Latest Health News

8May
2020

Big Decline in Wash. State Coronavirus Cases After 'Stay Home' Orders

Big Decline in Wash. State Coronavirus Cases After `Stay Home` OrdersFRIDAY, May 8, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- A new study illustrates just how powerful a weapon social distancing and "stay-at-home" orders can be against the new coronavirus. Data out of Washington state show that the number of people testing positive for coronavirus in outpatient clinics fell from nearly 18% of those tested at the end of March, to just 3.8% by April 16. The only big change during that time? On March 16, Washington state closed bars and restaurants and put strict limits on all social gatherings. On March 23, Gov. Jay Inslee also announced a "Stay Home, Stay Healthy" order, asking state residents to shelter in place. The rapid and steep declines in coronavirus infections documented in the new study "suggest that the early and aggressive physical distancing measures...

Planet Already Seeing Temperatures Beyond Human Tolerability

8 May 2020
Planet Already Seeing Temperatures Beyond Human TolerabilityFRIDAY, May 8, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have predicted that if climate change goes unabated, the planet will experience intolerable heat in several decades. But a new study has found that in certain global hot spots, it's already happening. In recent years, certain regions -- including the Persian Gulf, Indian subcontinent and some Mexican locales -- have recorded off-the-charts combinations of heat and humidity, the researchers said. And for brief periods, some cities have reached the upper limit of human tolerance. "Those conditions are closer than we've thought," said lead researcher Colin Raymond, who worked on the study as a doctoral student at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, in New York. In numerous instances, the study found, local...

Healthy Vitamin D Levels Could Be Linked to COVID-19...

8 May 2020
Healthy Vitamin D Levels Could Be Linked to COVID-19 SurvivalFRIDAY, May 8, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- There's been much speculation about whether vitamin D might prevent or help survival with COVID-19, and two new studies appear to underscore the link. In the first study -- published in the journal Aging Clinical and Experimental Research -- British researchers found that COVID-19 infections and deaths were higher in countries where people had low vitamin D levels, such as Italy and Spain, compared to northern European countries where average vitamin D levels were higher. The researchers explained that people in southern Europe may have darker pigmentation, which reduces vitamin D synthesis, while people in northern European countries consume more cod liver oil and vitamin D supplements. The second study appeared in the online journal...

FDA Approves First At-Home Saliva Test for COVID-19

8 May 2020
FDA Approves First At-Home Saliva Test for COVID-19FRIDAY, May 8, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- The first COVID-19 test using saliva samples that patients collect at home has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The emergency use authorization was issued to Rutgers Clinical Genomics Laboratory for the diagnostic test using home-collected samples. Patients return their sample to the New Jersey-based lab in a sealed package for analysis. The screening is the only authorized test that uses saliva samples to check for the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19. It is available only with a prescription. Last month, the FDA gave emergency authorization for the first at-home COVID-19 test using a sample taken from the patient's nose with a nasal swab and saline. "Authorizing additional diagnostic tests with the option of...

U.S. COVID-19 Death Rate Is 1.3%, Study Finds

8 May 2020
U.S. COVID-19 Death Rate Is 1.3%, Study FindsFRIDAY, May 8, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Among detected cases of COVID-19 in the United States, 1.3% of patients will die from the illness, according to a new calculation. But that rate could increase if current precautions and health care capacities change, the study's author said. The 1.3% rate calculation is based on cumulative deaths and detected cases across the United States, but it does not account for undetected cases, where a person is infected but shows few or no symptoms, according to researcher Anirban Basu. If those cases were added into the equation, the overall death rate might drop closer to 1%, Basu said. He directs the department of pharmacy at the University of Washington in Seattle. Basu stressed that the current estimates apply "under the assumption that the...

AHA News: 'Angry and Depressed,' Stroke Survivor Found Solace in Helping Others

8 May 2020
AHA News: `Angry and Depressed,` Stroke Survivor Found Solace in Helping OthersFRIDAY, May 8, 2020 (American Heart Association News) -- Retired happily and resettled in a peaceful community near Salt Lake City, 70-year-old Doug Tapking is enjoying the good life – golfing and woodworking, singing in choirs with his wife, Karen, and spending time with their four grandchildren. But retirement hasn't always been so idyllic. Four years ago, while dining out with another couple at a bustling steakhouse, Doug's left arm and leg began to cramp. Stretching his leg didn't help. John, his dining companion, asked Doug to raise his left arm. Unable to do so, Doug used his right arm to lift it. "When I let it go, it fell to my lap," Doug said. He recalls thinking, "Oh crap, I'm having a stroke." John jumped out of his seat and called 911. Two restaurant employees helped move...

Pangolins Hold Clues to How COVID-19 Began -- and Might End

8 May 2020
Pangolins Hold Clues to How COVID-19 Began -- and Might EndFRIDAY, May 8, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- They're small spiny mammals that look like anteaters with scales. And pangolins -- which some credit with playing a role in the emergence of the new coronavirus -- might hold clues to fighting COVID-19. Genetic research into the new coronavirus has suggested that it originated in bats, found its way into pangolins sold at Chinese "wet markets," and then migrated into humans. So why doesn't the virus sicken and kill pangolins? In a new study, researchers at the Medical University of Vienna in Austria analyzed the genomic blueprint of pangolins and compared it to other mammals including humans, cats, dogs and cattle. In most mammals, certain genes detect when a virus enters the body, triggering an immune response against the invader. But...

COVID-19 Pandemic May Lead to 75,000 'Deaths of Despair'

8 May 2020
COVID-19 Pandemic May Lead to 75,000 `Deaths of Despair`FRIDAY, May 8, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- COVID-19 has directly claimed tens of thousands of U.S. lives, but conditions stemming from the novel coronavirus -- rampant unemployment, isolation and an uncertain future -- could lead to 75,000 deaths from drug or alcohol abuse and suicide, new research suggests. Deaths from these causes are known as "deaths of despair." And the COVID-19 pandemic may be accelerating conditions that lead to such deaths. "Deaths of despair are tied to multiple factors, like unemployment, fear and dread, and isolation. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were already an unprecedented number of deaths of despair. We wanted to estimate how this pandemic would change that number moving forward," said one of the study's authors, Benjamin Miller. He's chief...

Baby Boom After Pandemic Lockdowns? Maybe Not

FRIDAY, May 8, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- It's happened before: Couples stuck at home during blizzards, hurricanes or other natural disasters enjoy some "alone time" -- and a baby boom follows. But...

Which Symptoms Point to Severe COVID-19? Doctors Issue...

FRIDAY, May 8, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- You're sick, perhaps very sick, so you head to the local emergency department fearing the onset of COVID-19. But what symptoms most clearly point to a need...
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