WHO Experts Say Healthy Kids, Teens May Not Need More COVID Shots

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• March 29, 2023
• Full Page

New advice from the World Health Organization (WHO) says healthy children and teens may not need additional COVID-19 shots, though they may need to catch up on other routine vaccines.

“The public health impact of vaccinating healthy children and adolescents is comparat...

Scientists Get Closer to Understanding 'Hidden' HIV

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• March 29, 2023
• Full Page

Researchers are closing in on another immune system “hideout” that HIV uses to persist in the human body for years.

A subset of white blood cells called myeloid cells can harbor HIV in people who’ve been virally suppressed for years, according to a new small-scale ...

COVID in Pregnancy Might Raise Odds for Neurodevelopmental Disorders in Sons: Study

• Steven Reinberg HealthDay Reporter
• March 27, 2023
• Full Page

Boys born to women who had COVID-19 during pregnancy may be at risk for developmental delays, a new study suggests.

Delays in speech and motor function were the most commonly diagnosed conditions in these children at 12 months. They were seen in boys but not in girls, th...

U.S. Effort to Fight HIV Worldwide Has Brought Lifesaving Treatment to Millions

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• March 14, 2023
• Full Page

Since it began in 2004, a global effort led by the United States to combat HIV has dramatically increased the number of people it helps, a new government report shows.

In its report, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the number of people ...

COVID Raises Odds for Long-Term Gastro Problems

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• March 8, 2023
• Full Page

Add gastrointestinal problems to the long list of lingering conditions that can follow COVID-19.

New research has found that people who have had COVID-19 are at an increased risk of gastroin...

Highlighting Link Between Flu & Heart Trouble Can Nudge Folks to Get Vaccine

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• March 7, 2023
• Full Page

Flu kills more than 500,000 people globally each year and leads to heart problems for many others. Publicizing those potential cardiac ills may spur folks to get their annual flu vaccine, researchers say.

Danish researchers who studied vaccination messaging methods said ...

COVID Lockdowns Linked to Decline in Premature Births

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• March 2, 2023
• Full Page

Premature births dropped during lockdowns in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A groundbreaking study, which included a group of mostly high-income countries — including the Unit...

Long COVID Patients Show Lower Levels of Brain Oxygen

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• March 2, 2023
• Full Page

People who have long COVID — lingering symptoms after a COVID-19 infection — may also have lower brain oxygen levels, cognitive problems and psychiatric troubles, such as anxiety and depression.

Researchers from the University of Waterloo in Canada and Drexel Univers...

Is an Allergy to a COVID Vaccine Always Real? Placebo Trial Casts Doubt

• Ernie Mundell HealthDay Reporter
• March 2, 2023
• Full Page

THURSDAY, March 2, 2023 (HealthDay) -- Allergic reactions to the Pfizer or Moderna COVID vaccines are very rare, and a new study questions whether many of those that do occur are even real.

In a small new study of 16 people who said they'd experienced an allergic reactio...

FDA Panel Backs Second RSV Vaccine for Older Americans

• Cara Murez and Robin Foster HealthDay Reporters
• March 2, 2023
• Full Page

Following hours of discussion over safety concerns, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel on Wednesday recommended approval of a second RSV vaccine, this one made by GlaxoSmithKline, for use in Americans ages 60 and older.

The panel's recommendation was base...

FDA Panel Backs Pfizer's RSV Vaccine for Older Americans

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• March 1, 2023
• Full Page

In a tight vote, U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisors on Tuesday recommended the approval of an RSV vaccine that could be used in Americans ages 60 and up.

The vaccine, known as RENOIR, was developed by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. The same panel of advisors w...

Heart Risks Rise in People With Long COVID

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• February 23, 2023
• Full Page

Having the lingering symptoms known as long COVID after a COVID-19 infection more than doubles the risk of developing new heart symptoms, according to new research.

