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08 Nov

Simple Swab Test Helps Identify Severe Cases of RSV, New Study Finds

A nasal swab test helps researchers identify which children may require more time in the ICU to recover from RSV.

Health News Results - 1462

WHO Experts Say Healthy Kids, Teens May Not Need More COVID Shots

New advice from the World Health Organization (WHO) says healthy children and teens may not need additional COVID-19 shots, though they may need to catch up on other routine vaccines.

“The public health impact of vaccinating healthy children and adolescents is comparatively much lower than the established benefits of traditional essential vaccines for children – such as the rotavirus,...

Scientists Get Closer to Understanding 'Hidden' HIV

Researchers are closing in on another immune system “hideout” that HIV uses to persist in the human body for years.

A subset of white blood cells called myeloid cells can harbor HIV in people who’ve been virally suppressed for years, according to a new small-scale study funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The researchers showed that HIV in specific myeloid ...

COVID in Pregnancy Might Raise Odds for Neurodevelopmental Disorders in Sons: Study

Boys born to women who had COVID-19 during pregnancy may be at risk for developmental delays, a new study suggests.

Delays in speech and motor function were the most commonly diagnosed conditions in these children at 12 months. They were seen in boys but not in girls, the study authors said.

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  • Steven Reinberg HealthDay Reporter
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  • March 27, 2023
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  • U.S. Effort to Fight HIV Worldwide Has Brought Lifesaving Treatment to Millions

    Since it began in 2004, a global effort led by the United States to combat HIV has dramatically increased the number of people it helps, a new government report shows.

    In its report, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the number of people receiving lifesaving HIV treatment through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has increased 300 t...

    COVID Raises Odds for Long-Term Gastro Problems

    Add gastrointestinal problems to the long list of lingering conditions that can follow COVID-19.

    New research has found that people who have had COVID-19 are at an increased risk of gastrointestinal disorders within a year of their infection — including liver problems, acute pancreatitis, irritable bowel sy...

    Highlighting Link Between Flu & Heart Trouble Can Nudge Folks to Get Vaccine

    Flu kills more than 500,000 people globally each year and leads to heart problems for many others. Publicizing those potential cardiac ills may spur folks to get their annual flu vaccine, researchers say.

    Danish researchers who studied vaccination messaging methods said the two best ways to get people to roll up their sleeves were either a simple reminder or by noting the link between con...

    COVID Lockdowns Linked to Decline in Premature Births

    Premature births dropped during lockdowns in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    A groundbreaking study, which included a group of mostly high-income countries — including the United States, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Denmark and Switzerland — found there were about 4% fewer preterm births than would...

    Long COVID Patients Show Lower Levels of Brain Oxygen

    People who have long COVID — lingering symptoms after a COVID-19 infection — may also have lower brain oxygen levels, cognitive problems and psychiatric troubles, such as anxiety and depression.

    Researchers from the University of Waterloo in Canada and Drexel University in Philadelphia combined

    Is an Allergy to a COVID Vaccine Always Real? Placebo Trial Casts Doubt

    THURSDAY, March 2, 2023 (HealthDay) -- Allergic reactions to the Pfizer or Moderna COVID vaccines are very rare, and a new study questions whether many of those that do occur are even real.

    In a small new study of 16 people who said they'd experienced an allergic reaction to a dose of the Pfizer vaccine, those who got a follow-up placebo (fake) vaccine were more likely to complai...

    FDA Panel Backs Second RSV Vaccine for Older Americans

    Following hours of discussion over safety concerns, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel on Wednesday recommended approval of a second RSV vaccine, this one made by GlaxoSmithKline, for use in Americans ages 60 and older.

    The panel's recommendation was based largely on the results of a trial that tested the GlaxoSmithKline vaccine in the same age group. Those findings, publi...

    FDA Panel Backs Pfizer's RSV Vaccine for Older Americans

    In a tight vote, U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisors on Tuesday recommended the approval of an RSV vaccine that could be used in Americans ages 60 and up.

    The vaccine, known as RENOIR, was developed by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. The same panel of advisors will weigh the potential approval of another respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine, this one from GlaxoSmithKline, on...

    Heart Risks Rise in People With Long COVID

    Having the lingering symptoms known as long COVID after a COVID-19 infection more than doubles the risk of developing new heart symptoms, according to new research.

    “COVID-19 is more than a simple respiratory disease — it is a syndrome that can affect the heart,” said lead study author Joanna Lee, a medical student at Da...

    Even Mild COVID Might Change Your Brain

    People who are experiencing anxiety and depression months after a mild case of COVID-19 may have changes affecting the structure and function of their brains, Brazilian researchers report.

