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Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Measles outbreak mounts among children in one of Texas' least vaccinated counties

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

A measles outbreak is growing in a Texas county with dangerously low vaccination rates.

In late January, two school-age children from Gaines County were hospitalized with measles. Since an estimated 1 in 5 people with the disease end up in the hospital, the two cases suggested a larger outbreak.

As of Feb. 7, there were nine confirmed and ...Read more

Handout/Bonnie Cullison/TNS

Maryland lawmakers want limits on pricey prescriptions, say health care system is 'failing us'

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

BALTIMORE — For most of her life, Erica Miller suffered from a medical condition she didn’t know she had.

When she finally got a diagnosis and treatment, the cost of her medication varied wildly month-to-month from as low as $45 to as high as $600 — even with insurance. She couldn’t afford the care she needed.

Maryland lawmakers want ...Read more

Seed oils are toxic, says Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – but it’s not so simple

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is expected to clear the final hurdles in his confirmation as President Donald Trump’s health secretary, and a host of health influencers have proclaimed that widely used cooking oils such as canola oil and soybean oil are toxic.

T-shirts sold by his “Make America Healthy Again” campaign now include ...Read more

Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group/TNS

Community health centers caught up in funding freeze

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

WASHINGTON — Funding delays have pushed several community health centers nationwide to close or cut back on staff, citing issues accessing federal funding.

The financial problems, the centers say, appear to stem from last week’s temporary domestic funding grant freeze and the implementation of new executive orders.

“We will do everything...Read more

Yuri Gripas/Abaca Press/TNS

Trump executive orders aimed at health equity, DEI worry Philadelphia health researchers

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

At Bryn Mawr College, Cindy Sousa researches how trauma, violence, and climate change affect low-income communities, immigrants, and refugees, with the goal of improving health care and social supports in underserved communities.

But Sousa is worried about the future of her work following a flurry of executive orders that she and many of her ...Read more

Maryland's health secretary is resigning; Moore names Biden official Meena Seshamani as nominee

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Maryland Health Secretary Laura Herrera Scott will leave her role at the end of February after a tumultuous two years and will be replaced by a former Medicare official from President Joe Biden’s administration, Gov. Wes Moore said Thursday.

The state’s health agency had faced tough questions and federal lawsuits related to its handling of ...Read more

Female genital mutilation is a leading cause of death for girls where it’s practised – new study

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C) is a deeply entrenched cultural practice that affects around 200 million women and girls. It’s practised in at least 25 African countries, as well as parts of the Middle East and Asia and among immigrant populations globally.

It is a harmful traditional practice that involves removing or ...Read more

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Influenza surge overcrowding Michigan emergency rooms

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DETROIT — Emergency rooms across the state are overcrowded and patients are waiting longer than usual due to an influx of influenza.

Charles Gibson, chief medical officer for Corewell Health in West Michigan, and Matthew Sims, director of infectious disease research for Corewell Health in Southeast Michigan, said at a virtual news conference ...Read more

Anti-LGBTQ+ policies harm the health of not only LGBTQ+ people, but all Americans

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

In 2024, state legislatures introduced an all-time record of 533 bills targeting LGBTQ+ populations. These policies create a patchwork of legal landscapes that vary widely between and within states, affecting aspects of everyday life ranging from how kids learn and play to where adults live and work.

All of these policies have ...Read more

Lauren Sausser/KFF Health News/TNS

Across the South, rural health care has become 'trendy.' Medicaid expansion has not

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

WALHALLA, S.C. — Nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a small primary care clinic run by Clemson University draws patients from across the region. Many are Hispanic and uninsured, and some are willing to travel from other counties, bypassing closer health care providers, just to be seen by Michelle Deem, the clinic’s ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Mayo Clinic Minute: What to do for a healthier heart

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S., according to the American Heart Association. Heart disease refers to a range of conditions, of which many can be prevented or treated by making healthy lifestyle choices.

The average heart beats 100,000 times per day, circulating blood and oxygen throughout the body.

Dr. Demilade ...Read more

Shake up your Super Bowl party for a win-win mix of health and fun

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Traditionally, the Super Bowl is a celebration of extremes – the best teams, the fanciest stadiums and fans who sit at home eating the biggest buckets of anything-but-healthy food.

But the NFL is hardly resistant to upending tradition. Players and coaches change teams, teams redesign uniforms and owners rewrite the rules. What if you applied ...Read more

For California farmworkers, telehealth visits with Mexican doctors fill a gap

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

SALINAS, Calif. — This coastal valley made famous by the novelist John Steinbeck is sometimes known affectionately as “America’s salad bowl,” though the planting and harvesting is done mostly by immigrants from Mexico.

For Taylor Farms, a major global purveyor of packaged salads and cut vegetables, that’s made it a logical place to ...Read more

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Flossing may reduce risk for stroke and irregular heart rhythm

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Flossing regularly may lower the risk of some strokes as well as a type of irregular heart rhythm that can increase stroke risk, new research suggests.

The findings show people who flossed at least once a week had a lower risk for strokes caused by blood clots coming from the heart and for an irregular heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation, ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

'Unprecedented' tuberculosis outbreak is underway in Kansas. Are Californians at risk?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — As Kansas deals with one of the largest tuberculous outbreaks in the nation since the 1950s, Californians may be wondering whether they’re at risk.

The Kansas outbreak, described by health officials as “unprecedented,” has killed at least two people and sickened dozens of others.

It could be an indicator that ...Read more

Barry Williams/New York Daily News/TNS

NYC Mayor Eric Adams clarifies timeline on colonoscopy, anesthesia following criticism over City Charter rules

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams and his team late Wednesday walked back a statement he made earlier in the day that he had been under anesthesia last week, saying that the mayor in fact underwent a colonoscopy over a month ago that required him to be put under.

The news about the mayor’s colonoscopy follows a flurry of reports and rumors that ...Read more

Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Illinois attorney general says state will protect gender-affirming care, despite Trump executive order

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

CHICAGO — After a week of uncertainty for Illinois hospitals and clinics over an executive order seeking to end gender-affirming care for minors, the Illinois attorney general issued a statement Wednesday saying the state will protect such care.

The statement, from Attorney General Kwame Raoul and the attorneys general of 14 other states, ...Read more

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/TNS

Deadly version of H5N1 bird flu spills over into Nevada dairy cattle

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

A version of the H5N1 bird flu virus that killed a person in Louisiana and severely sickened a teenager in Canada has now been detected in dairy herds in Nevada.

The version, known as D1.1, is circulating in wild birds around the nation — causing massive die-offs in places such as Chicago, upstate New York and Ohio.

It’s different from the...Read more

Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times/TNS

California AG warns LA hospital: Withholding transgender care could violate state law

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

LOS ANGELES — California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said Wednesday he was putting a Los Angeles hospital on notice that withholding hormonal therapy and other gender-affirming care from transgender youth could run afoul of state law.

The action came after Children's Hospital Los Angeles said it was pausing the initiation of hormonal therapy for "...Read more

California housing officials recommend state protect renters from extreme heat

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Citing the hundreds of lives lost to extreme heat each year, California state housing officials are urging lawmakers to set residential cooling standards long opposed by landlords and builders who fear such a measure would force them to make big-ticket upgrades.

In a 60-page report sent Monday to the legislature, the California Department of ...Read more