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Questions to Ask Your Child’s Healthcare Provider About Meningitis B
Read More: Questions to Ask Your Child’s Healthcare Provider About Meningitis BMedically reviewed by Dr. Shelley Kim Meningitis B is an uncommon but serious disease caused by the bacteria Neisseria meningitidis. Anyone can get meningitis B, but rates of the disease peak in adolescence, with the highest rates among teens and young adults 16-23 years old. Meningitis B can lead to an infection of the protective…
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Fast Facts: What Parents Need to Know About Meningitis B
Read More: Fast Facts: What Parents Need to Know About Meningitis BMedically reviewed by Dr. Karen Bonnie Meningitis B is an uncommon but serious disease caused by the bacteria Neisseria meningitidis. Five groups of Neisseria meningitidis cause bacterial meningitis: A, B, C, W and Y. Meningitis can lead to an infection of the protective lining of the brain and the spinal cord or an infection of…
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Coronavirus, COVID-19, Diabetes, Health disparities, Heart disease, Obesity, Prevention, Preventive health, Racial disparities
How the Pandemic’s Unequal Toll on People of Color Underlines US Health Inequities – and Why Solving Them Is so Critical
Read More: How the Pandemic’s Unequal Toll on People of Color Underlines US Health Inequities – and Why Solving Them Is so CriticalBy Abubakarr Jalloh, Hollins University From the earliest days of the pandemic, COVID-19 has wrought a far higher toll in communities of color than in the general population – thrusting the long-standing issue of health disparities in the U.S. into the attention of public health officials and the general public. Even though non-Hispanic white people…
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The Truth About Vaccines
Read More: The Truth About VaccinesMedically reviewed by Mary Koslap-Petraco, DNP, PPCNP-BC, CPNP, FAANP To turn captions on, click the “CC” icon.
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Officials Struggle to Regulate Pop-up Covid Testing Sites — and Warn Patients to Beware
Read More: Officials Struggle to Regulate Pop-up Covid Testing Sites — and Warn Patients to BewareBy Michelle Andrews, Kaiser Health News NEW YORK — In recent months, mobile covid-19 testing tents and vans have sprouted on urban sidewalks and street curbs as demand has skyrocketed in response to the rapid spread of the omicron variant. Some of the sites run by private companies offer legitimate, timely and reliable results, but…
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Ask KHN-PolitiFact: Is My Cloth Mask Good Enough? The 2022 Edition
Read More: Ask KHN-PolitiFact: Is My Cloth Mask Good Enough? The 2022 EditionBy Victoria Knight, Kaiser Health News The highly transmissible omicron variant is sweeping the U.S., causing a huge spike in covid-19 cases and overwhelming many hospital systems. Besides urging Americans to get vaccinated and boosted, public health officials are recommending that people upgrade from their cloth masks to higher-quality medical-grade masks. But what does this…
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10 Reasons to Try a Dry January
Read More: 10 Reasons to Try a Dry JanuaryJanuary is almost here, and you know what that means: Dry January, a month free of alcohol, is almost here too. To prepare, we did some leg work to find out how a booze-free month can help you. We found that abstaining from drinking alcohol for 31 days can not only benefit your mind and…
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Biden to Expand Access to At-Home Covid Kits: 4 Essential Reads on the Critical Role of Rapid Tests
Read More: Biden to Expand Access to At-Home Covid Kits: 4 Essential Reads on the Critical Role of Rapid TestsBy Matt Williams, The Conversation President Joe Biden has outlined plans to massively ramp up COVID-19 testing in an effort to curb – or at least slow – the spread of the highly infectious omicron variant across the U.S. In a speech on Dec. 21, 2021, Biden said he aimed to get out “as many…
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Genomic sequencing: Here’s how researchers identify omicron and other COVID-19 variants
Read More: Genomic sequencing: Here’s how researchers identify omicron and other COVID-19 variantsBy Andre Hudson, Rochester Institute of Technology and Crista Wadsworth, Rochester Institute of Technology How do scientists detect new variants of the virus that causes COVID-19? The answer is a process called DNA sequencing. Researchers sequence DNA to determine the order of the four chemical building blocks, or nucleotides, that make it up: adenine, thymine,…
