Pulmonologists in New York hospitals are now supervising doctors from other specialties as they try to keep ICUs staffed, and are deploying equipment in new ways. But COVID-19 is a demoralizing foe.
Ventilators can be lifesaving for some critically ill patients, but they're no panacea. The experience so far with COVID-19 is that the majority of patients put on ventilators don't survive.
The story of the first worker in the U.S. to suffer lung damage after cutting a new kind of countertop material shows the way a workplace hazard emerged in this country.
October marks not only fire season in California, but also the peak of the grape harvest. In areas not imminently threatened, some workers labor through heat and smoke to save harvests and paychecks.
Irreversible lung disease has started to show up among young workers who cut, grind and polish countertops made of increasingly popular "engineered" stone. The material is more than 90% silica.
Major broadcasters say ads for vaping will no longer be accepted on their airwaves. Meanwhile, in Washington, there's growing consternation and calls for action over youth vaping.
With more than 500 cases of acute vaping illness reported, doctors worry about the long-term effects on patients' lungs. And federal agencies still don't know what's behind the outbreak.
Hundreds of people have been hospitalized with severe lung disease linked to vaping. Public health agencies are investigating what's behind the alarming symptoms.
The review comes in response to an NPR and Frontline investigation that revealed the failure of government regulators to identify and prevent dangerous conditions.
Low-income residents living near highways and agricultural and industrial zones are getting hit with a "double whammy" as wildfire smoke drifts to areas where the air is often polluted already.
As fires continue to rage in California, smoke is causing health problems for some residents. Public health officials warn against breathing polluted air.
Lung surfactant coats tiny air sacs in the lung. Without it, every breath is a struggle, like blowing up millions of little balloons. With surfactant, breathing is as easy as blowing soap bubbles.
Public health agencies are set up to regulate air pollution from cars, trucks and factories. Wildfire smoke presents a different set of threats, prompting some of those agencies to rethink priorities.
Last summer's wildfires handed scientists a rare chance to study effects of smoke on residents. Most previous work had been on wood-burning stoves, urban air pollution and the effects on firefighters.
One in 9 Medicare enrollees have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and many of them can't afford the inhalers that keep them out of the emergency room.
