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What You Need to Know About the Recent Novel Coronavirus Outbreak

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | COVID-19, Featured, Your Health

A newly identified coronavirus now known as COVID-19 was first recognized in Wuhan, China, in early December 2019 and is rapidly spreading throughout the world.

Bernard Camins, MD, MSc, Medical Director for Infection Prevention for the Mount Sinai Health System, offers some basic guidelines for understanding this latest health concern. You can also get up-to-date information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Who is most at risk?

According to the CDC, those at the most risk include: people in places where ongoing community spread has been reported and people who have had close contact with those who have COVID-19. In addition, people who recently traveled to an area where cases of COVID-19 are occurring are most at risk, and they should consult their doctor or the CDC for the latest information. The CDC maintains a list of countries with significant COVID-19 cases.

What are the symptoms?

Symptoms have included mild to severe respiratory illness with fever, cough, and difficulty breathing. The symptoms usually begin within two to three days of exposure but could take as long as 14 days to develop. These symptoms are also typical of the flu and other seasonal viral illnesses, and if you have symptoms like these and you have not traveled to an area with COVID-19 cases or been in close contact with someone who has, you probably have a seasonal illness and not the novel coronavirus.

What if I recently traveled to an area with COVID-19 cases and now have symptoms of a respiratory illness and/or fever?

If you feel sick with fever, cough, or difficulty breathing within 14 days after you return to the United States, you should seek urgent medical care. However, before going to your doctor’s office, an urgent care center, or an emergency room, call ahead and alert the staff about your recent travel and symptoms.

Avoid contact with others. Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when coughing or sneezing. Frequently wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds to avoid spreading the virus to others. Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer if soap and water are not available. As soon as you arrive at the medical facility, let a staff member know about your symptoms and travel history. You should be provided with a mask and moved to an area away from other patients.

How is coronavirus spread?

There are many types of human coronaviruses, including those that cause the common cold. They typically spread from an infected person through the air in tiny droplets produced when coughing or sneezing. These droplets, when they come into contact with another person’s mucous membranes (e.g., mouth, nose, or eyes), can lead to infection. The virus can also be transmitted if you touch a person, an object, or a surface on which the virus has settled and then touch your mouth, nose, or eyes before washing your hands.

How can I protect myself?

As with other respiratory viruses, you can protect yourself from infection through frequent, proper hand hygiene, either with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer or with soap and water. Also, practice proper respiratory hygiene by covering your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when coughing or sneezing.

How is Mount Sinai prepared to treat infectious diseases?

For a long time, Mount Sinai has been developing procedures to make sure that people arriving for care at our facilities are quickly screened for infectious diseases. This includes questioning people about whether they have traveled abroad in the last three weeks or come into contact with people who are traveling abroad. Our procedures enable us to quickly isolate any possible cases of infectious disease.

Bernard Camins, MD, MSc, is Medical Director for Infection Prevention for the Mount Sinai Health System.

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What Are the Benefits of CBD?

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Mental Health, Psychiatry, Your Health

Interest in cannabidiol (CBD) has increased dramatically in recent years. Available in oils, lotions, and vaping fluid, the substance has been touted as a cure-all for various ailments including anxiety, arthritis, and insomnia. While its growing reputation is impressive, is CBD just an alternative medicine fad or can it really help?

For the past decade, Yasmin Hurd, PhD, Director of the Addiction Institute of Mount Sinai, has been at the forefront of CBD research. Below, she breaks down the three things you should know before adding the substance to your routine.

What is CBD and what can it treat?

CBD is one of more than 100 substances known as cannabinoids found in the Cannabis plant. There are two main cannabinoids, CBD and THC (tetrahydrocannabinol). CBD does not cause a high, unlike THC, which is the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis (including marijuana and hashish).

Although you can find many advertisements touting CBD’s medicinal uses, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved CBD to treat any disorders in adults. The only FDA approval for CBD is for the treatment of two rare and severe forms of childhood epilepsy. However, CBD has been investigated for the treatment of anxiety, cannabis and opioid use disorder, Crohn’s disease, diabetes, epilepsy, pain, Huntington’s disease, sleep disorders, Parkinson’s disease, and schizophrenia/psychosis.

If there is no FDA approval, what evidence supports CBD use?

In limited clinical trials, CBD was found to help reduce social anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and craving in those with an opioid addiction. However, most of these clinical studies involved a small number of participants. For a more conclusive verdict, larger, more sophisticated trials are needed.

