Latest Health News

27Jul
2020

States With Soaring COVID Cases Must Take Action, U.S. Health Officials Say

States With Soaring COVID Cases Must Take Action, U.S. Health Officials SayMONDAY, July 27, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said Sunday that federal health officials are recommending the closing of bars, cutting indoor restaurant capacity and limiting social gatherings to 10 people in states where COVID-19 cases are climbing. Birx added that "100%" of individuals should wear masks in public or around others, the Washington Post reported, as the number of U.S. coronavirus cases climbed past 4.2 million. "We can see what is happening in the South moving North," said Birx, referring to soaring numbers of COVID-19 cases in states including Florida, Texas, Alabama and Georgia. "We do believe there are states that do need to close their bars," she said. Birx has visited states in the South and Southwest, and is now...

Don't Forget Good Sleep Habits During Summer

26 July 2020
Don`t Forget Good Sleep Habits During SummerSUNDAY, July 26, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Summer means long, carefree days outside, but don't let that sabotage your slumber, sleep experts say. An American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) survey found that 36% of U.S. adults said they sleep less in the summer, with the highest rates in the West (42%) and Midwest (40%). "The lure of the outdoors and more daylight can make it tempting to delay bedtimes, but it's important to get healthy sleep in every season," AASM president Dr. Kannan Ramar said in an academy news release. During the summer, go to bed at a time that allows you to get enough sleep to wake up feeling refreshed and alert. The AASM's bedtime calculator can help you determine an appropriate bedtime for your schedule. The AASM also offers the following advice to help...

Parents: Sharpen up on Your Sunscreen Knowledge

25 July 2020
Parents: Sharpen up on Your Sunscreen KnowledgeSATURDAY, July 25, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Most American parents know that sunscreen is important for their children, but there are gaps in their knowledge of its proper use, a new survey finds. The majority of the more than 1,100 parents of children aged 5 to 12 said they've at least sometimes used sunscreen on their kids, and that sunscreen is very important in preventing sunburns and skin cancer. However, the survey found that 11% of parents don't have a specific minimum sun-protection factor (SPF) they use and 3% said they don't use sunscreen for their child. Parents said they consider several factors in deciding whether to use sunscreen, including how long their child will be outside, what their child is wearing, their child's complexion and skin tone, whether their child will...

What Puts You at High Risk of Midlife Mental Decline?

24 July 2020
What Puts You at High Risk of Midlife Mental Decline?FRIDAY, July 24, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Your thinking skills may be at risk of declining in midlife if you smoke or have high blood pressure or diabetes, a new study suggests. Heart disease risk factors -- especially high blood pressure and diabetes -- have become more common in midlife, the study authors noted. "We found those two risk factors, as well as smoking, are associated with higher odds of having accelerated cognitive [mental] decline, even over just a short span of five years," said lead author Dr. Kristine Yaffe. She's a professor of psychiatry, neurology and epidemiology at the University of California, San Francisco. "It's encouraging to know that there are behaviors people can modify in midlife to help prevent the steepest declines in thinking and memory as they...

Summer's Toxic Algae Blooms: A Growing Threat to Health?

24 July 2020
Summer`s Toxic Algae Blooms: A Growing Threat to Health?FRIDAY, July 24, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Every summer seems to bring fresh warnings of toxic algae blooming in local ponds, lakes and waterways. These toxic blooms are known to be dangerous to human and animal health, but a new study suggests they might be even more harmful than previously thought. A single massive blue-green algae bloom in Florida's Lake Okeechobee and the Caloosahatchee River flowed into the Gulf of Mexico in 2018 and combined with a red tide algae bloom to create a toxic stew just off the Fort Myers coast, according to an analysis published online July 18 in Neurotoxicity Research. The blended waters had high enough concentrations of a liver toxin called microcystin-LR to be dangerous to humans and animals if ingested, said lead study author James Metcalf. He's...

History Lesson: How Social Distancing Beat Typhus in the Warsaw Ghetto

24 July 2020
History Lesson: How Social Distancing Beat Typhus in the Warsaw GhettoFRIDAY, July 24, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- In a finding that could inform the world's response to the coronavirus pandemic, researchers say they determined how public health measures beat an outbreak of typhus in the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II. Using mathematical modeling and historical documents, the study showed how community health programs and social distancing beat back the epidemic. In 1941, the Nazis confined more than 450,000 Jews to the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland. "With poor conditions, rampant starvation and a population density five to 10 times higher than any city in the world today, the Warsaw Ghetto presented the perfect breeding ground for bacteria to spread typhus, and it ripped through the mainly Jewish population there like a wildfire," said researcher Lewi...

CDC Issues Call to Reopen America's Schools This Fall

24 July 2020
CDC Issues Call to Reopen America`s Schools This FallFRIDAY, July 24, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Facing opposition from President Donald Trump and others, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a document supporting a reopening of the nation's schools this fall. "As families and policymakers make decisions about their children returning to school, it is important to consider the full spectrum of benefits and risks of both in-person and virtual learning options," the agency said in a document posted on its website Thursday night. The COVID-19-related health risks to kids are minimal compared to those faced by adults, the CDC said. Citing numerous studies, the agency stressed that "the best available evidence indicates if children become infected, they are far less likely to suffer severe symptoms. Death rates...

Skeletons May Put Blame on Vikings for Smallpox' Spread

24 July 2020
Skeletons May Put Blame on Vikings for Smallpox` SpreadFRIDAY, July 24, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- The Vikings had smallpox and may have spread it wherever they ventured, scientists report. That conclusion stems from an examination of teeth from 1,400-year-old Viking skeletons that contained extinct strains of smallpox. The genetic structure of those strains differed from that of the modern smallpox virus eradicated in the 20th century, the researchers found. "We already knew Vikings were moving around Europe and beyond, and we now know they had smallpox," said lead researcher Eske Willerslev, a supervisor in zoology at St. John's College at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. "People traveling around the world quickly spread COVID-19 and it is likely Vikings spread smallpox. Just back then, they traveled by ship rather...

Many U.S. Homes Too Cramped to Stop COVID-19's Spread

FRIDAY, July 24, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- People with COVID-19 are told to keep their distance from family members to protect them from infection. But a new study finds that one-fifth of U.S....

AHA News: Controlling Diabetes Takes on Greater Urgency...

FRIDAY, July 24, 2020 (American Heart Association News) -- Uncontrolled blood sugar is dangerous at any time. But with mounting evidence showing that COVID-19 places people with diabetes at higher...
RSS
First915916917918920922923924Last