After the shooting in Kansas City this week at a parade to celebrate the Super Bowl victory of the hometown Chiefs, children who had been struck by gunfire flooded into Children’s Mercy Hospital, less than a mile from Union Station, where the shooting occurred. “Fear,” the hospital’s chief nursing officer, Stephanie Meyer, told reporters. “The […]
Read MoreTag: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Could Your Cat Give You the Plague?
Officials in Deschutes County, Ore., announced last week that a local resident had been diagnosed with the plague — and that the resident had probably been infected by a pet cat. The cat, which was symptomatic, died from the infection, but the human patient is currently recovering, said Emily Horton, a public health program manager […]
Read MoreC.D.C. Considers Ending 5-Day Isolation Period for Covid
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is considering loosening its recommendations regarding how long people should isolate after testing positive for the coronavirus, another reflection of changing attitudes and norms as the pandemic recedes. Under the proposed guidelines, Americans would no longer be advised to isolate for five days before returning to work or […]
Read MoreCovid Shots for Children
Much of the world has decided that most young children do not need to receive Covid booster shots. It’s true in Britain, France, Japan and Australia. Some countries, like India, have gone further. They say that otherwise healthy children do not need even an initial Covid vaccination. In Germany, public health experts don’t recommend vaccines […]
Read MoreSyphilis Is Soaring in the U.S.
Syphilis, once nearly eliminated in the United States, continues to resurge, reaching the highest rate of new infections recorded since 1950, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday. More than 207,000 cases were diagnosed in 2022, the last year for which data are available. That represents an 80 percent increase since 2018, […]
Read MoreCalifornia and Oregon Ease Covid Isolation Rules, Breaking With C.D.C.
From the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, it has been doctor’s orders in this country: If you test positive, stay away from other people, even if you aren’t coughing or feverish. In recent months, however, that rule has been relaxed in two of the unlikeliest places. Oregon and California, among the most cautious of states […]
Read MoreMandy Cohen, New CDC Director, Tries to Foster Trust in a Battered Agency
Dr. Mandy K. Cohen dropped by the Fox affiliate in Dallas in November, just days after the governor of Texas signed a law barring private employers from requiring Covid-19 shots. If she thought promoting vaccination would be a tough sell in a ruby-red state, Dr. Cohen, the new director of the Centers for Disease Control […]
Read MoreHow a Rare Myocarditis Death Caught the Attention of the Anti-Vaccine Movement
Before he received his second shot of a Covid-19 vaccine, there was little reason to think that George Watts Jr. was about to die. He was 24 and showed no obvious heath problems. His family said he lived cautiously. He spent most of his time playing video games in his room at his parents’ house […]
Read MoreU.S. Rate of Suicide by Firearm Reaches Record Level
The rate of suicides involving guns in the United States has reached the highest level since officials began tracking it more than 50 years ago, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rate increased by more than 10 percent in 2022 compared with 2019, and in some racial […]
Read MoreUnvaccinated and Vulnerable: Children Drive Surge in Deadly Outbreaks
Large outbreaks of diseases that primarily kill children are spreading around the world, a grim legacy of disruptions to health systems during the Covid-19 pandemic that have left more than 60 million children without a single dose of standard childhood vaccines. By midway through this year, 47 countries were reporting serious measles outbreaks, compared with […]
Read MoreWhy We’re Still Breathing Dirty Indoor Air
In early 2020, the world scrubbed down surfaces, washed hands and sneezed into elbows, desperate to avoid infection with a new coronavirus. But the threat was not really lying on countertops and doorknobs. The virus was wafting through the air, set adrift in coughs and conversation, even in song. The pandemic raged for six months […]
Read MoreTeenage Vaping Declines This Year, Survey Says
What’s Behind the Numbers: Flavor bans may have had an effect. One thing is clear about underage e-cigarette use: Adolescents like flavors. About 90 percent of the students who reported vaping said they used flavored products, citing favorites that tasted like fruit and candy. Teenagers identified Elf Bar and Esco Bar as their favorite brands, […]
Read MoreWhat to Know About Dengue Fever as Cases Spread to New Places
