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.

Specific microbial changes linked to poor growth in children

Malnutrition is responsible for more than half of all deaths in children under the age of five worldwide.

10 Sep 2025

Lice pose no health threat, yet some parents push back on rules to allow affected kids in class

Any evidence of lice was once a reason for immediate dismissal from school, not to return until the student's head was lice-free.

10 Sep 2025

Kids with fluctuating gut microbiome show poorer growth

Malnutrition is a leading cause of death in children under age 5, and nearly 150 million children globally under this age have stunted growth from lack of nutrition.

9 Sep 2025

Researchers reveal why no level of air pollution is safe for respiratory health

A review in the Journal of Clinical Investigation shows how particulate matter damages the lungs through oxidative stress, inflammation, and immune disruption. It links air pollution to asthma, COPD, lung cancer, infections, and millions of premature deaths, with no safe exposure threshold.

9 Sep 2025

Study reveals impact of Medicaid unwinding on children's emergency department visits in Texas

As the COVID-19 pandemic wound down, so did the federal government's funding to states that allowed all Medicaid enrollees to keep their coverage even if they no longer would have been eligible otherwise.

9 Sep 2025

Concertgoers back detection dogs as practical COVID-19 screening tool in real-world trial

A feasibility study in Germany found that concertgoers strongly supported medical detection dogs for COVID-19 screening, with confidence rising after real-world use. The findings suggest canine testing could complement PCR and antigen tests, especially in large gatherings and high-traffic environments.

8 Sep 2025

Common diabetes drug metformin cuts long covid risk by 64 percent in UK study

A large UK-based retrospective cohort study found that initiating metformin within 90 days of COVID-19 diagnosis reduced the risk of Long COVID by 64% in overweight and obese adults. The findings suggest metformin may offer a low-cost preventive option pending confirmation from randomized trials.

8 Sep 2025

Researchers shift tactics to tackle extremism as public health threat

Rebecca Kasen has seen and heard things in recent years in and around Michigan's capital city that she never would have expected.

8 Sep 2025

He built Michigan’s Medicaid work requirement system. Now he’s warning other states.

It was March 2020, and Robert Gordon was about to kick some 80,000 people off health insurance.

5 Sep 2025

Scientists uncover human proteins hijacked by SARS-CoV-2 for replication

Despite vaccines and treatments, SARS-CoV-2-the virus that causes COVID-19-continues to pose a global health threat, driven by new variants and its ability to hijack human cells in ways that still aren't fully understood.

5 Sep 2025

Salt substitute use remains low among Americans with high blood pressure

Few people with high blood pressure were using salt substitutes, even though they are a simple and effective way to lower sodium intake and manage blood pressure, according to preliminary research presented at the American Heart Association's Hypertension Scientific Sessions 2025.

4 Sep 2025

What happened to the midlife unhappiness hump?

Recent research shows a decline in youth mental health, replacing the traditional unhappiness hump with increased stress and depression in younger generations.

4 Sep 2025

Shorter dual antiplatelet therapy may offer safety benefits in myocardial infarction patients

Three months of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) was associated with signals suggesting improved survival and lower bleeding risk than 12 months of DAPT, in a real-world all-comer population of patients with myocardial infarction (MI), according to late-breaking research presented in a Hot Line session today at ESC Congress 2025.

1 Sep 2025

Genetic clustering of swine influenza revealed in Northern Italy

A new scientific article, titled "Swine influenza surveillance in Italy uncovers regional and farm-based genetic clustering", has been published by Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie as part of the Horizon Europe PAIR project.

29 Aug 2025

New NIH-funded project aims to turn rare HIV cures into broadly applicable immunotherapy

Nearly 20 years ago, a man named Timothy Ray Brown who was living with HIV and cancer, underwent two courses of stem cell transplantation to treat his acute myeloid leukemia.

28 Aug 2025

Scientists develop promising broad-spectrum antiviral targeting deadly viruses

Researchers at the Nanoscience Initiative at the Advanced Science Research Center at the CUNY Graduate Center (CUNY ASRC) have made a breakthrough in the fight against viral diseases.

28 Aug 2025

Yale scientists boost mRNA vaccine power with new technology

Messenger RNA, or mRNA, vaccines entered the public consciousness when they were introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic, and both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna used the technology in developing their highly effective vaccines to fight the virus.

27 Aug 2025

Disability data reveals hidden global burden of long COVID

An international team of researchers has conducted the most comprehensive global-to-local analysis to date on long COVID risk, using disability data from the height of the pandemic to identify vulnerable populations.

27 Aug 2025

Millions of obituaries uncover shifting cultural views on legacy

What constitutes a life well-lived? A new Michigan State University-led study is turning to a common cultural artifact to find out: the obituary.

27 Aug 2025

New class of insecticide offers yearlong protection against mosquito-borne diseases

A relatively new class of insecticide that can be disseminated on something the size of a sheet of paper offers protection for up to a year against mosquitoes that spread malaria, as well as dengue, West Nile, yellow fever, and Zika, UC San Francisco researchers have found.

26 Aug 2025