    “There is still much to learn about long COVID, which includes a wide range of health problems, including anxiety and depression, months after infection,” said

  • Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
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  • February 21, 2023
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  • COVID Vaccine Bonus: Lower Heart Attack Risk If You Get Infected

    A COVID-19 shot may protect a person from more than the virus alone, new research suggests.

    Researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City linked vaccination with fewer heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular issues among people who later got COVID-19.

    The investigators described their study as the first to examine both full and partial vaccina...

    Two Vaccines May Soon Shield Seniors Against RSV

    Older people have vaccines available to prevent severe influenza and COVID-19, but there’s been nothing to protect against the third respiratory virus that contributed to this season’s wretched “triple-demic.”

    Until now.

    Two major pharmaceutical companies published clinical trial results this week that pave the way for an RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) vaccine to be avail...

    Many Face Months of Lingering Symptoms After COVID Hospital Discharge

    Most people hospitalized for COVID-19 are taking months to bounce back, a new study confirms.

    More than 70% of patients reported experiencing lingering symptoms, including coughing, rapid or irregular heartbeat and breathlessness. About half had fatigue or physical limitations. All of these symptoms are associated with long COVID-19.

    “My clinic patients often want to know how so...

    How Worried Should the World Be About Bird Flu in Humans?

    A highly infectious strain of avian influenza is tearing through commercial and backyard poultry flocks, causing egg prices to rise as sick chickens are culled across the United States.

    Now, some experts are worried that the H5N1 avian flu might become humankind’s next pandemic-causing pathogen, if the raging virus makes the leap from birds to humans.

    That’s because other mammal...

    Paxlovid Remains Potent Against Omicron COVID Cases

    The COVID-19 antiviral treatment Paxlovid continues to work against Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, new research shows.

    Researchers decided to study Paxlovid’s impact against severe illness and death because doctors have fewer treatment options for high-risk patients as the virus evolves.

    “We are really struggling with maintaining effective therapeutic options for high-risk p...

    Texas Lawsuit Threatens Access to Abortion Pill Nationally

    MONDAY, Feb. 13, 2023 (HealthDay News) – Access to medication abortion could be at risk nationwide because of a Texas lawsuit working its way through the court system.

    Alliance Defending Freedom, the group involved in the case in Mississippi that led to the Supreme Court overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, also filed this lawsuit.

    The case will be decided by

  • Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
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  • February 13, 2023
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  • Vaping Could Raise Teens' Odds for Severe COVID

    Healthy young people who vape or smoke may be putting themselves at greater risk for developing severe COVID, new research finds.

    Both smoking tobacco and vaping electronic cigarettes may predispose people to increased inflammation, future development of severe COVID-19 and lingering cardiovascular complications, said lead study author

  • Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
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  • February 10, 2023
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  • New Injected Drug May Prevent Severe COVID

    A single injection of an experimental biologic drug may cut in half your risk of hospitalization from COVID-19 infection, new clinical trial results show.

    Pegylated lambda interferon (PEG-lambda) proved effective against all COVID-19 variants encountered in this international study, including Omicron, according to findings reported Feb. 9 in the

  • Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
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  • February 9, 2023
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  • China's Surge in COVID Cases Has Produced No New Variants: Study

    Amidst the recent COVID-19 outbreak in China, scientists are saying it appears no new variants developed.

    “Given the impact that variants have had on the course of the pandemic, it was important to investigate whether any new ones emerged following the recent changes to China’s COVID-19 prevention and control policies,” said lead author

  • Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
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  • February 8, 2023
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  • Deer Carry COVID Variants No Longer Seen in People

    While COVID-19 variants Alpha, Gamma and Delta are no longer circulating among humans, they continue to spread in white-tailed deer.

    The animals are the most abundant large mammal in North America. Scientists aren’t sure whether the deer could act as long-term reservoirs for these obsolete variants.

    In a new study, researchers at Cornell University, in Ithaca, N.Y., collected 5,...

    Pandemic at a Tipping Point: WHO

    The pandemic has reached a “transition point,” the World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday.

    Still, that doesn’t mean the public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) designation declared by the WHO in January 2020 is over yet.

    The organization’s International Health Regulations Emergency Committee met last week to discuss COVID-19, saying in a

  • Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
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  • January 30, 2023
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  • Updated Booster Shots, Not Original COVID Vaccines, Should Be Standard: FDA Panel

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's vaccine advisory panel on Thursday voted unanimously to recommend that the agency phase out original versions of COVID vaccines for use in the unvaccinated, in favor of updated bivalent booster shots.

    Committee members also weighed a proposal to streamline the dosing schedule for COVID vaccines by turning them into annual shots that would likely be ...