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How Effective Are Vaccines Against Omicron? An Epidemiologist Answers 6 Questions
Read More: How Effective Are Vaccines Against Omicron? An Epidemiologist Answers 6 QuestionsBy New variants of the coronavirus are all slightly different from the original strain that vaccines were based on, so immunity to variants may be different. Alexey Solodovnikov, Valeria Arkhipova/WikimediaCommons, CC BY-SA 4. What about the omicron variant? The preliminary data about omicron and vaccines is coming in quickly and is revealing lower vaccine effectiveness.…
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How Can Scientists Update Coronavirus Vaccines for Omicron? A Microbiologist Answers 5 Questions About How Moderna and Pfizer Could Rapidly Adjust mRNA Vaccines
Read More: How Can Scientists Update Coronavirus Vaccines for Omicron? A Microbiologist Answers 5 Questions About How Moderna and Pfizer Could Rapidly Adjust mRNA VaccinesBy Deborah Fuller, University of Washington If the omicron variant of the coronavirus is different enough from the original variant, it’s possible that existing vaccines won’t be as effective as they have been. If so, it’s likely that companies will need to update their vaccines to better fight omicron. Deborah Fuller is a microbiologist who…
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Health care professionals, Medication safety, Prescription drugs, Prevention, Preventive health, Research, Science
How Healthcare Providers and Patients Can Limit the Spread of Antimicrobial Resistance
Read More: How Healthcare Providers and Patients Can Limit the Spread of Antimicrobial ResistanceKorin Reid had known about antibiotic resistance since early childhood. From as young as age seven, she recalls reading about it in one of her parents’ books, so when she got her first antibiotic-resistant infection (a bacterial infection that some antibiotics can’t treat), “I was kind of annoyed,” said Reid, a data scientist and CEO…
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Access, Access to health care, Affordable care act, Health disparities, HIV, Hivaids, Lgbtq, Policy, Prevention, Preventive health
HIV Prevention Pill PrEP Is Now Free Under Most Insurance Plans – but the Latest Challenge to the Affordable Care Act Puts This Benefit at Risk
Read More: HIV Prevention Pill PrEP Is Now Free Under Most Insurance Plans – but the Latest Challenge to the Affordable Care Act Puts This Benefit at RiskDecember 1 is World AIDS Day By Paul Shafer, Boston University and Kristefer Stojanovski, Tulane University Since the start of the HIV epidemic in 1981, over 700,000 Americans have lost their lives to AIDS. Being infected used to be a death sentence. But now, 40 years later, the U.S. is on the precipice of eradicating…
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Protect Yourself From Salmonella This Thanksgiving
Read More: Protect Yourself From Salmonella This ThanksgivingThis story was originally published by ProPublica. By Karim Doumar, ProPublica ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. Series: Unchecked America’s Broken Food Safety System Thanksgiving is just a few days away, and I regret to inform you that…
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Here’s Why Rapid Covid Tests Are so Expensive and Hard to Find
Read More: Here’s Why Rapid Covid Tests Are so Expensive and Hard to FindBy Lydia DePillis and Eric Umansky, ProPublica ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. Series: Coronavirus The U.S. Response to COVID-19 A few weeks ago, a ProPublica reporter decided to test his kids for COVID-19. They had the sniffles,…
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Why Antimicrobial Resistance Is a Threat We Need to Take Seriously
Read More: Why Antimicrobial Resistance Is a Threat We Need to Take SeriouslyAccording to the CDC, more than 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections occur in the U.S. each year, resulting in 35,000 deaths. Antimicrobial resistance, or AMR, is a threat we need to take seriously, said Phyllis Arthur, vice president of Infectious Diseases & Emerging Science Policy at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO). We spoke to Arthur, who…
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I’m an Infectious Disease Doctor. Yes, I’m Vaccinating Our 5-Year-Old Against Covid-19. Here Is Why You Should Too.
