Tag: Immune System

7 Covid Mysteries Scientists Are Starting to Unravel

When the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a global pandemic in March 2020, nearly everything about the novel coronavirus was an open question: How was it spreading so quickly? How sick would it make people? Would a single bout buy you protection from future cases? In the four years since, scientists have unraveled some of […]

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He Had 217 Covid Shots Without Side Effects, Study Finds

Two years ago, German doctors stumbled across news reports of a man being investigated for receiving scores of coronavirus vaccines with no medical explanation. Then followed a flurry of speculation about what he had been up to. As it turned out, prosecutors were looking into whether he had been receiving so many extra doses as […]

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What to Know About Xolair and Food Allergies

The Food and Drug Administration approved a drug this month that cuts the risk of severe reactions in children and adults exposed to trace amounts of peanuts, tree nuts, milk, dairy and other food allergens — a move that could dramatically improve quality of life for people coping with these risks. The results of the […]

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Drug Drastically Reduces Children’s Reactions to Traces of Food Allergens

A drug that has been used for decades to treat allergic asthma and hives significantly reduced the risk of life-threatening reactions in children with severe food allergies who were exposed to trace amounts of peanuts, cashews, milk and eggs, researchers reported on Sunday. The drug, Xolair, has already been approved by the Food and Drug […]

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Drug Drastically Reduces Children’s Reactions to Traces of Food Allergens

A drug that has been used for decades to treat allergic asthma and hives significantly reduced the risk of life-threatening reactions in children with severe food allergies who were exposed to trace amounts of peanuts, cashews, milk and eggs, researchers reported on Sunday. The drug, Xolair, has already been approved by the Food and Drug […]

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Alternating Arms for Vaccines May Boost Your Immunity, Study Says

If you’ve presented the same arm for every dose of a particular vaccine, you may want to reconsider. Alternating arms may produce a more powerful immune response, a new study suggests. The researchers studied responses to the first two doses of Covid-19 vaccines. Those who alternated arms showed a small increase in immunity over those […]

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Covid Variant JN.1 Now Accounts for Nearly Half of U.S. Cases

As the holiday season winds down and Covid-19 cases start to pick up, a variant called JN.1 has now become the most common strain of the virus spreading across the United States. JN.1, which emerged from the variant BA.2.86 and was first detected in the United States in September, accounted for 44 percent of Covid […]

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We Need a Global Immune System to Stop Future Public Health Crises

The thing that has surprised me most since I began my job leading foreign assistance for global health at the U.S. Agency for International Development is how much emergencies have defined my work. The bureau I oversee focuses on reducing the global burden of mortality and disease and on protecting the United States from health […]

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How Viral Infections Cause Long-Term Health Problems

Every day, Davida Wynn sets herself one task: Take a bath. Or wash the dishes. Or make an elaborate meal. By the end of the chore, she is exhausted and has to sit or lie down, sometimes falling asleep wherever she happens to be. “Anything beyond that is truly excruciating,” Ms. Wynn, 42, said. Her […]

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Omicron, Now 2 Years Old, Is Not Done With Us Yet

By November 2021, nearly two years after the coronavirus emerged in Wuhan and spread across the world, the surprises seemed to be over. More than four billion people had been vaccinated against the virus, and five million had died. Two new variants, known as Alpha and Delta, had surged and then ebbed. As Thanksgiving approached, […]

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Feeling Terrible After Your Covid Shot? Then It’s Probably Working.

A new study has an encouraging message for Americans who shy away from Covid shots because of worries about side effects: The chills, fatigue, headache and malaise that can follow vaccination may be signs of a vigorous immune response. People who had those side effects after the second dose of a Covid vaccine had more […]

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The Mystery of My Burning Esophagus

It wasn’t until I called Brendan Canning, a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins, that I found someone willing to speculate how an allergy in the esophagus might lead to the terrifying sensation of drowning. Canning, a self-described “science nerd,” is not a physician but a researcher who focuses on allergies and airways. He explained […]

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Genetically Modified Pig’s Heart Is Transplanted Into a Second Patient

Surgeons in Baltimore have transplanted the heart of a genetically altered pig into a man with terminal heart disease who had no other hope for treatment, the University of Maryland Medical Center announced on Friday. It is the second such procedure performed by the surgeons. The first patient, David Bennett, 57, died two months after […]

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Can You Get the New Covid Booster and Flu Shot at the Same Time?

Most Americans will be eligible for both the new monovalent Covid vaccine and the annual flu shot this fall. You can schedule your vaccines separately or choose to get them at the same time. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is safe to get both the Covid vaccine and flu shot […]

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Covid Vaccines May Roll Out Within Days

The latest Covid boosters are expected to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration as early as Monday, arriving alongside the seasonal flu vaccine and shots to protect infants and older adults from R.S.V., a potentially lethal respiratory virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to follow up on Tuesday with […]

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