Fortunately, more extensive research is in the works. In May 2019, my team published study results from a clinical trial showing that CBD reduced craving and anxiety in individuals with a history of heroin abuse. This suggests that it may play a role in helping to break the cycle of addiction. We are now starting larger studies.

Is CBD safe? If I decide to use it, should I tell my doctor?

Yes and yes. A consistent finding in clinical studies is that CBD is safe. However, it is not FDA-approved and researchers are still investigating its use. Because of this, it is critical that your doctor is aware of your CBD use. Making your doctor aware will help to avoid any potential for CBD to interact with medications you may be taking. Even if you do not take regular medications, you should keep a log of your daily activity, including any changes in your physical state, mood, and sleep following use.

Additionally, because CBD is not regulated by the FDA, you should be careful about the source of your CBD. Many products sold as “pure CBD” contain THC and other ingredients that can be harmful, such as lead, mold, or synthetic cannabinoids, which can cause paranoia, hallucinations, or other psychotic symptoms. For a safer, higher-quality product, look for CBD that has a certificate of analysis—this indicates that the product has been thoroughly checked for contaminants and allows you to view its THC and CBD levels.

Photo Of Yasmin Hurd Yasmin Hurd, PhD, is the Ward-Coleman Chair of Translational Neuroscience and the Director of the Addiction Institute at Mount Sinai. She is currently the principal investigator on a clinical trial of CBD for treating opioid use disorder, a neuroimaging study of CBD’s effects on the human brain, and a study looking at neurodevelopmental effects of cannabis and its epigenetic regulation.

Learn more about the Addiction Institute at Mount Sinai

Trouble sleeping? Try Sleeping in a Cooler Room

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Sleep, Your Health

Most everyone appreciates the comforts of a warm, cozy bed. But if you’re having trouble sleeping, one suggestion is to try throwing off some of those blankets and avoid sleeping in a way that leads to overheating.

“If you have difficulty sleeping, you should err on the side of keeping the room a little colder,” says Andrew Varga, MD, PhD, at the Mount Sinai Integrative Sleep Center. And don’t pile on the blankets. If you’re too warm in bed, that can make sleeping difficult.

In this Q&A, Dr. Varga provides more insight into what makes for a good night’s sleep.

Experts say your body temperature goes up and down throughout the day, and it tends to decline at night. As you begin to fall asleep, your body temperature can drop by as much as a degree or two. Then, as morning approaches, your temperature starts to rise a little. Keeping your room on the cool side promotes the deepest levels of sleep.

“Some people think that if it’s snowing out, I should pull out my thickest comforter,” explains Dr. Varga, a physician and neuroscientist. “They end up being even warmer than in summer. And that could be making it a little harder for your body to get its optimal night’s rest.” In fact, the importance of the proper temperature is one reason you may have seen advertisements for cooling mattress pads and even cooling mattresses.

What room temperature is best?

There is no specific temperature that’s perfect for everyone. If you have trouble sleeping, consider lowering the room temperature a bit to see how it affects you. Many people find temperatures between 60 and 70 degrees to be most suitable. You may need to play around a little to determine what temperature works best for you.

Should everyone sleep in a cool room?

Some people are lucky when it comes to getting a good night’s slumber. They sleep well in a room that’s 60 degrees and one that’s 70 degrees. They get quality sleep regardless of the sirens, honking horns, and car alarms that punctuate New York’s nights. They aren’t even bothered by streetlamps, neon signs, and other light pollution.

If you’re one of these fortunate folks, you don’t have to worry about ambient temperature. This advice is only relevant for people who think they sleep too much, find themselves craving a catnap during the day, can’t fall asleep at night, or do something weird while they snooze, such as snoring, talking, walking, or even sleep-fighting. Sleep fighting is when someone shouts, punches or kicks during sleep. If you get a good seven or eight hours’ rest a night and feel like you’re already sleeping well, you probably are.

Why is it so important to get a good night’s sleep?

The importance of sleep is increasingly recognized. But people still don’t treat sleep as something that’s as important as diet and exercise. The three of them fall into the same category. We all pay attention to what we put into our bodies and how much we move them. We need to put the same amount of thought into how well and how long we power down.

