Viruses
How Do You Manage Omicron BA.5 Symptoms, Including a Sore Throat?
While a sore throat has always been a symptom of Covid, experts said that it is becoming more common, and sometimes more severe, with the BA.5 subvariant of Omicron — now, the dominant strain of Covid in the United States. To soothe an aching throat, “the best approaches are typically what grandma would advise,” said […]
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Why Monkeypox Vaccine Shortage May Threaten the Immunocompromised
The shortfall of monkeypox vaccine doses in the United States, expected to last for months, is raising urgent questions about how well and for how long a single shot may protect against the virus. The vaccine, called Jynneos, is approved as a two-dose regimen, but most people at risk of infection have been receiving one […]
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Monkeypox Virus: Your Risk, Explained
As monkeypox spreads across the United States, it may be giving people flashbacks to the days of wiping down counters and groceries to get rid of the coronavirus. But for most people, the risk of getting monkeypox remains low. Almost all cases in the current outbreak — 98 percent — have been in adult men […]
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W.H.O. Declares Monkeypox Spread a Global Health Emergency
For the second time in two years, the World Health Organization has taken the extraordinary step of declaring a global emergency. This time the cause is monkeypox, which has spread in just a few weeks to dozens of countries and infected tens of thousands of people. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the W.H.O.’s director general, on […]
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Liviah’s New Liver: A Family Grapples With a Girl’s Puzzling Hepatitis
It was three days before Christmas, and Elizabeth Widders was perched in her upstairs bathroom, fastening red and green bows in the hair of her 4-year-old daughter, Liviah. But as Liviah stood in the morning light, her mother noticed that the whites of her eyes had turned yellow. She hustled Liviah downstairs to ask her […]
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What to Know About Disinfecting and Cleaning Surfaces
Before getting into the nitty-gritty, let me explain the scientific difference between cleaning and disinfecting. Cleaning removes things — dirt, crumbs, germs, dog hair — from surfaces. Disinfecting, on the other hand, kills things — typically viruses and bacteria. Cleaning is something we may want to do regularly, Dr. Hartmann said, but we need to […]
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What Scientists Know About the Unusual Hepatitis Cases in Children
Where have the new cases been reported? In early April, Britain became the first country to notify the W.H.O. of a cluster of unexplained hepatitis cases in children. The cases were unusual because they occurred over a short period of time in otherwise healthy children, and because clinicians quickly ruled out any of the common […]
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Why a Coronavirus-Flu ‘Twindemic’ May Never Happen
The notion of that there is a sort of interplay between viruses first emerged in the 1960s, when vaccinations for polio, which contain weakened poliovirus, significantly cut the number of respiratory infections. The idea gained new ground in 2009: Europe seemed poised for a surge in swine flu cases late that summer, but when schools […]
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Avian Flu Spread in the US Worries Poultry Industry
The 2014-15 outbreak is considered the most destructive in the nation’s history. It sent poultry and egg prices soaring and cost the industry more than $3 billion — though the federal government compensated farmers for lost flocks. In the end, nearly 50 million birds were killed by the virus or destroyed to prevent its spread, […]
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