MSNBC, they discovered that, first, only half of the study subjects came down with the flu and, second, that whether they got sick or not, everyone’s body was affected by the flu.

The difference, researchers said, was in the different ways the study subjects’ immune systems responded to the virus. The scientists then studied the subjects’ gene expression to see how their immune systems reacted to it, and found that everyone’s immune systems had “significant and complex” responses, even if they didn’t get sick. The key now, the researchers said, is to find out how the immune systems of those subjects who didn’t get sick fought off the virus. The study was published in PLoS Genetics in August.

Federal regulators, consumer advocates and soap manufacturers are currently locked in a battle over triclosan, the active ingredient in many antibacterial soaps. The FDA has been reviewing the safety of the chemical for quite a while, the New York Times says, and was to announce its findings several months ago. But now the FDA is saying it may be next year before they finish their investigation.

While soap makers claim there is no proof that triclosan is dangerous to human health, new evidence indicates that it is an endocrine disrupter that disturbs thyroid hormones in laboratory frogs and rats, and sex hormones in other lab animals. It also looks like it encourages antibiotic resistance. Industry officials discount these concerns, even though the FDA proposed eliminating trisoclan from products more than 30 years ago in conjunction with a review that the FDA has yet to complete.

In a scandal that has reverberated around the world of cancer research, the Office of Research Integrity at the U.S. Department of Health found that a Boston University cancer scientist fabricated his findings. His work was published in two journals in 2009, and he’s been ordered to retract them. But important studies by other scientists like those at the Mayo Clinic, who based their work on his findings, could now make 10 years of their studies worthless, according to commentary in Gaia Health.

A new study evaluated the impact of phthalates – an industrial chemical – on reproductive outcomes and children’s health by reviewing some of the most recently published literature. According to the authors, the results suggest that:

“… there are strong and rather consistent indications that phthalates increase the risk of allergy and asthma, and have an adverse impact on children’s neurological development reflected by quality of alertness among girls, decreased (less masculine) composite score in boys and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.”

Additionally, studies show that phthalates adversely affect reproductive hormones and thyroid function, the authors said. Urging health professionals to gather more data as quickly as possible, the authors said precautionary policies must be implemented in the meantime.