Poor sleep over time has been linked to high blood pressure, diabetes, and certain types of cancer. It can also have an immediate impact on your life. If you don’t get a good night’s rest, you could feel tired, sluggish, and irritable, and you might find your reflexes are slower than usual. You might even mistakenly think you’re just fine. One of the symptoms of not getting enough sleep is the inability to recognize our own deficits.

What makes a good night’s sleep?

A good night’s sleep takes into account two things: quantity and quality. Quantity is easy. Almost everyone needs between seven and eight hours of sleep. A lot of people think they do just fine on, say, five hours a night. That’s true for some people, but the percentage of people who fit into that category is extremely small.

Sleep quality is more subjective. Some people worry if it takes more than a half-hour to fall asleep; others are concerned if they wake up more than once during the night; still others fret if they wake up in the middle of the night and can’t fall back asleep. If you have any questions, don’t ignore it. You should probably have it checked out. You can make an appointment with a sleep specialist who will review your medical history, make a diagnosis, and prepare a treatment plan. A specialists may ask you to keep a sleep log for two weeks and bring it with you for your initial consultation. Sometimes the evaluation will include an oversight sleep study.

Is Asthma Worse When You’re Pregnant?

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Asthma, OB/GYN, Your Health

Pregnancy can be a difficult time for many women, but especially for those with the added burden of asthma.

Asthma, a chronic disease of the airways of the lungs, is one of the most common medical problems that occurs during pregnancy. Sonali Bose, MD, a pulmonologist at the Mount Sinai – National Jewish Health Respiratory Institute, explains how asthma can affect both the mother and child, and what you can do about it.

Why is my asthma worse when I am pregnant?
Asthma control during pregnancy can be unpredictable. Asthma may get worse during pregnancy because of the effects of hormonal changes associated with pregnancy. Some experts have proposed that changes in the hormone progesterone can have effects on the mother’s airways, such as influencing airway inflammation or its sensitivity, but the exact mechanisms are still unclear.

Another major reason that asthma may get worse during pregnancy is that many pregnant women tend to stop or decrease their asthma medications because they are worried about how these medications may affect their unborn child, which in turn may cause the mothers to have worse control of their asthma.

What are the symptoms of asthma during pregnancy?
Women with asthma may have variable symptoms over the course of their pregnancy. Women with poorly controlled asthma may have more severe respiratory symptoms, such as wheeze, chest tightness, or cough. Some women may be more likely to have an asthma attack, either during the pregnancy or even after delivery.

Is asthma dangerous during pregnancy?
Asthma is a serious disease for all patients, not just pregnant women. However, asthma control can get worse with pregnancy. The detrimental effects of asthma not only affect the mother, but we are increasingly discovering their serious effects on the health and development of the unborn child.

Women with uncontrolled asthma during pregnancy have been reported to have more complications, such as preeclampsia, pregnancy-induced hypertension, and preterm labor. Uncontrolled asthma during pregnancy may lead to poor growth of the fetus and low birth weight. But we need better research studies to improve our understanding of exactly how asthma during pregnancy affects both the mother and child.

Can asthma be transferred from mother to child?
Asthma does run in families. Children of mothers with uncontrolled asthma (for example, those who have had an asthma attack during pregnancy) may have a higher risk of developing asthma and other allergic diseases and chest infections, or have lower lung function during childhood.

How is asthma treated during pregnancy?
The goal for treating asthma during pregnancy is similar to that for patients who are not pregnant: focus on improving asthma control. Inhaled corticosteroids are still the main way of helping control asthma during pregnancy and are effective in treating airway inflammation and preventing an exacerbation. These inhalers appear to be safe in pregnancy, and any risks are thought to be outweighed by the benefits of achieving good asthma control.

However, if an exacerbation occurs, oral steroids may be needed to treat it. In addition, we advise that pregnant mothers try to avoid their known environmental triggers and follow universal precautions to avoid contracting a respiratory infection. It is important to optimize asthma control even before becoming pregnant, because it seems that women who have more severe asthma before getting pregnant may be more vulnerable to having problems during their pregnancy.

Make an appointment with Sonali Bose, MD

How Important Is Getting the Flu Shot?

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Cold and Flu, Infectious Diseases, Your Health

Despite all the media attention about the novel coronavirus, now known as COVID-19, influenza is currently a much bigger risk for most people in the United States. Yet many people do not plan to get a flu shot this year. You may be busy, or perhaps you think you might get sick from the shot, or that it’s not necessary. Matthew Weissman, MD, MBA, a primary care doctor with the Mount Sinai Health System, explains why you shouldn’t put it off.

