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

Feb 7, 2022

Pet hamsters sparked a coronavirus outbreak in Hong Kong

Imported pet hamsters carried the delta variant of the novel coronavirus into Hong Kong, sparking a local outbreak, a new study suggests. The research, posted Jan. 28 to the database Preprints with The Lancet, has not yet been peer-reviewed, but it provides the first evidence of hamster-to-human transmission of SARS-CoV-2,...

Feb 16, 2022

Was the mysterious 'Russian flu' actually a coronavirus? Some scientists think so.

In 1889, a mysterious respiratory illness emerged in Russia and then spread across the globe, triggering at least three waves of infection over the course of several years. Now, some scientists suspect that this illness, dubbed the Russian flu, actually may have been caused by a pandemic coronavirus similar to...

Feb 16, 2022

Antihistamines to treat long COVID: What you need to know

Over-the-counter antihistamines, typically taken for allergies, may help relieve the debilitating symptoms of long COVID in some people, a new case report suggests. The report, published Feb. 7 in The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, included two middle-age women with long COVID, a condition also known by the medical term post-acute...

Feb 28, 2022

Ukraine hospitals could run out of oxygen in 24 hours, WHO warns

Ukrainian hospitals could run out of medical oxygen within the next 24 hours, endangering the lives of thousands of critically ill patients, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned. The Russian invasion of Ukraine means that trucks carrying the life-saving medical resource are unable to transport it from plants to...

Mar 1, 2022

1st possible case of deer-to-human COVID-19 transmission reported

The first potential case of a deer passing the novel coronavirus to a person has been reported in Canada, according to a new study. What's more, the researchers identified highly mutated clusters of SARS-CoV-2 genomes in white-tailed deer, underscoring the potential for deer to act as an animal reservoir for...

Mar 7, 2022

Brain shrinkage linked to COVID-19

COVID-19 may shrink the brain's gray matter, primarily in areas of the brain involved in smell and memory processing, a large study suggests. These distinct changes in brain structure crop up in both people who required hospitalization for COVID-19 and those who had less severe infections, according to the study,...

Mar 11, 2022

Delta-omicron hybrid variant identified for the first time

Scientists have confirmed the existence of a new COVID-19 variant that combines mutations from both omicron and delta variants for the first time, and there are reported cases in both Europe and the U.S. The new hybrid variant, unofficially dubbed deltacron, was confirmed through genome sequencing performed by scientists at...

Mar 14, 2022

What is a coronavirus?

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, may be the most famous coronavirus, but it certainly isn't the only one. The novel coronavirus is just one member of a large family of viruses that can infect mammals, such as humans, cows, pigs and dogs; as well as birds, such as chickens,...

Mar 15, 2022

What are the symptoms of COVID-19?

COVID-19 symptoms range from mild to severe, and some infected people show no symptoms, meaning they're asymptomatic. Although there are a wide spectrum of symptoms, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has listed the 11 most common COVID-19 symptoms that appear two to 14 days after exposure to...

Mar 16, 2022

'Stealth' omicron cases rising in the US: Here's what we know.

The omicron subvariant BA.2, also known as stealth omicron, has steadily grown more common in the U.S. since it was first detected in the country in January, but that doesn't mean it will trigger a huge new wave of infection. That said, some experts are still concerned that such a...

Mar 18, 2022

At-home COVID-19 tests linked to accidental injuries, FDA warns

Some people are accidentally hurting themselves by using at-home COVID-19 tests incorrectly, such as mistakenly putting the liquid test solution in their eyes, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned. On Friday (March 18), the FDA issued an alert warning that at-home COVID-19 tests can cause harm if...

Mar 22, 2022

Quick guide: Most widely used COVID-19 vaccines and how they work

Editor's note: This article was last updated on March 22, 2022, by Live Science staff writer Nicoletta Lanese. Dozens of coronavirus vaccines entered clinical trials during 2020, and now, more than 20 different shots are being administered to people around the world. Out of the five most widely used COVID-19...

Apr 4, 2022

Should you get a second booster shot for COVID-19?

Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized second booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. This authorization applies to individuals age 50 and older, as well as certain immunocompromised people ages 12 and older. Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the director of the Centers...

Apr 22, 2022

Longest COVID-19 infection reported: Patient had virus for 505 days.

A patient in the United Kingdom was infected with COVID-19 for a record 505 days, or more than 16 months, before their death, according to a new report. The case is the longest-known continuous infection with COVID-19 reported to date, surpassing the previous record of 335 days, according to the...

May 4, 2022

Severe COVID-19 may cause similar cognitive deficits as 20 years of aging

People who require hospitalization for COVID-19 develop lingering cognitive problems similar to what you'd expect if they'd aged 20 years. That's according to a new study conducted in the United Kingdom and published online on April 28 in the journal eClinicalMedicine. The research is somewhat limited in that it included...