A new Omicron subvariant called BA.4 appears to be driving a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases in South Africa, health experts say. The number of daily cases reported by the country has shot up from just a few hundred a few weeks ago to just over 6,000, and the rate of positive tests has jumped… read on > read on >
(HealthDay News) – The first U.S. case of bird flu in a human has been confirmed in Colorado, federal and state health officials reported Thursday. Still, the risk to the general public is low, the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stressed. The patient, a 40-year-old man who was working on a farm with… read on > read on >
Thousands of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. South could have been avoided if more people masked, social distanced, kept kids from school and made other behavioral changes to reduce the spread of the virus, researchers say. In other words, if they had acted more like folks up North. The study authors suggested that if the… read on > read on >
Land parasites that pose a risk to human and wildlife health can hitch rides on the millions of pounds of microplastics that float between oceans, a new study shows. “It’s easy for people to dismiss plastic problems as something that doesn’t matter for them, like, ‘I’m not a turtle in the ocean; I won’t choke… read on > read on >
If you’re unlucky enough to need hospitalization for COVID-19, it won’t really matter which variant you’re infected with: The same level of care is required for patients with either Delta or Omicron, a new study reveals. This is true even though people infected with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 are much less likely to be… read on > read on >
An experimental vaccine given during pregnancy has shown early promise for protecting infants from a potentially severe respiratory infection. The vaccine, being developed by Pfizer, aims to protect babies from respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. Most of the time, RSV causes nothing more than a cold. But it can lead to serious lung infections in… read on > read on >
In the fall of 2021, TikTok announced a major milestone to coincide with its fifth anniversary: The amassing of roughly 1 billion global users, many of them young, turning to the app every month as a way to view, make and share bite-sized videos. But what exactly do those young users think of the app?… read on > read on >
Planet Earth is growing hotter, forcing different animal species to migrate to new areas and interact with other unfamiliar creatures at an increasing rate. That phenomenon could have dire consequences to human health, a new study says, raising the odds for new viral illnesses such HIV (which originated in primates), as well as pandemics such… read on > read on >
Moderna announced Thursday that it has asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to authorize the emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine for children under the age of 6. It’s the first vaccine maker to seek U.S. authorization of a COVID-19 shot for that age group. “We believe mRNA-1273 [the Moderna vaccine] will be able… read on > read on >
The toll of child abuse is wide-ranging and long-lasting. Researchers warn that childhood abuse is tied to high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes in adulthood, raising odds for heart disease and stroke. In contrast, those who grew up in nurturing homes are less likely to have heart disease risk factors. “Our findings demonstrate how the… read on > read on >
