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A mystery dog disease which began to sweep the US last summer is still being investigated. Vet labs in many states are looking into a new, unusual disease that's been threatening the pet population and worrying animal health professionals, who are working tirelessly to determine the cause of the mysterious disease and work on cures. Described as a respiratory disease and pneumonia that doesn't respond to antibiotics, the symptoms of the new disease include coughing, sneezing, discharge from the eyes or nose and general fatigue. The illness is progressing quickly in some dogs, researchers say, with a few falling severely...

Less is also better—that is what researchers have found while conducting a tri-nation clinical trial to see if shorter courses of antibiotics are as effective as longer prescriptions of the drug to treat ventilator-associated pneumonia. The four-year long study involved 460 patients. While personalized short-course treatment duration for patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) was just as effective in comparison to the standard treatment duration, the short-course treatment strategy also successfully reduced antibiotic side effects from 38% to 8%. VAP is a common lung infection among critically ill patients who are dependent on ventilators to breathe. The infection risk of death...

A mystery outbreak of pneumonia has hit several parts of China, and now Ohio is the first American location to report an outbreak of the illness, with an ‘extremely high’ number of children being hospitalized. The strain of pneumonia, now dubbed ‘white lung syndrome,’ has spawned 142 pediatric cases in Warren County since August. Warren County Health Department told Daily Mail, that not only is the number of cases above average, but it also meets the Ohio Department of Health’s definition of an outbreak. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that nationally, cases are not out of the...

An 'extremely high' number of children are being diagnosed with pneumonia in Ohio — which is now the first US state to report an outbreak like the one in China. Health officials in Warren County, 30 miles north of Cincinnati, said there have been 142 pediatric cases of the condition — dubbed 'white lung syndrome' — since August. 'Not only is this above the county average, it also meets the Ohio Department of Health definition of an outbreak,' the county's health department said Wednesday. The spread of cases has raised fears that an American outbreak of the infection that has...

An 'extremely high' number of children are being diagnosed with pneumonia in Ohio — which is now the first US state to report an outbreak like the one in China. Health officials in Warren County, 30 miles north of Cincinnati, said there have been 142 pediatric cases of the condition — dubbed 'white lung syndrome' — since August. 'Not only is this above the county average, it also meets the Ohio Department of Health definition of an outbreak,' the county's health department said Wednesday. The spread of cases has raised fears that an American outbreak of the infection that has...

Several countries are taking steps to prepare against the spread contagious respiratory illnesses as China battles a concerning spike in pneumonia cases. Many parts of China have been hit by the surprising surge in the illness, which has particularly impacted children. Northern provinces in China have experienced a jump in flu-like illnesses for five weeks straight since mid-October. The fast spread of the COVID-19 in 2020 prompted extreme public health restrictions and quarantine measures, and several nations are on edge given the uptick in illnesses in China. The ailments have stretched China's hospital system and are reminiscent of the coronavirus...

HONG KONG — Hospitals in northern China appear to be “overwhelmed with sick children” as the country grapples with a surge in respiratory illnesses and clusters of pneumonia, prompting the World Health Organization to ask Beijing for more data.

A study reveals that the use of doxycycline may help protect against Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) infection for some patients with pneumonia. Specifically, study authors found that for hospitalized patients with community-acquired pneumonia who had experienced C. diff infections in the prior year, the use of doxycycline, instead of the more commonly used azithromycin, reduced the development of new C. diff infections by 45%. More than a third of patients who suffer a C. diff infection will go on to have another in the future. For patients who are admitted to a hospital with pneumonia, clinical guidelines typically recommend the...

Retton, who won the Olympic individual all-around gold medal at the 1984 games, is battling a "very rare form of pneumonia," her daughter wrote on a fundraising page.Mary Lou Retton, a former Olympic gymnast, is “fighting for her life” in the intensive care unit with pneumonia, her daughter McKenna Kelley said. Kelley shared the news on her Instagram Story Tuesday as well as a link to a Spotfund page dedicated to her mom. In a message on the fundraising page, Retton’s daughters wrote, “My amazing mom, Mary Lou, has a very rare form of pneumonia and is fighting for her...

On March 3, an illegal bio lab was discovered in a believed-to-be vacant building in Reedley, California in Fresno County. City code enforcement stumbled upon the building in December 2022 when they discovered a garden hose running up into the building through a hole in the wall. In March, they obtained a warrant to inspect the property, and in April, the Fresno County Department of Public Health ordered an inspection of the facility. Investigators inspected the building that contained the lab in July and found a room used to make COVID-19 tests and pregnancy tests. They also found over 35...