Cases of dengue fever, a mosquito-borne viral illness that can be fatal, are surging around the world. The increase is occurring both in places that have long struggled with the disease and in areas where its spread was unheard-of until the last year or two, including France, Italy and Chad, in central Africa. Last week, […]
Read MoreYounger Women Get Lung Cancer at Higher Rates Than Men
Over the last several decades, the rates of new cases of lung cancer have fallen in the United States. There were roughly 65 new cases of lung cancer for every 100,000 people in 1992. By 2019, that number had dropped to about 42. But for all that progress, a disparity is emerging: Women between the […]
Read MoreA New Way to Prevent S.T.I.s: A Pill After Sex
Why It Matters: Rates of S.T.I.s are skyrocketing. In 2021, there were 1.6 million cases of chlamydia, more than 700,000 cases of gonorrhea and nearly 177,000 cases of syphilis in the United States, together tallying up to $1.1 billion in direct medical costs. (Rates of babies born with syphilis also soared that year, with nearly […]
Read MoreAs Covid Infections Rise, Nursing Homes Are Still Waiting for Vaccines
A big obstacle, though, continues to be resistance to vaccination among nurses and aides. Like many facility owners, Avalon Health Care Group, which owns or operates more than a dozen nursing homes in western states, is not mandating staff be vaccinated. Dr. Sabine von Preyss-Friedman, Avalon’s chief medical officer, says she tries to address the […]
Read MoreIn Hospitals, Viruses Are Everywhere. Masks Are Not.
Liv Grace came down with respiratory infections three times over the course of four months. Each occurred after a visit to a medical provider in the Bay Area. Mx. Grace, 36, a writer who uses they/them pronouns, was infected with respiratory syncytial virus, which led to pneumonia, in December, after they were treated by a […]
Read MoreThe C.D.C. Director on Why You Should Get the Latest Covid Booster
We have come a long way since the early days of 2020. Back then, I was the head of North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services and working alongside Gov. Roy Cooper to navigate the uncertainty, the challenges and the fear around Covid-19. My extended family was in New York, the epicenter of the […]
Read MoreC.D.C. Advisers to Decide Who Should Receive New Covid Vaccines
Americans may be able to receive the next Covid shots as early as Wednesday, the last of a trifecta of vaccines intended to prevent respiratory infections this fall and winter. On Monday, the Food and Drug Administration authorized updated Covid vaccines by Pfizer and Moderna. A scientific advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control […]
Read MoreAmerica Already Knows How to Make Childbirth Safer
The Supreme Court decision overturning abortion rights may lead to still more maternal deaths, by further limiting access to reproductive care in the United States. The concern is particularly acute in states like Mississippi, which have among the highest rates of maternal deaths in the country and have enacted near total bans on abortion. Research […]
Read MoreNew Covid Vaccine: What to Know About the Monovalent Booster
Two new Covid shots have received the green light from the Food and Drug Administration. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to follow up with guidance on eligibility as soon as Tuesday, making the new vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna available as Covid cases continue to rise in some parts of the […]
Read MoreCovid Vaccines May Roll Out Within Days
The latest Covid boosters are expected to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration as early as Monday, arriving alongside the seasonal flu vaccine and shots to protect infants and older adults from R.S.V., a potentially lethal respiratory virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to follow up on Tuesday with […]
Read MoreAppeals Court Rules White House Overstepped 1st Amendment on Social Media
A federal appeals court ruled on Friday that the Biden administration most likely overstepped the First Amendment by urging the major social media platforms to remove misleading or false content about the Covid-19 pandemic, partly upholding a lower court’s preliminary injunction in a victory for conservatives. The ruling, by a three-judge panel of the U.S. […]
Read MoreCovid Continues to Rise, but Experts Remain Optimistic
Jill Biden, the first lady, tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday. Governor Kathy Hochul of New York has announced that the state will send high-quality masks and rapid tests to school districts that request them. Already, schools in Kentucky and Texas have closed, citing widespread respiratory illness among students and staff. The coronavirus is in […]
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