Health & Fitness

Massachusetts health officials announced Friday the first discovery of the Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) virus in mosquitoes this year. The presence of EEE was confirmed by the Massachusetts State Public Health Laboratory in a mosquito sample collected on July 1 in the community of Orange in Franklin County. Health officials said no human or animal cases of EEE have been detected so far this year. Friday's announcement increases the risk level of EEE to moderate in the communities of Orange and Athol.Current Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) and West Nile Virus (WNV) information in MassachusettsEEE is a rare but serious and potentially fatal disease that can affect people of all ages. EEE is generally spread to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito. There were 12 human...

After months of diligently isolating, truck driver Tommy Macias, 51, made one error that cost him his life. He went to a barbecue party with some friends. He didn’t know that someone who had tested positive for COVID-19, but showed no symptoms, also was there. “It was all preventable,” said Gustavo Lopez, Macias’ 52-year-old brother-in-law. “That person knew he had corona and still went. He should have known better, and that one mistake cost [Macias] his life.” More than 10 others who attended that gathering have tested positive for the coronavirus, Lopez said. According to Macias’ family members, the Lake Elsinore man had practiced social distancing, limited his outside interactions and wore a mask whenever he went out. But as restrictions slowly lifted, the proud big rig driver w...

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Researchers at the Henry Ford Health System in Southeast Michigan have found that early administration of the drug hydroxychloroquine makes hospitalized patients substantially less likely to die. The study, published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases, determined that hydroxychloroquine provided a "66% hazard ratio reduction," and hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin a 71 percent reduction, compared to neither treatment. In-hospital mortality was 18.1 percent with both drugs, 13.5 percent with just hydroxychloroquine, 22.4 percent with azithromycin alone, and 26.4 percent with neither drug. "Prospective trials are needed" for further review, the researchers note. "Our results do differ from some other studies," Dr. Marcus Zervos, who heads the hospital's infectious dis...

Having just managed to get its coronavirus outbreak under control, Singapore is now facing a record-breaking outbreak of a second, equally deadly virus.  Cases of dengue fever, a disease spread by infected mosquitos, are now mounting in the city-state, which has already reported 14,000 of them so far this year. Health officials now believe that number is almost certain to exceed the 22,170 cases reported in 2013, the previous-worst outbreak, by the end of the year. Singapore has seen more than 14,000 cases of dengue fever - caused by a virus spread by mosquitos - so far this year, and is on course to top the record 22,170 cases seen in 2013 Singapore managed to suppress its first wave of coronavirus, with a peak on March 28 of 138 cases. But a mu...

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But as the pandemic has continued, U.S. hospitals are reporting much lower mortality rates, results on par with death rates for patients with similar severe lung problems caused by other diseases. Experts say that’s because clinicians have become more skilled and are deploying new tactics as they learn more about the course of covid-19; some are using ventilators more selectively; many hospitals are less overwhelmed than when the virus first inundated Wuhan, parts of Italy and New York City; and early data on ventilation and death did not present a true picture. “Being on a ventilator right now in our hands is no different than it would be any day of the year,” said Greg Martin, a professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine and president-elect of the Society of Critica...

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Elizabeth Connick, chief of the infectious diseases division and professor of medicine and immunobiology at the University of Arizona: I walk in the morning and never wear a mask walking around in my neighborhood. Even if you see somebody, you can keep your distance. But I do wear it otherwise. I don’t wear one inside my own office, but I do wear one in the general office area. I wasn’t wearing one before, but now everyone is masking because we have more covid spread [in Arizona]. Paul A. Volberding, professor of medicine and emeritus professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California at San Francisco: I wear a mask most of the time, although not inside the house or sitting outside on my second-floor deck. I think people are crazy not to be wearing masks. The ev...