Health & Fitness

If you've ever wondered why men take so long to poop, you may have found yourself asking if there's a medical reason. Why else would some men take so much longer than women to take care of their business?  The answer, however, does not appear to be anatomical. In fact, men might actually be quicker in discharging their defecatory duties than women are. One 2009 study in the journal Gender Medicine sought to investigate the gender differences of various pooping plights. The researchers looked at constipation, stool consistency, the need to use fingers to evacuate, and a host of other less-than-pleasant doody-related conditions. The team concluded that women were more likely to experience "abnormal bowel habits" and constipation than men.  In other words, women tend to have more bowel-...

LONDON — Poop doesn’t lie. That’s why scientists are looking at sewers running under the world’s cities and towns for information they hope will help to stem the spread of the coronavirus. Sewers are treasure troves of information, containing genetic material of COVID-19 shed by those with the virus in their fecal matter — even if they are asymptomatic. A recent study has also shown that viral levels in wastewater correlated with clinically diagnosed new COVID-19 cases and might reflect disease prevalence before it’s reported by doctors, raising hopes that the sewage could become an early warning system — a canary in a coal mine of sorts — for new outbreaks. A water company worker climbs down into a sewage pipe in London. Researchers hope that sewage testing can help conclusively quanti...

More than 14,000 dengue cases have been reported in the city-state since the start of the year, according to the National Environment Agency (NEA). The total number for the whole year is expected to exceed the 22,170 cases reported in 2013 -- the largest dengue outbreak in Singapore's history, the agency said. Dengue is a viral infection transmitted by the Aedes mosquito, the same insect responsible for spreading Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever. It is commonly found in hot, wet regions of the tropics and subtropics during the rainy months. Only about 25% of those infected show symptoms, which include high fever, severe headaches, muscle and joint pains. Extreme cases can bring bleeding, breathing difficulties, organ failure, and potentially death. In Singapore, 16 people have died...

More than 100 students living in fraternity houses near the University of Washington campus have reported testing positive for COVID-19, with hundreds of results pending. The Interfraternity Council, a student-led governing board for UW fraternities, said that at least 105 residents living in 15 fraternity houses have self-reported that they tested positive, CBS affiliate KIRO-TV reports. The university learned Saturday that some fraternity residents had symptoms of COVID-19, and public health officials noticed a spike in cases among people ages 18 to 20, according to university spokeswoman Michelle Ma. Ma said more than 800 students have been tested since Monday in response to the Greek system outbreak. The university expects to have an updated case count early next week. The Interfrat...

A Southern California man expressed his regret late last month over attending a party where he contracted the coronavirus in a Facebook post just one day before he died. “Because of my stupidity I put my mom and sisters and my family’s health in jeopardy,” Tommy Macias of Lake Elsinore, east of Los Angeles, wrote in the post, according to KCBS-TV. “This is no joke. If you have to go out wear a mask and practice social distancing. Hopefully with God’s help, I’ll be able to survive this. Love you all.” Macias wrote that he had “messed up” and gone out a couple of weeks earlier where he contracted the virus. CALIFORNIA SMASHES STATE CORONAVIRUS RECORD WITH OVER 8,000 CONFIRMED CASES  His niece, Danielle Lopez, said her uncle had gone to a party where no one wore a mask and ran into a f...

So this week, county health officials tried a much more drastic approach. They issued subpoenas to eight of the partygoers, ordering them to speak up to the disease detectives or face a fine of up to $2,000 a day — and it worked. “It’s amazing how smart some people got,” Ed Day, the county executive, told CNN on Thursday. “Everybody is complying and helping us, which is all that we’re trying to have happen. … We’re not looking to be punitive here.” After people across the country rose up against lockdown measures, ignored social distancing requirements and declared war on face masks, Rockland County’s unapologetic legal strategy shows just how difficult it may be to get the country to comply with another crucial piece of the government’s response to a pandemic that has surged in recent...

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MELBOURNE, Australia — Ring Mayar spends all day knocking on doors in the western suburbs of Melbourne, asking residents if they have a cough, a fever or chills. Even if they do not, he encourages them to get tested for the coronavirus, as the authorities race to catch up with a string of outbreaks that is threatening to recast Australia’s success story in controlling the spread. “It’s quite daunting,” said Mr. Mayar, the president of the South Sudanese Community Association in the state of Victoria, who has been volunteering in one of the largely immigrant communities where cases are surging. The rise in infections — Victoria reported 77 new cases Thursday, the most since March — has driven home the outsized impact of the coronavirus on communities in which working-class immigrants and ...