Read More: I’m an Infectious Disease Doctor. Yes, I’m Vaccinating Our 5-Year-Old Against Covid-19. Here Is Why You Should Too.Alexander Wong, University of Saskatchewan I am an infectious disease physician. When it is our turn to vaccinate our five-year-old son against COVID-19, I will do so with confidence and without hesitation. I am encouraging every parent with eligible children between ages five and 11 to do the same. Here is why. The U.S. Food…
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Newborn Screening Saves Lives: What Parents Need to Know
Read More: Newborn Screening Saves Lives: What Parents Need to KnowElisa Seeger’s son Aidan was 6 1/2 years old when he started having vision problems. Seeger thought her son just needed glasses, but after what she calls a “diagnostic odyssey,” going from one specialist to another, she learned that he had a rare genetic neurological disorder called adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD). The once active first grader, who…
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Unvaccinated? Don’t Count on Leaving Your Family Death Benefits
Read More: Unvaccinated? Don’t Count on Leaving Your Family Death BenefitsBy Michelle Andrews, Kaiser Health News These days, workers who refuse to get vaccinated against covid-19 may face financial repercussions, from higher health insurance premiums to loss of their jobs. Now, the financial fallout might follow workers beyond the grave. If they die of covid and weren’t vaccinated, their families may not get death benefits…
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Why Vaccine Doses Differ for Babies, Kids, Teens and Adults – an Immunologist Explains How Your Immune System Changes as You Mature
Read More: Why Vaccine Doses Differ for Babies, Kids, Teens and Adults – an Immunologist Explains How Your Immune System Changes as You MatureBy The dose that works for adults might not be appropriate for youngsters of different ages. Some vaccines need to be given multiple times.CDC National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, CC BY After 4 years of age and through younger adult life, your immune system tends to be more responsive and less prone to…
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The FDA Authorizes Pfizer’s COVID-19 Vaccine for Children Ages 5 to 11 – a Pediatrician Explains How the Drug Was Tested for Safety and Efficacy
Read More: The FDA Authorizes Pfizer’s COVID-19 Vaccine for Children Ages 5 to 11 – a Pediatrician Explains How the Drug Was Tested for Safety and EfficacyBy Debbie-Ann Shirley, University of Virginia Elementary school children in the United States will soon have one more layer of protection to keep them safe from COVID-19. On Oct. 29, 2021, the Food and Drug Administration authorized emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11. The move came days after…
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Cervical cancer, Gynecological cancer, Hpv, Prevention, Preventive health, Real women real stories, Vaccinations, Vaccines
How a Cervical Cancer Diagnosis in My 20s Taught Me How to Live
Read More: How a Cervical Cancer Diagnosis in My 20s Taught Me How to LiveAs told to Liz Sauchelli When I was younger, I wanted to be the next Oprah. As a broadcaster, my mind was always on the next story or package to produce. At 25, after years of freelancing, I’d finally landed a full-time job with health benefits and I felt like I was on my way…
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An Infectious Disease Expert Explains New Federal Rules on ‘Mix-and-Match’ Vaccine Booster Shots
Read More: An Infectious Disease Expert Explains New Federal Rules on ‘Mix-and-Match’ Vaccine Booster ShotsBy Glenn J. Rapsinski, University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences Many Americans now have the green light to get a COVID-19 vaccine booster – and the flexibility to receive a different brand than the original vaccine they received. On the heels of the Food and Drug Administration’s Sept. 22, 2021, emergency use authorization of a third…
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Yes, We Should Be Keeping the Healthier Hand-Washing Habits We Developed at the Start of the Pandemic
Read More: Yes, We Should Be Keeping the Healthier Hand-Washing Habits We Developed at the Start of the PandemicBy Melissa Hawkins, American University People were washing their hands so much early in the pandemic that sensitive skin and soap shortages were common problems in 2020. All this focus on hand-washing was for good reason. The science uniformly demonstrates that frequent hand-washing reduces the risk of a variety of illnesses. It is low-hanging fruit…
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Simple Safety Tips for Trick-or-Treating After Fauci Greenlighted Halloween 2021