    U.S. Proposes to Make COVID Shot Annual, Much Like Flu Shot

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday asked its vaccine advisory panel to weigh a proposal to turn COVID vaccines into an annual shot for most Americans.

    The committee will weigh the proposal at its Jan. 26 meeting.

    Such a move would simplify future vaccination efforts, a critical point given the fact that efforts to get people to get COVID booster shots have fallen far sh...

    Omicron Silver Lining: Fewer, Milder Cases of MIS-C in Kids

    The COVID-19 Omicron variant caused fewer cases of a rare but sometimes deadly complication for children than the earlier Delta variant did, new research shows.

    “Our study is one of the first to show that during the change to Omicron, MIS-C has become milder and increasingly rare,” said senior researcher

    Report Outlines National Plan to Test Wastewater for Harmful Germs

    The pandemic brought the utility of testing wastewater to gauge viral spread to the fore.

    Now, experts at the independent National Academies of Sciences (NAS) have issued a report outlining a roadmap for the broader surveillance of Americans' wastewater.

    The report "reviews the usefulness of comm...

    Vaccinated Moms' Breast Milk Could Protect Baby From COVID

    Infants too young to be vaccinated for COVID-19 get some protection from their mothers’ breast milk, researchers say.

    The new study follows up on findings published in 2021 that showed the breast milk of vaccinated people contained antibodies against the COVID-19 virus.

    For the stu...

    Bivalent COVID Boosters Offer No Extra Protection, Studies Suggest

    The updated COVID-19 vaccine boosters intended to defend people against emerging Omicron variants don’t appear to provide any better protection than the original shot does, two new studies find.

    The new mRNA bivalent boosters produced by Moderna and Pfizer only attack the COVID-19 virus about as well as the companies’ first-wave vaccines, according to

  • Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
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  • January 11, 2023
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  • Global Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccines Is on the Rise

    While COVID-19 vaccine acceptance rose around the world between 2021 and 2022, wide gaps remain, according to new research.

    Teams from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health in Spain (ISGlobal) and City University of New York (CUNY) also noted the need to address vaccine hesitancy with tailored communication strategies.

    “The pandemic is not over, and authorities must urgently a...

    Study Pushes Back Smallpox Origins Another 2,000 Years

    While the origins of smallpox has remained a mystery for centuries, researchers now believe that it dates back 2,000 years earlier than previously thought.

    Until recently, the earliest genetic evidence of smallpox, the variola virus, was from the 1600s. And in 2020, researchers found evidence of it in the dental remains of Viking skeletons, pushing its existence 1,000 years earlier.

    COVID Vaccine Is Safe for Kids Who Got Rare Complication of COVID Illness

    It's safe for kids to take the COVID-19 vaccine after they’ve suffered a rare complication from a prior COVID infection, a U.S. National Institutes of Health-supported study has concluded.

    Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) affects about 1 in every 3,000 to 4,000 kids who contract COVID-19, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    The co...

    New COVID Pill May Be Improvement Over Paxlovid, Chinese Trial Suggests

    COVID-19 patients could soon have a new antiviral pill they can take to guard against severe disease.

    The treatment, called VV116, worked as well as Paxlovid in people who were at high risk of severe disease in a phase 3 trial in China.

    The trial was a “great success,” study co-author Ren Zhao, a professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, said in a

    Getting COVID Booster Helps Your Antibodies Last Longer

    While getting a COVID-19 vaccine provides antibodies against the coronavirus, getting a booster shot creates a longer-lasting antibody response, according to new research.

    “These results fit with other recent reports and indicate that booster shots enhance the durability of vaccine-elicited antibodies,” said senior researcher

  • Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
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  • December 28, 2022
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  • Science Reveals Cause of Smell Loss in COVID-19

    One of the hallmarks of a COVID-19 infection has been a lost sense of smell after the infection ends.

    In a new study, researchers blame an ongoing immune assault on the olfactory nerve cells — cells found at the top of the nasal cavity — and a decline in the number of those cells. The study was led by a team at Duke Health in Durham, N.C.

    “One of the first symptoms that has ty...

    Flu, RSV, COVID: Shield Yourself From the 'Tripledemic' This Holiday

    Public health experts have been warning of a “tripledemic” of respiratory viruses this fall and winter, so the American Lung Association has some tips for breathing easier this holiday season.

    Flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and COVID-19 are all spreading throughout the United States, overwhelming health care systems.

    One way to make holiday or seasonal gatherings safer ...

