Mucus

HIV can weaken your immune system, making you vulnerable to opportunistic infections. Tuberculosis (TB), a bacterial disease that affects the lungs, other organs, and spine, is one such infection. When you have HIV, TB coinfection can be a life threatening and "AIDS-defining" condition. It can be difficult, but not impossible, for doctors to diagnose tuberculosis when you have an HIV-positive status. Screening blood tests for TB can be falsely negative in those with untreated HIV. In this article, we'll provide an overview of what symptoms to look out for, how diagnosis works, risk factors, and how TB and HIV are connected. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), people living with HIV are 18 times more likely to develop active TB. An estimated 215,000 people die each year from HIV-associated TB infection. Experiencing TB and HIV together is a medical emergency. HIV can destroy the body's immune cells, causing immune suppression. As the National Institutes ...

Two states are reporting moderate flu activity and three are reporting low levels of activity, according to the CDC's FluView report published Feb. 25. Seven CDC updates: 1. No states reported very high or high flu activity. Oklahoma and Wyoming reported moderate flu activity, while Idaho, Minnesota and Mississippi reported low activity. The remaining states reported minimal flu activity, while Washington, D.C., reported insufficient data.  2. The percentage of visits to an outpatient provider for respiratory illness was 1.5 percent for the week ending Feb. 19, up from 1.4 percent the previous week, but still below the national baseline of 2.5 percent.  3. For the week ending Feb. 19, 1,420 lab-confirmed flu patients were hospitalized, up from the week before. The cumulative hospitalization rate was 4.9 per 100,000 population, up from 4.7 per 100,000 the prior week.   4. Of all specimens tested in a clinical lab, 4.2 percent were positive...

A good vaccination program, along with proper flock management and biosecurity, plays a key role in the health and productivity of broiler breeders.The use of bacterins has been shown to lessen the effects of certain diseases by giving the bird resistance to harmful pathogens, but the success of vaccination lies with the skill and technique used by the vaccination crew. It is advised to administer bacterins using either subcutaneous (SQ) or intramuscular (IM) injections, however, care must be taken to ensure that birds receive a full dose of vaccine. With SQ injections, do not vaccinate too close to the head, base of the neck, or neck bones. With IM injections, do not vaccinate too close to the keel bone or too deep into the breast muscle. With either type of injection, it is imperative that personnel handle equipment safely to avoid self-injury. 9 March 2020 15 minute read Summary Things to consider when administering bacterins ar...

Approximately 50 million Americans have some form of allergic disease, and the number is increasing. Allergy attacks, or allergic reactions, occur when your immune system detects an allergen (a normally harmless substance) and reacts abnormally. Allergens include pollen, mold, dust mites, animal dander, or something else. PeopleImages / Getty Images Anyone may experience an allergy attack. Depending on your exposure to allergens, you may have attacks frequently or rarely. They may last for a few hours or be ongoing for weeks. Allergy attack symptoms are typically uncomfortable and can include mild symptoms such as a runny or stuffy nose, sneezing, itchy or watery eyes, scratchy or sore throat, post-nasal drip, and cough. In some cases, allergens trigger life-threatening symptoms such as an asthma attack (difficulty breathing due to airway constriction) or anaphylactic reaction (anaphylaxis). What Is Anaphylaxis? Anaphylaxis is a...

[unable to retrieve full-text content] What happens when you test positive for COVID-19? You worry. A lot.    Winston-Salem Journal

When your child is suffering from the miserable symptoms of a cold, it can be tempting to reach for an over-the-counter remedy to help make them feel better. But the fact is, studies have shown that cough and cold medicines to be ineffective in children younger than 6. And while the FDA hasn't yet issued a guideline for school-age kids, cold medication labels now say these medicines are not recommended for children younger than 4. Add to that scary potential side effects such as rapid heartbeat, convulsions, and even death, and natural treatments suddenly seem like a much better option. Jose Luis Pelaez Inc / Getty Images How to Help Ease Your Child's Cold Symptoms Be sure to talk with your healthcare provider about your child's symptoms to ensure there are no concerns that she is suffering from an illness more serious than the common cold. Then, try the following natural home remedies to help your child feel better: Give your child raw hon...

The color of your mucus can reveal some surprising things about your health. (Photo: Getty Images) Mucus isn't exactly something people give much thought to — until they're sick and dealing with a constantly runny nose. But mucus is actually an important part of a healthy immune system, according to Dr. Shawn Nasseri, an otolaryngologist who specializes in ear, nose and throat surgery. Even when you're not sick, your body produces mucus to keep tissues hydrated and prevent them from drying out. "Mucus, along with the respiratory tract and the upper digestive tract, act in many ways as the lubrication, filter and protection for our bodies," he tells Yahoo Life. Nasseri adds: "Every day our bodies produce approximately 1 liter of mucus in the nose and double that amount in the throat!" So what, exactly is mucus? Also known as phlegm, mucus is made up of mostly water, but it also contains "remnants of skin-lining cells (epithelial cells), antimicrobial...

A new study posted to the preprint server medRxiv* explores the risk of respiratory infection with poor sleep in the context of the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Study: The Public Health Impact of Poor Sleep on Severe COVID19, Influenza and Upper Respiratory Infections. Image Credit: SB Arts Media / Shutterstock.com Introduction Earlier studies have shown that poor sleep is linked to many different conditions, including inflammation and viral infections. With the acute loss of sleep, the levels of circulating cytokines such as interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP) are increased. Vaccine responses may also be delayed by insomnia; however, this may be a transient effect. Chronic sleep loss has been linked with more serious effects, including higher all-cause death rates and viral infections, as well as up to a 30% increased risk of respiratory infections. These effects of sleep loss could be due to chronic inflammation induced by ...

If you're wondering how we'll ever put an end to these draconian COVID-19 mandates that are destroying lives and sanity across the world, take heart. History can serve us in this regard. The parallels between the COVID-19 pandemic and its countermeasures that of previous smallpox pandemics are fascinating to behold, and therein we can also find the answer to our current predicament. Smallpox, a highly infectious and disfiguring illness with a fatality rate around 30%, 1 has been with us for many centuries, probably thousands of years. During the last four centuries, forced mass vaccination has been a recurring countermeasure relied on by government during these kinds of outbreaks, often with devastating results, and there have always been large portions of society that opposed it. In the 1700s, Boston, Massachusetts, was hit by a series of outbreaks, and the introduction of a vaccine led to violent rebellion by those who believed it was dangerous and a violation of God...