Poliomyelitis

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday endorsed booster shots for millions of older or otherwise vulnerable Americans, opening a major new phase in the U.S vaccination drive against COVID-19. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky signed off on a series of recommendations from a panel of advisers late Thursday. The advisers said boosters should be offered to people 65 and older, nursing home residents and those ages 50 to 64 who have risky underlying health problems. The extra dose would be given once they are at least six months past their last Pfizer shot. However, Walensky decided to make one recommendation that the panel had rejected. The panel on Thursday voted against saying that people can get a booster if they are ages 18 to 64 years and are health-care workers or have another job that puts them at increased risk of being exposed to the virus. But Walensky disagreed and put that recommendation back in, noting that such a move aligns with an FDA booster authoriza...

1 INTRODUCTION The implementation of strict rules worldwide to mitigate the impact of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has had dramatic consequences on social life. Measures such as the reduction of seats in indoor spaces, social distancing, the mandatory utilization of masks, and "stay at home" campaigns have dramatically reduced interactions between people. These measures proved effective in lowering SARS-CoV-2 infection rates and thereby impeding the spread of the virus. 1, 2 However, various other pathogens, viruses, and bacteria are transmitted from one individual to another in a similar manner. 3, 4 This applies, for example, to many pathogens that cause respiratory tract infections and intestinal infections. 5  Although incidence rates for various noninfectious acute medical conditions and disorders such as stroke and myocardial infection decreased during t...

Corneal defects often heal themselves, but serious injuries that are left untreated can result in inflammation, infection, ulceration and even blindness. A new study provides exciting evidence supporting the involvement of aquaporins in corneal cell proliferation and nerve regeneration and suggests aquaporin 5 (AQP5) induction as a potential therapy to accelerate the resurfacing of corneal defects, report scientists in The American Journal of Pathology . The cornea, which consists of transparent tissue in the outermost layer of the eye, acts as a barrier against external stimuli. It also plays a key role in vision. "As a member of aquaporin family, AQP5 is expressed in cornea, which is related to many eye diseases," explained lead investigator Peng Chen, PhD, Department of Human Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, School of Basic Medicine, Qingdao University, Shandong Province; and Institute of Stem Cell Regeneration Medicine, School of Basic Medicine, Qingdao Universi...

It's not uncommon to have tooth pain when you wake up. It can have many causes, including dental conditions or other health-related issues that can range from mild to severe. Read on to learn about the seven most common causes of tooth pain in the morning and how to find relief. Bruxism is also known as teeth-grinding. People with sleep bruxism unconsciously clench their jaw and gnash or grind their teeth during sleep. If you have bruxism, you may also clench your jaw while you're awake. This is known as awake bruxism. Frequent bouts of bruxism can result in: The exact cause of sleep bruxism isn't known. But stress and sleep-related disorders, including sleep apnea, may often be a major factor. A 2016 study published in the journal Sleep also found that genetics may play a large role. If you wake up with pain in your upper back teeth, a sinus infection may be to blame. Your sinuses are located directly above your teeth. If you have an infection in your sinuses, fluid may c...

Ayala, Ph.D., is a professor of public health at San Diego State University, director of the Institute for Behavioral and Community Health, and co-director of the SDSU HealthLINK Center for Transdisciplinary Health Disparities Research. She lives in the College Area. The COVID-19 pandemic has captured the nation's attention for more than 18 months. This is understandable given how it disrupted all of our lives since the first shutdowns. But there is another health problem troubling the United States that has lost the nation's attention — childhood obesity. This is not understandable as childhood obesity is a major threat to the current and future health and well-being of our nation. The Centers for Disease Prevention and Control and our County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency monitor the health of our children, in part by using information collected on surveys mailed to residents' homes and collected from children in schools by trained health professionals. The...

Doctors used to know RSV as a seasonal virus that emerged in the winter, but in the last few months in the Northern Hemisphere there has been a surprising surge in cases. In early 2021 staff at Maimonides Children's Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, were starting to feel a cautious sense of relief. Covid-19 cases in the city were falling. As a side effect of social distancing, mask-wearing and hand-washing, they had also seen far fewer other viral infections, such as the flu. But then in March a growing number of coughing children and babies arrived at the hospital, some of them struggling to breathe. They'd been infected with RSV, short for respiratory syncytial virus, a common winter bug that can cause lung problems. At this time of the year, RSV cases should have been dwindling. Instead, they were soaring. Over the months that followed, out-of-season RSV surges would disrupt summers in places as far afield as the southern US, Switzerland, Japan and the UK. The virus's ...

Melioidosis is a bacterial infection caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei , a bacterium that lives in soil and water in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Infection can result in a wide variety of symptoms, from skin ulcers to abscesses on multiple organs, and it may even cause pneumonia . However, some cases are asymptomatic, and an infected person might not even realize they are infected.  About 165,000 cases of melioidosis occur each year, according to a 2016 study in the journal Nature Microbiology . Most cases occur in southeast Asia and northern Australia. Research published in the journal Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo in 2006 suggested that melioidosis is an emerging disease in Brazil and neighboring South American countries.  The disease is rare in the United States, however. In fact, it's so rare that the identification of four cases of melioidosis between March and July 2021 in four different states, resulti...

Show Caption Hide Caption US COVID deaths reach 675,000, matching death toll of 1918 Spanish flu The U.S. has surpassed 675,000 COVID-19 deaths. That's roughly the same amount of Americans killed by the 1918-19 Spanish flu. Staff Video, USA TODAY The COVID-19 pandemic continues on as we head into the colder months, but there's also another seasonal illness to remember: the flu.  Flu vaccines and nasal sprays have been available for protection against strains of the virus since the summer, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people should be vaccinated by the end of October for the best protection this season. Last year, activity for the 2020-21 flu season was unusually low, with the CDC postulating vaccines and COVID-19 mitigation measures, including wearing face masks, staying home, hand washing, scho...