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97 HOUSTON – COVID-19 is continuing to make its presence known across the world as it adapts and evolves into a new strand. American Medical Association Vice President of Science, Medicine and Public Health, Andrea Garcia, JD, MPH, said HV.1 has become the variant responsible for most COVID cases here in the United States in just a few short weeks. According to an article from the TODAY Show, the omicron subvariant accounts for nearly one-third of cases nationwide and is “highly infectious.”

A new study found child care centers are an unlikely source for spreading COVID-19, leading researchers to suggest the current testing and isolation recommendations can be revised to align with those for other serious respiratory viruses. Research led by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh found kids in child care centers play a “small role” in spreading COVID-19 to their households.

Health authorities say they're closely tracking the spread of three new COVID-19 variants now spreading around the country. Levels of COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths for now remain far below previous peaks seen during past summer and winter waves of the virus, but have been climbing steadily for several weeks. Public health officials have said that they're well-equipped for the latest seasonal uptick in the virus, with COVID-19 tests and forthcoming vaccines expected to work for the variants on the rise around the country. But the appearance of a new "highly mutated" variant has raised questions among virus trackers about what...

French President Emmanuel Macron chastised public utility and energy companies for scaring the public with “absurd scenarios” of potential blackouts this winter. Rather than addressing the underlying reasons contributing to the burgeoning energy crisis in France and indeed across Europe, President Macron called for an out of sight, out of mind approach to potential power cuts this winter. Speaking from an EU-Western Balkans summit in Tirana, Albania on Tuesday, Macron bluntly said “stop all this” in reference to discussions surrounding the energy crisis. The French president said that institutions such as the publicly-owned Réseau de Transport d’Électricité (RTE) energy utility...

A new coronavirus variant that could be the most transmissible yet has been identified in the United Kingdom. The variant, known as XE, is a combination of the omicron subvariants BA.1 and BA.2. It was first detected in the U.K. on Jan. 19, according to the World Health Organization, though it has since been reported in India as well. As of late March, roughly 600 cases of it were identified.

An outbreak of the highly pathogenic form of bird flu has been detected in the US Midwest and East Coast. According to Bloomberg, this does not pose an immediate threat to public health but is a significant concern to the agriculture industry. The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) released a statement and confirmed the existence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in poultry farms in two states, including a flock of commercial broiler chickens in Fulton County, Kentucky, and a flock of mixed-species birds in Fauquier County, Virginia. Samples from two Kentucky...

Four in ten people infected with COVID-19 show no symptoms — but are still potential spreaders of the disease, according to a new study. The findings, published last week in JAMA Network Open, found that 40.5 percent of people diagnosed with COVID-19 globally were asymptomatic. However, researchers said this highlights the “potential transmission” of the virus unknowingly, particularly in certain settings. “Screening for asymptomatic infection is required, especially for countries and region that have successfully controlled SARS-CoV-2,” researchers from Peking University said. “Asymptomatic infections should be under management similar to that for confirmed infections, including isolating and contact tracing.”

Chinese authorities have taken the extreme step of halting parcel deliveries in some parts of the country over fears that packages could be spreading COVID-19 following several positive cases linked to children’s clothing manufacturers. A string of recent positive cases has resulted in parcel delivery services being halted in several regions as hundreds of packages — and anyone who came in contact with them — were tested, Bloomberg reports. The saga comes ahead of China’s largest online shopping festival, Singles’ Day, on Thursday. In Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing, three workers at an unnamed kids’ clothing manufacturer were found to...

Cheery Dr. Anthony Fauci was on television again Sunday warning us “things are going to get worse” with COVID-19. It’s the Delta variant of the virus that is to blame for putting us back in masks, the nation’s top infectious disease expert told ABC’s Jonathan Karl. Fauci didn’t mention all the other Greek letters of the alphabet lining up to do us harm. There’s always something. Like the Lambda variant which apparently comes from, guess where? South America. This one is said to be worse than all the other letters. So why the hell is the southern border wide open?...

Delta Airlines and American Airlines will suspend all flights from the United States to China, the carriers said on Jan. 31. All flights will be suspended “beginning Feb. 6 through April 30 due to ongoing concerns related to the coronavirus,” Delta said in a statement. “Between now and Feb. 5, Delta will continue to operate flights to ensure customers looking to exit China have options to do so,” the Atlanta-based airline added. The last China-bound flight departing the United States will leave on Feb. 3. The last return flight to the United States from China will leave on Feb. 5....

