Emergency department visits for strep throat infections reached a five-year high in February and March, according to unpublished CDC data cited by NBC News in an April 19 report. 

A preprint study released by Texas-based Houston Methodist suggests COVID-19 vaccine dosing is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. In the past three years, as vaccines and boosters were released, the CDC recommended all of the doses in stages based on age. 

The FDA has authorized additional omicron bivalent booster doses for people 65 and older and those with compromised immune systems, the agency said April 18. 

If you are looking for a silver lining from the COVID-19 pandemic, it's this sad short-lived truth, Megan Ranney, MD, deputy dean at Providence, R.I.-based Brown University School of Public Health, told Becker's: "During the pandemic there were no school or workplace shootings."

A lab conducting advanced coronavirus research in China faced numerous biosafety issues in November 2019 around the time COVID-19 emerged, according to a new federal report obtained by The Wall Street Journal.

A 13-year-old boy in Ohio has died after attempting a viral TikTok challenge that encourages teens to take excess doses of Benadryl to get high or hallucinate, ABC affiliate WSYX reported April 15.

As the omicron subvariant XBB.1.16 takes off in the U.S., questions have emerged around whether current at-home COVID-19 tests accurately detect the strain. 

A rare fungal infection outbreak at a Michigan paper mill infected more than 90 workers and has now left one dead. Blastomycosis, which typically exists as mold in soil or decaying wood, usually results in only one to two cases a year per 100,000 people — so the high case numbers are causing health officials to pay close attention.

The New Mexico Department of Health has reported three new cases of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. The virus has so far infected five individuals in the region in 2023. One person has died and the other four have required hospitalization. 

Health officials are still searching for the source of a rare fungal infection at a Michigan paper mill that has infected nearly 100 people and caused one death.

The CDC found two bird flu genetic mutations in a Chilean man who recently fell ill with the disease. The mutations show signs of the virus adapting to mammals, The New York Times reported April 14.

 The latest omicron subvariant experts are keeping their eye on accounts for 7.2 percent of cases in the U.S., according to the CDC's latest variant proportion estimates. 

Cook Children's Medical Center is warning about the dangers of unsafe sleeping conditions after seeing 30 associated infant deaths since January 2022. 

The chances of experiencing long COVID-19 after a second bout with the infection appear to be lower than the first time around, according to new survey findings. 

Some individuals may be more susceptible to catching recurring urinary tract infections because the infections can actually change the urinary tract lining, creating conditions that make an infected individual more prone to catching them again, findings published in Nature April 10 reveal.

A newly discovered test for Parkinson's disease shows promise in diagnosing the condition very early — and may help in identifying if a person is at risk of developing the disease, according to research findings that will be published in May in The Lancet Neurology. 

China's efforts to ramp up the country's biotechnology capabilities are outpacing progress to strengthen laboratory safety, prompting concerns that a deadly pathogen could escape the laboratory setting and potentially spur another pandemic, experts told The Washington Post.

Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16 appears to be causing a new symptom among children: conjunctivitis. So far, the evidence is anecdotal and based on what physicians in India — where the strain is fueling a surge in cases — have seen among patients.

Nationwide syphilis infections increased by 32 percent during the pandemic and resulted in 220 stillbirths and infant deaths, an April 11 CDC news release stated. 

After Chinese health officials reported a human case of avian flu on March 27, the infected individual has now been confirmed dead, according to the World Health Organization. The woman is the third known person infected with the H3N8 strain of the virus and the first to die from it.