Month: April 2021

All the things that could prolong the COVID-19 pandemic — that could make this virus a part of our lives longer than anyone wants — are playing out right in front of our eyes. The big picture: Right now, the U.S. is still making fantastic progress on vaccinations. But as variants of the virus cause new outbreaks and infect more children, the U.S. is also getting a preview of what the future could hold if our vaccination push loses steam — as experts fear it soon might. Driving the news: The British variant is driving another surge in cases in Michigan, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has resisted reimposing any of the lockdown measures she embraced earlier in the pandemic. Variants are beginning to infect more kids, even as schools are on the fast track back to reopening, making the pandemic “...

For decades, a deadly type of childhood cancer has eluded science’s best tools. Now doctors have made progress with an unusual treatment: Dripping millions of copies of a virus directly into kids’ brains to infect their tumors and spur an immune system attack. A dozen children treated this way lived more than twice as long as similar patients have in the past, doctors reported Saturday at an American Association for Cancer Research conference and in the New England Journal of Medicine. This 2016 photo provided by the family shows Jake Kestler, center, with his parents, Gallite and Josh, and his sister, Lily, a month before he was diagnosed with brain cancer.  (Family photo via AP) Although most of them eventually died of their disease, a few are alive and well several y...

A military spouse who was hospitalized due to COVID-19 was able to fight off the infection after taking part in a Defense Department study that involved a filter attached to a dialysis machine to rid her blood of the virus. Retired Col. Matt Hepburn, a physician who worked for years in the defense advanced research projects agency, or DARPA, told "60 Minutes" that the military is working on several moonshot projects to help prevent the next pandemic and assist in the current one. One included a  sensor that would be placed underneath your skin in order to detect chemical reactions that may be occurring due to an infection. The sensor is still being developed but Hepburn likened it to a "check-engine light." CLICK FOR THE LATEST ON THE CORONAVIRUS He pointed to another example of tec...

For decades, a deadly type of childhood cancer has eluded science’s best tools. Now doctors have made progress with an unusual treatment: Dripping millions of copies of a virus directly into kids’ brains to infect their tumors and spur an immune system attack. A dozen children treated this way lived more than twice as long as similar patients have in the past, doctors reported Saturday at an American Association for Cancer Research conference and in the New England Journal of Medicine. Although most of them eventually died of their disease, a few are alive and well several years after treatment -- something virtually unheard of in this situation. “This is the first step, a critical step,” said the study’s leader, Dr. Gregory Friedman, a childhood cancer specialist at the University of Al...

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Dry mouth syndrome is usually connected to a lot of viral infections, autoimmune disorders and now, COVID-19 as well. Experiencing a dry mouth basically means that the mouth goes through a tough time producing saliva, which keeps your mouth lubricated, aids digestion and most importantly, keeps the mouth protected against bad bacteria and other pathogens. A dry mouth can make you feel a sense of dryness or stickiness in the mouth and further, make the saliva a little thicker. Having bad breath is also sometimes a common sign of dry mouth. It can also induce difficulties in chewing food, speaking and make you experience a harsh, burning sensation at the roof of your mouth. Unusual symptoms such as these, right now, need to be checked out at once.