Diseases & Conditions Archive

Shingles is a painful neurological condition that is more likely to attack as people age. Left untreated, it can increase risk for chronic pain, blindness, and other long-term health problems.

People who get the COVID-19 vaccine may experience arm pain, rashes, aches, fever, or fatigue. Doctors say it's worth the risk, since an older adult's risk of dying from COVID is 3% to 11%.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a treatable condition once considered a disease that largely affects people who are white, although in recent years it has been diagnosed more often in other racial and ethnic groups, in the US and around the world. Recognizing this condition early can make a difference in care and quality of life.

Research we're watching

You may be more likely to get COVID-19 from someone without symptoms than from someone who is feverish and coughing, according to a study published online Jan. 7, 2021, by JAMA Network Open. Study authors calculated that more than half of all COVID-19 cases were likely spread by someone without symptoms of the disease. Drawing on data from eight Chinese COVID-19 studies, the researchers developed a model that could estimate how people were infected, specifically looking at whether an infection would likely have come from someone with or without symptoms. They broke the asymptomatic people into two groups: those who were infected but hadn't yet developed symptoms (presymptomatic), and those who were infected but never got symptoms. Study authors assumed that it took five days from exposure for symptoms to develop or for someone to receive a positive test. The model also assumed that people were infectious for 10 days. Using these assumptions, they determined that 59% of people were infected by someone without symptoms. Thirty-five percent of the total would have been infected by someone who was presymptomatic, and 24% by someone who would never develop symptoms. These numbers rose when the researchers modified their model to assume that everyone was infectious a day earlier. Under this second model, 67% of cases were spread by someone without symptoms.

The researchers said their findings show the importance of public safety measures such as mask use, avoiding gatherings, distancing, and handwashing, all of which can reduce the spread of COVID-19 by people who don't know they have it.

A ringing sound in one or both ears is usually a form of an annoying condition called tinnitus. When tinnitus persists, treatment  such as cognitive behavioral therapy, tinnitus retraining therapy or biofeedback, can ease symptoms.

This often scary condition can happen at almost any time.

Everyone experiences an occasional bout of feeling dizzy. But vertigo is a distinct type of dizziness, with an estimated 40% of adults suffering from it at least once in their lifetime — and the risk rises with age.

"Because vertigo often strikes out of the blue, an acute attack can be potentially dangerous by increasing your risk of a fall," says Dr. Howard LeWine, chief medical editor of Harvard Health Publishing. "While there is no cure for most causes of vertigo, there are ways to reduce symptoms during an attack and avoid recurrent episodes."