Health

By Brenda Goodman, CNN The Omicron BA.5 subvariant is no longer the dominant cause of Covid-19 infections in the United States, according to estimates released Friday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Instead, a host of new sublineages — offshoots of BA.2, BA.4 and BA.5 — are now responsible for the majority

By Deidre McPhillips, CNN Flu season has ramped up early in the United States, and flu hospitalizations are worse than usual for this time of year, according to data published Friday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s been more than a decade — since the H1N1 swine flu pandemic — since

By Jen Christensen, CNN Amid a surge of respiratory infections, children’s hospitals across the United States are so busy that some had to set up tents to handle patient overflow. The viruses are partly to blame for overwhelmed hospitals and packed emergency rooms, but for some, the problem is staffing: Many hospitals have empty beds,

By Katherine Dillinger, CNN In a possible warning sign for the US and other Northern Hemisphere countries, Chile’s 2022 flu season started much earlier than usual and brought more hospitalizations than during the pandemic, but the effectiveness of the vaccine against hospitalization was estimated to be almost 50%, according to a new study published by

By Deidre McPhillips, CNN People of color — especially Black and Hispanic people — were less likely to receive Paxlovid and other Covid-19 treatments, according to a study published Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Throughout the pandemic, Black and Hispanic people have been about two times more likely than White

By Deidre McPhillips and Jacqueline Howard, CNN The United States is dealing with a unique season of respiratory virus transmission: Flu cases are on the rise earlier than usual, and RSV case rates are extra high, even after an “unprecedented” early surge this summer. And Covid-19 is still a public health emergency. Public health experts

By Carma Hassan, CNN Monkeypox can have “devastating outcomes” on severely immunocompromised patients such as those with untreated HIV, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New research published Wednesday in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report examined clinical case data for 57 patients hospitalized with monkeypox complications and found that

By Sandee LaMotte, CNN The social media platform TikTok has helped spread yet another potentially dangerous idea: taping your lips shut to stop mouth breathing at night. “If you have obstructive sleep apnea, yes, this can be very dangerous,” said sleep specialist Dr. Raj Dasgupta, an associate professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School

By Jen Christensen, CNN The measures that helped keep us safe from Covid-19 over the past 2½ years — lockdowns, physical distancing, wearing masks, washing hands — also helped limit the spread of other viruses. As people return to school and work and take off their masks, those viruses, including respiratory syncytial virus and flu,

By Brenda Goodman, CNN The updated Covid-19 booster shots appear to work about as well against the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants as the original boosters they replaced, according to two new studies from research teams at Harvard and Columbia universities. The research suggests that our bodies have been well-trained to fight the original virus,

By Deidre McPhillips, CNN For nearly two decades, Kristin Friberg has been a librarian with the Princeton Public Library in New Jersey, where one of her many roles is to lead local book groups. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, she worried about the book club participants who had become friends over the years and the

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN New ads promoting the Covid-19 vaccines are making their debut this week, targeting specific communities that have had a slow uptake of the updated shots. Black audiences are encouraged to get vaccinated in the “On Point” video, released by the US Department of Health and Human Services on Monday. A Spanish-language

By Steve Almasy and Sara Turnbull, CNN Hundreds of students missed class Monday at a northern Virginia high school where “a number of students have tested positive for influenza A” and others have symptoms consistent with the flu. The number of students who stayed home from Stafford High School in Fredericksburg dropped from about 1,000

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN People who reported experiencing side effects to the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines such as fever, chills or muscle pain tended to have a greater antibody response following vaccination, according to new research. Having such symptoms after vaccination is associated with greater antibody responses compared with having only pain or rash

By Jen Christensen, CNN In September, an 8-month-old baby came into Dr. Juanita Mora’s office in Chicago with an infection the doctor hadn’t expected to see for another two months: RSV. Like her peers across the country, the allergist and immunologist has been treating little ones with this cold-like virus well before the season usually

By Faith Karimi, CNN Eris Eady was scrolling through social media this week when she saw a news headline linking hair-straightening chemical products to an increased risk for uterine cancer. She paused. In the early 2000s, she worked as a cosmetologist and frequently used the products to straighten her hair and other women’s as well.

