The United States has had about 140 million COVID infections since the start of the pandemic, new data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show. That number is far higher than the 74.3 million confirmed COVID-19 cases nationwide as of Jan. 31. The new findings are from the CDC’s national antibody seroprevalence… read on > read on >
A new “test to treat” plan will be a key part of a revamped national strategy to return the country to normal, President Joe Biden announced during his State of the Union speech Tuesday night. The new testing initiative would provide Americans with new antiviral medications as soon as they learn they are infected, Biden… read on > read on >
People who’ve had COVID-19 may have long-term immune protection against new variants of the virus, but researchers say vaccination remains the best safeguard against reinfection. Their small new study analyzed blood samples from 24 people whose COVID infections ranged from symptom-free to severe enough to send them to the hospital. While those who had mild… read on > read on >
It looks like coronavirus variants can hide out in the human body much like some of their viral cousins do, making it hard for infected people to get rid of the virus entirely, researchers report. Successive variants have appeared since the original version of SARS-CoV-2 triggered the global pandemic, and vaccines and antibody treatments have… read on > read on >
If you’re a parent using Similac, Alimentum or EleCare infant formulas, here’s updated facts on the ongoing product recall. As the U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigates, Abbott Nutrition has recalled certain powdered formulas made at its Sturgis, Mich., facility. The products have been linked to bacterial infections in five babies. All had to be… read on > read on >
For reasons that remain murky, new research warns that a spike in social media use during the pandemic might have worsened tic disorders in children. Tics are sudden twitches, movements or sounds that people do repeatedly because they can’t control their body. In the study, 90% of 20 tic patients aged 11 to 21 said… read on > read on >
If you’re counting on a cloth mask to protect you from COVID-19, you may need to re-think that strategy, a new study shows. Researchers found that cloth face masks do little to fend off tiny airborne particles, while concluding that specialized N95 and similar masks do a much better job. “Masks are air filters, and… read on > read on >
Screening mammograms can lead to overdiagnosis of breast cancer, but a new study finds it happens less often than experts have thought. Researchers estimated that about 15% of breast cancers caught through routine mammography screening are overdiagnoses — meaning the tumors would never have caused harm if they had not been detected. The figure suggests… read on > read on >
Fresh data shows that Pfizer’s COVID vaccine is far less powerful at preventing infection among children ages 5 to 11 than teens, a finding that could leave some parents of younger children worried. The vaccine — the only one authorized for that age group in the United States — does prevent severe illness in young… read on > read on >
Although Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has deemed it “child abuse,” access to “gender-affirming” services cuts the odds of severe depression and maybe even suicide among transgender teens, a new study finds. Investigators came to that conclusion after tracking the mental health of 104 transgender and nonbinary kids, aged 13 to 20. Over a year, roughly… read on > read on >
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