Why should I get the flu shot?

The flu shot is extremely important. It not only prevents you from getting sick from flu, but it can lessen the severity of flu even if it’s not a perfect match for the type that is going around. For instance, my own daughter got the B strain of the flu. Luckily, she had a much milder case of it because she got the shot.

People forget that the flu is a deadly disease. Each season, tens of thousands of people die from the flu, and hundreds of thousands are hospitalized, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Most of the people who died were not vaccinated. If you’re overweight, pregnant, elderly, or a child, or you have other diseases, you’re in a high-risk category. When you add all those up, you’re talking about a wide swath of New Yorkers.

Keep in mind that the flu shot doesn’t just protect you; it protects your co-workers, your classmates, your parents, and your grandparents—including people whose immune systems may not be good enough to build up their own defenses. It’s like a ripple effect, or herd immunity. It would be a great idea to have a workplace event for people to get vaccinated. It’s a smart idea for businesses to help cut down absenteeism this way.

Some people don’t get the shot because they think they’re going to feel sick for a couple days. Is that true or a myth?

People’s responses vary. Some people do feel a little feverish, get a sniffle, or have a sore arm for a bit. That’s actually a good sign, because it means their immune system is revving up to combat the flu. I think that’s a fair price to pay for not being incapacitated for over a week or being at risk of death from a vaccine-preventable illness. And these side effects don’t happen to everybody, and it doesn’t happen every time.

People have all kinds of excuses why they can’t get the flu shot. People are sometimes worried that the shot may cause a bad reaction because they have an egg allergy. But there are lots of ways to deal with that, including some vaccines that were not created using eggs. People should ask their doctor to find out what’s right for them.

Bottom line, the benefit of the flu vaccine outweighs the risk for most people, by far.

Is it too late to get a flu shot this season?

Definitely not. Flu season doesn’t appear to have peaked yet. The flu season is generally during fall and winter. The CDC recommends that everyone six months or older get the flu shot. You can get it any time up until spring, so don’t wait.

Matthew A. Weissman, MD, MBA, is Chair of Medicine at Mount Sinai Downtown and Associate Professor of Medicine (General Internal Medicine), and Pediatrics, at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Is Oat Milk the Best Milk for You?

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Diet and Nutrition, Your Health

The popularity of oat milk has exploded in the last few years. From Starbucks adding an oat milk beverage to its menu to Chobani launching a line of oat yogurts, it’s clear that oat milk is more than a fad.

However, is oat milk the best milk for you?

We spoke with Carrie Morowitz, RDN, a senior clinical dietitian at Mount Sinai Health System, about the recent popularity of oat milk and whether you should consider adding it to your diet.

The popularity of oat milk has grown exponentially. What do you think sparked this?

Oat milk has been around for a while, but in the past two years it has become much more popular. I believe that stems from a move to more plant-based products. Now companies are making oat milk-based yogurts, and oat milk is widely available in restaurants and cafes, something we never used to see.

A debate is raging: oat milk vs. almond milk vs. cow’s milk. Is oat milk a healthier option?
In certain ways, oat milk is healthier than other milk options. But in some other ways, it’s lacking. For example, oat milk has more fiber than cow’s milk or nut-based milk. An average cup of oat milk has about two grams of fiber. However, oat milk has more carbohydrates. That’s especially important if you’re trying to monitor your carb intake, or if you have diabetes. A glass of oat milk has about 15-20 grams of carbs, whereas a glass of regular cow’s milk has only about 8 grams. Oat milk is also vegan and contains no soy or nuts. So for people with common allergies or lactose intolerance, it’s a safer option.

Is oat milk gluten free?

Usually, oat milk is considered gluten free. But you need to check for the additives. If it is made with certified gluten-free oats, it’s a good gluten-free option.

Can oat milk replace cow’s milk in a traditional diet?

It depends on the individual. If you have diabetes, oat milk may not be the best option since it’s the highest carbohydrate-containing milk of those other options. If you’re a diabetic who already uses almond milk, I don’t think switching from almond milk to oat milk would be very beneficial. If you are looking to move towards a more plant-based diet, oat milk may be a good option for you. However, make sure to check the label and ensure that there are no added sugars, as a product simply being plant-based can trick you into thinking it’s the healthiest option.

Carrie Morowitz, RDN, is a senior clinical dietitian at Mount Sinai Health System.