Latest Health News

TUESDAY, Dec. 15, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- After years of increases, nicotine and marijuana vaping among U.S. teens plateaued this year, but still they remain high, researchers report.Data from the most recent annual Monitoring the Future survey, conducted by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, show that from 2017 to 2019, the percentage of teens who said they vaped nicotine in the past 12 months doubled: 7.5% to 16.5% among eighth graders; from 15.8% to 30.7%, among 10th graders; and from 18.8% to 35.3% among 12th graders.In 2020, rates held steady at 16.6%, 30.7% and 34.5%, respectively. And between 2019 and 2020, daily or near daily (20 occasions in the past 30 days) nicotine vaping fell from 6.8% to 3.6% among 10th graders and from 11.6% to 5.3% among 12th...

TUESDAY, Dec. 15, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Americans may have questions about possible allergic reactions as immunization with the first COVID-19 vaccine begins, and allergy experts can provide some answers.The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday, and distribution of the vaccine began on Monday. But on Dec. 9, soon after the rollout of the vaccine in the United Kingdom, regulators there warned that people with a "significant history" of allergic reactions should not receive the new shot.The advice was issued after two people suffered adverse reactions on the first day of the U.K. mass vaccination program, the Associated Press reported. The regulators said they are investigating the two cases.The American...

TUESDAY, Dec. 15, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Sickle cell disease increases the risk of death or serious complications from COVID-19 infection, a pair of new studies suggests.People with sickle cell disease -- a genetic blood disorder predominantly found in Black people -- are 6.2 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than the general Black population of the United States, one study found."Sickle cell disease patients should be aware that they are a high-risk group, because they are usually more medically vulnerable. They should definitely be taking precautions like face mask wearing, social distancing and hand hygiene," said lead researcher Dr. Lana Mucalo, of the Medical College of Wisconsin, in Milwaukee.Sickle cell disease also appears to increase the risk of hospitalization and...

TUESDAY, Dec. 15, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Humans, ferrets, cats, civets and dogs are the animals most susceptible to infection with the new coronavirus, researchers say.The analysis of 10 species also found that ducks, rats, mice, pigs and chickens were less or not susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection."Knowing which animals are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 helps us prevent building up animal reservoirs from which the coronavirus can re-emerge at a later date," said the study's senior author, Luis Serrano."Our findings offer a clue for why minks -- which are closely related to the ferret -- are being infected by the disease, which is probably made worse by their packed living conditions and close contact with human workers," he added. Serrano is director of the Center for Genomic...