“COVID-19 is more than a simple respiratory disease — it is a syndrome that can affect the heart,” ...

Even Mild COVID Might Change Your Brain

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• February 21, 2023
• Full Page

People who are experiencing anxiety and depression months after a mild case of COVID-19 may have changes affecting the structure and function of their brains, Brazilian researchers report.

“There is still much to learn about long COVID, which includes a wide range of h...

COVID Vaccine Bonus: Lower Heart Attack Risk If You Get Infected

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• February 20, 2023
• Full Page

A COVID-19 shot may protect a person from more than the virus alone, new research suggests.

Researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City linked vaccination with fewer heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular issues among people who...

Two Vaccines May Soon Shield Seniors Against RSV

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• February 16, 2023
• Full Page

Older people have vaccines available to prevent severe influenza and COVID-19, but there’s been nothing to protect against the third respiratory virus that contributed to this season’s wretched “triple-demic.”

Until now.

Two major pharmaceutical companies p...

Many Face Months of Lingering Symptoms After COVID Hospital Discharge

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• February 15, 2023
• Full Page

Most people hospitalized for COVID-19 are taking months to bounce back, a new study confirms.

More than 70% of patients reported experiencing lingering symptoms, including coughing, rapid or irregular heartbeat and breathlessness. About half had fatigue or physical limi...

How Worried Should the World Be About Bird Flu in Humans?

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• February 14, 2023
• Full Page

A highly infectious strain of avian influenza is tearing through commercial and backyard poultry flocks, causing egg prices to rise as sick chickens are culled across the United States.

Now, some experts are worried that the H5N1 avian flu might become humankind’s next...

Paxlovid Remains Potent Against Omicron COVID Cases

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• February 13, 2023
• Full Page

The COVID-19 antiviral treatment Paxlovid continues to work against Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, new research shows.

Researchers decided to study Paxlovid’s impact against severe illness and death because doctors have fewer treatment options for high-risk patient...

Texas Lawsuit Threatens Access to Abortion Pill Nationally

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• February 13, 2023
• Full Page

MONDAY, Feb. 13, 2023 (HealthDay News) – Access to medication abortion could be at risk nationwide because of a Texas lawsuit working its way through the court system.

Alliance Defending Freedom, the group involved in the case in Mississippi that led to the Supreme ...

Vaping Could Raise Teens' Odds for Severe COVID

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• February 10, 2023
• Full Page

Healthy young people who vape or smoke may be putting themselves at greater risk for developing severe COVID, new research finds.

Both smoking tobacco and vaping electronic cigarettes may predispose people to increased inflammation, future development of severe COVID-19 ...

New Injected Drug May Prevent Severe COVID

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• February 9, 2023
• Full Page

A single injection of an experimental biologic drug may cut in half your risk of hospitalization from COVID-19 infection, new clinical trial results show.

Pegylated lambda interferon (PEG-lambda) proved effective against all COVID-19 variants encountered in this internat...

China's Surge in COVID Cases Has Produced No New Variants: Study

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• February 8, 2023
• Full Page

Amidst the recent COVID-19 outbreak in China, scientists are saying it appears no new variants developed.

“Given the impact that variants have had on the course of the pandemic, it was important to investigate whether any new ones emerged following the recent changes ...

Deer Carry COVID Variants No Longer Seen in People

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• February 3, 2023
• Full Page

While COVID-19 variants Alpha, Gamma and Delta are no longer circulating among humans, they continue to spread in white-tailed deer.

The animals are the most abundant large mammal in North America. Scientists aren’t sure whether the deer could act as long-term reservo...

Pandemic at a Tipping Point: WHO

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• January 30, 2023
• Full Page

The pandemic has reached a “transition point,” the World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday.

Still, that doesn’t mean the public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) designation declared by the WHO in January 2020 is over yet.

The organizatio...