By Raja Razek, CNN As US health officials are becoming increasingly concerned about the impact of this year’s flu season, nearly half the students at a Virginia high school were absent with flu-like and gastrointestinal symptoms this week, according to the school district. “There are approximately 1,000 students absent with flu-like/gastrointestinal symptoms at Stafford High

By Dana Santas, CNN Many high performers across sports, business and the arts will tell you they swear by their intuitive sense. It allows them to make decisions, often in a split second, without overthinking and missing opportunities. Look at baseball players. With the average fastball in Major League Baseball pitched at speeds greater than

By Jen Christensen and Raenu Charles, CNN When Amber Sizemore and her family went out of state to celebrate her birthday last week, she had hoped her toddler daughter, Raegan, would try swimming. But the 15-month-old, normally energetic and adventurous, wasn’t herself on Saturday. “She hated it, and she normally loves water,” Sizemore said. By

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN Two researchers are urging health-care providers to educate and screen pregnant women about intimate partner violence, as women in the United States are more likely to be murdered during pregnancy or postpartum than to die of common obstetric causes such as high blood pressure, hemorrhage or sepsis. Other research suggests that

By Katia Hetter, CNN Last week, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued guidance recommending the updated Covid-19 booster for children ages 5 to 11. Previously, the bivalent booster was recommended for children 12 and older, as well as for all adults. Now, the Pfizer/BioNTech booster is available for children 5 and older,

By Deidre McPhillips, CNN Covid-19 vaccines will be part of recommended immunization schedules in 2023 for both children and adults, after a unanimous vote by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s independent Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. That doesn’t make the vaccines mandatory for anyone, a point that was emphasized in a discussion

By Deidre McPhillips, CNN Many more survivors of sexual assault are seeking emergency medical care, but still represent a fraction of all assaults reported to law enforcement. In 2019, emergency department visits for sexual assault were 15 times higher than they were in 2006, according to a study published Thursday in JAMA Network Open. Overall

By Chris Boyette and Jamie Gumbrecht, CNN A surge in respiratory illnesses among children is beginning to put a strain on hospitals. In particular, hospitals are seeing a rise in cases of respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, a common cold virus that can be associated with severe disease in young children and older adults. Cases

By Brenda Goodman, CNN A flurry of new Covid-19 variants appears to be gaining traction globally, raising fears of a winter surge. In the United States, these are BQ.1, BQ.1.1, BF.7, BA.4.6, BA.2.75 and BA.2.75.2. In other countries, the recombinant variant XBB has been rising quickly and appears to be fueling a new wave of

By Katherine Dillinger, CNN Abbott Nutrition plans to build a $500 million nutrition facility for specialty and metabolic infant formulas, Chairman and CEO Robert Ford said Wednesday. The announcement comes as the US formula shortage continues and experts have called for more domestic production and diversity among suppliers. “We’re moving forward with plans for a

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN Novavax’s Covid-19 vaccine is now available in the United States for use as a first booster dose for people 18 and older. The US Food and Drug Administration authorized the booster shot Wednesday for adults who are at least six months past a primary Covid-19 vaccine series, and the US Centers

By Jacqueline Howard and Raenu Charles, CNN It has been well-known in research that Black babies are about twice as likely to die as White babies before their first birthday. Now, a new study suggests that that disparity is even larger when babies are conceived by in vitro fertilization or other forms of assisted reproductive

By Jen Christensen, CNN A large new study published provides evidence that people 50 and older who sleep five hours or less at night have a greater risk of developing multiple chronic diseases as they age compared with peers who get a longer night’s rest. The study, published Tuesday in the journal PLOS Medicine, took

By Naomi Thomas, CNN In December, Stephanie Arceneaux of Utah will have been living with type 1 diabetes for 30 years. She was diagnosed at age 6. “I have seen a lot of changes within how diabetes is cared for,” she said. “I always thought that as I got older, that things would improve, and

By Elissa Strauss, CNN Hollywood’s version of childbirth bears little resemblance to my experience, or that of anyone else I know. On the screen, we almost always see soon-to-be-moms rushing to the hospital after a dramatic water breaking, a somewhat rare occurrence in real life, after which she howls and curses her way through a

By Sandee LaMotte, CNN It’s been months since your ability to taste and smell disappeared after a Covid-19 infection. You’ve tried to schedule an appointment with a specialist — if you were able to find one — only to discover waiting lists of six months or longer. “There was this explosion of patient calls after