UTMB News

“Ghosting may be an incredibly common practice, but that doesn’t make it less rude or unkind,” says UTMB’s Jeff Temple. Ghosting—the practice of ending all communication with someone without giving an explanation—can happen at any time and in any relationship explains Reader’s Digest. Temple helped Reader’s Digest explain why it happens and how to respond.

Green tea is full of health-boosting compounds writes Dr. Samuel Mathis in his latest health column. Green tea is something that should be added to all our diets to help improve our overall health, he writes.

The FDA recently approved two RSV vaccines for adults 60 and older, write Drs. Richard Rupp and Megan Berman in their latest Vaccines Smarts column. Those at the highest risk for serious RSV disease, such as those with chronic heart and lung problems, should strongly consider being vaccinated, they write.

UTMB’s Dr. David Walker spoke to Healthline about a new bacterium reported in the US by the CDC. Little is known about the bacterium and Walker said there is still a lot to learn about it. “This is another anaplasma that affects humans so it’s the beginning of the story that we need to learn more about,” Walker told Healthline. “It was only 4 samples out of 30,000 samples so it’s a low percentage.”

UTMB’s Vivan Tat, a graduate student in Experimental Pathology and co-founder and co-leader of Taking Our Best Shot, was named a Woman to Watch by the Houston Business Journal in its 2023 Women Who Mean Business Awards. The criteria for selection according to the journal included career achievement, contribution to company and city success, community involvement and leadership.

Dr. Joseph Gosnell, chief resident physician of pathology at the University of Texas Medical Branch, is an official 2023 Emerging Liver Scholar Award winner.

Rocky Mountain spotted fever is the deadliest tick-borne disease. If left untreated, it will kill roughly 20 percent of those who contract it, said Dr. David Walker, a professor of pathology at the University of Texas Medical Branch. Even when treated with doxycycline, it is fatal in about 4 percent of cases, he said. “You’ve got to treat them before day five if you don’t want death to start occurring,” Walker said. “It’s not an easy diagnosis to make.”

Malaria typically turns up in the U.S. when American residents travel abroad, contract malaria and then return home. On the other hand, when experts say eight new cases were “locally acquired,” that means that the infected individual acquired the virus from a mosquito inside the U.S., said Dr. Scott Weaver, virologist and director of the Institute for Human Infections & Immunity and a professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch.