medical mystery

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Some Medical Mysteries Have No Answers
Some Medical
Mysteries Have
No Answers
longform
Jul 21, 2024 4:45 PM CDT

Some Medical Mysteries Have No Answers

Tom Scocca writes about the year his body 'fell apart'

(Newser) - One week after turning 52, Tom Scocca fell while trying to catch a train at a New York City subway station, his legs having simply given out, he explains in an essay at New York . Soon he was experiencing a number of mysterious symptoms: tingling and numbness in his extremities,...

Odd Symptoms, COVID, Then a Fall: An Unsolved Medical Mystery

Ex-Gawker editor Tom Scocca details his lengthy ordeal for 'New York Magazine'

(Newser) - The only thing worse than having a frightening debilitating condition is not knowing what exactly that condition is. That's the predicament that former Gawker and Slate editor Tom Scocca details in a lengthy essay in New York Magazine , laying out the mystery malady that has plagued him now for...

Terrifying COVID Complication Follows India's 2nd Wave

A rare fungal infection is plaguing survivors

(Newser) - As if India needed its bad situation to get worse, a rare fungal infection known as mucormycosis is cropping up among some COVID survivors. It's caused by the common mucor fungus, which most people are exposed to without suffering any ill effects. But some COVID patients, particularly those with...

His Sister Had Confused Episodes, Then Died. Now He Had Them

Inside the race to solve a medical mystery

(Newser) - If you're not familiar with rare metabolic diseases, you're not alone, and that fact is what drove one family's decision to share their story: of one tragedy, and one tragedy narrowly averted. As Dr. Lisa Sanders, author of Diagnosis: Solving the Most Baffling Medical Mysteries, writes for...

300-Plus People in This City Hospitalized With Mystery Illness

It's not COVID that's made hundreds of Indian residents in the city of Eluru sick

(Newser) - At least one person has died and several hundred more have been hospitalized in a town in southeastern India, and officials there aren't quite sure why. CNN notes that although India is second only to the United States in terms of the coronavirus cases it's had, with nearly...

New Virus From China Reaches Japan

Authorities say patient visited Chinese city

(Newser) - Japan's government said Thursday a man treated for pneumonia after returning from China has tested positive for the new coronavirus identified as a possible cause of an outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The man developed a fever and cough on Jan. 3 while in Wuhan, returned to...

New Virus Blamed for Mysterious China Outbreak

Chinese researchers say new coronavirus found in Wuhan patients

(Newser) - Health officials say SARS isn't the cause of a mystery illness that has sickened dozens of people in the Chinese city of Wuhan—but it may be a related virus. The World Health Organization says the viral pneumonia may be the result of a newly emerging coronavirus, a family...

China's Mystery Illness May Be 'Occurring in the Right Spot'

It's not SARS, officials have confirmed

(Newser) - A mystery illness that is striking China isn't SARS—but it's dredging up memories and fears of the deadly outbreak that began in 2002 and killed 800-plus people. As of Sunday , at least 59 people have come down with a pneumonia-like illness in the city of Wuhan...

He Nearly Died. The Problem? A Toothpick
How a Toothpick
Nearly Killed Teen
in case you missed it
Feb 3, 2019 3:35 PM CST

How a Toothpick Nearly Killed Teen

Doctors were stumped for weeks in recently reported case

(Newser) - He suffered from nausea, diarrhea, abdominal pain, bloody stool, and fever for almost three weeks before doctors finally figured out what was wrong. The answer may seem almost funny—but by the time the mystery was solved, it had caused an infection that nearly killed him. What was the problem?...

The Most Perplexing Medical Cases Get Sent Here

'New York Times' takes a look at the project, 3 perplexing cases

(Newser) - A woman who started struggling with her sense of balance and slurring her speech, almost as if she was drunk. A man who had 30 bouts of meningitis over a period of seven years, even though there was no underlying bacterial or viral infection. Another woman who, for 16 years,...

