Author: Claudinne Miller
‘Sick Shaming’ at the Office Leads to Overuse of Cold Medicine Among U.S. Workers
Time At the height of the pandemic, Meg McNamara’s employer sent her home with symptoms that looked a lot like Covid, but she knew better. A negative Covid test proved that the 37-year-old’s coughs and red eyes were just her usual allergies. Determined to not be wrongly accused again, the New York-based physician’s assistant turned […]
Dec 26, 2023
Top COVID FAQs of 2023: Staying safe at home, flying tips, shot combos, new variant
NPR This is the year that the COVID-19 pandemic was declared to be no longer a global health emergency. But even though case counts are down in 2023, it’s not as if everything is back to normal. There is, for example, a new omicron variant that was first detected in late summer and has spread […]
Dec 26, 2023
Health workers struggle to prevent an infectious disease ‘disaster in waiting’ in Gaza
NPR In Gaza, the World Health Organization warns that illness may ultimately kill more people than Israel’s offensive. Infectious diseases are “soaring,” says the WHO. Over 100,000 cases of diarrhea have been reported, with rates among children 25 times higher than before the war. War has shattered Gaza’s health-care system, including its disease surveillance capabilities. So […]
Dec 26, 2023
New COVID variant JN.1 surges to 44% of cases, CDC estimates — even higher in New York, New Jersey
CBS News The new COVID-19 variant that scientists call JN.1 now makes up about 44.1% of COVID-19 cases across the country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated Friday, marking another week of the fast-spreading variant’s steep rise in the U.S. The increase is more than two times larger than the 21.3% that the CDC now […]
Dec 26, 2023
Utah clinic offers new treatment for patients dealing with Long COVID
KSL.com While the COVID-19 pandemic may seem like it’s in the rearview mirror, many people are still struggling with long-term effects of the disease. At one point in 2022, the CDC reported that 1 in 5 adults who contracted the virus were still experiencing long COVID. The numbers have decreased since then, but the effects of long […]
Dec 26, 2023
Millions Infected with Dengue as Temperature Rises
VOA The disease dengue is spreading across the Western Hemisphere in numbers not seen since record-keeping began in 1980. Experts are warning that rising temperatures and growing cities are increasing the rate of infection. More than 4 million cases have been reported throughout the Americas and the Caribbean so far this year, breaking a record […]
Dec 26, 2023
Pediatric RSV Led to Higher Hospitalization Rates than Omicron or Flu
MedPageToday A retrospective study revealed that hospital admission rates were far higher for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) than for the Omicron strain of SARS-CoV-2 or influenza A/B in children presenting at Swedish emergency departments (EDs) from August 2021 to September 2022. Hospitalization rates were 81.7% for RSV, 31.5% for Omicron, and 27.7% for influenza, Pontus […]
Dec 26, 2023
Barbie, the Titan submersible and everything else we Googled in 2023
Washington Post A lost submersible, an NFL safety who collapsed on field, the Israel-Gaza war and a ‘Friends’ star who died were some of the most searched terms in the United States on Google in 2023, according to the search engine’s year in review. People also searched for the “Barbie” movie, asked how often people think about the Roman Empire and tried to […]
Dec 26, 2023
Post-COVID ‘heart failure pandemic’ possible: Japan researchers
Mainichi Japan After contracting COVID-19, patients may have higher risk of heart failure from persistent viral infection in their hearts, even without developing notable heart disease, according to study results announced by Japanese researchers on Dec. 23. The team including researchers from Riken, Japan’s largest scientific institute, pointed out the possibility of a “heart failure […]
Dec 26, 2023
What to know about JN.1, the fastest-growing COVID-19 variant in US: Symptoms and more
Today A highly mutated COVID-19 variant, JN.1, is now the fastest growing variant in the US, the CDC says. What to know about symptoms, transmission, and vaccines. Right now, all eyes are on the new COVID variant JN.1, a heavily mutated new strain that has swept the United States in recent weeks. And with the […]
Dec 19, 2023