Read More: Simple Safety Tips for Trick-or-Treating After Fauci Greenlighted Halloween 2021By Meg Sorg, Purdue University The air is getting chillier, pumpkins are perched on porches and kids across the country are planning their spooky costumes. As a professor of pediatric nursing and a mom to four young children, I know the excitement and anxiety that pandemic holidays bring to children and parents alike. Halloween 2020…
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Clinical trials, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Medical research and clinical trials, Policy, Prevention, Preventive health, Research, Science, Vaccinations, Vaccines
How Many Lives Have Coronavirus Vaccines Saved? We Used State Data on Deaths and Vaccination Rates to Find Out
Read More: How Many Lives Have Coronavirus Vaccines Saved? We Used State Data on Deaths and Vaccination Rates to Find OutBy CC BY-ND More than 200 million U.S. residents have gotten at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine with the expectation that the vaccines slow virus transmission and save lives. Researchers know the efficacy of the vaccines from large-scale clinical trials, the gold standard for medical research. The studies found the vaccines to be…
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cancer, Cancer survivor, Cervical cancer, Gynecological cancer, Medical tests, Menstrual period, Period, Prevention, Preventive health, Real women real stories
My Close Friend’s Cancer Diagnosis Helped Save My Life
Read More: My Close Friend’s Cancer Diagnosis Helped Save My LifeAs told to Fortesa Latifi I know my body, and I know when something’s wrong — even when doctors don’t believe me. My period pain had been dismissed my entire life, but after watching my close friend die of cancer, I knew I could no longer afford to be quiet. Last year, I had a…
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Breast cancer, Breast cancer survivor, Breast health, Medical tests, Prevention, Preventive health, Real women real stories
A Mammogram Saved My Life
Read More: A Mammogram Saved My LifeOctober 15 is National Mammography Day. As told to Jackie Froeber The mammogram stars aligned for me in 2017. I was working at St. Peter’s Health Partners and popped into a co-worker’s office to say hi. On her desk was a flier advertising free mammograms over the weekend for employees. I had just turned 40…
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As American Independence Rang, a Sweeping Lockdown and Mass Inoculations Fought off a Smallpox Outbreak
Read More: As American Independence Rang, a Sweeping Lockdown and Mass Inoculations Fought off a Smallpox OutbreakBy Abigail Adams remarked upon the cheering crowds in a locked-down Boston. Benjamin Blyth via Wikimedia Commons Abigail Adams was among the “Multitude” who attended the reading. As Crafts finished the Declaration of Independence and shouted, “God Save our American States,” Adams reported, “the Bells rang … the cannon were discharged, the platoons followed and…
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Access, Health care, Health insurance, Policy, Pregnancy, Premature birth, Prevention, Preventive health, Racial disparities, Racism
Racism a Strong Factor in Black Women’s High Rate of Premature Births, Study Finds
Read More: Racism a Strong Factor in Black Women’s High Rate of Premature Births, Study FindsBy Anna Maria Barry-Jester, Kaiser Health News The tipping point for Dr. Paula Braveman came when a longtime patient of hers at a community clinic in San Francisco’s Mission District slipped past the front desk and knocked on her office door to say goodbye. He wouldn’t be coming to the clinic anymore, he told her,…
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How to Do a Breast Self-Exam
Read More: How to Do a Breast Self-ExamOctober is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Medically reviewed by Dr. Mary Jane Minkin
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Access, Access to health care, Affordability, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Health disparities, Policy, Prevention, Preventive health, Racial disparities, Research, Vaccinations, Vaccines
Covid Is Killing Rural Americans at Twice the Rate of Urbanites
Read More: Covid Is Killing Rural Americans at Twice the Rate of UrbanitesBy Lauren Weber, Kaiser Health News Rural Americans are dying of covid at more than twice the rate of their urban counterparts — a divide that health experts say is likely to widen as access to medical care shrinks for a population that tends to be older, sicker, heavier, poorer and less vaccinated. While the…
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Who Qualifies for a Covid Booster? The List Is Growing Longer
Read More: Who Qualifies for a Covid Booster? The List Is Growing LongerOn Friday, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said people whose jobs put them at risk of coronavirus infection qualify for a shot to boost the protection of their covid-19 vaccination. That step to include people with “institutional and occupational exposure” overrules the recommendation of her agency’s advisory panel, and the move…
