Sticky fingers, runny noses: Little kids are sweet, but they can also pass on dangerous germs to loving grandparents, new research confirms.
The study found that contact with pre-school and kindergarten-aged kids may be the leading transmission route for bacteria that ca...
A person's toothbrush could be a true lifesaver if they land in a hospital ICU, according to new evidence review.
Regular toothbrushing is associated with lower rates of death in the intensive care unit (ICU), shorter lengths of stay, and shorter times spent on a mechani...
A new study on Clostridioides difficile infections finds that choosing an alternative antibiotic for high-risk patients with pneumonia can reduce infection risk.
C. diff infections can be deadly, and they are often acquired by hospitalized patients taki...
Former Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton has suffered a "scary setback" as she fights a rare type of pneumonia while in the intensive care unit of a hospital, her family said Wednesday.
The 55-year-old, who lives in the Houston area, had been "going on the up and up" earli...
Olympic icon Mary Lou Retton -- the first American woman to win the all-around gold medal in women's gymnastics -- is in intensive care with a rare type of pneumonia and “not able to breathe on her own,” her daughter said on Instagram.
She is “fighting for her lif...
Certain adult vaccines, including shingles and pneumonia shots, may also help seniors fight off Alzheimer's disease, new research reveals.
Prior vaccination with the shingles vaccine, pneumococcus vaccine or the tetanus and diphtheria shot, with or without an added ...
Dentures may hide harmful germs that cause pneumonia, British researchers report.
For the study, the investigators took samples from the dentures of nursing home patients who did and didn't have pneumonia. They analyzed the samples to identify the types of microbes pres...
Patients hospitalized with pneumonia typically stay on IV antibiotics until they're stable, after about three days, but a new study suggests a different option.
Researchers report that more patients who have community-acquired pneumonia could switch sooner to oral antibi...
Older people have vaccines available to prevent severe influenza and COVID-19, but there's been nothing to protect against the third respiratory virus that contributed to this season's wretched “triple-demic.”
Until now.
Two major pharmaceutical companies publi...
COVID-19 infection in pregnancy raises a woman's risk of death sevenfold and significantly elevates her odds for needing intensive care, a new study finds.
Getting the virus during pregnancy also ups the likelihood of pneumonia, according to researchers at George Washing...
Australia is experiencing its worst flu season in five years, and that doesn't bode well for the United States, federal health officials warned Tuesday.
America's flu season often mirrors what u...
Even after a mild case of COVID, some people suffer breathing problems that last for months. Now, a new study suggests many of them may have abnormalities in the small airways of their lungs.
Regular physical activity has all sorts of benefits, and now researchers say it may help ward off serious pneumonia.
Until now, it wasn't clear how exercise affected the risk of
A common group of bacteria may be causing deadly pneumonia or anthrax-like disease among metalworkers in the southern United States, health officials report.
The bacteria, called Bacillus cereus (B. cereus), naturally occurs in soil and dust. B. cer...
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria is causing deadly pneumonia infections among large numbers of children in the South Asian nation of Bangladesh, a rising threat that could one day reach American shores, experts warn.
Doctors found these "superbug" bacteria in more than thre...
A flu shot might offer some protection against severe effects of COVID-19, a new study suggests.
If you are infected with COVID-19, having had a flu shot makes it less likely you will suffer severe body-wide infection, blood clots, have a stroke or be treated in an inten...
Aspirin has long been taken by heart patients to reduce the risk of stroke and heart attack, but a new study suggests that it can also guard against cardiovascular trouble in pneumonia patients.
Such complications are common in pneumonia patients and strongly associated ...
It's long been known that obesity is a risk factor for severe COVID-19 in infected people. But new research suggests that the connection may be even stronger for men than women.
Researchers at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City analyzed data from more than 3,500...
Millions of Americans have at some point in their lives gotten a long course of antibiotics to treat a bacterial infection. But according to new recommendations from a major U.S. doctors' group, some of the most common bacterial infections can now be treated with shorter cou...
White Americans had a greater decline in potentially avoidable hospitalizations during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic than Black Americans, according to a new study.
The findings suggest that Black patients may have had less access to outpatient care that c...
Two new studies suggest that the jury is still out on whether the arthritis drug tocilizumab helps those with severe COVID-19.
Both reports were published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine. The first, from scientists at the University of California...
