Viruses, Infections & Disease, features and articles | Educational Science

Aug 31, 2023

Brain fog in long COVID may be linked to blood clots

The debilitating brain fog often experienced by people with long COVID may stem from blood clots, new research suggests. Long COVID describes myriad symptoms that linger for weeks to years after a COVID-19 infection. Some people with the condition experience problems with blood flow and lung capacity, which have been...

Sep 25, 2023

COVID drug molnupiravir may be driving the virus to mutate — should we worry?

An antiviral drug used to treat COVID-19 may be driving the virus that causes the disease to evolve, a new study suggests. But is this concerning, or particularly surprising? Not at this point, and not really, experts told Live Science. Scientists analyzed more than 15 million SARS-CoV-2 genomes — genetic...

Oct 2, 2023

Nobel Prize in medicine goes to scientists who paved the way for COVID-19 mRNA vaccines

The 2023 Nobel prize in physiology or medicine has been awarded to two scientists who developed the messenger RNA vaccine technology used in the first effective shots against COVID-19. Katalin Karikó, a professor at the University of Szeged in Hungary), and Dr. Drew Weissman, director of the Penn Institute for...

Oct 4, 2023

Novavax's new COVID vaccine cleared for use by FDA

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized a new formulation of the COVID-19 vaccine made by the Maryland-based pharmaceutical company Novavax, the agency announced Tuesday (Oct. 3). The newly updated nanoparticle vaccine joins the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines already cleared for use in the U.S. The Novavax shot...

Oct 4, 2023

Who should get the new COVID vaccines? What to know about the 2023-2024 shots

Like the annual flu shots, COVID-19 vaccines have been getting a yearly update each fall — and we're due for a new batch. So who should get one this time around? What shots are approved for use, and when will they be available? Here's what you need to know about...

Nov 27, 2023

Injection might help long COVID patients smell normally again

A nerve-block injection may help people with long COVID restore their sense of smell, new research suggests. The injection, called a stellate ganglion block, is given into a bundle of nerves in the neck. The new study, presented Nov. 20 at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North...

Dec 7, 2023

Can antiviral drugs prevent long COVID?

Evidence is continuing to accumulate on the burden and frequency of chronic effects after a COVID infection, which fall under the umbrella term long COVID. At least 5% to 10% of people who contract COVID experience long COVID. This can include symptoms (for example, fatigue, brain fog and breathlessness) or...

Dec 9, 2023

Rare clotting effect of early COVID shots finally explained — what could that mean for future vaccines?

Rare blood clots tied to some early COVID-19 vaccines that are no longer in use may have been the result of two out-of-control immune reactions happening at once. One of these immune reactions was already known, but the second, reported Oct. 26 in the journal Blood, is a new discovery....

Jan 10, 2024

Vaccines slash risk of long COVID, studies show

At least 200 million people worldwide have struggled with long COVID: a slew of symptoms that can persist for months or even years after an infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID. But research suggests that that number would likely be much higher if not for vaccines. A growing...

Mar 12, 2024

COVID pandemic knocked 1.6 years off global life expectancy, study finds

Global life expectancy — the average number of years a person can expect to live from their time of birth — dropped by 1.6 years at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, new research shows. Global life expectancy had been on the rise until the pandemic struck, jumping from 49...

Sep 7, 2023

DNA's 'topography' influences where cancer-causing mutations appear

DNA's 3D shape — its twisted ladders complexly curled into coils and loops — and other features beyond its genetic code may influence where hotspots of cancer-causing mutations accumulate. That's according to a new study of how genomic topography affects cancer mutations. Genomic topography broadly refers to elements of the...

Sep 13, 2023

What happens to cancer cells after they're killed by treatments?

Cancer treatments like chemotherapy kill tumor cells, for example, by pushing them to self-destruct, shrivel up and quietly die in a process called apoptosis, or less commonly, by triggering a more explosive form of cell death called necroptosis. But what happens to those cancer cells after they've been slain? When...

Sep 18, 2023

Cancer screening may not extend lives, new study suggests. But experts say it's flawed.

Cancer screening involves searching for signs of the dangerous disease before symptoms develop. The goal is to catch cancer as early as possible, making it easier to treat and thus saving lives. A new study recently seemed to cast doubt on whether screening for cancer actually saves lives, but scientists...

Nov 3, 2023

Millions more people need lung cancer screening, ACS says

People with a history of heavy cigarette smoking should be checked regularly for lung cancer even if it's been many years since they quit, the American Cancer Society (ACS) now recommends. This new recommendation, released Wednesday (Nov. 1) in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, is a departure from the...

Nov 8, 2023

Healthy tissue may predict lung cancer return better than tumors

It may be possible to predict whether a person's lung cancer could return after surgery by zooming in on the seemingly healthy tissue near their tumors, a lab study suggests. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. One of the most common types is lung...