TUESDAY, May 10, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Today’s H1N1 flu — commonly known as the swine flu — appears to be a direct descendent of the influenza virus that caused the catastrophic 1918 pandemic, a new analysis shows. Genetic data drawn from 1918 flu samples recently discovered in Germany suggestsContinue Reading
TUESDAY, May 10, 2022 (HealthDay News) — In April, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched a new center to better forecast infectious disease outbreaks. It also underwent a month-long review to examine their current systems and inform future strategies. Together, these announcements paint a picture of anContinue Reading
TUESDAY, May 10, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Rare cases of COVID patients relapsing after taking the antiviral pill Paxlovid are raising questions among some experts. An earlier study of 1,000 adults showed that Paxlovid was highly effective at preventing severe COVID and the U.S. government has bought enough of theContinue Reading
MONDAY, May 9, 2022 (HealthDay News) — If you get infected with COVID-19, there may be a sliver of a silver lining: COVID may help protect you against the common cold, researchers say. The SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 belongs to a large and diverse family of coronaviruses that includeContinue Reading
FRIDAY, May 6, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Five children have died in a mysterious wave of acute hepatitis that has sickened dozens of kids across the United States during the past seven months, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday. Overall, public health officials have identified 109Continue Reading
FRIDAY, May 6, 2022 (HealthDay News) — An antiviral drug used to treat high-risk COVID-19 patients may also benefit patients with long COVID, researchers say. Paxlovid has U.S. Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorization to treat COVID-19 patients who are older than 65 or have underlying health conditions suchContinue Reading
FRIDAY, May 6, 2022 (HealthDay News) — An experimental COVID-19 vaccine in pill form could be a win-win, as it not only protects against infection but also limits the airborne spread of the virus, tests in lab animals show. The current vaccines reduce the risk of serious COVID-19 illness andContinue Reading
THURSDAY, May 5, 2022 (HealthDay News) — In an estimate that far exceeds reported totals, an expert panel appointed by the World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday that there were nearly 15 million more deaths worldwide during the first two years of the pandemic than would normally have been expected.Continue Reading
THURSDAY, May 5, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Two experimental vaccines show promise in protecting against infection with the “mono” virus, which also causes cancer and has been implicated as a potential trigger of multiple sclerosis, a new paper reports. Tested only in animals so far, the vaccines block two pathwaysContinue Reading
THURSDAY, May 5, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Yet another subvariant of of the Omicron variant is spreading rapidly in the United States and is likely to become the dominant strain within weeks, experts say. Early research suggests that BA.2.12.1 — a subvariant of the highly contagious BA.2 subvariant — isContinue Reading
WEDNESDAY, May 4, 2022 (HealthDay News) — If you’re still wiping down groceries, doorknobs and light switches in an attempt to thwart COVID-19, maybe you can relax a little: You’re 1,000 times more likely to get COVID from the air you breathe than from surfaces you touch, a new studyContinue Reading
WEDNESDAY, May 4, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Despite what you may have heard, rats and other city wildlife aren’t likely to trigger future pandemics in people, according to a new study. The COVID-19 pandemic has scientists trying to determine where future outbreaks are most likely to start. It’s long beenContinue Reading
TUESDAY, May 3, 2022 (HealthDay News) — A serious liver disease that’s struck hundreds of young children worldwide has caused the deaths of three children in Indonesia, bringing the global death toll to at least four. Nearly 170 children in 11 countries have been diagnosed with acute hepatitis in recentContinue Reading
TUESDAY, May 3, 2022 (HealthDay News) — So-called “superspreaders” aren’t necessarily carelessly mixing with throngs of people. Instead, a new study finds, some people with COVID-19 infections shed the virus for just a few days, while others do so for up to nine days. “Based on that finding, we predictContinue Reading