For Tuesday, Sept. 3, WGN’s Dina Bair has the latest on new medical information, including:
Airborne fungus increasing dramatically
An airborne fungus could be making people sick. It’s a pathogen that causes valley fever and is enhanced by drought conditions.
University of California San Diego researchers say it’s mainly in the western United States right now.
Valley fever causes flu-like symptoms but can turn deadly.
It is prevalent from September to November.
Doctors say the airborne fungus has increased dramatically over the last two decades.
They warn with rising temperatures, the threat of infectious disease will increase.
Dentists can evaluate sleep quality
The next time you visit the dentist, they may discuss sleep quality.
Increasingly, dentists are noticing symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea, a sleep disorder that raises the risk for heart problems and neurodegeneration.
Rutgers University researchers say dentists are an unexpected link to diagnosing sleep disorders.
They urge dental providers to look beyond teeth and gums, checking the tongue, jaw, breathing patterns, and unexpected dozing during dental treatment.
If they do, they have the possibility to improve patient health, identifying troubling symptoms before general physicians.
New AI stethoscope may help pick up heart problems in pregnant women
Pregnant women are at risk for heart failure and more than half of people in need go undiagnosed.
A Mayo Clinic study reveals a new AI stethoscope may help.
The research shows a digital stethoscope picks up the signs of heart failure when symptoms like shortness of breath, extreme fatigue, and trouble breathing are often ignored as common in pregnancy.
The AI stethoscope found twice as many cases of heart failure compared to standard obstetric screening.
Heart problems, diagnosed early, can save lives since they progressively get worse through pregnancy and childbirth and can endanger a mother’s life.
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