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U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials are aware of reports of long-lasting problems following COVID-19 vaccination, an official recently disclosed. “With respect to reports of people experiencing debilitating illnesses, we are aware of these reports of people experiencing long-lasting health problems following COVID vaccination,” Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, director of the CDC’s Immunization Safety Office, said on Jan. 26. “In some cases, the clinical presentation of people suffering these health problems is variable and no specific medical cause for the symptoms have been found,” Shimabukuro added. “We understand that illness is disruptive and stressful, especially under those circumstances....

A rare bacterial disease linked to rats — and normally only seen in animals — has killed one person in the Bronx and left two others fighting for their lives, city officials reported Tuesday. The three cases of leptospirosis were identified within a one-block radius of the Concourse section of the borough over the past two months, the Health Department said. “Human leptospirosis cases are very rare in New York City,” explained Demetre Daskalakis, acting deputy commissioner of the Health Department. “This is the first time a cluster of cases has been identified,” he said. “All three cases had severe...

One in four Gulf War veterans suffers from Gulf War Illness (GWI). The condition is characterized by unexplainable chronic fatigue, muscle pain and cognitive dysfunction and may be associated with exposure to chemicals, many identified as genotoxins, during deployment. Previous studies suggest that the symptoms of GWI are due to dysfunction of the mitochondria, the site in cells where molecules that power the body's processes are produced. Not producing enough energy slows down the body and leaves the individual feeling tired. New preliminary research to be presented at "Physiological Bionergetics: From Bench to Bedside" shows for the first time direct...

CHICAGO (AP) -- Medical marijuana has not been proven to work for many illnesses that state laws have approved it for, according to the first comprehensive analysis of research on its potential benefits. The strongest evidence is for chronic pain and for muscle stiffness in multiple sclerosis, according to the review, which evaluated 79 studies involving more than 6,000 patients. Evidence was weak for many other conditions, including anxiety, sleep disorders, and Tourette's syndrome and the authors recommend more research.

In the span of four months, at least 94 children in 33 U.S. states have developed a devastating form of paralysis with symptoms similar to polio. Some require a ventilator to breathe. And some of the greatest government health minds in the country say they have no idea what’s causing it. At the same time, during the past four months, at least 12 children have died after falling ill with a respiratory virus called Enterovirus D-68 (EV-D68). Again, federal health officials are at a loss to explain the origin of the epidemic. Are the mysterious outbreaks linked? The Centers for...

Visualizing the anatomical vessel networks plays a vital role in physiological or pathological investigations. However, identifying the fine structures of the smallest capillary vessels via conventional imaging ways remains a big challenge. Here, the room temperature liquid metal angiography was proposed for the first time to produce mega contrast X-ray images for multi-scale vasculature mapping. Gallium was used as the room temperature liquid metal contrast agent and perfused into the vessels of in vitro pig hearts and kidneys. We scanned the samples under X-ray and compared the angiograms with those obtained via conventional contrast agent--the iohexol. As quantitatively proved by...

Lethal barbiturate produced by members of Australian right-to-die association TORONTO -- An Australian physician attending a global conference in Toronto of right-to-die organizations intends to display this weekend what he says is the first do-it-yourself suicide pill -- made by a group of Australians with degenerative and terminal illnesses. Group members, ranging in age from 55 to 94, have taught themselves the chemistry to make a lethal barbiturate whose main component is amylobarbitone, said Dr. Philip Nitschke, executive director of Australia's national dying with dignity organization, Exit International. After a year of trials, they have synthesized the barbiturate into crystalline...

Michael Jackson is surely not sleeping well these nights. In lieu of having him take the stand at his child-molestation trial in Santa Maria, his attorneys played nearly three hours of outtakes from the infamous Martin Bashir TV documentary, in which a tipsy Jackson revealed that the way he really loves to sleep is onstage under seven spotlights, all on him. Presumably, when the spotlights dim, what's next best is getting an endless string of little boys to share his bed. The sad truth is that were Jackson any other 46-year-old man with a history of alcohol use and prescription...

If you have been unhappy with the length or your nose, the width of your lips, the shape of your ears, the droop of your eyebrows or the sag of your chin – anything the modern beauty police deem to be unattractive – soon, help may be on the way in the form of a check from Uncle Sam or your insurance company. With fat now a national health concern, can ugly be far behind? Last week, with a stroke of a government erasure, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson removed language in Medicare's coverage manual that states that...

The number of people seeking treatment for diarrhea and related illnesses at hospital emergency rooms across New York City has risen since the blackout, the city's Health Department reported last night, prompting concerns about whether New Yorkers are eating spoiled food. "While we do not know the specific cause of this spike in diarrheal illnesses, it is possible that it was caused by spoiled food eaten at home or elsewhere," Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, commissioner of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, said in a statement. A department spokeswoman, Sandra Mullin, said the increase was slight, though she said...

More illnesses reported aboard Disney Caribbean cruise Disney officials say another 26 people have contracted a flu-like virus aboard a cruise liner on Friday. A total of 187 people have now fallen ill during the seven-day Caribbean voyage. Twenty-three passengers and three crew members of the Magic were reported ill with a "Norwalk-like" virus on Friday. The ship - carrying 2,400 guests and about 1,000 crew - is scheduled to return on Saturday to Port Canaveral in Florida. The sicknesses came after about 275 people became ill on the Magic's last voyage. They led Disney to cancel the ship's next...