    Stop Screening Asymptomatic Hospital Patients for COVID, Experts Say

    A nationwide group of infection control experts recommends U.S. health care facilities stop testing patients for COVID-19 before hospital admission or scheduled surgeries if they have no virus symptoms.

    The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) statement says facilities should rely instead on enhanced layers of infection prevention.

    “The small benefits that could c...

    Defenses Down: COVID Antibodies in Nose Decline First

    Researchers think they've figured out why people can become reinfected with COVID-19, despite immunity gained from either vaccination or a previous infection.

    It turns out that antibodies produced in the nose — the first line of defense against respiratory viruses like COVID — decline faster than antibodies found in the bloodstream, British scientists say.

    Nasal antibodies tend ...

    In Face of Tripledemic, CVS and Walgreens Limit Purchases of Kids' Pain Meds

    As a tripledemic of the flu, COVID and RSV continues to spread across the United States, customers at two major pharmacy chains will now be limited as to how much children's pain relievers and fever-reducing medications they can buy for their sick child.

    Both CVS and Walgreens confirmed the limits Monday, CNN reported, though they've approached it in different ways.

    Walgre...

    After COVID, Surgery Risks Remain Higher for More Than a Year

    Doctors and patients should consider COVID-19 history when planning surgery, according to a new study.

    For patients who've had a COVID-19 diagnosis, researchers found significant postoperative problems diminish gradually over time, but risks persist more than a year after the illness.

    That time frame is longer than previously known, said the research team from Vanderbilt University ...

    Pandemic's Two-Year Global Death Toll May Be Close to 15 Million

    Almost 15 million people likely died as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, nearly three times more than previously reported, a new World Health Organization study estimates.

    The researchers said the COVID-19 pandemic caused about 4.5 million more deaths than would have been expected in 2020, and 10.4 million more in 2021, according to the report published online Dec. 14 i...

    U.S. Health Officials Urge Indoor Masking in Major Cities as 'Tripledemic' Rages

    As three highly contagious respiratory viruses spread across the United States, straining hospitals and triggering drug shortages, health officials in some major cities and states are calling for a return to indoor masking.

    Over the past few weeks, COVID-19, the flu and RSV have made millions of Americans ill, and indoor masking is seen as one way to slow the spread of the viruses.

    ...

    Paxlovid Soon Won't Be Free for Americans

    The antiviral Paxlovid has kept people from getting really sick and dying from COVID-19 since it became available -- at no cost to them.

    But by the middle of next year, the U.S. government will stop subsidizing the medication. Instead, it will be billed for like many other medications.

    While the Biden administration has paid about $530 for each course of the medication by buying 2...

    Cooler Noses May Be Key to Winter's Spike in Colds

    Researchers may have sniffed out why colds are more likely in wintertime: The answer may lie within the nose.

    A previously unidentified immune response inside the nose is responsible for fighting off the viruses that cause upper respiratory infections, according to researchers at Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Northeastern University in Boston.

    Unfortunately, cold weather inhibits th...

    Signs That COVID Infection Might Harm the Liver

    COVID-19 may harm the liver, a small study suggests.

    The virus appears to increase liver stiffness, a sign of potential long-term injury, but it's too early to tell if that portends serious liver disease, the researchers said.

    "COVID infections have been observed to cause inflammation and damage to a number of different organ systems like the brain, the intestines and the liver...

    Shortages of Antibiotics, Antivirals Are Making a Tough Illness Season Worse

    An early surge in cold and flu cases has created shortages in key antiviral and antibiotic drugs needed for the annual “sick season,” pharmacists report.

    The antiviral flu drug Tamiflu is in short supply for both adults and children, in both its brand name formulation as well as the generic version, said Mich...

    Monkeypox Renamed MPox Amid Racism Concerns

    Monkeypox still exists, but its name is being phased out over racism concerns.

    For the next year, the terms monkeypox and the new name mpox will be used interchangeably before the virus is permanently renamed mpox, the World Health Organization

  • Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
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  • November 28, 2022
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  • COVID in Pregnancy Can Vary — Get Vaccinated to Stay Safe

    When pregnant women contract COVID-19, one in 10 will have moderate, severe or even critical symptoms, a new study finds.

    So it's important they get their COVID vaccines, experts say.

    “Given that patients in all trimesters of pregnancy are susceptible to infection and severe respiratory illness from COVID-19, these findings add urgency to the need for vaccination of all pregnant i...

    Diabetes Drug Metformin Might Keep Severe COVID Away

    A century-old diabetes drug seems to help keep high-risk COVID-19 patients from falling deathly ill, a new study reports.

    Metformin reduced the risk of death from COVID-19 by 44% in a group of diabetics who were taking the drug when they became infected with the coronavirus, according t...

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