Updated Booster Shots, Not Original COVID Vaccines, Should Be Standard: FDA Panel

• Robin Foster HealthDay Reporter
• January 27, 2023
• Full Page

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's vaccine advisory panel on Thursday voted unanimously to recommend that the agency phase out original versions of COVID vaccines for use in the unvaccinated, in favor of updated bivalent booster shots.

Committee members also weighed...

U.S. Proposes to Make COVID Shot Annual, Much Like Flu Shot

• Robin Foster HealthDay Reporter
• January 23, 2023
• Full Page

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday asked its vaccine advisory panel to weigh a proposal to turn COVID vaccines into an annual shot for most Americans.

The committee will weigh the proposal at its Jan. 26 meeting.

Such a move would simplify future vacci...

Omicron Silver Lining: Fewer, Milder Cases of MIS-C in Kids

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• January 23, 2023
• Full Page

The COVID-19 Omicron variant caused fewer cases of a rare but sometimes deadly complication for children than the earlier Delta variant did, new research shows.

“Our study is one of the first to show that during the change to Omicron, MIS-C has become milder and increa...

Report Outlines National Plan to Test Wastewater for Harmful Germs

• Ernie Mundell HealthDay Reporter
• January 20, 2023
• Full Page

The pandemic brought the utility of testing wastewater to gauge viral spread to the fore.

Now, experts at the independent National Academies of Sciences (NAS) have issued a report out...

Vaccinated Moms' Breast Milk Could Protect Baby From COVID

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• January 12, 2023
• Full Page

Infants too young to be vaccinated for COVID-19 get some protection from their mothers’ breast milk, researchers say.

The new study follows up on findings published in ...

Bivalent COVID Boosters Offer No Extra Protection, Studies Suggest

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• January 11, 2023
• Full Page

The updated COVID-19 vaccine boosters intended to defend people against emerging Omicron variants don’t appear to provide any better protection than the original shot does, two new studies find.

The new mRNA bivalent boosters produced by Moderna and Pfizer only attack ...

Global Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccines Is on the Rise

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• January 11, 2023
• Full Page

While COVID-19 vaccine acceptance rose around the world between 2021 and 2022, wide gaps remain, according to new research.

Teams from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health in Spain (ISGlobal) and City University of New York (CUNY) also noted the need to address vacc...

Study Pushes Back Smallpox Origins Another 2,000 Years

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• January 11, 2023
• Full Page

While the origins of smallpox has remained a mystery for centuries, researchers now believe that it dates back 2,000 years earlier than previously thought.

Until recently, the earliest genetic evidence of smallpox, the variola virus, was from the 1600s. And in 2020, rese...

COVID Vaccine Is Safe for Kids Who Got Rare Complication of COVID Illness

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• January 3, 2023
• Full Page

It's safe for kids to take the COVID-19 vaccine after they’ve suffered a rare complication from a prior COVID infection, a U.S. National Institutes of Health-supported study has concluded.

Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) affects about 1 in every 3...

New COVID Pill May Be Improvement Over Paxlovid, Chinese Trial Suggests

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• December 30, 2022
• Full Page

COVID-19 patients could soon have a new antiviral pill they can take to guard against severe disease.

The treatment, called VV116, worked as well as Paxlovid in people who were at high risk of severe disease in a phase 3 trial in China.

The trial was a “great s...

Getting COVID Booster Helps Your Antibodies Last Longer

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• December 28, 2022
• Full Page

While getting a COVID-19 vaccine provides antibodies against the coronavirus, getting a booster shot creates a longer-lasting antibody response, according to new research.

“These results fit with other recent reports and indicate that booster shots enhance the durabili...

Science Reveals Cause of Smell Loss in COVID-19

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• December 27, 2022
• Full Page

One of the hallmarks of a COVID-19 infection has been a lost sense of smell after the infection ends.

In a new study, researchers blame an ongoing immune assault on the olfactory nerve cells — cells found at the top of the nasal cavity — and a decline in the number o...

