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Results for search "Bites &, Stings".

Health News Results - 46

Rabies virus is incurable and almost always fatal once it has invaded the central nervous system, with the victim doomed to suffer a horrible death.

But researchers now think they've found an effective and simple treatment that can cure even advanced cases of rabies.

A monoclonal antibody injected into lab mice successfully protected them from a lethal dose of rabies virus, research...

Mosquitoes can be a big pest, leaving behind itchy bumps on skin and potentially spreading serious diseases, such as West Nile virus.

Sam Telford III is a professor of infectious disease and global health at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University and a commissioner for the Central Ma...

Los Angeles county is seeing more cases of flea-borne typhus, with 171 cases and three deaths reported in 2022, health officials reported Thursday.

That's a big rise, they noted: Since 2010, when only 31 cases of typhus were reported, fleas have been spreading the disease widely in the California city.

While many people who become infected don't even know they're sick, those with...

The United States now has had eight reported cases of malaria, seven of them in Florida, state health officials reported Tuesday.

Considered a public health emergency, these cases are the first in two decades to be acquired within this country's borders, not reported by someone who had traveled elsewhere, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

  • Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
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  • July 19, 2023
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  • If you're dreaming of the perfect summer vacation, one element certain to be excluded from that scenario would be an allergic reaction to a stinging insect.

    Whether you're planning to travel within the United States or to a foreign locale, you'll need to take precautions against stinging insects, especially if you've had an allergic reaction to a sting in the past.

    According to a r...

    Just like their humans, dogs get cranky when temperatures and air pollution levels surge.

    Heat and air pollution have previously been linked to human aggression. Now, researchers say it also appears that there are more dog bites on hot, polluted days.

    More research is needed to confirm these findings, according to study author

  • Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
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  • June 16, 2023
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  • Ticks are extremely resilient even when temperatures vary wildly, according to scientists who are working to better understand the spread of Lyme disease.

    In their new study, black-legged ticks, notorious for carrying pathogens, were very good at surviving both extreme cold and high heat, the scientists found. This was true both for nymph and adult ticks. Only larval ticks were more affec...

    The best way to prevent Lyme disease is to not get bitten by a tick, or to get it off your body within 24 hours.

    That doesn't mean you shouldn't enjoy the great outdoors. Experts from Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston offer some tips for keeping ticks away.

    “Lyme's manifestations can be perplexing,” professor of immunology

  • Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
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  • May 13, 2023
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  • In the spring and summer, everyone races outside with their dogs to enjoy the warmer weather, but a new study suggests there is a downside to that.

    More children are bitten by dogs in those months, according to researchers at Nemours Children's Health.

    But a dog bite isn't inevitable: It's possible to keep both dogs and children safer, and to provide proper care if the unfortunate d...

    Cases of the mosquito-borne illness dengue are typically seen in the tropics, but with the changing climate that may be changing.

    Doctors from the United Kingdom and France are scheduled to present a case study at a meeting of a European medical association about a British woman who contracted dengue in September on a trip to Nice, France.

    The woman, aged 44, had fevers, headache b...

    Mosquitoes appear to be affected by artificial light at night, but whether that's a good or bad thing is an open question.

    New research finds that urban light pollution may disrupt the winter dormancy period of the mosquitoes that transmit the West Nile virus.

    That could be good because they may not fatten up in winter, which could affect their survival. And it could be bad because ...

    A family vacation to remember, but maybe not for the best reasons.

    Doctors report on an unusual case where a hungry iguana bit a vacationing toddler's hand, passing on an infection with a germ called Mycobacterium marinum.

    A 3-year-old girl named Lena Mars, of San Jose, Ca., was visiting Costa Rica with her family and eating cake while sitting on the beach. Suddenly an igua...

    If you are experiencing mysterious recurrent vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain, you may want to consider that a tick could be responsible.

    When the lone star tick bites a person, it can transmit something called “alpha gal,” the sugar that's present in all mammals except humans, explained Dr....

    It's a little safer to get into the water: Unprovoked shark attacks dropped to a 10-year low worldwide in 2022, shark watchers say.

    A total of 57 unprovoked bites occurred in 2022, tying with 2020 for the fewest number of reported incidents during the last 10 years, according to the University of Florida's International Shark Attack File.

    Of those attacks, five were fatal -- do...

    Researchers are reporting early but encouraging findings on a potential new way to prevent malaria — an old foe that still ranks as a major killer worldwide.

    In a small trial of healthy volunteers, U.S. government researchers found that a lab-engineered antibody protected most participants from infect...

    You may not have even considered the possibility, but new research finds that flies and roaches are not likely to spread COVID-19.

    Although public health professionals and officials now have a better understanding of how COVID-19 spreads, there are lingering concerns about whether it can spread indirectly through contaminated surfaces, animals or insects.

