Despite the wave of criticism that has followed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s emergency approval of convalescent plasma to treat COVID-19 patients, infectious disease experts say the therapy remains promising. Some scientists have questioned both the timing of the approval and the veracity of a key survival statistic cited by FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen… read on >
Middle-aged men who were anxious or depressed teens are at increased risk for heart attack, according to a large, long-term study. It included more than 238,000 men born between 1952 and 1956 who underwent extensive exams when they were 18 or 19 years old and were followed to age 58. Men diagnosed with anxiety or… read on >
Here’s some reassuring news for those who wonder whether face masks really work: New research shows a face covering can block 99.9% of respiratory droplets when a person speaks or coughs, significantly lowering the risk of coronavirus transmission. Researchers at the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom conducted tests with people and with a… read on >
As the World Health Organization cautioned on Monday that using plasma from COVID-19 survivors to treat other patients is still an experimental therapy, American scientists challenged a key statistic cited by U.S. officials as grounds for emergency approval of the treatment. In announcing the approval on Sunday, President Donald Trump and two of his top… read on >
Women who are pregnant or trying to get pregnant may need to forgo coffee, tea, sodas and other sources of caffeine. A new data analysis finds no safe level of the drug during this time. “The cumulative scientific evidence supports pregnant women and women contemplating pregnancy being advised to avoid caffeine,” concluded study author Jack… read on >
Fall is approaching, and so is the possibility of what public health officials are calling a “twindemic” — overlapping epidemics of both COVID-19 and influenza. A bad flu season coupled with continued COVID-19 outbreaks could increase people’s risk of fatal illness and overwhelm hospital capacity in communities already scrambling to treat coronavirus patients, experts say.… read on >
The Trump administration has blocked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from regulating a wide swath of laboratory tests, including ones for the coronavirus. The new policy, which was posted Wednesday and is strongly opposed by the FDA itself, stunned health experts and laboratories because of its timing, the Washington Post reported. The change could… read on >
Here’s some reassuring news for pregnant women: In-person doctor visits don’t appear to make them vulnerable to COVID-19, a new study indicates. It included thousands of Massachusetts women who had babies at four Boston-area hospitals between April 19 and June 27, 2020. In the spring of 2020, there was a surge in COVID-19 cases in… read on >
Child abuse reports have plunged during the coronavirus pandemic, a troubling sign that the constraints of social distancing may mean thousands of cases are being missed, a new survey suggests. The survey, conducted by the Children’s National Alliance, found that children’s advocacy centers across the country reported serving 40,000 fewer children nationwide during the first… read on >
The largest study of its kind finds that children can carry exceedingly high amounts of the new coronavirus, even in the absence of symptoms. Researchers say that could make them ideal “silent spreaders” of COVID-19, throwing the safety of reopening schools into question. “If schools were to reopen fully without necessary precautions, it is likely… read on >
