Brown rats found and analyzed near Atlanta now carry rat lungworm, researchers report. It’s a parasite that can trigger a dangerous brain encephalitis in both people and pets, and which now threatens a wide area of the U.S. Southeast. Researchers in Georgia say the microscopic rat lungworm, known scientifically as Angiostrongylus cantonensis, typically begins its… read on > read on >
A deadly infection associated with hospitalization may not be the fault of the hospital, but may instead stem from the patients themselves, a new study suggests. Infection caused by the bacterium Clostridioides difficile, or C. diff, is still common in hospitals, despite extensive infection control procedures. The new research may help explain why that’s so.… read on > read on >
Nearly one in five counties across the United States lack psychiatrists or internet service, making it difficult for around 10.5 million Americans to find mental health care, a new study shows. The counties examined in the study were more likely to be in rural areas, have higher unemployment rates, and have populations that were more… read on > read on >
How big is a hospital bed’s carbon footprint? Pretty big, new research shows. One hospital bed alone was roughly equivalent to the carbon footprint of five Canadian households, according to researchers studying a British Columbia hospital during 2019. They identified energy and water use and the purchasing of medical products as the hospital’s primary energy… read on > read on >
Cardiac rehabilitation is a key part of recovery from a heart attack, helping to prevent another, perhaps more severe one. About 800,000 people in the United States have a heart attack every year, about one-quarter of whom have already had a heart attack, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But research… read on > read on >
A job that’s demanding but less than rewarding may take a big toll on a man’s heart health, a large new study suggests. The study, of nearly 6,500 white-collar workers, found that men who habitually felt stressed on the job had up to double the risk of developing heart disease as their peers who were… read on > read on >
Emergency medicine doctors someday might rely on consultation from artificial intelligence (AI) programs like ChatGPT to help them quickly and accurately diagnose patients’ ailments. A new study found that ChatGPT performed about as well as human doctors in diagnosing patients, when both are given the same set of clinical information. “In the end, they were… read on > read on >
Perhaps succumbing to fraudsters or facing mounting bills, older Americans begin losing wealth in the years preceding a definitive dementia diagnosis, new research shows. For example, the median household net worth of the seniors in the study dropped by more than half in the eight years before they were diagnosed with dementia, but dipped much… read on > read on >
Whole-body MRI scans are the latest health fad to be promoted by celebrities, with Kim Kardashian taking to Instagram last month to tout the practice. But doctors are warning that such whole-body scans, while tempting, are pricey and not all that accurate. In fact, the average person is more likely to be unnecessarily harmed by… read on > read on >
As people age, health issues tend to mount, but roughly a quarter of low-income adults over 65 have no medical insurance. That’s the age when most Americans become eligible for Medicare, the federal health insurance for seniors. But many of the uninsured seniors are Hispanic Americans who aren’t eligible for that coverage, or lower income… read on > read on >
