Got a throat tickle?

A lot of diseases made headlines this month. The World Health Organization declared mpox a global emergency. COVID-19 cases are spiking across the country. Parvovirus B19 increasingly poses a risk to pregnant people and those with blood conditions. The government is stockpiling bird flu vaccines in case the disease becomes the next pandemic.

Amid all this disease-related news, it's easy to worry. Is a throat tickle an incoming infection? Or just aftermath from screaming for three hours at the Eras Tour (my case this week)? The world is always getting sick. But it can be hard to tell how concerned we should be.

👋 Nicole Fallert here and welcome to Your Week, our newsletter exclusively for Paste BN subscribers (that's you!). This week, Paste BN health reporter Adrianna Rodriguez shares about all the diseases seemingly everywhere all at once.

But first, don't miss these stories made possible by your Paste BN subscription:

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*Clears throat* ... am I getting sick?!

We all remember the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when it felt as if there was no way cases of the disease would reach such a fever pitch. But they did.

Now, four years later, it's hard to trust whether a sniffle is just a sniffle or the start of something much bigger (and without slipping into hypochondria). Health reporter Adrianna Rodriguez breaks it down for Paste BN's readers so they don't have to overthink a cough. But her job is ever-complicated as the range and expanse of diseases affecting Americans are ever-changing.

COVID-19 served as her training for this moment, Rodriguez said. For the duration of the global pandemic, she wrote "all COVID all the time."

"It's very crazy to be hyperfocused on one virus for so long," says Rodriguez. The pandemic taught her how to make sense of a complicated situation for readers like you at home.

In the post-pandemic context, Rodriguez says people are "paying more attention to diseases other than COVID."

Her approach is always to put readers questions ahead of medical jargon, she says: "We take our expert hats off and think about what they really want to know."

Rodriguez recently returned to the newsroom from maternity leave. She is now exploring the stories of diseases from a different point of view: a new mom.

To fellow parents, Rodriguez says the priority this fall should be catching up on vaccines. Many children fell behind on their shots during the pandemic, when medical providers cut back on non-essential appointments. But that means families are now struggling to catch up with complicated inoculation schedules. Don't get overwhelmed, she says. Ask your doctor the best place to start and go from there.

Sending a child back to the classroom? Paste BN broke down vaccines and school policies.

And then there's illnesses that may feel out of our control, like bird flu. The situation is a lot different from a year ago, when the disease was spreading only among livestock. Now, human cases have been recorded and officials are closely monitoring bird flu vaccine production to ensure defenses are stockpiled should infections escalate. But Rodriguez isn't sounding the alarm yet.

"In terms of a full-on outbreak, I don't rule anything out because COVID happened and we were totally caught flat-footed," Rodriguez said. "But our government now plans for these things in different ways."

Paste BN is also tracking mpox, a highly infectious disease spread via bodily fluids and physical contact that has been traced abroad and could enter the U.S. Person-to-person transmission is usually through close contact with respiratory secretions, infected skin lesions or recently contaminated objects. A vaccine exists for mpox, but most at-risk populations in the U.S. haven't received it. For now, public officials are staying vigilant.

Even experts like Rodriguez can feel overwhelmed by the risk of illness. When her dog licks her newborn child's face, she stops herself from listing all the disease potentials. Instead, she focuses on what she can do in her own life to protect herself and her loved ones. Rodriguez's advice is to follow tried and true disease prevention guidance, especially washing hands and avoiding public places when you're sick.

"I know its a lot of information," she said. "It's really about protecting yourself when you can."

More illness-related reads from Paste BN:

• COVID-19 vaccines are updated and ready for fall, FDA says.
• Is mpox in the U.S.?
• These are the symptoms of the latest COVID-19 variant.
• Bird flu is killing domestic cats. What should be done?
• This is how routine vaccines will prevent 1.1 million deaths.

Thank you

I'll be scheduling my fall immunizations now, thank you! So thankful for reporters like Adrianna who keep our readers like you safe and healthy. As always, this important work wouldn't be possible without your vital support. Thank you.

Best wishes, 

Nicole Fallert