Category: Featured
Diseases Didn’t Just Shape History, They Control the Future
Wired Even within your own body, your 30 trillion human cells can’t compete with the 40 trillion or so bacteria that live rent-free in your gut, on your skin, under your toenails. Your very DNA owes a significant chunk—about 8 percent—of its content to retroviruses, which, when they infect a sperm or egg cell, can […]
May 2, 2023
CDC set to stop tracking community levels for Covid-19
CNN As the nation’s public health emergency expires on May 11, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will stop reporting its color-coded Covid-19 Community Levels as a way to track the spread of the infection. Instead, the CDC will keep tabs on Covid-19 largely by tracking hospitalizations in some areas, according to a source familiar with the […]
May 2, 2023
CDC In October 2022, the Southern Nevada HealthDistrict (SNHD) received reports of higher-than-expectedpediatric patients in Clark County with intracranial abscessin 2022. This followed a CDC-led national investigation intothis topic, which concluded in May 2022. SNHD investigatedto confirm if this was above expected, identify common riskfactors for infection, and report findings to the community. Methods: Hospital […]
May 2, 2023
Q&A: Chronicling the failures of the U.S. response to Covid
Helen Branswell A new book on the U.S. response to the Covid-19 pandemic paints a picture of a country ill-prepared to cope with a dangerous biological foe, riven by partisan politics, and led by people who saw little political gain in taking ownership of managing the crisis. It also describes a country that remains ill-equipped […]
Apr 25, 2023
Get ready for the newest omicron COVID variant — Arcturus
(CBS News) The World Health Organization has elevated the fast-growing Omicron sublineage XBB.1.16 as a new variant of interest, and says it is outcompeting the previously dominant XBB.1.5 in many regions. XBB.1.16 is a descendant of the recombinant XBB, which is a mashup of two BA.2 sublineages. On social media, the variant has been nicknamed […]
Apr 25, 2023
A rare and lethal virus is spreading in Europe, prompting hunt for tests and cures
European Commission As a deadly disease that people can catch from ticks moves across the continent, the EU is seeking new tests and a vaccine for the infection. A 62-year-old man was bitten by a tick while hiking through fields in Spain. Two days later he began to feel ill and was taken to a […]
Apr 25, 2023
What’s Going On With Covid Right Now?
NYT Cases, hospitalizations and deaths are lower than they’ve been in years. We asked experts how to think about personal risk — and what the future likely holds. Deaths from Covid-19 in the United States are the lowest they’ve been since March 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s data tracker. Case rates […]
Apr 25, 2023
There’s a New Symptom the ‘Arcturus’ COVID Variant May be Causing
NBC Chicago News A new variant of COVID-19 starting to spread around the United States could be responsible for a new symptom that is unlike any we’ve seen with the virus so far. That variant, classified as XBB.1.16 by the World Health Organization, was designated as a “variant under monitoring” by the organization last month. […]
Apr 25, 2023
Toll in Equatorial Guinea Marburg outbreak rises to 12
GMA Network The death toll in Equatorial Guinea from an outbreak of Marburg virus, a cousin of Ebola hemorrhagic fever, has risen to 12, the health ministry said on Monday. The figures are a provisional toll based on lab-confirmed tests as of April 21, it said in an update, adding that 116 people were currently […]
Apr 25, 2023