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Coronavirus, COVID-19, Healthy Eating, Nutrition, Policy, Prevention, Preventive health, Vaccinations, Vaccines
Can Healthy People Who Eat Right and Exercise Skip the Covid-19 Vaccine? A Research Scientist and Fitness Enthusiast Explains Why the Answer Is No
Read More: Can Healthy People Who Eat Right and Exercise Skip the Covid-19 Vaccine? A Research Scientist and Fitness Enthusiast Explains Why the Answer Is NoBy Richard Bloomer, University of Memphis I’m a fitness enthusiast. I also adhere to a nutrient-dense, “clean” eating program, which means I minimize my sugar intake and eat a lot of whole foods for the purpose of optimizing my health. You might wonder how effective such a diet and exercise plan would be in the…
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Changing Your Mind About Something as Important as Vaccination Isn’t a Sign of Weakness – Being Open to New Information Is the Smart Way to Make Choices
Read More: Changing Your Mind About Something as Important as Vaccination Isn’t a Sign of Weakness – Being Open to New Information Is the Smart Way to Make ChoicesArt Markman, The University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts Culturally, this is an era in which people are held in high esteem when they stick with their beliefs and negatively labeled as “flip-floppers” or “wishy-washy” when they change what they think. While the courage of convictions can be a plus in situations…
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Cervical cancer, Gynecological cancer, Medical tests, Prevention, Preventive health, Vaccinations, Vaccines
HPV, Cervical Cancer and Cervical Cancer Screening: What Do You Need to Know?
Read More: HPV, Cervical Cancer and Cervical Cancer Screening: What Do You Need to Know?Medically reviewed by Nancy Berman, MSN Infection with high-risk types of human papillomavirus (HPV), the cause of cervical cancer, is common. By the age of 50, 80% of women will have had an HPV infection with one or more of 14 high-risk HPV types. Most infections are cleared within 24 months. If the virus isn’t…
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Evidence Shows That, Yes, Masks Prevent COVID-19 – and Surgical Masks Are the Way to Go
Read More: Evidence Shows That, Yes, Masks Prevent COVID-19 – and Surgical Masks Are the Way to GoBy Laura (Layla) H. Kwong, University of California, Berkeley Do masks work? And if so, should you reach for an N95, a surgical mask, a cloth mask or a gaiter? Over the past year and a half, researchers have produced a lot of laboratory, model-based and observational evidence on the effectiveness of masks. For many…
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Access, Access to health care, Cervical cancer, Gender, Hpv, Lgbtq, Prevention, Preventive health, Transgender
Removing Barriers to Cervical Cancer Screening for the LGBTQ Community
Read More: Removing Barriers to Cervical Cancer Screening for the LGBTQ CommunityReviewed by Dr. Sue Yom As executive director of the National LGBT Cancer Network, Scout, who goes by only one name, knows better than most about the importance of staying up to date on cancer screenings. And yet, Scout admits he’s frequently put off his own screenings for human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer. Because…
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Cervical cancer, Gynecological cancer, Hpv, Medical tests, Prevention, Preventive health, Vaccinations, Vaccines
Conversation Tips for Talking With a Patient About HPV
Read More: Conversation Tips for Talking With a Patient About HPVMedically reviewed by Nancy Berman, MSN
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My Family’s History With Osteoporosis Changed My Medical Career Path
Read More: My Family’s History With Osteoporosis Changed My Medical Career PathAs told to Nicole Audrey Spector Throughout my college years, every visit home for Christmas brought an increasingly alarming discovery: My grandmother was shrinking. I mean, really shrinking. We didn’t know she had osteoporosis. We just thought, “Grandma is getting old. She’s in her late 70s. Shrinking happens with age.” After menopause, women lose bone…
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Cervical cancer, Gynecological cancer, Hpv, Medical tests, Prevention, Preventive health, Vaccinations, Vaccines
Fast Facts: Here’s What You Need to Know About Cervical Cancer and HPV
Read More: Fast Facts: Here’s What You Need to Know About Cervical Cancer and HPVMedically reviewed by Nancy Berman, MSN, ANP-BC, NCMP, FAANP A cervical cancer diagnosis is scary — and for good reason. The American Cancer Society estimates that around 14,480 women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2021, and about 4,290 of them will die. Black and Hispanic women are more likely than white women to…
