Health & Fitness

A treatment designed to attack a common virus that hides in our bodies could ease the decline caused by multiple sclerosis (MS), according to new trial results. Excitingly, it may even reverse some of the symptoms.   A phase 1 clinical trial by the California-based immunotherapy company Atara Biotherapeutics confirms latent Epstein-Barr (EBV) infections are viable targets for treating MS in at least some patients, reinforcing a curious link between the virus and a deadly illness that affects millions around the world. Out of the trial's 24 volunteers, 20 showed signs of either improvement or at least a halt in their health's steady decline. Importantly, there were no signs of serious side effects. Promising as these results might seem, the study hasn't yet been peer reviewed. What's ...

Fifteen-year-old Jordyne Lewis was stressed out. The high school sophomore from Harrisburg, North Carolina, was overwhelmed with schoolwork, never mind the uncertainty of living in a pandemic that has dragged on for two long years. Despite the challenges, she never turned to her school counselor or sought out a therapist. Instead, she shared her feelings with a robot. Woebot to be precise. Lewis has struggled to cope with the changes and anxieties of pandemic life and for this extroverted teenager, loneliness and social isolation were among the biggest hardships. But Lewis didn’t feel comfortable going to a therapist. “It takes a lot for me to open up,” she said. But did Woebot do the trick? Chatbots employ artificial intelligence similar to Al...

Reported cases of many types of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) went up in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic, as the frequency of screenings decreased, an official report said Tuesday.   The pandemic worsened an underlying trend of increasing STDs over the past decade, blamed on declining public health funding, said Jonathan Mermin, a doctor and senior official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which authored the report. Reported cases of gonorrhea and primary and secondary syphilis were up 10 percent and 7 percent respectively, compared to 2019. Syphilis among newborns, known as congenital syphilis, also increased, with reported cases up nearly 15 percent from 2019, and 235 percent from 2016. Preliminary data indicate primary and secondary ...

The foundation of your health and well-being isn't your heart, your lungs or your brain. It’s your gut. Chew on this: 70% of your immune system sits in your belly. Why it matters: You are what you eat. And a healthy gut keeps your body — and mind — from getting sick. Your immune system: A healthy gut is chock-full of immune cells and good bacteria that fight off viruses, fungi and bad bacteria. And an unhealthy gut can lead to infections — and even hinder your body's ability to fight cancer. Your mental health: Believe it or not, your gut has as many nerves as your spinal cord — and a direct link to your brain. That means eating poorly can cause anxiety and depression, and vice versa — deteriorating mental health can lead to an unhealthy gut. Your strength: A troubled gut — and weak...

Photo: Artur Widak/NurPhoto (Getty Images) Despite widespread lockdowns and quarantine orders, the first year of the covid-19 pandemic did not stop Americans from spreading sexually transmitted diseases. This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released their latest STD figures, showing that 2.4 million cases of the most concerning STDs were reported in 2020. There were record highs for both gonorrhea and syphilis, including cases of life-threatening congenital syphilis in babies. Cases of chlamydia took a slight decline, however. The CDC’s STD surveillance program primarily keeps track of syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia incidence based on cases that are required to be reported by local doctors and hospitals (HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C cases are tracked as ...

The cases of meningococcal disease are primarily in men who have sex with men. April 12, 2022, 9:14 PM • 4 min read Share to FacebookShare to TwitterEmail this article Health officials are warning Florida residents about a "large" outbreak of a potentially fatal bacterial illness known as meningococcal disease that's primarily affecting gay and bisexual men. So far this year, there have been 21 confirmed cases of meningococcal disease as of Monday, according to Florida Department of Health data. That's higher than the state's five-year average of cases of the disease. "[Florida Department of Health] epidemiologists are investigating each case as well as contacting people with potential or direct exposure to known cases to provide them with information and treatment options," ...

Enlarge / A scanning electron micrograph of Neisseria gonorrhoeae. An existing vaccine that prevents meningococcal disease may also be up to 40 percent effective at preventing gonorrhea infections, which are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics, with some strains completely incurable. This discovery is according to a series of studies and commentaries published Tuesday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. Though the estimated effectiveness is modest, shots of the vaccine—4CMenB aka Bexsero—could still prevent many infections, researchers reported. The vaccine could prevent more than 100,000 gonorrhea infections over 10 years in the UK, saving an estimated $10.4 million. In the meantime, the vaccine's effectiveness could provide significa...

NEW YORK -- 2021 was the deadliest year in U.S. history, and new data and research are offering more insights into how it got that bad. The main reason for the increase in deaths? COVID-19, said Robert Anderson, who oversees the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's work on death statistics. The agency this month quietly updated its provisional death tally. It showed there were 3.465 million deaths last year, or about 80,000 more than 2020's record-setting total. Early last year, some experts were optimistic that 2021 would not be as bad as the first year of the pandemic — partly because effective COVID-19 vaccines had finally become available. “We were wrong, unfortunately," said Noreen Goldman, a Princeton University researcher. COVID-19 deaths rose in 2021 — to more than 415,00...

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MIAMI – The Florida Department of Health is urging people to get vaccinated against meningococcal disease as the state is currently experiencing an outbreak. While exact figures were not released, health officials said the number of cases identified this year already surpasses the five-year average of meningococcal disease cases in Florida. “FDOH epidemiologists are investigating each case as well as contacting people with potential or direct exposure to known cases to provide them with information and treatment options,” a news release from the department stated. Health officials urge these groups of people to consider getting vaccinated: Immunocompromised individuals; College and university students; People in any groups listed above who received their MenACWY vaccine more than fi...