Breathing in air that has even low levels of pollution poses a threat to older adults' heart and lungs, a new study warns.
Researchers analyzed medical records of more than 63 million Medicare patients from 2000 to 2016. They found that long-term exposure to low levels o...
They're medical miracles: A new report finds that vaccines against 10 major diseases prevented 37 million deaths between 2000 and 2019 in low- and middle-income countries worldwide, with young children benefiting most.
Vaccinations are also projected to prevent a total o...
Unlike regular pneumonia, COVID-19 pneumonia spreads like many "wildfires" throughout the lungs, researchers say.
This may explain why COVID-19 pneumonia lasts longer and causes more harm than typical pneumonia, according to the researchers at Northwestern Medicine in Ch...
Flu and pneumonia vaccines lead to fewer hospital deaths among heart failure patients, a new study finds.
"Our study provides further impetus for annual immunizations in patients with heart failure. Despite advice to do so, uptake remains low," said study author Dr. ...
Getting vaccinated to protect against pneumonia and flu may offer an unexpected benefit -- a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease, new research suggests.
Two new studies being presented Monday at this summer's virtual Alzheimer's Association International Conference fo...
Seniors hospitalized with pneumonia are much more likely to die in the hospital and within two years of leaving the hospital than those with hip fractures, new research shows.
But many older people don't recognize the serious threat posed by pneumonia, the researcher...
People with asthma and other lung diseases are at increased risk for serious complications from COVID-19, caution experts from the American Lung Association.
"Everyone's health is at risk from COVID-19, and those living with a lung disease or who are immunocompromise...
Smokers and vapers who get COVID-19 can probably expect a more severe infection, health experts warn.
Many advisories have focused on the risk facing older people, those with chronic conditions such as diabetes, and people with compromised immune systems, such as ca...
E-cigarettes were initially thought to be a safer alternative to traditional cigarettes, but a recent outbreak of serious lung illnesses and deaths linked to the nicotine delivery devices called that belief into question.
Now, a new case report details another type ...
With U.S. health officials this week declaring a domestic outbreak of coronavirus a "not if, but when" situation, one expert in infectious illness offers guidance on how you can prepare and protect yourself.
First of all, if you do develop symptoms such as fever, con...
Fighting the flu can be an unpleasant experience -- but the misery may not stop there.
When you have the flu, your immune system is under attack, making complications common. Other infections can weasel their way into your body, according to Libby Richards, an assoc...
As if the news on vaping wasn't bad enough, a new study suggests that e-cigarette users are also at significantly higher risk of chronic lung diseases such as asthma, bronchitis, emphysema and COPD.
Those risks rose even higher if vapers also smoked tobacco, research...
When people are breathing cleaner air, their health generally improves -- rapidly, in some cases, a new review shows.
The report, from the Environmental Committee of the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS), details some of the evidence on air quality...
A lung disease that normally strikes in the workplace has been linked to vaping in a new report.
A 49-year-old California woman who vaped marijuana came down with a form of pneumonia normally associated with exposure to hard metals in industrial settings, according t...
Poorly controlled asthma during pregnancy puts mothers and their babies at increased risk for serious complications, a new study finds.
Researchers analyzed more than 100,000 pregnancies in more than 58,000 women with asthma in Canada.
Compared to those who...
Vaccines aren't just for kids, a doctors' group says.
"Many adults are not aware that they need vaccines throughout their lives and so have not received recommended vaccinations," Dr. Robert McLean, president of the American College of Physicians, said in a college n...
Two-thirds of hospitalized pneumonia patients may be prescribed antibiotics for too long, increasing their risk for potentially harmful side effects, researchers say.
In 93#37; of cases, overprescription involved the number of antibiotics patients received upon being...
People with Alzheimer's disease who take opioid painkillers are more likely to develop pneumonia, Finnish researchers report.
The overall odds are 30% higher, especially in the first two months of use, the researchers found. And the risk is highest for those taki...
It's not too late to get your flu shot, which can protect you in ways that may surprise you.
The flu vaccine can be a lifesaver for people with heart disease, according to infectious disease specialist Dr. Michael Chang, assistant professor of pediatrics at Universit...
People who take prescription opioid painkillers are at increased risk for pneumonia, especially those with HIV, a new study suggests.
The findings support concerns that prescription opioids can weaken the immune system. Doctors who prescribe opioids need to reduce pa...