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The life-threatening infection sepsis was more common than once thought among COVID-19 patients early in the pandemic.

Massachusetts researchers linked SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, to about 1 in 6 sepsis cases at five Boston hospitals during the pandemic's first 2-1/2 years.

Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital said their findings suggest health care workers sho...

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...

New research shows that an antibiotic effective for bacterial pneumonia also appears to fight treatment-resistant staph infections.

The drug is ceftobiprole. It appeared successful in fighting methicillin-resistant staph infections, sometimes called MRSA. It showed similar benefit when tested against the antibiotic daptomycin to treat complicated Staphylococcus aureus infections....

People who develop long COVID have distinct abnormalities in their immune and hormonal function that can be picked up with blood tests, researchers have found.

In a new study of 268 patients with and without long COVID, those with the condition showed a number of biological "markers" in their blood samples.

People with long COVID often showed signs of compromised immune function, in...

One in every 14 American adults has suffered from long COVID, a new federal survey has found.

About 7% of adults have ever had long COVID and more than 3% still have it, according to the 2022 National Health Interview Survey.

The survey, published Tuesday as an NCHS Data Brief, also found t...

Piercings can be a fun way to express yourself, but they can also cause complications -- particularly in areas that aren't the earlobes -- and need proper care.

"The first step to caring for your piercing is choosing a qualified piercer,"said Dr. Steven Daveluy, an associate professor and program director at Wa...

Women may soon have a vaccine they can take during a pregnancy to help protect their newborn from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

Following approval one month ago by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday also approved the shot, called Abrysvo. That marks the last hurdle needed for the vaccine to become widely available.

"T...

Americans will once again be able to get free at-home COVID tests.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Wednesday that it will spend $600 million to buy and offer the tests, produced by 12 domestic manufacturers, and it will begin accepting orders for those tests on Monday through covidt...

A deadly infection associated with hospitalization may not be the fault of the hospital, but may instead stem from the patients themselves, a new study suggests.

Infection caused by the bacterium Clostridioides difficile, or C. diff, is still common in hospitals, despite extensive infection control procedures. The new research may help explain why that's so.

Among mor...

Kids are back in school and it's time to think about viruses, for both yourself and them.

It could be an early flu season in the United States, if what happened in the Southern Hemisphere offers any insight, according to Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles.

The flu vaccine is now available in some locations. A new COVID-19 booster has been approved by federal health officia...

COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths are gradually increasing in the United States, as two new variants gain a foothold in the nation. And with that rise, more people are looking for COVID test kits.

Hospitalizations rose by nearly 9% and deaths by nearly 11% in late August/early September, according to

When you have COVID-19, when are you most infectious? Researchers are getting closer to an answer, with a new study finding that folks exhale the highest amounts of virus during the first eight days of their illness.

Scientists found that patients exhale quite a bit of virus during the first several days -- as many as 1,000 copies of airborne virus per minute.

Those levels drop st...

You've probably heard of West Nile virus, but mosquitoes spread various other illnesses, too, including the little-known Jamestown Canyon virus (JCV), which is garnering attention across the United States.

For example, health officials in Connecticut have so far identified mosquitoes carrying JCV in 12 towns across the state. Although no confirmed human cases of the disease have occurred ...

Two new studies looked to explain an increased risk of respiratory infections like coughs and colds in babies and young children, finding city living to be among the culprits.

Young children who grow up in towns and cities instead of the countryside suffer more respiratory infections, according to research presented Monday at a meeting of the European Respiratory Society, in Milan, Italy....

Patients with hepatitis C should consider being vaccinated again for hepatitis B, because their immune response to the initial shot may be inadequate, a new study suggests.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School urge those who have hepatitis C to be checked for hepatitis B immune protection. If none is present, they should get the vaccine again after treating hepatitis ...

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a common viral infection that affects people of all ages, with infants and older adults being particularly vulnerable to severe complications.

Preventing the spread of RSV requires a multi-pronged approach that includes vaccination, good hygiene practices and public health initiatives.

You may have seen recent reports about newly approved vacci...

While it doesn't prevent infection altogether, new research shows the mpox vaccine does reduces the severity of disease in those who fall ill from the virus.

An international team of scientists found that those people who had either mpox vaccination or a previous infection in 2022 had less severe disease.

The researchers studied 38 mpox infections in 37 gay and bisexual men; among ...

Doctors are seeing a spike in severe cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) among young children in Florida and Georgia, U.S. health officials warned Tuesday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent an advisory to doctors, noting that regional increases us...

New research on a leading cause of foodborne illness has linked a large share of Michigan infections to antibiotic-resistant bacteria strains.

More than 100 strains of Campylobacter jejuni circulating in Michigan are resistant to at least one antibiotic, according to researchers from Michigan State University (MSU) and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. More th...

As waters warm across the United States and hurricanes and flooding season begins, the odds of being infected by flesh-eating bacteria are also rising, U.S. health officials warn.

According to a Sept. 1 health alert from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a dozen types of the bacteria called <...

When new COVID variant BA.2.86 emerged in late July, scientists had concerns about its ability to evade immunity. But early lab tests seem to be easing those fears, as well as concerns over the variant's ability to spread widely.

Also called Pirola, the variant is highly mutated, with more than 30 changes to its spike protein compared to its close ancestor BA.2 and to XBB.1.5, CNN