Disease

COVID increased gender life expectancy gap in US poco_bw CIDRAP

For more than 100 years, American women have outlived American men, largely due to differences in rates of cardiovascular disease and lung cancer. Now COVID-19 has widened the gendered life expectancy gap, according to a research letter published yesterday in JAMA Internal Medicine.

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Study: Hospital-based COVID-19 less serious after Omicron Wavebreakmedia/ iStock CIDRAP

Hospital-acquired (nosocomial) COVID-19 transmission was associated with higher rates of 30-day mortality and more severe disease during the early phases of the pandemic, but the risk has lessened in the post-Omicron landscape, according to a new study from JAMA Network Open based on outcomes seen in Sweden during the past 3 years.

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Pain, fatigue, fuzzy thinking: How long COVID disrupts the brain The neurological symptoms of COVID can persist for years after an infection. Scientists are just beginning to understand why. NPR

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The brain may be especially vulnerable to COVID because the disease appears to weaken the blood-brain barrier, which usually protects the organ from both germs and the immune cells that follow them.

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A new COVID variant, HV.1, is now dominant. These are its most common symptoms A new highly contagious COVID-19 variant, HV.1, is now the dominant strain in the U.S. What to know about transmission, symptoms, vaccines and more. TODAY

As the United States enters respiratory virus season and health officials roll out updated COVID-19 vaccines, a new COVID variant HV.1 has emerged and is currently sweeping the country.