Flu, RSV, COVID: Shield Yourself From the 'Tripledemic' This Holiday

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• December 22, 2022
• Full Page

Public health experts have been warning of a “tripledemic” of respiratory viruses this fall and winter, so the American Lung Association has some tips for breathing easier this holiday season.

Flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and COVID-19 are all spreading thro...

Stop Screening Asymptomatic Hospital Patients for COVID, Experts Say

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• December 22, 2022
• Full Page

A nationwide group of infection control experts recommends U.S. health care facilities stop testing patients for COVID-19 before hospital admission or scheduled surgeries if they have no virus symptoms.

The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) statement ...

Defenses Down: COVID Antibodies in Nose Decline First

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• December 21, 2022
• Full Page

Researchers think they've figured out why people can become reinfected with COVID-19, despite immunity gained from either vaccination or a previous infection.

It turns out that antibodies produced in the nose — the first line of defense against respiratory viruses like...

In Face of Tripledemic, CVS and Walgreens Limit Purchases of Kids' Pain Meds

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• December 20, 2022
• Full Page

As a tripledemic of the flu, COVID and RSV continues to spread across the United States, customers at two major pharmacy chains will now be limited as to how much children's pain relievers and fever-reducing medications they can buy for their sick child.

Both CVS and Wa...

After COVID, Surgery Risks Remain Higher for More Than a Year

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• December 15, 2022
• Full Page

Doctors and patients should consider COVID-19 history when planning surgery, according to a new study.

For patients who've had a COVID-19 diagnosis, researchers found significant postoperative problems diminish gradually over time, but risks persist more than a year afte...

Pandemic's Two-Year Global Death Toll May Be Close to 15 Million

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• December 14, 2022
• Full Page

Almost 15 million people likely died as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, nearly three times more than previously reported, a new World Health Organization study estimates.

The researchers said the COVID-19 pandemic caused about 4.5 million more deaths ...

U.S. Health Officials Urge Indoor Masking in Major Cities as 'Tripledemic' Rages

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• December 12, 2022
• Full Page

As three highly contagious respiratory viruses spread across the United States, straining hospitals and triggering drug shortages, health officials in some major cities and states are calling for a return to indoor masking.

Over the past few weeks, COVID-19, the flu and ...

Paxlovid Soon Won't Be Free for Americans

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• December 7, 2022
• Full Page

The antiviral Paxlovid has kept people from getting really sick and dying from COVID-19 since it became available -- at no cost to them.

But by the middle of next year, the U.S. government will stop subsidizing the medication. Instead, it will be billed for like many ot...

Cooler Noses May Be Key to Winter's Spike in Colds

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• December 6, 2022
• Full Page

Researchers may have sniffed out why colds are more likely in wintertime: The answer may lie within the nose.

A previously unidentified immune response inside the nose is responsible for fighting off the viruses that cause upper respiratory infections, according to resea...

Signs That COVID Infection Might Harm the Liver

• Steven Reinberg HealthDay Reporter
• December 1, 2022
• Full Page

COVID-19 may harm the liver, a small study suggests.

The virus appears to increase liver stiffness, a sign of potential long-term injury, but it's too early to tell if that portends serious liver disease, the researchers said.

"COVID infections have been obser...

Shortages of Antibiotics, Antivirals Are Making a Tough Illness Season Worse

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• November 30, 2022
• Full Page

An early surge in cold and flu cases has created shortages in key antiviral and antibiotic drugs needed for the annual “sick season,” pharmacists report.

The antiviral flu drug Tamiflu is in short supply for both adults and children, in both its brand name formulatio...

Monkeypox Renamed MPox Amid Racism Concerns

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• November 28, 2022
• Full Page

Monkeypox still exists, but its name is being phased out over racism concerns.

For the next year, the terms monkeypox and the new name mpox will be used interchangeably before the virus is permanently renamed mpox, the World Health Organization