Free Republic

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...

Researchers with the Rutgers Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute have simulated how climate change will affect the distribution of two leading allergens – oak and ragweed pollens – across the contiguous United States. The results, published in the journal Frontiers in Allergy, may make your eyes water. Using computer models, the team, led by Panos Georgopoulos, a professor of Environmental and Occupational Health and Justice at the Rutgers School of Public Health, found that by 2050 climate change significantly will increase airborne pollen loads, with some of the largest surges occurring in areas where pollen is historically uncommon. “Pollen...

At first, doctors just said that a Nebraska woman's runny nose was caused by allergies, plain and simple. But the woman, Kendra Jackson, knew it had to be something else. In 2013, Jackson was in a car accident, and she hit her face on the dashboard, according to KETV-7 ABC. Several years after that, her symptoms started: an endless runny nose, painful headaches and trouble sleeping. ... It wasn't until Jackson saw an ear, nose and throat specialist at Nebraska Medicine in Omaha that she learned her runny nose wasn't from allergies, but in fact cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaking from...