Health

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg wants the nation’s freight railroads to immediately act to improve safety while regulators try to strengthen safety rules in the wake of a fiery derailment in Ohio that forced evacuations when toxic chemicals were released and... Read More

WASHINGTON — Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., checked himself into the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, on Wednesday night to receive treatment for clinical depression, his office said Thursday. The senator, who suffered a near-fatal stroke while... Read More

ITASCA, Ill. — A long-overdue update to guidelines on how to treat childhood and adolescent obesity from the nation’s largest professional association of pediatricians is getting extensive blowback from treatment providers. Though the American Academy of Pediatrics maintains obesity in... Read More

WASHINGTON — The National Institutes of Health has begun a multi-state clinical trial evaluating an “investigational antiviral” for the treatment of adults hospitalized with COVID-19.  The treatment, known as S-217622 or ensitrelvir fumaric acid, was developed in Japan by Hokkaido... Read More

ITASCA, Ill. — The American Academy of Pediatrics has thrown its endorsement behind updated guidelines for childhood and adolescent immunization released this past week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The “Recommended Childhood and Adolescent Immunization Schedule” is... Read More

The pandemic took a harsh toll on U.S. teen girls’ mental health, with almost 60% reporting feelings of persistent sadness or hopelessness, according to a government survey released Monday that bolsters earlier data. Sexual violence, suicidal thoughts, suicidal behavior and... Read More

WASHINGTON — In the first year of the pandemic, more than $222 billion was spent on infectious and parasitic diseases, a growth of $83.3 billion from 2019, according to estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.  The nearly 60%... Read More

The coolest thing on social media these days may be celebrities and regular folks plunging into frigid water or taking ice baths. The touted benefits include improved mood, more energy, weight loss and reduced inflammation, but the science supporting some... Read More

WASHINGTON — A judge in Washington, D.C., this week suggested a new legal strategy to revive a federal right to abortion. U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said the 13th Amendment could be interpreted to mean women have a constitutional... Read More

WASHINGTON — The House on Wednesday voted largely along party lines to repeal the vaccine mandate on international visitors flying to the United States. The final tally was 227 to 201, with six members not voting. Specifically, the bill introduced... Read More

WASHINGTON — Adults living in rural areas of the United States have a 19% higher risk of developing heart failure compared with their urban counterparts, according to a study supported by the National Institutes of Health. The news is worse... Read More

CVS Health is plunging deeper into primary care services, buying primary care provider Oak Street Health for approximately $10.6 billion. The drugstore chain said Wednesday it would pay $39 per share in cash for each share of Oak Street in... Read More

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — While consumers are spending significantly more for food than they did last year, the prevalence of food insecurity does not appear to have risen since last year, according to a new survey conducted by Purdue University.... Read More

WASHINGTON — Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., is leading a bipartisan effort to provide some regulatory relief to rural health clinics. The bill, which Barrasso introduced with Sens. Tina Smith, D-Minn., Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Michael Bennet, D-Colo., would modernize the... Read More

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued draft recommendations on Tuesday calling for stepped up screening for hypertensive disorders during pregnancy — especially for Black and Native American women. A copy of the recommendation as well as a... Read More

CHICAGO (AP) — Emboldened anti-abortion activists are looking to the 2024 presidential election as an opportunity to solidify their influence over the Republican Party. Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, the most influential group in the anti-abortion movement, is telling each potential GOP... Read More

HONOLULU — Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, is continuing to press law enforcement and other officials to stem the rising tide of gender-based violence and sex-trafficking involving Native Hawaiian women and girls. Recently she traveled back to the big island from... Read More

WASHINGTON — An experimental vaccine against Marburg virus, a member of the Ebola virus family that causes death in a large proportion of infected individuals, proved safe and induced an immune response in a small, first-in-human clinical trial. The findings... Read More

WASHINGTON — The federal government will begin auditing Medicare Advantage insurers under a new rule finalized Monday, the heightened scrutiny expected to return as much as $4.7 billion to Medicare’s trust fund over the next 10 years. Watchdog groups had... Read More

WASHINGTON — Women whose employers opted out of covering contraceptives under their health insurance plans on religious grounds could regain no-cost access to birth control under new rules proposed by the Biden administration. If implemented, the rules, which were announced... Read More

WASHINGTON — The White House said Monday that President Biden will end dual national emergencies declared to deal with the COVID-19 public health crisis in May, nearly three years after they were first declared. The announcement came 24 hours before... Read More

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Senate Democrats defeated several bills Thursday that would have restricted abortion access in the state, including a proposed 15-week ban with exceptions that was a priority for Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. The Senate Committee on... Read More

WASHINGTON — We all think of January as our “makeover” month. Diets start, exercise equipment gets an extra look and when the weather is good, walks get just a little bit longer. Still, for most of us, dropping unwanted pounds... Read More

WASHINGTON — A probiotic may be effective in cleansing the body of staph-related super infections, according to a new study from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Though they say more research is needed, a press release on... Read More

WASHINGTON — Scientists with the National Cancer Institute’s Center for Cancer Research have come up with a new way to get life-saving drugs directly into cancer cells, an advance they say will enable more effective treatments for cancer with fewer... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health officials want to make COVID-19 vaccinations more like the annual flu shot. The Food and Drug Administration on Monday proposed a simplified approach for future vaccination efforts, allowing most adults and children to get a... Read More

WASHINGTON — Twenty nationally recognized public health and nutrition experts have been tapped by the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services to help draft the nation’s revised dietary guidelines. The first meeting of the new Dietary Guidelines... Read More

WASHINGTON — Like many things in Washington, it all depends on how you look at it. When it comes to bed bugs, things have slightly improved in the District of Columbia since the height of the pandemic, when the pest... Read More

WASHINGTON — Web searches for melatonin are up about 36%, suggesting sleep may be harder to come by during the winter months, a new survey from the Sleep Foundation says. The D.C.-based foundation recently analyzed about 18 years of data... Read More

WASHINGTON — An investigational HIV vaccine regimen tested among men who have sex with men and transgender people was safe but did not provide protection against HIV acquisition, an independent monitoring board has determined.  The Phase 3 clinical trial for... Read More