The same wastewater surveillance techniques that have emerged as a critical tool in early detection of COVID-19 outbreaks are being adapted for use in monitoring the startling spread of monkeypox across the San Francisco Bay Area and some other U.S. communities.

Before the COVID pandemic, wastewater sludge was thought to hold promise as an ...Read more

The W-Curve Model was first proposed in 1963 to explain adjustment to culture shock. Starting college is a culture shock for many young people. It is often the first time students are away from home for an extended period.

Freshman year is known for new experiences, but it also presents various challenges. Each new college student's experience ...Read more

The pandemic exacerbated many mental health problems, and eating disorders are no exception: Emergency room visits for girls suffering from anorexia and bulimia were twice as high in January of this year as they were three years earlier.

What hasn’t kept up is how government-funded insurance programs have responded to the crisis. Families are...Read more

Often labeled a superfood, blueberries are bursting with vitamins and minerals ─ many of which are classified as antioxidants. Much of the power of this little berry lies in its color.

Blueberries might be the best example of how good things come in small packages.

"Beyond their tangy sweetness, blueberries offer a wealth of health benefits,...Read more

DARLINGTON, South Carolina — Just off the deserted town square, with its many boarded-up businesses, people lined up at the walk-up pharmacy window at Genesis Health Care, a federally funded clinic.

Drug sales provide the bulk of the revenue for Genesis, a nonprofit community health center treating about 11,000 mostly low-income patients in ...Read more

ROSAMOND, Calif. — Deborah Lewis rose from bed before dawn and signed in to her phone so she could begin delivering fast food, coffee, and groceries to residents in this western patch of the Mojave Desert where test pilot Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier generations ago.

Lewis prayed she would earn $75, just enough to fill the tank of her...Read more

We all love our snacks. They not only hold us over until our next big meal, but they also satisfy our need for crispy, crunchy, sweet and savory treats.

Too much snacking on the wrong foods, however, can lead to health problems. So Eat This, Not That asked some nutritionists what they munch on every day.

Sarah Schlichter, MPH, RD, a registered...Read more

Q: I’m thinking about getting a handgun for protection. What are the best ways to keep my kids safe with a gun in the house?

A: Roughly a third of U.S. homes with children have guns. In fact, an estimated 4.6 million kids live with unlocked, loaded guns. That's a scary statistic when you think about the fact that even toddlers are capable of ...Read more

Kids are heading back into the classroom, and health care professionals say it's important to prepare for the first day of school by keeping up to date with childhood immunizations.

Dr. Nipunie Rajapakse, a Mayo Clinic pediatric infectious diseases physician, says if you have a preteen, make sure he or she gets vaccinated for HPV now. It could ...Read more

The monkeypox virus remains a global health emergency.

The 2022 monkeypox outbreak started after the first case was reported on May 17 in Portugal.

The monkeypox virus is rarely fatal, with over 99% of infected people likely to survive.

Monkeypox can spread when a person comes into contact with the virus from an infected animal, infected ...Read more

ROME, Ga. — The intake pumps that once drew 6 million gallons of water a day from the Oostanaula River now sit mostly dormant in this northwestern Georgia city.

Local officials contend that years of contamination miles upstream sent toxic perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, into Rome’s water supply, rendering it ...Read more

With many teens heading back to school, peer pressure and academic expectations are once again a reality. These added pressures can cause ups and downs during what can be an already tumultuous time of life. For some teens, though, the lows are more than just temporary feelings. They're symptoms of depression.

Depression is one of the most ...Read more

Approaching a van that distributes supplies for safer drug use in Greenfield, Massachusetts, a man named Kyle noticed an alert about xylazine.

“Xylazine?” he asked, sounding out the unfamiliar word. “Tell me more.”

A street-outreach team from Tapestry Health Systems delivered what’s becoming a routine warning. Xylazine is an animal ...Read more

Brykyta Shelton found herself standing in a checkout line of a big-box retailer, uncomfortably aware as a woman ahead of her stared at her sandaled feet.

Shelton had been taking medication for months for what her doctor said was toenail fungus, but one nail still looked gross.

After Shelton completed her purchase, the woman pulled her aside ...Read more

The battle was just beginning for Le Roy Torres and his wife, Rosie, when the Army captain returned to Texas in 2008, already starting to suffer from the toxic substances he’d inhaled from the 10-acre burn pit at Camp Anaconda in Balad, Iraq.

Along the way, Le Roy would lose the job he loved as a Texas state trooper and take his fight all the...Read more

The death of Australian superstar Olivia Newton-John has drawn attention to an often misunderstood stage of breast cancer — metastatic breast cancer.

Newton-John was first diagnosed with breast cancer in the 1990s and spent 25 years in remission. When the cancer returned in 2017, this time in her spine, she fostered greater public awareness ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — By the fall of 2020, the pandemic’s first year, doctors treating hospitalized COVID-19 patients said they were starting to get the regimen down to a science. They learned when to put patients on ventilators, administer steroids, and deploy an expanding array of newer drugs.

Yet the latest data from Pennsylvania and the U.S. ...Read more

Now that most Americans have been infected with COVID — more than 70%, according to a recent estimate from the White House — the rest of us are the outliers.

There’s been lots of speculation about what makes us different.

Is it genetics, diet, exercise, good air quality or, as one South Korean doctor implied, are we just friendless ...Read more

As the school year approaches, you probably turn your attention to purchasing required supplies, buying new clothes and creating a smooth morning routine. However, to truly streamline your back-to-school season, don’t forget to focus on the most trafficked area of the house: the kitchen. After all, it’s the setting for speedy breakfasts, ...Read more