It’s still not OK to kiss your chickens or your ducklings — you could catch a salmonella infection from barnyard birds. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has offered that warning before, and now an agriculture expert reminds backyard farmers that it’s better to have a less hands-on approach with their feathered friends.…  read on >  read on >

As the school year gets underway across the United States, new data shows that coronavirus cases among children are climbing. Since the pandemic began, children have represented 14.8% of total cases, but for the week ending Aug. 26, that percentage jumped to 22.4%, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. While child COVID-19 cases declined…  read on >  read on >

A new, huge study provides real-world proof that mask-wearing limits the spread of the coronavirus. “I think this should basically end any scientific debate about whether masks can be effective in combating COVID at the population level,” Jason Abaluck, a Yale University economist who helped lead the study, told the Washington Post. He called the…  read on >  read on >

Radiologists still outperform artificial intelligence (AI) when it comes to breast cancer screening, a new paper shows. Many countries have mammography screening programs to detect and treat breast cancer early. However, examining mammograms for early signs of cancer means a lot of repetitive work for radiologists, which can result in some cancers being missed, the…  read on >  read on >

As the new school year begins, teachers can take comfort in a new report that finds they have no greater risk of catching or being hospitalized for severe COVID-19 than anyone else. Researchers in Scotland say that might be because many schools take precautions that other workplaces don’t. It’s also possible that the teachers in…  read on >

As doctors around the world come up against severe cases of COVID-19, some positive news has emerged: New research shows the rheumatoid arthritis drug baricitinib may help reduce hospitalized COVID patients’ risk of death. Current standard-of-care medications aren’t enough, said study co-author Dr. E. Wesley Ely, a professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center…  read on >  read on >

If you’re vaccinated against COVID-19, you may still get infected — but the odds you’ll need hospitalization are reduced by about two-thirds compared to unvaccinated people, a new study reveals. Vaccination also greatly increases the chances that COVID-19 infection will be asymptomatic and halves the risk of long-haul symptoms — those lasting 28 days or…  read on >  read on >