Health

Scientists believe that COVID-19 could affect male fertility after an early study showed patients who died from the virus had decreased sperm counts. Researchers also rebuffed what they called “myths” on social media about the effect of COVID-19 vaccines on male fertility. Scientists from the University of Miami examined six …

Extroverted men who put their self-interests above others are most likely to ignore COVID-19 regulations, a new study published on Thursday found.

More than 18 months into the COVID-19 pandemic, new variants of the virus continue to emerge, and scientists believe the latest – the ‘Lambda’ variant – might be the most dangerous to date. A new study ‘SARS-CoV-2 Lambda variant exhibits higher infectivity and immune resistance,’ published on bioRxiv, found that …

China says it has put forward alternative parameters for a second probe into the origins of Covid-19 that should span multiple countries, Beijing’s latest move to counter a push by the US for a deeper investigation into the theory the virus leaked from a Wuhan lab. China, where the coronavirus …

The effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine dropped from 96 percent to 84 percent over six months, a new study funded by the companies showed. The study, published on Wednesday, showed that while the efficacy level of the Pfizer vaccine reached a peak of 96.2 percent within the first two …

COVID-19 could be just a few mutations away from evading existing vaccines that protect against the deadly virus, according to the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Italy approved the use of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for children 12-17 years old. To date, over 31 million people in Italy — or 57.4 percent of the target population aged 12 and above — have already been fully immunized. Italy has authorized the Moderna Spikevax coronavirus vaccine for minors aged …

New research studying COVID-19 patients has found that a severe infection could cause brain changes that increase an individual’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s. Researchers from UT Health San Antonio have followed COVID-19 patients with long-term neurological symptoms for the past year, and are presenting their findings this week at the …

Medical authorities in China have said a drug used in Japan to treat new strains of influenza appeared to be effective in coronavirus patients, Japanese media said on Wednesday. Zhang Xinmin, an official at China’s science and technology ministry, said favipiravir, developed by a subsidiary of Fujifilm, had produced encouraging …

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday that 70 percent of adults in the bloc have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Overall, 57 percent of over-18s are now fully vaccinated across the 27 nations, she said in a statement. “These figures put Europe among the …

India will miss a target to administer over a half-billion COVID-19 vaccine doses by the end of the month as Bharat Biotech — maker of its only approved homegrown shot — struggles to boost output, an analysis of government data showed on Monday. India has undertaken one of the world’s …

A mixed vaccination of first AstraZeneca and then a Pfizer COVID-19 shot boosted neutralizing antibody levels by six times compared with two AstraZeneca doses, a study from South Korea showed. The study involved 499 medical workers – 100 receiving mixed doses, 200 taking two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech shot, and …

A ten-year-old boy in the United States’ Colorado has died from “causes associated with the plague”, according to the state’s officials, online news media The Hill reported on Saturday. After conducting lab tests, Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Environment confirmed in a statement released on Thursday the presence of …

Top US infectious disease official Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that Americans who are immune-compromised may end up needing COVID-19 vaccine booster shots. “Those who are transplant patients, cancer chemotherapy, auto-immune diseases, that are on immunosuppressant regimens, those are the kind of individuals that if there’s going to be a …

An assistant professor of Pasteur Institute of Iran (IPI) announced on Sat. that Iran is getting prepared to register the Iranian-made coronavirus vaccine, ‘COVIran Barekat’ in WHO. According to Dr. Asghar Abdoli, described that Iran needs to initially submit all the required documents about its homemade vaccine to WHO. Then, …

Outbreaks of a drug-resistant “superbug” fungus spread among patients in hospitals and long-term care facilities in Texas and Washington, D.C., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday. The fungus, Candida Auris, preys on people with weakened immune systems. The CDC said evidence suggests these cases involved person-to-person transmission, …

The US is in the midst of a drug overdose epidemic as a fresh report claimed that the number of people who died from an overdose in 2020 rose by almost 30% year-on-year to more than 93,000, and experts said that the isolation and mental health pressures caused by the …

The EU’s medicines regulator has given its backing for Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine to be administered to minors aged between 12 and 17, citing positive results in trials involving 3,732 participants. In a statement on Friday, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gave its recommendation for the Spikevax Covid-19 shot to be …

Chile has registered the Russian Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine for use, Russia’s Direct Investment Fund said on Wednesday. Chile has become the 69th country to authorise the vaccine, according to the fund, which promotes it abroad. Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute and the RDIF have said that Sputnik V is 97.6% effective …

A longer gap between doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine leads to higher overall antibody levels than a shorter gap, a British study found on Friday, but there is a sharp drop in antibody levels after the first dose. The study might help inform vaccination strategies against the Delta variant, which …