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WEDNESDAY, March 18, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Despite internet rumors to the contrary, the new coronavirus arose from natural causes and was not concocted in a lab, according to scientists who conducted a detailed genomic examination of the virus. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 illness, shows zero evidence of being artificially engineered, reported a team who published their findings March 17 in Nature Medicine. "By comparing the available genome sequence data for known coronavirus strains, we can firmly determine that SARS-CoV-2 originated through natural processes," study co-author Kristian Andersen, an associate professor of immunology and microbiology at Scripps Research, said in an institute news release. The research was a collaborative, international effort:...

WEDNESDAY, March 18, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Even in the midst of rising rates of suicide and substance abuse, nearly 117 million Americans live in what is known as "health professional shortage areas." Put another way, only 27% of mental health needs in those areas are being met, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). More than 6,300 additional providers would be needed to erase the gap. How did things get so bad? The dearth of mental and behavioral health professionals -- psychiatrists, psychologists, marriage and family therapists and others -- is not a recent development. It has slowly snowballed since the 1980s when state psychiatric hospitals were deinstitutionalized. "This has been a problem that's been building over decades and decades, and...

WEDNESDAY, March 18, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Brain inflammation may be more of a factor in dementia than previously believed, a new British study suggests. "We predicted the link between inflammation in the brain and the buildup of damaging proteins, but even we were surprised by how tightly these two problems mapped on to each other," said co-author Thomas Cope of the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Cambridge. The findings could lead to new treatments for several types of dementia, his team said. Brain inflammation has been linked to depression, psychosis, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease. In this study, the researchers investigated whether brain inflammation is also associated with other types of dementia. They used brain scans to assess 31...

WEDNESDAY, March 18, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- As the coronavirus pandemic continues its relentless spread around the world, the greatest worry has been for older people. But experts stress that age is not the sole determinant of risk for severe illness or death. "The elderly and people with chronic diseases have the highest risk. If you're not sure if you're at a higher risk, talk to your doctor," said Dr. Susan Bleasdale, a spokesperson for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Even then, not everyone within a high-risk category faces the same level of risk. Dr. Eduardo Sanchez, chief medical officer for prevention at the American Heart Association, said the risk exists on "a continuum." For example, having heart disease is often cited as a risk factor. Heart disease...