Month: August 2020

Eight months into the COVID-19 pandemic, and there is still a good deal of confusion surrounding the symptoms of the highly infectious virus that has killed over 820,000 people worldwide. Why? Researchers have identified a wide range of symptoms, including everything from a dry cough and fever to strange rashes and digestive problems. However, according to one infectious disease doctor, a cocktail of two symptoms might be a sure-fire way to know that you are battling the virus. Read on, and to keep yourself and others safe during this pandemic, don't miss this essential list of the All the Sure Signs You've Already Had Coronavirus. This Doctor Has Calculated the Percentages Dr. Stephen Berger, double board certified in infectious disease and microbiology and the founder of GIDEON, the Glo...

An HIV patient was found to have no trace of the virus in her tissues, despite not being on suppressing drugs. (Getty Images)A woman may be the first person to be cured of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) without enduring a gruelling stem cell transplant, research suggests. Loreen Willenberg, 66, from California, was infected with the sexually-transmitted virus in 1992. An “elite controller”, Willenberg is one of the less than 0.5% of patients whose immune system can suppress the infection without antiretroviral therapy (ART) drugs. HIV typically lies dormant in cells where it cannot be wiped out by medication or the immune system. ART helps to suppress the virus, but it reactivates if a patient stops taking the therapy. The unnamed “Berlin patient” was the first to be “cured” of HIV f...

Does a face mask protect me, or just the people around me? It likely provides protection for both. Studies on the new coronavirus and other germs show wearing a mask helps stop infected people from spreading disease to others. Evidence also suggests that masks may offer some protection for the people wearing them. The virus spreads from droplets people spray when they cough, sneeze or talk. Surgical or cloth face masks can block most of those particles from spreading. While some droplets may still spread out, wearing a mask could reduce the amount, providing a benefit to others. Research shows people don’t get as sick when exposed to smaller amounts of virus, said Dr. Monica Gandhi, a virus expert at University of California, San Francisco. And masks may protect the people wearing the...

An Issue With Timing I had the man repeat his story. It offered me no new clues. I considered the possibilities. Lyme disease famously causes a bull’s-eye rash with a central clearing, but the time course was all wrong. The deer-tick vector needs to be attached to the body for at least 36 hours in order to pass on its gift of the Lyme spirochete. And then it takes several days for the rash to appear. Could this welt be caused by a toxin injected by a bite or sting? The time course seemed off for that as well. Insect bites usually cause an immediate reaction. A brown recluse spider can cause a delayed reaction, but when severe, it causes skin blistering and necrosis — not this lumpy red rash. And how could it appear on the other leg? Did that mean that whatever it was had invaded his blood...

The medical community is concerned COVID-19 combining with the upcoming flu season may challenge hospital capacity. “Yes, absolutely because both are going to present similarly in terms of the respiratory illness,” said Dr. Parimal Bharucha with Mercy San Juan. “Already we are short of beds from COVID itself.”UCSF held a medical briefing on the matter Wednesday discussing the potential impact of flu season and what can happen to patients who have both COVID-19 and the flu.“Both COVID-19 and influenza separately can cause respiratory failure,” Dr. Michael Matthay at UCSF said. “It is quite possible and likely that the two viruses could infect a patient at the same time.”Physicians are recommending people who are able to get the flu vaccine do so, to eliminate one viral threat this sea...