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THURSDAY, Jan. 20, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- New research shows that mosquitoes infected with the dengue virus bite more often, which triples the risk of transmitting the disease to people.Dengue is one of the most common mosquito-borne diseases. It affects more than 400 million people each year worldwide, killing around 40,000.Most infected people have no symptoms or mild ones such as nausea, vomiting, rash, fever and aches and pains. However, 1 in 20 infected people develops severe dengue, which can lead to shock, internal bleeding and death.In this lab study, researchers used high-resolution video to observe the blood-feeding behavior of dengue-infected and non-infected mosquitoes using mice. The videos were then analyzed using computer software."We found that the dengue virus...

THURSDAY, Jan. 20, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- As air pollution worsens, fruits, flowers and the creatures that pollinate them could pay a price.That's the takeaway from British researchers who used special equipment to control levels of two common pollutants — diesel exhaust and ozone — in a field of black mustard plants, and then monitored pollinating insects over two summers. "We knew from our previous lab studies that diesel exhaust can have negative effects on insect pollinators, but the impacts we found in the field were much more dramatic than we had expected," said project leader Robbie Girling, an associate professor in agroecology at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom.There were up to 70% fewer pollinators to the affected fields; up to 90% fewer flower visits;...

THURSDAY, Jan. 20, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Skin side effects caused by cancer drugs called immune checkpoint inhibitors may be a telltale sign that the drugs are working, according to a new study.Immune checkpoint inhibitors, a type of immunotherapy, boost the body's immune response against tumor cells and have become standard care for many patients with advanced cancer. However, many experience skin side effects from the drugs.To learn more, researchers assessed data from more than 14,000 patients in the United States and Europe who were treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors. About half of them developed skin side effects."Skin toxicities tend to occur early in the course of immunotherapy and present an opportunity to evaluate efficacy soon after initiating treatment," said...

THURSDAY, Jan. 20, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Folks who've had a tough case of COVID-19 shouldn't hit the gym for basketball or an aerobics class without getting checked out by their doctor first, according to the American College for Sports Medicine.The disease wracks the body in ways that can be tough on athletes, especially if they develop "long" COVID, sports medicine expert Dr. Meredith Turner said in a college advisory."These persistent symptoms, including cough, elevated resting heart rate and extreme fatigue, can last for weeks to months after COVID-19 infections," Turner said. "Cardiac damage has been seen in about one quarter of patients with severe COVID-19 illness."The severity of your bout with COVID is a sign of the risk you face returning to physical activity, said Turner,...