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Not having — or losing — your sense of smell may be linked to changes in breathing that could lead to depression, social isolation or other mental and physical health problems, a new study suggests. It's more evidence of how important this often neglected olfactory sense is. A new analysis of breathing data from 52 volunteers over a 24-hour period revealed that people with a normal sense of smell had little spikes, or “sniffs,” during each breath that were not seen in those with no sense of smell, according to the report published in Nature Communications on Tuesday. (Carroll, 10/22)

Today a Kaiser Permanente Northern California study of children during the COVID-19 pandemic finds children too young to be vaccinated had the highest hospitalization rate, while adolescents had the highest rate of intensive care unit (ICU) admission. The findings are published in Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses. (Soucheray, 10/22)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved Pfizer's RSV vaccine for the prevention of lower respiratory tract disease caused by RSV in adults aged 18 to 59 at increased risk of the disease. In June, the U.S. CDC narrowed its recommendation for the use of respiratory syncytial virus vaccines in older adults this year and held off on recommending their use for adults under age 60. (10/22)

�Թϲ�����: Listen To The Latest '�Թϲ����� Minute' 

This week on the �Թϲ����� Minute: Health care companies and the federal government are teaming up to fund hospitals in rural areas, and Florida’s surgeon general is offering misleading guidance about this year’s covid shots. (10/22)

The CEO of Roche said he has been informed that more cases of mpox infection have occurred in Europe than previously reported and that the Swiss group could quickly offer 10 times more test kits than are currently in demand. "It seems like there are more mpox cases already in Europe, maybe not all of them are in the media yet," CEO Thomas Schinecker said on a call after the drugs and diagnostics company reported quarterly sales on Wednesday. (Burger, 10/23)

The Robert Koch Institute in Germany says the country has its first case of mpox cause by a new, more virulent variant causing a massive outbreak in Africa. The case-patient recently traveled abroad, but few other details were given by the institute. (Soucheray, 10/22)