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As many as 28% of hospitalized patients requiring mechanical ventilators to help them breathe (for more than 48 hours) will develop ventilator-associated pneumonia. Current therapy involves intravenous antibiotics, but new antibiotics that can be inhaled (and more directly treat the infection) are being developed.
Congestive heart failure is a serious disorder that carries a reduced life expectancy. Heart failure is usually a chronic illness, and it may worsen with infection or other physical stressors.
Between 1999 and 2012, American adults with high total cholesterol decreased from 18.3% to 12.9%
The immune system needs 9.5 hours of sleep in total darkness to recharge completely.
Most childhood vaccines are 90–99% effective in preventing disease. Side effects are rarely serious.