In a sign that the pandemic may have spared pregnant women and their newborns, a new Canadian study suggests there was no increase in preterm births or stillbirths during the first year of the pandemic. Some studies found preterm birth rates in countries such as the Netherlands, Ireland and the United States fell during the… read on > read on >
Kids who are around people who use marijuana may be at risk for more colds and respiratory infections due to secondhand smoke, according to a new study. In a survey of 1,500 parents and caregivers, those who regularly smoked or vaped marijuana reported more respiratory viruses among their children in the preceding year, compared to… read on > read on >
U.S. health officials have some reassuring news about the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine in young people: Among millions of U.S. teens who’ve received Pfizer’s shots, serious side effects have been rare. As of July 16, close to 9 million teens, aged 12 to 17, had received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine — the only one okayed… read on > read on >
All pregnant women should be vaccinated “without delay” against COVID-19, two leading groups of U.S. obstetric specialists recommend. That advice — from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) — is based on tens of thousands of cases over the past several months showing that vaccination during… read on > read on >
A rise in cases of a common childhood disease called respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is unfolding just as coronavirus infections are increasing among children. RSV is a highly contagious, flu-like illness that causes symptoms such as runny nose, coughing, sneezing and fever, and is more likely to affect children and older adults, The New York… read on > read on >
Florida reached another grim milestone on Sunday when it broke a previous record for COVID-19 hospitalizations that was set before vaccines were available. The new hospitalization record came a day after the state recorded the most new daily COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, the Associated Press reported. As of Sunday, Florida had… read on > read on >
Kids may be able to swim their way to a deeper vocabulary. That’s the takeaway from a study in which researchers taught 48 kids ages 6 to 12 a few new words before they swam, did CrossFit-type exercises or coloring. The swimmers did 13% better in follow up tests of the new words — an… read on > read on >
The Cape Cod resort town of Provincetown draws big crowds every summer. In July, those largely vaccinated crowds — packed into bars, restaurants and private homes — were the genesis of an outbreak of the Delta variant that could be a sobering model for the nation. New data on the outbreak, released Friday, shows there… read on > read on >
Teens have a far greater risk of heart inflammation from COVID-19 than from the vaccines that protect against it, new research shows. “Comparative risk can complicate decisions for parents in such highly charged health debates,” said lead author Mendel Singer, vice chair for education at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland. “But… read on > read on >
A new internal government document claims the Delta variant appears to cause more severe illness than earlier coronavirus variants and spreads as easily as chickenpox. In laying out the evidence that this variant looks like the most dangerous one yet, the document urges health officials to “acknowledge the war has changed,” the Washington Post reported.… read on > read on >
