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COVID Health
CU Researchers Identify Potential Cause of Long COVID
Even though the COVID-19 public health emergency classification will expire this spring, the lingering effects of the pandemic remain. A constant puzzle to solve since the first year of the pandemic has been “long COVID,” a condition in which those infected with the virus have symptoms that linger months or even years after they have cleared the initial infection.
Lingering Symptoms Common After COVID Hospitalization
About half of adults treated at hospitals for COVID-19 have experienced lingering symptoms, financial difficulties, or physical limitations months after being discharged, according to a National Institutes of Health-supported study published in JAMA Network Open. After six months, more than 7 in 10 adults surveyed in the study experienced cardiopulmonary...
Microbiome Changes May Be a Signature for ME/CFS
Researchers have found differences in the gut microbiomes of people with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) compared to healthy controls. Findings from two studies, published in Cell Host & Microbe and funded by the National Institutes of Health, add to growing evidence that connects disruptions in the gut microbiome, the complete collection of bacteria, viruses, and fungi that live in our gastrointestinal system, to ME/CFS.
What is body mass index (BMI)?
Body mass index is a commonly used method for assessing overweight and obesity, which have been linked to health problems including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, fatty liver disease and several types of cancer. BMI is calculated by dividing a person’s weight by the square of their height. Standard BMI categories are as follows:
Health Policies Were a Prominent Theme in Biden’s State of the Union Speech
President Joe Biden on Tuesday delivered his State of the Union address to a politically divided Congress for the first time, calling for permanent fixes on policy priorities like unaffordable health costs. In one marked difference from his earlier speeches, attendance in the House chamber was at capacity with no...
Bivalent Boosters Provide Better Protection Against Severe COVID-19
To date, more than 80% of people in the U.S. have received at least one dose of a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The original mRNA vaccines, developed by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, targeted the initial strain of the virus. Since then, different variants of the virus have...
As Pandemic-Era Medicaid Provisions Lapse, Millions Approach a Coverage Cliff
States are preparing to remove millions of people from Medicaid as protections put in place early in the COVID-19 pandemic expire. The upheaval, which begins in April, will put millions of low-income Americans at risk of losing health coverage, threatening their access to care and potentially exposing them to large medical bills.
Latino Teens Are Deputized as Health Educators to Sway the Unvaccinated
Classmates often stop Alma Gallegos as she makes her way down the bustling hallways of Theodore Roosevelt High School in southeast Fresno, California. The 17-year-old senior is frequently asked by fellow students about COVID-19 testing, vaccine safety, and the value of booster shots. Alma earned her reputation as a trusted...
Evusheld Is No Longer Effective for COVID PrEP
Evusheld—one of the key tools for preventing COVID-19 illness in people who can’t receive or do not respond well to vaccines—is no longer effective against the predominant coronavirus Omicron variants, leading the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to withdraw its emergency authorization. Evusheld, from AstraZeneca, combines two...
Public Health Agencies Try to Restore Trust as They Fight Misinformation
By the summer of 2021, Phil Maytubby, deputy CEO of the health department [in Oklahoma City], was concerned to see the numbers of people getting vaccinated against COVID-19 slipping after an initially robust response. With doubt, fear, and misinformation running rampant nationwide — both online and offline — he knew the agency needed to rethink its messaging strategy.
FDA Experts Are Still Puzzled Over Who Should Get Which COVID Shots and When
At a meeting to simplify the nation’s COVID vaccination policy, the FDA’s panel of experts could agree on only one thing: Information is woefully lacking about how often different groups of Americans need to be vaccinated. That data gap has contributed to widespread skepticism, undervaccination, and ultimately unnecessary deaths from COVID-19. The committee voted unanimously Thursday [January 26] to support the FDA’s proposal for all vaccine-makers to adopt the same strain of the virus when making changes in their vaccines, and suggested they might meet in May or June to select a strain for the vaccines that would be rolled out this fall.
Will Your Smartphone Be the Next Doctor’s Office?
The same devices used to take selfies and type out tweets are being repurposed and commercialized for quick access to information needed for monitoring a patient’s health. A fingertip pressed against a phone’s camera lens can measure a heart rate. The microphone, kept by the bedside, can screen for sleep apnea. Even the speaker is being tapped, to monitor breathing using sonar technology.
Overdose Deaths Involving Buprenorphine Did Not Proportionally Increase With New Flexibilities in Prescribing
The proportion of opioid overdose deaths involving buprenorphine, a medication used to treat opioid use disorder, did not increase in the months after prescribing flexibilities were put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study. These data provide evidence that may help to inform buprenorphine prescribing policies. Published [January 20] in JAMA Network Open, this study was a collaborative effort between researchers at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Are vaccines safe?
All vaccines authorized in the United States are tested for safety and efficacy. Testing starts with laboratory and animal studies, followed by human clinical trials. These trials first look for immune responses—for example, antibody production—then evaluate whether a vaccine prevents infection, illness or death. Vaccines have prevented countless...
COVID-19 at Any Time During Pregnancy Boosts Mother’s Risk of Death
COVID-19 infection at any time during pregnancy boosts the mother’s risk of death and is associated with serious illness in both mothers and their newborns, finds a pooled data analysis of international evidence, published in the open access journal BMJ Global Health. The findings reinforce the need for global...
The Decision of Where to Seek Care Is Complicated by the Multitude of Options
One evening in February 2017, Sarah Dudley’s husband, Joseph, started to feel sick. He had a high fever, his head and body ached, and he seemed disoriented, she said. The Dudleys had a decision to make: go to the hospital emergency room or to an urgent care clinic near their home in Des Moines, Iowa.
What Older Americans Need to Know About Taking Paxlovid
A new coronavirus variant is circulating, the most transmissible one yet. Hospitalizations of infected patients are rising. And older adults represent nearly 90% of U.S. deaths from COVID-19 in recent months, the largest portion since the start of the pandemic. What does that mean for people 65 and older catching...
NIH Launches Home Test to Treat, a Pilot COVID-19 Telehealth Program
The National Institutes of Health, in collaboration with the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has launched the Home Test to Treat program, an entirely virtual community health intervention that will provide free COVID-19 health services—at-home rapid tests, telehealth sessions and at-home treatments—in selected communities.
Studies Identify Universal Predictors of Antibody Response to Vaccination
When healthy people in the same age range are immunized with the same vaccine, some people’s immune systems make substantially more protective antibodies than others. Scientists want to figure out why some people respond to vaccination better than others. Investigators have identified predictors of a robust antibody response to...
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