Medical specialties

HBO’s post-apocalyptic show about society destroyed by a devastating fungal pandemic, The Last of Us, is fiction. However, lethal fungi that can infect humans are very much a reality, and one of the biggest threats today is Candida auris.The dangerous and difficult-t0-fight fungal infection, often deadly for the immunocompromised, is tearing through U.S. hospitals and other healthcare facilities at an “alarming rate,” according to a Centers for Disease Control news statement published Monday. The fungus, a yeast called…

Doctors say they’ve likely cured yet another person of HIV using a specialized form of stem cell transplant. The patient has remained HIV-free for six years and is the first known woman to have successfully undergone the procedure. The doctors used a novel technique that transplanted stem cells from a relative and a donor’s umbilical cord blood at the same time—a technique that could make these transplants more widely feasible.The patient’s doctors earlier detailed her ongoing case at an HIV-related science conference…

In a study out this week, scientists describe a novel experimental pill that may be able to help patients with a difficult-to-treat form of leukemia. Nearly half of patients in the Phase I trial responded to the treatment, called revumenib, while about a third experienced a complete remission of their cancer. More research will be needed to confirm its effectiveness, however.Revumenib is being developed by the company Syndax. It’s meant to work by inhibiting a protein called menin, which seems to play an important role in…

Anyone hoping to stay ahead of the next viral outbreak might want to avoid TikTok, new research suggests. The study, published Tuesday in BMJ Global Health, found that TikTok videos discussing the viral disease monkeypox, which spread widely around the world and infected tens of thousands of Americans last year, often provided inaccurate or incomplete information, and were generally poor quality. Videos made by self-identified medical professionals did tend to be more informative than those made by the general public,…

In a paper out this week, scientists argue that a common industrial chemical is contributing to Parkinson’s disease. The chemical is called trichloroethylene, or TCE. And while some states have recently banned its use, TCE remains widely present throughout the U.S.TCE is a colorless organic solvent that’s been in use for a century in various industries. It’s most often deployed as a degreasing agent in commercial or manufacturing facilities, but it’s also used as an ingredient in common household cleaning products,…

Image: Rawpixel.com (Shutterstock)Getting enough sleep is refreshing for both you and your immune system, a new review of research out Monday suggests. A teamfound that sleeping fewer hours a night around the time of vaccination was associated with lower levels of vaccine-related antibodies, at least in some groups. More research is needed to understand the connection, but it could inform the health advice we give to those about to get vaccinated.The review was conducted by researchers in the U.S. and Europe, including…

Photo: Brent Hofacker (Shutterstock)Scientists in Spain have perhaps finally settled an important debate: Men really can be “growers or showers.” The team examined data from hundreds of men and found that their penises fell along a spectrum of added length during erection. The urologistsdidn’t uncover any factors associated with having either type of penis, though, and the largest proportion of men were somewhere in the middle.The research was conducted by urologists in Madrid, Spain. They were earnestly interested in…

Image: Chanawat Jaiya (Shutterstock)The infection: Leptospirosis, caused by various members of Leptospira bacteria.Symptoms and treatment: It can initially cause high fever, chills, muscle aches, and jaundice (yellowed skin and eyes). Sometimes, people can recover and later experience a worse and more life-threatening second phase of illness, one that can severely damage the liver, kidneys, and brain. The second phase is more common when the infection goes untreated with antibiotics. Threat potential: The bacteria is…

A transmission electron microscopic (TEM) image of hepatitis B virus (HBV) particles.Image: Erskine Palmer/CDCThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now advising people to get screened for hepatitis B at least once in their lives. Though the infection can be managed with antivirals and prevented with a highly effective childhood vaccine, many Americans today are still living with chronic hepatitis B, which can raise the risk of liver damage and cancer. Two-thirds of these Americans may not even know they have…

A female lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum). Image: Jay Ondreicka (Shutterstock)A team of experts believe they’re confirmed the first U.S. case of tickborne illness caused by a particular bacteria. The case involved a 75-year-old Alabama man who likely caught the germ from a lone star tick. Thankfully, the man was successfully treated with antibiotics.The case was detailed in last month’s edition of Emerging Infectious Diseases, a journal run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its authors include…