Tag Archives: Health

Fresh studies give more information about what treatments do or don’t work for COVID-19, with high-quality methods that give reliable results. British researchers on Friday published their research on the only drug shown to improve survival — a cheap steroid called dexamethasone. Two other studies found that malaria drug hydroxychloroquine …

Can a pregnant woman spread the coronavirus to her fetus? It’s possible, but it seems to be relatively rare and scientists think they know why that is. Many viruses can cross the placenta and infect a fetus in the womb, and evidence has been growing that the coronavirus sometimes can …

The first COVID-19 vaccine tested in the U.S. revved up people’s immune systems just the way scientists had hoped, researchers reported Tuesday. The shots are poised to begin key final testing. “No matter how you slice this, this is good news,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious disease …

A Mongolian teenager diagnosed with bubonic plague died on Monday. The 15-year-old reportedly contracted the deadly disease after consuming marmot meat. The boy ate the infected meat with his two friends, whose condition is currently unknown. People who have been in contact with them have now been isolated and vaccinated, …

As the race to find a novel coronavirus vaccine continues across the globe, Russia has reportedly become the first country to complete clinical trials of a vaccine candidate, with the potential to be distributed from around mid-August. A vaccine could be rolled out across the U.K. by the first half …

The number of infections with the novel coronavirus has surpassed 13 million worldwide with the deaths exceeding 571,000 and recoveries over 7.58 million, according to Worldometer figures. According to the latest figures on Monday morning (+3:00 GMT), 13,069,861 people have so far been infected with the novel coronavirus globally, with …

The World Health Organization has expanded its coronavirus guidance to include the possibility in certain circumstances of airborne transmission, in which the virus could be spread through tiny droplets that linger in the air. The update came Thursday after an open letter signed by more than 200 scientists pressed the …

Authorities in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia have closed several tourist spots after a case of bubonic plague was confirmed this week. The case was discovered in Bayannur, located northwest of the capital Beijing. Five nearby grassland scenic points have now been closed, with visitors “strictly prohibited from entering …

The European Commission has struck deals with drugmakers Roche and Merck KGaA to secure supplies of experimental treatments for COVID-19, a Commission source told Reuters on Wednesday. The deals cover Roche’s arthritis medicine RoActemra and Merck’s multiple sclerosis drug Rebif – both seen as potential treatments for COVID-19 – and …

China is forging ahead in the race to develop a vaccine to help control the COVID-19 pandemic, with Sinovac Biotech’s (SVA.O) experimental vaccine set to become the country’s second and the world’s third to enter final stage testing later this month. While a laggard in the global vaccine industry, China, …

A nationwide antibody study in Spain has found that only 5.2 percent of the country’s population has been exposed to coronavirus, suggesting that herd immunity could be unachievable. The findings marked the conclusion of a three-month study into the prevalence of the virus, which involved testing almost 70,000 people across …

The U.S. government has awarded Novavax Inc $1.6 billion to cover testing, commercialization, and manufacturing of a potential coronavirus vaccine in the United States, with the aim of delivering 100 million doses by January 2021. Novavax shares jumped 35% in premarket trade. The award is the biggest yet from “Operation …

The coronavirus is finding new victims worldwide, in bars and restaurants, offices, markets and casinos, giving rise to frightening clusters of infection that increasingly confirm what many scientists have been saying for months: The virus lingers in the air indoors, infecting those nearby. If airborne transmission is a significant factor …

China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said on Saturday that the so-called “G4” strain of swine flu virus is not new and does not infect or sicken humans and animals easily, rebuffing a study published earlier this week. That study, by a team of Chinese scientists and published by …

Officials in Brussels have approved remdesivir to treat severe cases of Covid-19, just days after the US effectively stockpiled the world’s entire supply of the antiviral medication. “We will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to secure efficient treatments or vaccine against the coronavirus,” EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides …

Chinese doctors have given their patients the first sheets of prescriptions of a new, home-developed breast cancer drug. In Beijing, Inetetamab, a targeted injection drug for metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer patients, was first prescribed in the cancer hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences on Wednesday, 12 days after …

A COVID-19 vaccine developed by German biotech firm BioNTech and U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has shown potential and was found to be well tolerated in early-stage human trials, the companies said on Wednesday. The drug is one of 17 being tested on humans in a frantic global race to find …

The Trump administration has bought up virtually the entire stock for the next three months of one of the drugs proven to work against Covid-19, leaving none for the UK, Europe, or most of the rest of the world. On Monday the US Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) …

The World Health Organization (WHO) will “read carefully” a Chinese study on a new flu virus found in pigs, a spokesman said on Tuesday, saying the findings underscored the importance of influenza surveillance during the COVID-19 pandemic. A new flu virus found in Chinese pigs has become more infectious to …

Chinese researchers have discovered a new type of swine flu that can infect humans and has the potential to cause a future pandemic, according to a study released on Monday. The disease, which researchers called the G4 virus, is genetically descended from the H1N1 swine flu that caused a global …