Lung News

November 17, 2022 — Pediatricians are imploring the federal government to declare a national emergency as cases of pediatric respiratory illnesses continue to soar.

November 16, 2022 — The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that viral infections are causing unprecedented child-care strains in the United States, leading to a record number of absences from work.

November 15, 2022 — Respiratory syncytial virus, the common, highly contagious, virus that infects the respiratory tract of many young children, is now sending more older people to the hospital.

November 11, 2022 — People with respiratory disorders (like asthma, COPD, sinusitis, or allergies) or who may be dealing with long-term effects of COVID-19 often find breathing difficult in colder temperatures.

October 28, 2022 — The number of tuberculosis cases and deaths in 2021 increased from the previous year as the COVID pandemic disrupted medical services globally, the World Health Organization reported.

May 2, 2022 — Tuberculosis cases are increasing in Washington, which has put public health officials on “heightened alert,” according to a recent announcement from the Washington State Department of Health.

April 11, 2022 — Knowing the types and levels of microplastics found in the lungs can inform future research to understand the impact on health.

March 22, 2022 — Researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital have developed a device that can inject oxygen directly into the bloodstream through an IV.

January 21, 2022 — Respiratory specialists failed to block the Philip Morris acquisition of inhaler manufacturer Vectura. Now they are banding together to exclude tobacco-owned businesses from pulmonary research.

September 7, 2021 — The message from editors of more than 230 medical journals worldwide is clear: Climate change is making people sick – and it's going to get worse.

June 15, 2021 — Medical equipment maker Philips is recalling CPAP machines, ventilators, and other breathing devices because of concerns that sound-reducing foam on the devices can degrade and be inhaled by the users, causing possible health risks, including cancer.

June 1, 2021 — A new study finds poorer Americans continue to have worse lung health than their wealthier peers.

May 11, 2021 — A new study estimates airborne particles generated by food production kill nearly 16,000 Americans each year.

April 21, 2021 — A deadly chemical in paint strippers continues to kill workers despite its known dangers, a new study finds.

April 9, 2021 — People can breathe easy knowing these species are for the most part harmless, scientists say.

March 9, 2021 — The population now eligible for lung cancer screening has more than doubled, after updated recommendations lowered the starting age and reduced smoking history.

September 25, 2020 — When people breathe wildfire smoke, the short-term health effects can range from eye and nasal irritation and coughing to worsening asthma, heart attacks, and strokes. Scientists aren’t sure yet of the long-term effects, but there are some early clues.

July 20, 2020 — Researchers said the NO2 decreases were likely the result of less traffic as more people worked at home and drove less.

May 18, 2020 — Roughly 16 million Americans have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but only a fraction have access to a lifesaving treatment called pulmonary rehabilitation.

March 4, 2020 — Necrotizing pneumonia is an uncommon complication of pneumonia. It destroys areas of lung tissue, and can occur even if someone has been treated with antibiotics, according to a previous review in Biomed Central.

March 3, 2020 — Researchers calculate that air pollution actually has a bigger impact on life expectancy than tobacco smoking, HIV/AIDS or violence.

February 26, 2020 — While lung function decreases naturally as people age, researchers linked moderate or significant weight gain to an even sharper decline.

February 26, 2020 — The trial was funded by the drug's maker, Merck, and involved 253 American and British participants. All had suffered from an unexplained or untreatable cough that had lasted for an average of almost 15 years.

February 25, 2020 — There's not enough evidence to recommend newer treatments for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

February 20, 2020 — Aging and risk factors such as smoking, pollution and overweight/obesity are among the other major risk factors for chronic lung diseases, according to the analysis of data from 195 countries.

January 28, 2020 — The vaping illness known as EVALI (electronic cigarette- or vaping-associated lung injury) has so far killed nearly 60 people in the United States. More than 2,600 have been hospitalized.

January 22, 2020 — Researchers discovered that Instagram posts that promote use of the devices outnumber anti-vaping content by a shocking ratio of 10,000 to 1.

January 14, 2020 — Lung illnesses and deaths from vaping have been grabbing headlines for months, and now two new studies offer fresh evidence pointing to long-term respiratory concerns.

January 10, 2020 — In a statement on Dec. 31, Texas officials said the teen had "a chronic underlying medical condition," but did not identify the condition, the patient's gender or what products the teens had been vaping.

December 5, 2019 — The disease, called hard-metal pneumoconiosis or "cobalt lung," usually occurs when people inhale mineral dusts caused by metal grinding, said senior researcher Dr. Kirk Jones, a pathologist with the University of California, San Francisco.

November 21, 2019 — The condition is similar to "popcorn lung," which is seen in workers exposed to the chemical flavoring diacetyl, an ingredient used to produce microwave popcorn, researchers said.

November 19, 2019 — Taylor was told to remove the feather bedding from his home and prescribed steroids, which improved his condition within two days.

October 30, 2019 — Firefighters this month have been battling blazes from one end of California to the other. The whipping winds fanning the flames have helped distribute noxious particles far and wide.

October 8, 2019 — The American Lung Association’s 2019 “State of the Air” report shows that more than 141 million people live in counties with unhealthy air, an increase of 7 million people from the 2018 report.

October 1, 2019 — Confirmed cases of Legionnaires disease linked to a North Carolina state fair now stand at 79, including 55 people hospitalized and one death.

October 1, 2019 — A tuberculosis vaccine commonly used in other parts of the world might reduce a person's risk of developing lung cancer if given early in childhood, a six-decade-long study reports.

September 30, 2019 — People can get a rare type of tuberculosis, called bovine tuberculosis, from deer, according to the CDC.

September 27, 2019 — The number of cases of Legionnaires' disease tied to the North Carolina Mountain State fair has risen to 25, with one death, according to the state division of public health.

August 22, 2019 — Rates among all other racial/ethnic groups were at least 14 times higher than among whites.

August 22, 2019 — Late Wednesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its tally of such cases to 153, spread across 16 states. These cases have emerged in a relatively short timeframe -- from June 28 through Aug. 20, the agency said in a statement.

August 15, 2019 — The FDA approval sprang from a groundbreaking trial of 107 patients in South Africa who had been diagnosed with XDR-TB. Six months after treatment, 89% of the patients were cured, which is far higher than typical success rates for treatment of this often lethal strain of TB

August 7, 2019 — Another 61 probable cases of the disease have been identified, according to Nancy Nydam, director of communications at Georgia Department of Public Health, CNN reported.

July 25, 2019 — For the year 2015,  the researchers extrapolated that air pollution still caused nearly 16,000 deaths in women and 15,000 in men in the United States.

July 12, 2019 — Each year in the United States, pneumonia sends 1 million adults to the hospital. The new study examined the medical records of 6,500 pneumonia patients treated at 43 Michigan hospitals. Of those, 60% were interviewed by phone within a month after they left the hospital.

June 19, 2019 — Those who had high fitness levels stayed healthier and had longer lives, as well -- up to 1.5 to 2 years longer, the study found.

June 3, 2019 — Legionnaires is caused by the Legionella bacteria, which can grow in water in building cooling systems. It's spread as people inhale contaminated water droplets, according to the CDC.

May 13, 2019 — In the new study, researchers created a way to keep the donor organs in shape for transplant and functioning, and the recipients stable for 36 to 56 hours.

March 18, 2019 — The EPA says it will issue a rule that bans the sale of methylene chloride to consumers, but allows for its continued use in commercial products.

March 13, 2019 — Because of the new restrictions, "we expect that some flavored e-cigarette products will no longer be sold at all," outgoing FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said.