Health & Fitness

Support local journalism. Become an all-access digital subscriber to any of our Florida publications. As the so-called “stealth omicron” coronavirus subvariant fuels another wave of infections across Florida and the nation, medical experts expect it to be milder than the surges that preceded it. This week, for the first time in months, Florida recorded an increase in new weekly COVID-19 cases, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. But most Americans are vaccinated against the disease or have been infected by the omicron variant. For those reasons, experts say, the BA.2 subvariant fueling the current rise of infections should not lead to big spikes of hospitalizations and deaths. Florida logged 10,137 more COVID-19 infections in the week ended Thursday, the CDC repo...

The BA.2 variant — a subvariant of the omicron variant — has continued to spread throughout the United States in recent weeks, becoming the dominant COVID-19 strain in the country. Why it matters: Many people across the country may start experiencing COVID-19 symptoms again — since the BA.2 variant has the potential to reinfect people — or infect them for the first time. What to know: Dr. Joseph Khabbaza, a pulmonary and critical care physician at the Cleveland Clinic, said in February that COVID-19 can come with a number of unusual symptoms — which are different than the traditional symptoms (cough, fever and more) that you’d expect. What he said: “Really, nothing is off the table when it comes to COVID. I always get texts from people...

Study: Two New Early Signs of Parkinson's Disease Identified | Health.com Skip to content Top Navigation Close this dialog window Explore Health.com Close this dialog window Share & More Close this dialog window View image Study: Two New Early Signs of Parkinson's Disease Identified this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.

A woman who lived nearly a decade with a 'cool streak' under her thumbnail has revealed that the brown stripe turned out to be a rare form of cancer.  Maria Sylvia, 25, from Virginia, first saw the mark when she was 16 years old and was led to believe it was a mole under her nail bed. Nine years later, she was diagnosed with subungual melanoma, a type of skin cancer that occurs under the nails.  She shared her shocking story in a now-viral TikTok that has been viewed more than 19 million times in just two weeks.   'Me: Having this for 10 years, thinking it was a cool streak in my nail,' she captioned a picture of her thumb in the clip. 'It's cancer.'  Scroll down for video   Maria Sylvia, 25, from Virginia, revealed in an now-viral TikTok video that the 'cool streak' ...

World Health Organization has sounded the alarm on the next potential pandemic – which could be spread by insects. On Thursday, the WHO launched the Global Arbovirus Initiative in an effort to implement an "integrated strategic plan to tackle emerging and re-emerging arboviruses with epidemic and pandemic potential focusing on monitoring risk, pandemic prevention, preparedness, detection and response, and building a coalition of partners." The WHO warns that risks of a new insect-borne outbreak is "increasing." "The next pandemic could, very likely, be due to a new arbovirus," Dr. Sylvie Briand – director of the global infectious hazard preparedness team at the WHO – said on Thursday. "And we also have some signals that the risk is increasing." Arboviruses are also known as arthropod-bo...

So which is it — is moderate drinking good or bad? A team of researchers recently analyzed the connection between genes linked to alcohol consumption and cardiovascular conditions and found that drinking — any amount — was associated with an increased risk of disease. The study, which was published last week in JAMA Network Open, examined genetic and medical data of nearly 400,000 people through the U.K. Biobank, a large research database in Britain containing genetic, lifestyle and health information available for public health research. The findings showed that even low alcohol intake was associated with a small increased risk of cardiovascular issues, such as hypertension and coronary artery disease, but that risk ramped up exponentially with heavier consumption. Story continues b...

Jason P. Block, MD1; Tegan K. Boehmer, PhD2; Christopher B. Forrest, MD, PhD3; Thomas W. Carton, PhD4; Grace M. Lee, MD5; Umed A. Ajani, MBBS2; Dimitri A. Christakis, MD6; Lindsay G. Cowell, PhD7; Christine Draper1; Nidhi Ghildayal, PhD1; Aaron M. Harris, MD2; Michael D. Kappelman, MD8; Jean Y. Ko, PhD2; Kenneth H. Mayer, MD9; Kshema Nagavedu, MPH1; Matthew E. Oster, MD2,10; Anuradha Paranjape, MD11; Jon Puro, MPA12; Matthew D. Ritchey2; David K. Shay, MD2; Deepika Thacker, MD13; Adi V. Gundlapalli, MD, PhD2 (View author affiliations) View suggested citation Summary What is already known about this topic? Studies have found an increased risk for cardiac complications after SARS-CoV-2 infection and mRNA COVID-19 vaccination, but few have compared these risks. What is added...

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After This Pediatrician Took Her 6-Year-Old to Get Her COVID Vaccine, 'It Was a Whole Celebration' | PEOPLE.com Skip to content Top Navigation Close this dialog window Explore PEOPLE.com Close this dialog window Share & More Close this dialog window View image After This Pediatrician Took Her 6-Year-Old to Get Her COVID Vaccine, 'It Was a Whole Celebration' this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.

CT brain scan. COVID-19 patients commonly report having headaches, confusion, and other neurological symptoms, but doctors don’t fully understand how the disease targets the brain during infection. Now, researchers at Tulane University have shown in detail how COVID-19 affects the central nervous system, according to a new study published in Nature Communications. The findings are the first comprehensive assessment of neuropathology associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection in a nonhuman primate model. The team of researchers found severe brain inflammation and injury consistent with reduced blood flow or oxygen to the brain, including neuron damage and death. They also found small bleeds in the brain. Surprisingly, these findings were present in subjects that did not experie...