epidemiology
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The 10 Strangest Medical Cases of 2021
While the covid-19 pandemic has dominated headlines this past year, other maladies continued to trouble humanity — and some of them were extremely bizarre. In a few cases, a person’s own unfortunate decisions landed them in the pages of a medical journal; in others, it was sheer bad luck. Warning: some of the stories here…
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Uh Oh, the Coronavirus Has Been Spreading Widely in U.S. Deer
The coronavirus behind covid-19 appears to have found another species in which it can easily reproduce and spread. Preliminary research out this week seems to confirm that the virus is now freely circulating among wild deer. Though it’s unclear how important this discovery may be, it’s possible that it could affect our own future with…
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Blood Donor Study Estimates Over 80% of American Adults Now Have Coronavirus Antibodies
New research indicates that over 80% of American adults now have antibodies to the coronavirus, earned either through infection or vaccination. The study, based on data collected from blood donors, estimates that over 80% of Americans over the age of 16 had these antibodies as of May 2021. The authors do caution, however, that their…
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What It Really Means That the U.S. Won’t Reach Herd Immunity
An article in the New York Times today highlights a growing attitude among public health experts about the near future of the covid-19 pandemic: Herd immunity, at least for the time being, is likely out of reach in the U.S. But as upsetting as that sounds, it doesn’t mean the pandemic won’t be substantially contained…