Their Daughter's Prognosis Was Dire. Then, the Tumor Just Vanished

An 'extraordinarily rare' turn of events for 11-year-old Roxli Doss

(Newser) - A Texas girl's parents were told she had an inoperable brain tumor, and the odds looked bad—a survival rate beyond five years of less than 1%. Consider Roxli Doss an odds-beater. In what the 11-year-old's doctor tells CBS News and HuffPost is an "unbelievable" and "...

Case of Babies With Missing Limbs Closed Without Answer

3 clusters have been studied in France

(Newser) - "The absence of a hypothesis of a possible common cause does not make it possible to hold further investigations." Such is the pronouncement of France's public health agency after investigating a rash of cases of babies born without arms, forearms, or hands. The Guardian reports the focus...

Mystery Ailment: 11 Americans Pulled From China

Evacuations are the latest chapter in strange story of US employees in China and Cuba reporting odd neurological symptoms

(Newser) - In a deepening medical and diplomatic mystery , US officials have confirmed that the State Department has pulled at least 11 Americans from China who reported strange neurological symptoms, reports the New York Times . Eight of the evacuees are connected to the US consulate in Guangzhou, two are from the embassy...

Rare Eye Cancer Strikes Dozens in 2 Areas

It's not yet clear what is causing the apparent clusters of ocular melanoma

(Newser) - After noticing black spots in her iris, Ashley McCrary was diagnosed with ocular melanoma. "I was like, 'Well, I know two people who've had this cancer,'" McCrary tells CBS News . To say that's unlikely is an understatement: Between five and six out of every...

Boy Partied at Uncle's Wedding. Then He Slept for 11 Days

Doctors baffled at what caused 7-year-old Wyatt Shaw to sleep for so long

(Newser) - Wyatt Shaw was living it up at his uncle's wedding. The 7-year-old ring bearer from Kentucky even snagged the bride for a final dance. The next day, when he complained of a headache and an upset stomach, his family figured "he had just had too much cake,"...

Woman Says Rare Condition Is 'Most Painful Thing in World'

Kayla Hansen has blisters and sores up and down her arms

(Newser) - In late December of 2015, Kayla Hansen was at her job as a restaurant manager when her hand became stuck in a slammed door. She describes the sensation that shot out from it as "electric shock pain" and the swelling was just as bad two months later, reports the...

Mystery Bug Bite Lands Man in Hospital

Arizona's Thomas Jay describes it as a cross between a spider and a scorpion

(Newser) - It was just another night taking the trash to the curb in Chandler, Arizona, until Thomas Jay suddenly felt a pinch followed by the "most excruciating pain" of his life. He swatted off what looked like "a cross between a scorpion and a spider," per Fox 10...

The 23-Year-Old Lost His Memory. Then Came the MRI
The 23-Year-Old Lost His
Memory. Then Came the MRI
in case you missed it
Apr 22, 2017 4:45 PM CDT

The 23-Year-Old Lost His Memory. Then Came the MRI

He's one of 14 patients to suffer from the newly named CHIAS in Massachusetts

(Newser) - Since 2012 , doctors in Massachusetts have observed a most unusual kind of patient just 14 times—or, 14 times that we know about. It all started with Max Meehan, who was taken to the hospital after his behavior freaked out his family: his memory had suddenly vanished. "The kid...

Deadly Brain Illness Blamed on Fruit
Deadly Brain Illness
Blamed on Fruit
NEW STUDY
Feb 1, 2017 8:21 AM CST

Deadly Brain Illness Blamed on Fruit

Toxin in lychee led to brain inflammation in kids: study

(Newser) - The Muzaffarpur area produces 70% of India's lychee fruit. It's also the site of a mysterious and deadly illness plaguing children in May and June for each of the last 22 years. Researchers now say the two facts go hand in hand. In a Lancet study, they say...

Each Night, These Brothers Become Paralyzed

Fine during the day, they can't eat, talk, or even open their eyes at night

(Newser) - Two brothers have come to be known as the "solar kids," in a case that has completely mystified Pakistani doctors. Aged 9 and 13, the boys are normal active children during the day. But once the sun goes down, they both lapse into a vegetative state—unable to...

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