You would think that this would get a bit more attention than it has. It certainly piqued my interest when I saw it.A China-linked company ran a grossly unsafe bio lab filled with deadly pathogens in a supposedly empty warehouse in Fresno, California. A company without much of a backstory, addresses that don’t exist, and a president who can only be reached by email.China-linked Bio Lab in Fresno Co, California Had Over 900 Mice “Genetically Engineered to Catch and Carry the Covid-19 Virus” https://t.co/SAvzAx53gU— The Gateway Pundit (@gatewaypundit) July 29, 2023No, this is not the plot of a bad movie....

Why would a COVID lab run by a shady Chinese company be operating in Reedly, CA in the central San Joaquin Valley? The lab, which was supposed to be an empty building, was discovered by Reedly city code enforcement officers when they saw a garden hose attached to the building and investigated.

Researchers from Johns Hopkins and the Risk Management Foundation of the Harvard Medical Institutions looked at 15 diseases and concluded that 371,000 Americans died and 424,000 were permanently disabled as a result of misdiagnoses. About 795,000 Americans die or are permanently disabled every year due to misdiagnosed medical conditions. A new analysis led by experts at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore looks more closely at diagnostic error and its impact. "Prior work has generally focused on errors occurring in a specific clinical setting, such as primary care, the emergency department or hospital-based care," lead author Dr. David Newman-Toker, director of...

Patients receiving neuromuscular blocking medications as part of their anesthetic regimen should be carefully monitored to ensure best care, according to guidelines from the American Society of Anesthesiologists and the European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care. Medications that provide neuromuscular blockade are frequently used in anesthesia, both to ease placement of a breathing tube at the beginning of the anesthetic (intubation) and to provide optimal conditions for the surgery itself. Both ASA and ESAIC guidelines for the management of neuromuscular blockade recommend patients be monitored quantitatively as part of the process, meaning that the degree of muscle relaxation is...

Bacterial infections associated with ventilators may have caused most of the deaths attributed to COVID-19 among intubated patients, according to a study funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases that reinforces ongoing scrutiny of early treatment protocols and official COVID death figures. The findings could help explain why New York City, where ventilators were heavily used early in the pandemic, experienced a dramatic spike in COVID mortality even among non-elderly people that wasn't seen in areas with similar demographics and climate. The Big Apple went so far as splitting ventilators between patients amid a perceived shortage despite...

A deadly virus that few people even know exists is causing misery across intensive care units and pediatric hospitals, doctors warn. High rates of Covid, flu and even RSV during winter led to hospitals overflowing during winter during a situation dubbed a 'tripledemic'. But cases of human metapneumovirus (HMPV), which can cause bronchitis and pneumonia, shot up to record levels in spring, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s respiratory virus surveillance systems. It may partly explain why so many people tested negative for flu and Covid in recent months despite showing symptoms. Dr John Williams, a pediatrician...

Regular aerobic exercise, popularly known as "cardio," is linked to a significantly lower risk of death from flu or pneumonia, even at weekly levels below those recommended, finds research. But there may be a level above which the effects plateau or—in the case of muscle strengthening activities—become potentially harmful, the findings suggest. Respondents were asked how often they spent 10 or more minutes in vigorous intensity and light or moderate intensity aerobic activities. And they were asked how often they did muscle strengthening activities. Five levels of physical activity were defined: below 10, 10–149, 150–300, 301–600 and more than 600...

Secondary bacterial infection of the lung (pneumonia) was extremely common in patients with COVID-19, affecting almost half the patients who required support from mechanical ventilation. By applying machine learning to medical record data, scientists found that secondary bacterial pneumonia that does not resolve was a key driver of death in patients with COVID-19. It may even exceed death rates from the viral infection itself. The scientists also found evidence that COVID-19 does not cause a "cytokine storm," so often believed to cause death. "Our study highlights the importance of preventing, looking for and aggressively treating secondary bacterial pneumonia in critically...

Vatican lying? Pope reportedly ‘arrived unconscious’ at hospital 2 weeks agoPope Francis' reported conversation with details about his hospital admission directly contradicts the Vatican's official statement.VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Concerning his recent stay in hospital, Pope Francis reportedly stated he arrived unconscious, thus raising questions about the truth of an incident that the Vatican’s Press Office has consistently tried to whitewash.The Pope’s comments were revealed by Italian media April 11 and were reportedly made by him to a personal confidant. According to Michele Ferri, who spoke with Francis on the phone on Easter Sunday as he regularly does, the Pope...

For patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU), hydrocortisone is associated with a lower risk for death by day 28, according to a study. Pierre-François Dequin, M.D., Ph.D. and colleagues conducted a phase 3 trial involving adults who had been admitted to the ICU for severe community-acquired pneumonia to assess whether early treatment with hydrocortisone reduced mortality at 28 days. Participants were randomly assigned to receive intravenous hydrocortisone (200 mg daily for four or eight days, as determined by clinical improvement, followed by tapering for a total of eight or 14 days) or placebo. All...