    According to study co-autho...

    Bugs are a part of summer, like it or not.

    While many times bug bites are little more than an irritating inconvenience, some can trigger a medical emergency, according to the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), which offered tips on telling one from the other.

    “While most bug bites or stings are minor and can be treated at home, some reactions can quickly become sever...

    TUESDAY, Feb. 8, 2022 (HealthDay News ) -- Mosquitoes see red when they look at your skin, and that brings them in for a bite, according to research showing that these insects find certain colors more attractive.

    The findings mean that what you wear can reduce your chances of being bitten, but there's little ...

    Three people died recently in the United States recently from rabies linked to bats, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. They bring the total number of U.S. rabies cases in 2021 to five.

    That's a sharp rise over prior years -- no reported rabies cases in people were reported in the United States during 2019 and 2020, the CDC noted. Overall, the number of rab...

    An experimental Lyme disease vaccine shows promise in animal studies and could also help protect against other tick-borne diseases, researchers say.

    The vaccine -- which relies on the same mRNA technology used by some COVID-19 vaccines -- protected guinea pigs against infection by Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease.

    The vaccine doesn't trigger the ...

    The tell-tale sign of Lyme disease is its bulls-eye rash, but that might be harder to spot in Black people, who are often diagnosed with more advanced disease than white people are, new research suggests.

    The first sign of Lyme disease looks different on darker skin, and these differences are not usually reflected in images found in medical textbooks, explained study author Dr. Dan Ly. He...

    Scientists in Japan have discovered yet another tick-borne virus that can make people sick.

    The Yezo virus is transmitted by tick bites, and triggers fever and a reduction in blood platelets and white blood cells.

    "At least seven people have been infected with this new virus in Japan since 2014, but, so far, no deaths have been confirmed," said Keita Matsuno, a virologist at Hokkaid...

    Lyme disease can exact a significant mental toll as well as a physical one on its sufferers, a new study confirms.

    Patients hospitalized for Lyme disease had a 28% higher incidence of mental disorders and were twice as likely to attempt suicide than people without Lyme, researchers report.

    "These findings highlight the need for greater awareness in the medical community that patien...

    When you're heading outdoors this summer, keep an eye out for ticks during and after your outing, health experts say.

    These common parasites can transmit Lyme disease, a potentially serious illness.

    Lyme disease is transmitted to people through the bite of an infected black-legged tick, also called a deer tick, explained Dr. Crystal Tank and Dr. Ashany Sundaram of Mountainside Medic...

    You might not believe it, but Florida firefighter Carsten Kieffer was incredibly lucky when a 12-foot alligator leapt into his boat and chomped down on his right forearm.

    Just about no one else thought so, and that went double for Kieffer: Both main bones in his arm were broken, and a big bite had been taken out of the back of his forearm. After the attack, the arm essentially dangled fro...

    That growling dog may actually be terrified of you.

    Fear and age-related pain are among the reasons why dogs are aggressive toward people, a new study suggests.

    The findings could help two-legged folks better understand and prevent aggressive behavior, such as growling, barking, snapping and biting, according to Finnish researchers.

    "Dogs' fearfulness had a strong link to aggr...

    Getting bitten by a dog or wild animal is frightening, especially for kids, but a new study may help relieve some of the worry about catching rabies.

    The rabies prevention treatment KEDRAB is safe and effective for patients 17 and younger, a groundbreaking pediatric clinical trial has shown.

    The trial included 30 kids with suspected or confirmed rabies exposure who were treated with...

    Climate change could increase people's risk of getting dangerous diseases from ticks, researchers warn.

    The investigators conducted tests with brown dog ticks that carry the bacteria that cause the deadly disease Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) and found the ticks are much more likely to prefer feeding on the blood of people than dogs when temperatures rise.

    Brown dog ticks are ...

    The sting of fire ants can be painful and even deadly -- and the threat rises during fall across the southeastern United States.

    At this time of year, fire ants move to warm surfaces such as concrete slabs or asphalt roads, according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), which urges people to take precautions.

    A child can be stung walking through...

    New insight into how pregnant women can pass the Zika virus to their fetus could point to ways to prevent it, researchers say.

    Babies infected with Zika in the womb can have abnormally small heads (microcephaly) and other birth defects.

    In this study, researchers examined placenta samples collected from pregnant women during the peak of Brazil's 2015 to 2016 Zika outbreak. S...

    Although scientists haven't nailed down how the new coronavirus jumped to humans, a new study confirms mosquitoes aren't to blame -- and you won't get COVID-19 from a mosquito bite.

    "While the World Health Organization has definitively stated that mosquitoes cannot transmit the virus, our study is the first to provide conclusive data supporting the theory," said study author Stephen H...

