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THURSDAY, May 7, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Many drugs are being tested to fight COVID-19, but now researchers report that blocking testosterone might help prevent the infection in men. Italian men with prostate cancer on androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) were less likely to get infected with COVID-19 and had less severe cases if they were infected, the researchers found. Lead researcher Dr. Andrea Alimonti, an oncologist at the Università della Svizzera Italiana in Bellinzona, Switzerland, thinks it might be worth trying this therapy on men with severe cases of COVID-19. "This could give us a therapeutic window to treat patients that have been infected and haven't gotten better, to see whether this therapy would lead them to recover faster or to decrease the severity of their...

THURSDAY, May 7, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Amid recent warnings about a possible link between COVID-19 in children and an inflammatory condition called Kawasaki disease that can harm the heart and other organs, heart experts stress that such cases seem to be rare. Most kids with COVID-19 have mild symptoms or none at all, but a small number have developed Kawasaki disease, often requiring hospitalization and occasionally, intensive care. Features of Kawasaki disease include fever above 102 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit for at least five days, swelling of the neck glands and rash. Other symptoms include redness and swelling of the palms of the hands and soles of the feet, bloodshot eyes, irritation and inflammation of the mouth, lips and throat, according to the American Heart...

THURSDAY, May 7, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Traces of the COVID-19 coronavirus have been found in the semen of some severely infected men, raising the possibility that the virus might be sexually transmitted, a new study from China claims. Researchers found evidence of the virus in six men out of a group of 38 COVID-19 patients at Shangqiu Municipal Hospital in China who provided samples. The six men included four who were still infected and two who were recovering, the researchers said. The study was led by Dr. Weiguo Zhao of the People's Liberation Army General Hospital in Beijing, and findings were published May 7 in the journal JAMA Network Open. It's not surprising that the virus was found in semen samples, since it's also been found in stool and other body fluids, said Dr. Ryan...

THURSDAY, May 7, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Obesity, type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure increase teens' risk of premature blood vessel aging, a new study finds. "Our study demonstrates that the slow changes in blood vessels that lead to the development of atherosclerosis [narrowing of the arteries] begins early in life," said lead author Justin Ryder. He's an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Medical School, in Minneapolis. The study included 141 teens with normal weight, 156 obese teens, and 151 teens with type 2 diabetes who were followed for five years. The teens' average age was nearly 18 when the study began. After five years, the teens with either obesity, type 2 diabetes or high systolic blood pressure were much more likely to have thicker...