Health & Fitness

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Illinois reported 7,709 new COVID cases and 7 deaths Friday as the CDC said 9 Chicago-area counties have reached a "medium" risk of transmission. There have been at least 3,169,315 total COVID cases as of Friday, including at least 33,660 related deaths in the state since the pandemic began. As of Thursday night, 808 patients in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 66 patients were in the ICU, and 24 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators. A total of 22,018,536 vaccine doses have been administered in Illinois as of Thursday, and 64.76% of the state's population is fully vaccinated. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 14,163. Ahead of a busy weekend of Mother's Day celebrations, officials are urging people t...

A preventable infection by a porcine virus might have contributed to the death of the first patient to have a heart transplant with a pig organ, MIT Technology Review reported this week. David Bennett Sr, who had severe heart disease, received a genetically modified pig heart in early January of this year — a major milestone in animal-to-human transplants, or xenotransplantation. He died in March. Initially, the hospital where the procedure was performed said that the cause of death was unknown. But last month, Bennett’s transplant surgeon said in a webinar that the heart was infected with porcine cytomegalovirus, a virus that doesn’t infect human cells but can damage the organ. Virus-free hearts transplanted into baboons survived much longer than virus-infected hearts, according...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now investigating 109 cases of unexplained liver inflammation—hepatitis—in young children from 25 states over the past seven months. Of the 109 affected children, five have died, and 15 (14 percent) required liver transplants. The children were all under the age of 10, and 90 percent were hospitalized. The CDC's announcement Friday marks a dramatic uptick in the US's reported cases, which was limited to nine confirmed cases in Alabama just three weeks ago. The cases also add to a mounting global tally, which reached upward of 300 cases from more than two dozen countries. But, despite the boom in cases, CDC and international health investigators are still puzzled about the cause of the illnesses. S...

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have rated half of Massachusetts' 14 counties as having high community levels of COVID-19. The rankings are based on a handful of factors including new hospital admissions for COVID-19, recent case counts, and the community’s overall hospital capacity.Berkshire County reported the highest case rate per 100,000 individuals over the past week.Suffolk, Middlesex, Norfolk, Hampshire, Worcester and Barnstable counties also had high community transmission levels of the virus.Bristol county was the only Massachusetts county considered to have low community transmission levels. The CDC's COVID-19 community level ranks are based on new COVID-19 cases across a county over the past 7 days, relative to the population, the number of new admissio...

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Chicago health officials announced Friday that indoor masking is once again “strongly recommended” — but not required — in the city as the risk of contracting COVID-19 in Cook County has increased. Chicago’s public health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady made the advisory after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention deemed Cook County is now in the “medium” risk level for community transmission. The metrics are based on a combination of new cases and hospitalizations, but the medium category is automatically reached if weekly cases surpass 200 positive tests per 100,000 residents. Arwady stressed that even though the county was in the medium risk category the city is not near reinstating mandates on indoor masking or proof-of-vaccination, though Chicago Public Schools and the Chic...

Seven Massachusetts counties now have “high” community levels of COVID-19 and people in those areas should wear masks in indoor public spaces, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. The counties are Berkshire, Franklin, Worcester, Middlesex, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Barnstable, according to the CDC’s website, which rates virus levels in US counties as “a tool to help communities decide what prevention steps to take.” Hampshire, Hampden, Essex, Plymouth, Dukes, and Nantucket counties are ranked as having “medium” levels. The only county still at “low” levels is Bristol. The CDC determines community COVID-19 levels by looking at hospital beds being used, hospital admissions, and the total number of new COVID-19 cases in an area, according to the CDC website. It recommends ...

Photo: Regreto (Shutterstock) You rarely, if ever, need to remove earwax on your own. Earwax is good! I know this. I really do. And yet—even though I know better—sometimes I cannot resist the urge to use a cotton swab and clean my ears myself. Here’s what to know if you’re like me and occasionally go too far trying to clean your ears manually. You really shouldn’t use cotton swabs to clean your ears There’s a lot of confusion (or willful denial) out there about how to take care of our ears. We’ve previously covered how to properly maintain your ears and earwax, with a major takeaway being that you should always avoid sticking cotton swabs into your ear. It’s rarely necessary to remove earwax on your own. Our ears are self-cleaning, and the earwax you have is important for protecti...

Among them, 14% needed transplants, and five children have died. Nearly all the children -- more than 90% -- needed to be hospitalized. Dr. Jay Butler, the CDC's deputy director of infectious diseases, stressed that the investigation -- a partnership between the CDC and state health departments -- is an evolving situation. Not all the hepatitis cases they are studying now may ultimately be caused by the same thing. "It's important to note that this is an evolving situation, and we are casting a wide net to help broaden our understanding," Butler said. Hepatitis, or swelling of the liver, can be caused by infections, autoimmune diseases, drugs and toxins. A family of viruses well known for attacking the liver causes hepatitis A, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. It's not clear what's driving th...

A uni student was horrified to discover her heartburn that doctors told her was from boozing too much was actually 'incurable' cancer. Georgia Ford, 20, from Stroud, Gloucestershire, said she developed a 'choking' cough last April and sickness soon after, but a GP just put this down to the amount of alcohol she was drinking and prescribed her stomach-lining tablets. But over the course of several months the students symptoms, which also included weight loss and back pain, worsened. After countless trips to the doctors, Georgia was stunned when she was eventually diagnosed with a kidney cancer called papillary renal cell carcinoma in November. The law student says her life has been 'turned upside down' since receiving the heart-breaking news that the cancer had also spread to her lungs, li...