Year: 2020

Major League Baseball (MLB) has suspended all Miami Marlins games for the rest of the week after at least 15 players and coaches reportedly tested positive for the coronavirus.The team is in Philadelphia where the affected players are in quarantine. The Philadelphia Phillies, who hosted…

One of the most frustrating symptoms of COVID-19 coronavirus is the loss of the sense of smell and scientists now say they think they understand why it happens. The experts writing in the journal Science Advances said the coronavirus infiltrates the cells that provide major structural support to sensory neurons -- the neurons that detect odors and send those messages to the brain. Since the sense of smell…

The U.S. government says it will use the Defense Production Act to help transform a legacy photographic film maker into a producer of pharmaceutical ingredients, including those for hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malarial President Donald Trump has touted as a treatment to ward off the coronavirus.President Donald…

New study results are boosting hopes that there soon may be a simple, reliable way to help family doctors diagnose the most common form of dementia. Researchers say an experimental blood test was able to distinguish people with Alzheimer's disease from those without it in…

Is it possible to get the coronavirus more than once?  Scientists don't know for sure yet, but they believe it's unlikely.  Health experts think people who had COVID-19 will have some immunity against a repeat infection. But they don't know how much protection or how…

Inspired by the pandemic-induced need for durable, clean face masks and other personal protection equipment to prevent the spread of COVID-19, researchers may have developed a biosynthetic polymer material that repairs itself by synthesizing a protein found in squids.A study published Monday in the science…

The World Health Organization warns that the COVID-19 pandemic is threatening gains made in eliminating Hepatitis B and C, which cause liver damage and liver cancer.  In observance of World Hepatitis Day Tuesday, the WHO is calling for action to stop transmission of viral hepatitis…

Healthcare workers in Cameroon are marking World Hepatitis Day (July 28), to raise awareness of the virus, which causes inflammation of the liver and kills about 300 people per day in Sub-Saharan Africa.  While global coverage of a birth dose vaccine for Hepatitis B is 43%, according…

Widescale testing began Monday in the United States on two potential COVID-19 vaccines to determine their safety and effectiveness.   A volunteer in Savannah, Georgia early Monday morning received the first dose of an experimental vaccine manufactured by U.S.-based biotech firm Moderna and developed by researchers at the National Institute of…

Much of Hawaii was spared when Hurricane Douglas passed just north of Oahu, Maui and the island of Hawaii, also known as the Big Island, early Monday. The Category 1 storm was on what forecasters had called a “dangerously close” path, but the islands managed to “dodge…

For the second time, U.S. President Donald Trump has been photographed wearing a mask amid the coronavirus pandemic.  Trump wore the face covering as he toured a North Carolina laboratory where key components are being manufactured for a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Novavax. “I trust all…

Indonesia is set to move into the front ranks of countries pursuing a vaccine against the coronavirus next week with the launch of phase 3 clinical trials in Bandung, West Java. About 2,400 samples of an experimental vaccine have been shipped from China to Bandung for…

 Kenya’s Ministry of Health says the number of mental health cases have jumped dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the country's mental health taskforce, 25% of coronavirus outpatients and 40% of in-hospital patients suffer from mental health issues such as depression. But more Kenyans…

The World Health Organization warns COVID-19 is continuing to accelerate globally at breathtaking speed but says basic public health measures – if followed -- can control its spread and turn the pandemic around.The number of coronavirus cases globally has roughly doubled in the past six…

A new study suggests dry climates and dense human populations are key factors in how mosquitoes have evolved to bite people.Noting that only a handful of the 3,500 species of mosquito feeds on human blood, researchers at Princeton University set out to determine why certain…

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is urging citizens to exercise and shed weight, saying he has done so since his recovery earlier this year from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.  The prime minister’s office introduced a “Better Health” campaign Monday and released a…

The world's biggest COVID-19 vaccine study got underway Monday with the first of 30,000 planned volunteers helping to test shots created by the U.S. government -- one of several candidates in the final stretch of the global vaccine race. There's still no guarantee that the…

More than one million people in Phnom Penh face the risk of increased flooding and loss of livelihoods as wetlands in the Cambodian capital are destroyed to build apartments and industries, human rights groups warned on Monday. Developments - including the ING City township - will…

Scientists warn record Siberian temperatures and the rapid melting of the Arctic sea ice along the Russian coast indicate that climate change is occurring and may be irreversible. Siberia, famous for its bitterly cold weather, has been experiencing a tropical heat wave, with temperatures reaching a…

Wildfires continue to burn in parts of Siberia this summer as a heatwave has continued to spread in areas north of the Arctic Circle.The World Metrological Organization (WMO) has raised the alarm, saying official figures show record warming in the Arctic."In general, the Arctic is…