Life, the universe and medicine – part 1
Like everyone, I assume I’ll live forever. Although I often wonder whether anyone would come to my funeral and who would wear black, it never actually occurrs to me that there is an endpoint. It’s almost as if I would come along too to watch proceedings running smoothly and along the lines I wanted.
Death was something I thought about, but in a rather abstract, offhand sort of way. It happened, of course I knew I would die at some point, but that point was somewhere out there … way off from here, where I am now.
And then I hit a brick wall.
The wall consisted of a tiny little bit of blood coughed up in sink.
The ...
Source: The Hysterectomy Association - April 28, 2020 Category: OBGYN Authors: Linda Parkinson-Hardman Tags: Emotional Health Happiness Thought for the day Women's Health my story Source Type: news
FDA Authorizes First At-Home Coronavirus Self-Swab Test —But It Won’t Be Available to Everyone
(WASHINGTON) — U.S. health regulators on Tuesday OK’d the first coronavirus test that allows people to collect their own sample at home, a new approach that could help expand testing options in most states.
The test from LabCorp will initially only be available to health care workers and first responders under a doctor’s orders. The sample will still have to be shipped for processing back to LabCorp, which operates diagnostic labs throughout the U.S.
Allowing people to self-swab at home would help reduce infection risks for front-line health care workers and help conserve protective gear.
For the home tes...
Source: TIME: Health - April 21, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Matthew Perrone / AP Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 News Desk wire Source Type: news
COVID-19 Patients May Require ENT Consults for Varied Reasons
MONDAY, April 20, 2020 -- Patients with COVID-19 may require ear, nose, and throat (ENT) consultations for many reasons, including tracheotomy, and protective strategies can prevent infection of otolaryngologists, according to a case series study... (Source: Drugs.com - Pharma News)
Source: Drugs.com - Pharma News - April 20, 2020 Category: Pharmaceuticals Source Type: news
FDA Grants EUA to First Saliva-Based Coronavirus Test
FDA has granted out a ton of emergency use authorizations for tests to detect the novel coronavirus. However, the federal agency’s latest EUA designation could be a first.
On Tuesday, Rutger’s RUCDR Infinite Biologics along with Spectrum Solutions and Accurate Diagnostics Labs (ADL) have developed an application that uses saliva as the primary test biomaterial for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
The feeling is that the test will allow for broader population screening than the current method of nose and throat swabs.
In release, Andrew Brooks, COO and director of technology development at RUC...
Source: MDDI - April 15, 2020 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Omar Ford Tags: COVID-19 IVD Source Type: news
All Your Coronavirus Questions, Answered
One of the worst symptoms of any plague is uncertainty—who it will strike, when it will end, why it began. Merely understanding a pandemic does not stop it, but an informed public can help curb its impact and slow its spread. It can also provide a certain ease of mind in a decidedly uneasy time. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about the COVID-19 pandemic from TIME’s readers, along with the best and most current answers science can provide.
A note about our sourcing: While there are many, many studies underway investigating COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-19, the novel coronavirus that causes the illn...
Source: TIME: Health - April 14, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: TIME Staff Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Explainer Source Type: news
Your nose may know more when it comes to COVID-19
A University of Cincinnati ear, nose and throat specialist says your nose may hold a clue in identifying COVID-19. The loss of smell may be a key indicator.
Physicians are increasingly recognizing the importance of the nasal cavity in determining the physiology of COVID-19, explains Ahmad Sedaghat, an associate professor in the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine's Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and an UC Health physician specializing in diseases of the nose and sinuses. (Source: World Pharma News)
Source: World Pharma News - April 14, 2020 Category: Pharmaceuticals Tags: Featured Research Research and Development Source Type: news
New Rutgers saliva test for coronavirus gets FDA approval
Emergency use authorization granted for new biomaterial collection approachRutgers UniversityIMAGE: Rutgers Professor Andrew Brooks, chief operating officer and director of technology development at RUCDR Infinite Biologics.viewmore Credit: Rutgers University The FDA has granted emergency use authorization (EUA) to Rutgers 'RUCDR Infinite Biologics and its collaborators for a new collection approach that utilizes saliva as the primary test biomaterial for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, the first such approval granted by the federal agency. The new saliva collection method, which RUCDR developed in partnership with S...
Source: Dental Technology Blog - April 13, 2020 Category: Dentistry Source Type: news
Why Some Doctors Are Now Moving Away From Ventilator Treatments for Coronavirus Patients
(NEW YORK) — As health officials around the world push to get more ventilators to treat coronavirus patients, some doctors are moving away from using the breathing machines when they can. The reason: Some hospitals have reported unusually high death rates for coronavirus patients on ventilators, and some doctors worry that the machines could be harming certain patients.
