Pandemic News and Research

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A pandemic is a global disease outbreak. During a pandemic, transmission can be anticipated in the workplace, not only from patient to workers in health care settings, but also among co-workers in general work settings. A pandemic would cause high levels of illness, death, social disruption, and economic loss. Everyday life would be disrupted because so many people in so many places become seriously ill at the same time. Impacts could range from school and business closings to the interruption of basic services such as public transportation and food delivery.

Robots and click chemistry open a new frontier in antibiotic discovery

Researchers have used a cutting-edge robotic system capable of synthesizing hundreds of metal complexes to develop a possible antibiotic candidate - offering fresh hope in the global fight against drug-resistant infections.

23 Dec 2025

An Arm and a Leg: A few more good things from 2025

An Arm and a Leg host Dan Weissmann breaks down how two states passed laws aimed at protecting people from things like medical debt, insurance delays and denials, and corporate profiteering.

23 Dec 2025

Study charts the escalating spread of resistant bacteria and fungi

The success of modern medicine rests on the ability to control infections. But decades of antibiotic overuse—in hospitals, communities, and farms—have fueled a global surge in resistant microbes.

22 Dec 2025

ACE2 protein may play a protective role against high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes

A collaborative study from the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS) and Imperial College London has found that the protein ACE2 may play a protective role against two common conditions, high blood pressure and type-2 diabetes, which affect millions of people worldwide.

19 Dec 2025

Younger epigenetic age linked to increased depression in older women

A new research paper was published in Volume 17, Issue 11 of Aging-US on November 18, 2025, titled "Epigenetic age predicts depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging: importance of biological sex."

19 Dec 2025

Guns marketed for personal safety fuel public health crisis in Black communities

Leon Harris, 35, is intimately familiar with the devastation guns can inflict. Robbers shot him in the back nearly two decades ago, leaving him paralyzed from the chest down. The bullet remains lodged in his spine.

19 Dec 2025

Genes and biological networks that drive long COVID risk

This study merges causal genetics and network theory, revealing 32 genes linked to long COVID, offering insights for diagnostics and personalized therapies.

19 Dec 2025

Inside the FDA’s vaccine uproar

Six days after a senior FDA official sent a sweeping internal email claiming that covid vaccines had caused the deaths of "at least 10 children," 12 former FDA commissioners released an extraordinary warning in the Dec. 3 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

19 Dec 2025

Whooping cough cases rise sharply across the United States

Pertussis, also known as whooping cough, is a vaccination-preventable illness that has been on the rise in the United States. Following a several-year lull during the pandemic, cases of whooping cough rose sixfold in 2024 and remain high.

18 Dec 2025

Social isolation emerges as a key, independent risk factor for cognitive decline

Using longitudinal data from the US Health and Retirement Study, this study applied causal inference modeling to disentangle the independent and joint effects of social isolation and loneliness on later-life cognitive function. It shows that reducing social isolation is associated with modest but meaningful protection against cognitive decline, with loneliness mediating only a small proportion of this effect.

17 Dec 2025

Flow chemistry, AI, and NMR: A next-gen approach to scalable API production

Discover how AI, flow chemistry, and NMR come together in the PiPAC project to revolutionize scalable and autonomous API production.

From Bruker BioSpin Group 17 Dec 2025

Rapid adoption of AI in primary care raises safety concerns

From digital scribes to ChatGPT, artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly entering GP clinics. New University of Sydney research warns that technology is racing ahead of safety checks, putting patients and health systems at risk.

16 Dec 2025

Targeted mRNA vaccines train the immune system to destroy cancer cells

No matter where cancer cells grow in the human body, they are a threat to our health and our lives. But instead of treating them with chemotherapy or radiation - which have undesirable side effects - what if we could train our own immune systems to kill the rogue cells?

16 Dec 2025

Global leaders adopt political declaration to combat NCDs and mental health challenges

Leaders from across the world at the Eightieth United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) have adopted the political declaration to combat noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and mental health challenges through a fully integrated approach.

16 Dec 2025

Researchers develop AI-powered method for faster lung infection diagnosis

Lung infections like pneumonia are among the world's top killers - but diagnosing them is notoriously hard.

16 Dec 2025

SARS-CoV-2 evolves after jumping from humans to zoo animals

Research on SARS-CoV-2 in zoo tigers, lions, and hyenas shows rapid viral evolution and adaptation, offering insights into cross-species transmission dynamics.

16 Dec 2025

Study reveals significant financial strain on families seeking mental healthcare

Behavioral health care has surged to represent 40 % of all medical expenditures for U.S. children in 2022, nearly doubling from 22 % in 2011, according to a new study published in JAMA Pediatrics. Researchers found that pediatric behavioral health expenditures totaled $41.8 billion in 2022, with families paying $2.9 billion out-of-pocket.

16 Dec 2025

Canada's reduced Global Fund pledge threatens health at home and abroad

Canada should rethink its reduced pledge to the Global Fund to protect the health of people in Canada as well as around the globe, argue authors in an editorial published in CMAJ.

15 Dec 2025

Half of hospitalized COVID-19 patients developed long COVID

Research from Thailand shows high long COVID prevalence in hospitalized patients, with severe illness increasing risk and vaccination offering protection.

15 Dec 2025

Metabolic syndrome affects nearly four in ten US adults as rates climb in older and Black populations

A large NHANES analysis found that nearly four in ten US adults met criteria for metabolic syndrome between 2013 and 2023, with no statistically significant change in overall prevalence. However, prevalence rose significantly among adults aged 60 years and older and among non-Hispanic Black individuals, alongside a significant non-linear increase in hypertriglyceridemia.

14 Dec 2025