    Tick monitoring and control is lacking in much of the United States despite a steady increase in tick-borne illnesses, such as Lyme disease, a new study finds.

    In the United States, tick-borne illnesses more than doubled between 2004 and 2018, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    For the new study, the researchers surveyed tick management progra...

    As pandemic-related restrictions ease and people return to parks and other outdoor spaces, remember to protect yourself against another threat -- ticks.

    "With our latest mild winter, ticks have been active in much of the region on warmer days all winter long," said Jody Gangloff-Kaufmann, an entomologist at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., who said it's too soon to predict populati...

    The mystery of "stinging water" has been solved, scientists say.

    Stinging water is the seawater near and around upside-down jellyfish (Cassiopea) -- and swimmers can get stinging, itchy skin while submerged in it, even if they have no direct contact with the creatures themselves.

    But it wasn't clear in the past if the jellyfish were to blame for this discomfort, since...

    Lab-altered mosquitoes have made a big dent in the spread of dengue fever, researchers report.

    How? Australian scientists released mosquitoes carrying a bacteria that prevents transmission of the dengue virus.

    The strategy resulted in a 76% decrease in dengue transmission in a community in Indonesia that has frequent dengue outbreaks. Similar reductions were seen in an u...

    A global coalition of more than 11,000 scientists warns that planet Earth is facing a "climate emergency" that will cause "untold human suffering" unless drastic steps are taken.

    The warming climate is already taking a toll on human health, causing widespread hunger and illness that will grow exponentially worse, said the warning's lead author, William Ripple. He's a professor of ecol...

    Some mosquitoes spread diseases to humans through their bite, passing along harmful pathogens like Zika, dengue fever, West Nile virus and chikungunya.

    Now humans are turning the tables, infecting these dangerous mosquitoes with bacteria that sabotage their ability to spawn.

    Chinese researchers were able to reduce these mosquito populations by as much as 94% using a bact...

    Although unwelcome, insect stings pose a serious risk threat to only a small percentage of people, a medical expert says.

    "While millions of people suffer insect stings, true allergic reactions occur in a mere 0.4 to 0.8% of children and up to 3% of adults," said Dr. Morissa Ladinsky. She is an associate professor of pediatrics and adolescent medicine at the University of Alab...

    Summer is synonymous with mosquitoes, and that means possible exposure to the West Nile and Zika viruses. Both are spread mainly through mosquito bites.

    Most people won't experience symptoms from either virus, but there are important differences to be aware of.

    West Nile

    • Up to 20% of infected people have symptoms, such as a fever, headache, body ach...

    Many flies and flying insects in hospitals carry bacteria that could pose an infection risk to patients, and more than half of them carry the types that resist antibiotics, a new study says.

    British researchers used ultraviolet-light flytraps, electronic fly killers and sticky traps to collect nearly 20,000 flies, aphids, ants, wasps, bees and moths at seven hospitals in England over ...

    No parent wants their child to suffer a dog bite, and new research offers some guidance on which dogs are the riskiest around young kids.

    The body size and head shape of dogs affect the bite and injury risk they pose, the researchers found.

    For the study, the investigators examined 15 years of visits for facial dog bites at two emergency departments, and more than 45 years o...

    As deer populations have exploded across America, moving from forests to suburbs to urban parks, they have brought the threat of Lyme disease to millions of city dwellers, a new study finds.

    In fact, the deer tick that spreads Lyme disease is as prevalent in many New York City parks as it is in areas known to be endemic for the bacterial disease, such as Connecticut and other states i...

    It sounds like something out of a horror film: A blood-hungry insect feeds on its prey's faces while they sleep, leaving behind a parasite that can cause stroke and heart disease.

    But the triatomine, or so-called "kissing bug," is all too real and found regularly in Latin America, but also has been found in several areas of the United States, as far north as Illinois and Delaware. An...

    Strong currents and sharks aren't the only threat to saltwater swimmers in Australia. A deadly jellyfish often tops their list of threats.

    But researchers working with mice have discovered a potential antidote to the lethal sting of the Australian box jellyfish -- the world's most venomous sea creature.

    The treatment in question? A cholesterol drug.

    Each box jellyf...

    You now have an excuse to skip cutting the grass every weekend -- it's beneficial for the bees.

    And mowing your lawn less often to provide native bees a better habitat won't lead to an increase in disease-carrying ticks, experts say.

    When research ecologist Susannah Lerman began urging friends and colleagues to leave lawns a bit longer to help the bees, the "first thing peop...

    Certain tick bites can cause a red meat allergy, and now scientists are shedding new light on the condition, known as alpha-gal syndrome.

    Alpha-gal is a sugar found in most mammal blood, but not in humans.

    "Our original hypothesis was that humans developed the allergy after being exposed to alpha-gal through a tick that had fed on a deer, dog or other small mammal that has ...