A new study confirms yet another consequence of the pandemic for children and teenagers: Eating disorders, and hospitalizations for them, rose sharply in 2020. The study of six hospitals across Canada found new diagnoses of anorexia nearly doubled during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. And the rate of hospitalization among those patients was… read on > read on >
The COVID-19 death toll in the United States reached 800,000 on Monday, and one expert believes it will likely hit 1 million at some point in 2022. The 800,156 confirmed deaths in the nearly two years since the first known U.S. victims of the coronavirus were confirmed in February 2020 is more than any other… read on > read on >
The ability of two-dose COVID-19 vaccines to protect against symptomatic infection by the Omicron variant falls significantly short, but a booster shot provides considerable protection, according to the first real-world study of how effective vaccines are against the rapidly spreading new form of the coronavirus. Four months after their second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine,… read on > read on >
The sound of mom’s voice can soothe a fussy baby like nothing else, but now new research suggests that an infant is also calmed by the scent of its mother. Prior animal studies had already shown that olfaction — smell — “is very important, that mother’s smell is very critical for attachment,” noted study author… read on > read on >
You may feel silly doing it, but baby talk helps your infant learn the basics of human language, a new study suggests. By mimicking the sound of a smaller vocal tract, baby talk guides babies on how words should sound coming out of their own mouths, the researchers explained. “It seems to stimulate motor production… read on > read on >
Long COVID can be tough to diagnose in children, but there are a number of things to look for. “Many children don’t have any symptoms when they have a COVID infection,” said Dr. Sindhu Mohandas, a pediatric infectious disease specialist and attending physician at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. “So if the symptoms of long COVID… read on > read on >
Fever-related seizures in young children can be alarming for parents, but they’re usually not life-threatening, an expert says. During a so-called febrile seizure, a child may lose consciousness, experience body stiffness and have full-body shaking. The seizures — which typically last a minute or two, but can go on longer — rarely require medication, and… read on > read on >
Children with the rare cancer neuroblastoma often succumb to the disease despite aggressive treatment. But researchers have found that adding an experimental antibody to that treatment, right off the bat, may improve their outlook. Of 64 children treated with the antibody in a clinical trial, 74% were still alive and free of a recurrence three… read on > read on >
Nearly half of 12- to 17-year-olds in the United States have had at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot, but the initial rush to get teens immunized has stalled, a new survey of parents shows. Only 1% of parents now plan to get their teen vaccinated as soon as possible; 13% said they’ll wait and see… read on > read on >
The world isn’t ready to prevent or deal with another pandemic because many nations aren’t taking the necessary steps to prepare for what is likely an inevitable future scenario, a new report shows. The Global Health Security (GHS) index — an assessment of preparedness for various health emergencies and problems — is produced by the… read on > read on >
