A familiar viral enemy is back with a vengeance

October 30, 2022
by RJ Hamster

YOUR WEEKLY CHECKUP

This week: An old respiratory virus is filling children’s hospitals, but hope may be in the wings; the WHO issues a critical new warning about dangerous fungi; the many ways COVID-19 can affect your menstrual cycle.

PHOTOGRAPH BY NIAID

RSV is surging among kids—but scientists have a plan to stop it

Beds in children’s hospitals across the U.S. are filling up with young patients struggling to breath and in dire need of oxygen. The culprit: respiratory syncytial virus, a pathogen that is a leading cause of childhood death worldwide. But new antibody treatments and vaccine candidates may offer long-awaited relief.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

IN THE NEWS: A ‘tripledemic’? Flu, RSV and COVID may collide this winter, experts say (New York Times) +

JUERGEN BERGER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Humans are not prepared for a pandemic caused by fungal infections

Only about 120,000 of the 5 million or so fungal species have been identified—of that number, just several hundred are known to harm humans. At the same time, changes in the environment and climate, as well as fungicide overuse in agriculture, have helped to engineer a fitter microbe—capable of infecting people and evading the few drugs designed to fight them.

SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE

IN THE NEWS: WHO releases new list of fungi that pose a critical threat to human health +

PHOTOGRAPH BY JAMES CAVALLINI, SCIENCE SOURCE

COVID-19 can interfere with your period in many ways. Here’s how.

Physicians failed to warn women about the expected temporary disruptions to their periods after the vaccine, and the more significant issues after a severe bout of COVID-19.

SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: How COVID-19 can harm pregnancy and reproductive health +

MORE HEALTH NEWS

So far, this flu season is more severe than it has been in 13 years (Washington Post)

What to know about Ozempic, TikTok’s favorite weight loss drug

 A deadly monkeypox variant is surging in Central Africa. Here’s why you should be worried.

Why scientists want to create psychedelics that give better trips

How Louis Pasteur solved a medical mystery

Busting 5 common myths about water and hydration (NPR)

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE

NG STAFF

‘Obviously, that is not enough’

So far, about 22 million Americans—just seven percent of the eligible U.S. population—have received the new vaccines.

TRACKING COVID IN THE U.S.

PHOTOGRAPH BY PATRICK T. FALLON, AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Why Omicron subvariants BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 are poised to take over in the U.S.

They now account for a tenth of the nation’s COVID-19 cases. Here’s why these strains are so good at evading immunity—and how the vaccines will protect against them.

SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE

For the masked minority, the isolation is worse than ever (Washington Post)

Americans aren’t getting the new bivalent COVID shot. What does that mean for the looming wave? (The Atlantic)

The types of COVID symptoms you get depend on the vaccines you’ve received, new data says (CNBC)

How multiple COVID-19 infections can harm the body

Omicron keeps finding new evolutionary tricks to outsmart our immunity (NPR)

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A familiar viral enemy is back with a vengeance

A familiar viral enemy is back with a vengeance

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