The deadly novel coronavirus outbreak has turned a spotlight on the science of disease, raising the question: What exactly is a pandemic? An outbreak is the occurrence of disease cases in excess of what’s normally expected, according to the World Health Organization. An epidemic is more than a normal number cases of an illness, specific…… MORE
Ultramarathoners and other endurance runners take note: You can’t rely on electrolyte sports drinks and supplements to keep essential salt levels in balance and prevent illness during and after these grueling races, according to a new study. Researchers from Stanford University evaluated 266 athletes who took part in RacingThePlanet — an extreme sporting event that…… MORE
Covid-19 will become a pandemic. We don’t yet know how severe it will be, nor do we know if the virus will spread to all continents, but it’s already spreading widely in China, South Korea, Italy, Iran and elsewhere — and thousands of undetected and infectious patients have been and continue to travel around the…… MORE
The US Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning letter to the Jimmy John’s sandwich chain, saying certain vegetables it served were implicated in five outbreaks of E. coli or salmonella in the past seven years. The letter accuses the chain of engaging in a pattern of receiving and selling “adulterated fresh produce, specifically…… MORE
One of the top officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Americans on Tuesday that health experts foresee the novel coronavirus that has killed thousands spreading in the United States. “We expect we will see community spread in this country,” said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization…… MORE
The world’s oldest living man, Chitetsu Watanabe, has passed away in Japan at the age of 112, the Niigata prefecture government said in a statement Tuesday. Watanabe, who was residing at a nursing home in Niigata, was born on March 5th, 1907. He was officially confirmed by the Guinness World Record as the oldest living…… MORE
India has once again topped an annual list of cities with the worst air quality in the world, according to a new report, while Chinese cities have continued to show improvements from the previous year. Twenty-one of the world’s 30 cities with the worst air pollution are in India, according to data compiled in IQAir…… MORE
Heart disease is the number one killer of people worldwide. What’s the leading cause of heart disease? High blood pressure, which is often triggered by high sodium (salt) intake in the food we eat. Hypertension is also the leading cause of stroke, heart failure and kidney disease. Yet even if we never salted another dish…… MORE
The deadly outbreak of a novel coronavirus has the world on edge, but it has not yet developed into a pandemic, according to the World Health Organization. Although WHO has declared the outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern,” the outbreak has not met the criteria needed to be described as a pandemic when…… MORE
The sweet scent of baking cookies wafting from grandma’s house may be mixed with a more pungent aroma these days. The smell of marijuana. The numbers of American seniors over age 65 who now smoke marijuana or use edibles increased two-fold between 2015 and 2018, according to research published Monday in JAMA. California septuagenarian Carol…… MORE