(CNN)Scientists in Australia have voiced concern about an apparent outbreak of Buruli ulcer, a flesh-eating disease that usually occurs in West and central Africa. The infectious disease has seen a spike in cases in recent years in several parts of Australia but particularly in the state of Victoria. In a study published Monday in the Medical Journal of Australia, the authors caution that the outbreak of the ulcers, described as an "epidemic" in the study, requires an "urgent scientific response." They report that Victoria is facing a worsening epidemic "defined by cases rapidly increasing in number, becoming more severe in...

A flesh-eating tropical disease is ravaging the war-torn Middle East, after Islamic State destruction created the ideal breeding conditions. The parasitic disease called Cutaneous leishmaniasis is caused by bites from tiny infected sand flies which thriving in the squalid conditions left in the wake of Islamic State terror and conflict. Thousands of cases have now been reported. Previous, it was contained in Syria but has spread to Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan after more than four million Syrians fled there ,With the same migrants now heading on to Europe in their millions, it could be just a matter of times before...

The circle of people who have come into contact with Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan is rapidly expanding, jumping from 18 to 80 early today and then leaping to 100, according to Texas health officials.

More cases of chikungunya, a painful virus spread by mosquitos, are being reported across the country. The Centers for Disease Control has listed a total of 497 cases in the U.S. in 35 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, 197 locally transmitted. Examiner.com reports that other state and local health agencies noted 40 cases, bringing the total to 537. The outbreak is due to a recent epidemic that started late last year in the Caribbean. The first two locally transmitted stateside cases were reported in Florida late last week. "The arrival of chikungunya virus, first in the tropical Americas...

In this week's duel of "gotcha" recordings, Mitt Romney sounds callous toward those who have grown dependent on government programs. But President Obama may have more to fear from the latest reminder that he "believes in redistribution" of wealth. After all, it was around this point in the 2008 campaign that a confident and cruising Obama campaign was put on the defensive after its candidate gave a revealing answer to a question posed by Joe (the Plumber) Wurzelbacher. "When you spread the wealth around," candidate Obama opined, "it's good for everybody." Would a President Obama be as hostile to American...

(CNSNews.com) – Vice President Joe Biden mocked Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) on Thursday for comparing federal student loans to “stage three cancer.” Without mentioning Akin by name, Biden said, “I don’t want to single somebody out, so rather than tell you his name, I’ll read a quote. He compared federal student loans to ‘stage three cancer of socialism,’ the ‘stage three cancer of socialism.’ You all realize you’re spreading socialism, don’t you? Which is cancerous. I been here a long time, man, but this is--it’s taken on a new dimension.” During a GOP Senate candidate forum hosted by the College...

BRUSSELS (AP) — Warning: The warming of the world's oceans can cause serious illness and may cost millions of euros (dollars) in health care. That is the alarm sounded in a paper released online Tuesday on the eve of a two-day conference in Brussels. The 200-page paper is a synthesis of the findings of more than 100 projects funded by the European Union since 1998. It was produced by Project CLAMER, a collaboration of 17 European marine institutes. The paper says the rising temperature of ocean water is causing a proliferation of the Vibrio genus of bacteria, which can cause...

SEOUL, South Korea -- Like most North Koreans, Son Jong Nam knew next to nothing about Christianity when he fled to neighboring China in 1998. Eleven years later, he died back in North Korea in prison, reportedly tortured to death for trying to spread the Gospel in his native land, armed with 20 bibles and 10 cassette tapes of hymns. He was 50. His story, pieced together by his younger brother, a defector who lives in South Korea, sheds light on a little-discussed practice: the sending back of North Korean converts to evangelize in their home country - a risky...

For you city slickers, this is a manure spreader. (For environutters, it is an "organic waste recycling applicator" for "sustainable" agriculture practices) --This was the only implement John Deere ever made that they would not stand behind!

Raleigh, N.C. — Tests show the students sickened while attending a leadership conference in Raleigh over the weekend suffered from norovirus, Wake County officials said Monday. About 150 of the 1,000 students from across the state who gathered at the downtown Raleigh Sheraton for a YMCA Youth & Government meeting reported nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Five were taken to area hospitals