Month: May 2022

The new Omicron variant BA.4 is currently contributing to a new wave of CoV in South Africa. In Vienna, too, there are already almost 30 documented cases. Whether and for whom a fourth vaccination is valid, the city and the National Vaccination Committee disagree. The new Omicron variant BA.4 is one of the drivers of the currently rising fifth wave of infection in South Africa, according to Andreas Bergthaler, virologist and immunologist at MedUni Vienna. The variant has already arrived in Vienna as well, with “less than 30 cases” under…

Experts had already emphasized weeks ago: that Omicron has the potential to become the dominant variant of the coronavirus. What does this mean for infected persons? What are the signs of illness? And why is Omicron more contagious than its predecessor Delta? Here is an overview of the most important answers. Can we expect a new wave of mutations in early summer? The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in Germany gives an incubation period, i.e., the time from infection to the onset of the disease, of five to six and a…

Seven hours of sleep at night is the ideal amount of sleep for middle-aged and older adults. That’s what U.S. and Chinese scientists report in the journal Nature Aging. The study concludes that significantly more or less sleep is associated with poor mental health and poorer mental performance. Good sleep is all the more critical, especially for older people. Specifically, scientists from the Universities of Cambridge and Fudan examined data from nearly 500,000 adults between the ages of 38 and 73, collected in the “UK Biobank,” a comprehensive British database.…

Austria is probably the first European country to have had a significant transmission of BA.4. At the latest, another Corona wave will sweep over Austria and Europe in autumn. Experts, physicians, and virologists agree on this. Austria will be prepared, as Health Minister Johannes Rauch has repeatedly stated – most recently via Twitter. He said preparations were already underway for the fall and that various scenarios were being played out, depending on which variant of the virus would prevail. The strategy of the Minister of Health is briefly summarized: Testing,…

Brown sugar gives many people the impression of being healthier. And is brown sugar the healthier alternative to white sugar? Or is cane sugar healthier? Sugar is the new fat. Few foods are as discredited as the sweet sin. It’s said to make you fat, sick, and addicted. Unfortunately, many foods, such as cakes, chocolate, or jam, taste so good precisely because of sugar because the sweetness is an essential flavor carrier, just like fat. White sugar is the most commonly used in recipes and for sweetening. The difference is…