Murine typhus, once largely eradicated in the U.S., is on the rise, warns the CDC. UTMB’s Dr. Lucas Blanton told Medpage he’s seen many cases of murine typhus and patients tell him the headaches associated can be "the worst of one's life." Blanton urged medical professionals to not delay treatment for patients suspected of having the disease.

In his column, Dr. Samuel Mathis wrote about the health benefits of ginger. Along with calming the stomach, ginger also affects metabolism and glucose control, Mathis writes.

Dr. Gregory Gray joined the Texas Standard to discuss the latest bird flu development – its jump to sheep in the UK. “Well, it’s odd in the sense that there’s been so many spillovers to new species, so the viruses have adapted characteristics that make that possible,” Gray said.

“We know that weight loss generally has a positive effect on testosterone levels and sexual function, and as it turned out, the data showed the exact opposite,” Dr. Joseph Sonstein told Australian Men’s Health. Sonstein was an author on a study that found that men who took semaglutide for weight loss, but not diabetes, were more likely to develop erectile dysfunction.

According to a new study, people with colorectal cancer have a higher risk of dying from heart-related problems, which may be associated both with the cancer and cancer treatment. UTMB’s Dr. Salim Hayek was not involved in the study but told Everyday Health that it could be that a younger population faces a higher risk of death because early onset colorectal cancer is more aggressive, requiring more intensive treatment that impacts the heart.

New research has overturned the scientific belief that the brain is a sterile place devoid of microbes, write Drs. Norbert Herzog and David Niesel in their weekly Medical Discovery News column. Scientists now estimate that more than 170 different bacteria and viruses could be present in the brain.

Even low levels of daily physical activity can lead to significant improvements in fitness levels, social responsiveness, cognitive flexibility, and planning and organizing abilities in autistic adolescents, according to the latest research from UTMB’s Dr. Claudia Hilton. She discussed the findings with the GCDN.

The Galveston newspaper was on hand to capture the smiles, tears and excitement as UTMB’s fourth-year medical students, joined by family and friends, opened their Match Day letters at Levin Hall.

UTMB’s Dr. Natacha Cough spoke to NPR about what astronauts go through when they return to earth after an extended stay in outer space. "Your inner ear kind of shuts off more or less in weightlessness," Chough told NPR. "So when you reintroduce that sense of gravity, it can be a little bit disorienting." Along with her role as an assistant professor in aerospace medicine at UTMB, Cough is also a NASA flight surgeon and part of the team that oversees astronaut health care.

“For me, it has been the relentless focus on our values and culture,” Dr. Jochen Reiser, UTMB President and CEO of the UTMB Health System, tells Becker’s. Reiser was among the 36 C-suite executives Becker’s spoke to about lessons learned in the past year.