Type 1 diabetes Archive

For some people, the effects of the influenza (flu) virus can lead to a heart attack or cardiac arrest (sudden death). These people typically have reduced blood flow to the heart due to atherosclerosis (narrowed arteries). Because the flu can cause blood oxygen levels to drop to dangerously low levels, it can further reduce the supply of oxygen to the heart, causing a heart attack or cardiac arrest. Fortunately, getting an annual flu shot is associated with reduced risks of a heart attack and related cardiac events.

Recent news reports about cases of polio have some parents concerned about the illness. The vaccine is safe and remarkably effective, and widespread vaccination builds herd immunity.

Clostridioides difficile, a bacterium that causes severe diarrhea and colon inflammation, is common in hospitalized people. New research suggests that even patients who are not diagnosed with the infection in the hospital can bring it home and expose family members.

Most people with heart failure (or those at high risk for it) need several medications to treat their symptoms. New guidelines from the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association have added another drug class to the treatment list: a group of diabetes drugs called sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors. SGLT-2 inhibitors offer multiple benefits, such as helping to reduce swelling, lowering high blood pressure, assisting with weight loss, reducing complications associated with heart failure, and preventing hospitalization.

Seven factors appear to account for most first heart attacks in people ages 55 and younger: diabetes, depression, high blood pressure, current smoking, family history of early heart attack, low household income, and high cholesterol.

A 2022 study found that women with long COVID showed more symptoms than men, including shortness of breath and fatigue.

Sugar is a carbohydrate that provides the body with energy and has an important role in nutrition. It is found in many healthy whole foods, but it is also abundant in unhealthy processed foods. The problem many people have with sugar is that they consume too much of the refined kind added to many processed food products, and not enough of the natural kind in fruits, vegetables, and grains.

More than two years after COVID-19 reached the US, an outbreak of monkeypox is spreading fast outside of Africa. This virus is not new, and it's likely to be less dangerous than COVID, but it's still important to be aware of its symptoms, spread, treatment, and prevention.

The monkeypox outbreak currently traveling around the globe is the largest ever recorded outside of western and central Africa. Controlling this virus demands preventive measures, and one method that has worked to contain previous disease outbreaks may be effective for monkeypox as well.

The bacteria C. diff is responsible for half a million infections each year in the US. Many infections happen when people are hospitalized, but a recent report indicated that people can be infected without ever being hospitalized.