Read more: Front Line Workers Tell Their Own Stories in the New Issue of TIME
The evolving treatments highlight the fact that doctors are still learning the best way to manage a virus that emerged only months ago. They are relying on anecdotal, real-t...
Source: TIME: Health - April 9, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Mike Stobbe / AP Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 News Desk wire Source Type: news
New Coronavirus Test Provides Results in as Few as Five Minutes, According to Manufacturer
On March 27, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use to Abbott Laboratories for its rapid COVID-19 test designed for doctor’s offices, urgent care centers and smaller hospitals without complex testing labs. According to the Illinois-based company, the test can give positive results in as little as five minutes, and negative results in about 13 minutes.
The test runs on Abbott’s ID NOW device, which is about the size of the toaster, and is currently used by many sites to quickly test for flu, strep and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) while patients wait. For COVID-19, health providers would...
Source: TIME: Health - March 31, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Alice Park Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 UnitedWeRise20Disaster Source Type: news
Hay Fever or Coronavirus? For Allergy Sufferers, a Pollen Season of Extra Worries Is Starting Up
(HAMBURG, Pa.) — The spring breezes of 2020 are carrying more than just tree pollen. There’s a whiff of paranoia in the air.
For millions of seasonal allergy sufferers, the annual onset of watery eyes and scratchy throats is bumping up against the global spread of a new virus that produces its own constellation of respiratory symptoms. Forecasters are predicting a brutal spring allergy season for swaths of the U.S. at the same time that COVID-19 cases are rising dramatically.
That’s causing angst for people who never have had to particularly worry about their hay fever, other than to stock up on antihista...
Source: TIME: Health - March 30, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Associated Press Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 News Desk wire Source Type: news
Why Losing Your Sense of Smell Could Be a Symptom of COVID-19
It was four days into her suspected COVID-19 infection that Olivia Haynes realized she couldn’t smell or taste anything.
Her dry cough and fever had briefly subsided and her appetite had returned, so she cooked herself a spaghetti bolognese. A self-described foodie, she initially thought she had just done a bad job because the food was so bland. “Honestly, it took me like three meals to realize I have no taste and no smell,” she told TIME on Tuesday over the phone from her home in London, where she is self-isolating. “People hadn’t been talking about it [as a symptom], so I wasn’t looki...
Source: TIME: Health - March 24, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Billy Perrigo Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Explainer Londontime Source Type: news
Loss of Sense of Smell Could Be Early Sign of Coronavirus Infection
TUESDAY, March 24, 2020 -- Here ' s a clue that you may have coronavirus that might surprise you: a loss of your sense of smell.
Groups representing ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialists in Britain and the United States have issued guidances that a... (Source: Drugs.com - Daily MedNews)
Source: Drugs.com - Daily MedNews - March 24, 2020 Category: General Medicine Source Type: news
New Coronavirus Symptom: Loss Of Taste And Smell
BOSTON (CBS) — Fever, cough and shortness of breath are the typical symptoms of the coronavirus, but doctors say there is another symptom to keep an eye out for– a loss of smell.
Ear, nose and throat experts in the U.K. discovered that many patients who test positive for the novel coronavirus report anosmia, the loss of the sense of smell. In fact, in South Korea, 30% of patients with mild disease reported a loss of smell as the most significant symptom.
It is not uncommon to lose your sense of smell when you have an upper respiratory virus, so it’s not necessarily surprising that the coronavirus would do the...
Source: WBZ-TV - Breaking News, Weather and Sports for Boston, Worcester and New Hampshire - March 23, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Health – CBS Boston Tags: Boston News Health Healthwatch Syndicated Local Coronavirus Dr. Mallika Marshall Health News Source Type: news
The First U.S. Company Has Announced an Upcoming Home COVID-19 Test
Everlywell, a home testing company that offers dozens of lab tests to consumers, is adding a COVID-19 test beginning on March 23.
Given the slow roll out of testing for COVID-19 in the U.S., and concerns about spreading the disease, at-home testing could help to diagnose more cases. After initially limiting testing to one provided by the Centers for Disease Control and conducted at state and local public health labs, the Food and Drug Administration allowed certified labs, including commercial lab testing companies, to develop and distribute COVID-19 tests on Feb. 29. Though other private companies have been involved with ...
Source: TIME: Health - March 19, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Alice Park Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news
Children With COVID-19 Show Different Symptom Pattern, May Shed Virus in Feces Children With COVID-19 Show Different Symptom Pattern, May Shed Virus in Feces
Another analysis of COVID-19 infections in Chinese children have uncovered evidence that the novel coronavirus can often appear as a less-serious infection and the virus itself can continue to appear in fecal samples long after nose and throat swabs no longer show evidence of an infection.Reuters Health Information (Source: Medscape Allergy Headlines)
Source: Medscape Allergy Headlines - March 17, 2020 Category: Allergy & Immunology Tags: Infectious Diseases News Source Type: news
