epidemiology

Galaxy Watch 6 Joe Maring / Digital Trends Samsung has once again beaten the Apple Watch to a crucial piece pof health-centric smartwatch tech. The company says it has received U.S.Food and Drug Administration approval for offering sleep apnea detection on its Galaxy Watch smartwatch lineup. But before we get into the benefits of the feature, there are a couple of disappointing updates here. First, the feature will only be rolled out via a software update in the third quarter of 2024, which means you will have to…

DNA from ancient humans is providing some vital clues about the emergence of multiple sclerosis and other devastating neurodegenerative conditions. In a series of new research papers out this week, scientists detail evidence that many genetic variants linked to MS first began to spread globally about 5,000 years ago, from populations living in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. These variations likely protected people at the time from infectious diseases but now might explain why those native to Northwestern Europe have…

An unusual surge of respiratory illness has been plaguing China in recent months, with increased cases of pneumonia affecting children in particular. Despite some early confusion, however, local health officials say these cases are not being caused by a novel germ. Instead, the surge is likely tied to a mix of known respiratory diseases such as influenza and RSV that are hitting harder than normal due to reduced population immunity in the area.Biggest Forest Fire in New Mexico HistoryNews of the strange cluster first…

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine.For a pathogen to make us sick, it must overcome a lot. First it has to enter the body, bypassing natural barriers such as skin, mucus, cilia, and stomach acid. Then it needs to reproduce; some bacteria and parasites can do this virtually anywhere in the body, while viruses and some other pathogens can only do so from within a cell. And all the while, it must parry attacks from the body’s immune system.So while we are constantly inundated by microbes, the…

At the height of the pandemic, unions across the U.S. demanded better COVID safety and health protection. From hospitals to fast food stands, warehouses to libraries, workers fought for personal protective equipment, cleaner workplaces, hazard pay and, where possible, telecommuting. To win protections, they signed petitions, organized sickouts, filed grievances, collectively bargained and, in some cases, engaged in work stoppages.But what about vaccines? Unions helped there too, it turns out, a reality that carries a…

Those trends have combined to affect “women from vulnerable communities … usually women who are Black or brown, with lower financial means, lack of access to transportation, inability to take time off work,” says Natasha Bagdasarian, a physician and the chief medical executive for the state of Michigan, which had 38 congenital cases of the disease in 2022. “What we're seeing when we review cases of congenital syphilis are individuals who, rather than have a single healthcare provider through their pregnancy, have gone to…

The aftermath of a tropical storm can bring along some nasty waterborne germs, a recent study from Columbia University researchers found. The study shows that tropical cyclones in the U.S. over the past two decades have been linked to an increase inseveral infectious diseases afterward, including Legionnaires’ disease and toxic strains of E. coli bacteria. It’s likely that these storm-fueled outbreaks will only become a bigger problem in the years to come, the authors say, thanks to climate change and deteriorating…

At least four people in Florida and one in Texas have been diagnosed with malaria that they must have caught near where they live—because, according to health officials, none of them traveled outside the US or their own states. The very unusual discovery has left infectious disease specialists wondering: Who else might be ill, and will local doctors recognize what’s wrong?Malaria isn’t completely unprecedented in the US: About 2,000 residents contract it every year, but almost always because they traveled to a place where…

President Biden has tapped Mandy Cohen as the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Her appointment is not a usual changing of the guard, but rather a chance for a fresh direction for the beleaguered agency—with implications for the health of us all. With Cohen officially taking the reins next week, the conventional wisdom is that the CDC’s reset should revolve around better communication, swifter science and a well-resourced and less-fragmented public health system. All of those matter,…

The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. While effective vaccines for COVID-19 should have heralded the benefits of mRNA vaccines, fear and misinformation about their supposed dangers circulated at the same time. These misconceptions about mRNA vaccines have recently spilled over into worries about whether their use in agricultural animals could expose people to components of the vaccine within animal products such as meat or milk. In…