Aria Bendix

Their coronavirus infections had cleared up, but the patients were met with a grim reality: Scents that were once pleasant had suddenly become foul. Sautéed garlic and onions smelled like rotting garbage, and coffee was no longer palatable. This distorted sense of smell, known as parosmia, is a fixture of some long Covid illnesses. Early in the pandemic, smell and taste changes were considered a key symptom of a coronavirus infection. A U.K. study found that around 43% of people who reported los…

Covid and flu shots can be safely given at the same time, and according to a small new study, doing so may even confer benefits. Findings presented Monday at the Vaccines Summit Boston, an annual scientific conference, suggest that giving Covid and flu shots together could produce a stronger antibody response against the coronavirus than administering the vaccines separately. The study measured the antibody levels of 42 health care workers in Massachusetts who were vaccinated last fall. Twelve o…

A Nebraska health department is investigating more than 500 possible exposures to tuberculosis linked to an active case at a YMCA in Omaha. The infected person was part of the YMCA’s drop-in child care program, so those at risk of exposure are primarily young kids. The Douglas County Health Department said anyone who had close contact with the infected person from May 30 through Oct. 30 should get tested for tuberculosis bacteria, which can spread through the air when someone with an active case…

Newborn syphilis cases, which can be fatal, have risen more than tenfold in the last decade and almost 32% in a single year, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Tuesday. The CDC said that cases have reached “dire levels” in the United States. More than 3,700 cases were reported to the agency last year, up from 2,855 in 2021 and 335 cases in 2012. Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by bacteria that can linger in the body for many ye…

A sudden restriction of blood flow to the brain. That’s how scientists have traditionally explained why people faint. But several mysteries remain: What causes someone’s blood flow to spontaneously change? And what parts of the brain play a key role? New research in mice, published this week in the journal Nature, offers a closer understanding of the underlying mechanisms behind fainting. The researchers theorize that the activation of neurons that link the heart and brain can induce a faintin…

The U.S. infant mortality rate rose last year for the first time in two decades. The rate refers to the number of infants who died before their first birthdays out of every 1,000 live births. The U.S. recorded 5.6 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2022, a 3% increase over the previous year, according to a report Wednesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The last year-to-year increase was from 2001 to 2002, when the rate similarly rose by 3%. The 2022 data are estimates…

Authorities are investigating an unprecedented outbreak of opioid overdoses at a single high school in Sterling, Virginia. Eight students at Park View High School have overdosed in the last three weeks, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office. In total, the sheriff’s office is investigating nine opioid overdoses at Park View this year among male and female students. None of the overdoses were fatal, but each required some sort of medical intervention such as treatment, CPR or transport…

A new Covid variant has become dominant in the U.S., but relatively few people have thus far gotten the new shots that could offer some protection against it. The variant, called HV.1, replaced EG.5 as the country’s most prevalent this week, according to data released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The two variants are genetically similar versions of omicron. HV.1 makes up around 25% of Covid cases now, up from around 1% at the beginning of August. EG.5, meanwhile, rep…

It started with a strange sensation in her left ear: the feeling of movement, followed by incessant clicking and rustling sounds. After struggling to sleep for several nights, the 64-year-old woman in Taiwan visited an ear, nose and throat clinic. There, doctors discovered a small spider moving about her ear canal. It had discarded its exoskeleton, which sat nearby. Doctors in April used a tube to suction out the spider and exoskeleton, according to a case report published Wednesday in the New E…

A Mediterranean diet that’s rich in vegetables, fruits and fish may help reduce or stave off symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to research published this week in the journal Nature Mental Health. The peer-reviewed findings are based on patient data from two studies — one in 2008 and another in 2013 — which collectively involved tens of thousands of female participants. The researchers behind those studies gathered stool samples, as well as information about the women’s menta…