Latest Health News

MONDAY, April 18, 2022 (HealthDay News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) is investigating an unexplained increase in severe liver infection in children around the world including in the United States and the United Kingdom.The severe acute hepatitis cases have led to hospitalizations and even some liver transplants, but not deaths, CBS News reported. In Alabama, the state has reported nine cases of hepatitis in children aged 1 to 6 since October 2021, according to the state's Department of Public Health.On April 5, the WHO was notified of 10 severe acute hepatitis cases in children younger than 10 in Central Scotland. Within three days, the number of cases in children in the United Kingdom grew to 74. The WHO also has received reports of fewer than five cases in Ireland and...

MONDAY, April 18, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine may have some slight advantages over the Pfizer shot, new research suggests.For the study, researchers tracked antibody levels in 234 people for 10 months after they received either the two-dose Pfizer (114 people) or Moderna (114 people) mRNA vaccines, or the single-dose Johnson & Johnson (6 people) shot, which uses a different mechanism to protect against infection.A week to 20 days after their second dose, antibody levels in those who received the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were about 50 times higher than those in the J&J recipients. Antibodies in both the Pfizer and Moderna groups then began to drop, but the decline was greater in Pfizer recipients, the study found.After six months, antibody levels in the Pfizer...

MONDAY, April 18, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- U.S. health care workers were most likely to be infected with COVID-19 at work during the pandemic's first year, according to a new study that challenges previous research suggesting their risk was highest off the job.Researchers said their findings could help guide efforts to better protect health care workers during future infectious disease outbreaks."This study provides important insights to guide infection prevention and control practices in health care settings so that we can better protect HCPs [health care professionals] and their patients," said Linda Dickey, president of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), which published the findings in its journal.For the study, researchers analyzed data...

MONDAY, April 18, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- New studies add to the extensive body of research showing the many risks that lead poses to youngsters. The association between lead exposure and children's IQ is well-documented, but these University of Pennsylvania studies revealed how lead affects children's stress responses and behavior. One study found a significant association between lead exposure in early childhood and poorly regulated heart rate variability during a stress-triggering task in early adolescence. This suggests an abnormal ("dysregulated") stress response. The findings have implications for heart health and overall growth and development, according to the study authors. "The biological mechanisms underpinning the relationship between lead and physiological stress...