Babesiosis, a tick-borne disease, is endemic in 10 U.S. states, according to a March report by the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The parasitic disease primarily occurs within the Northeast and Midwest. As cases continue to rise in several states, the CDC has advised for an increase in tick prevention messaging ...Read more

Most people spend a third of their lives either asleep or resting, according to the Sleep Foundation. During sleep, the body recharges and repairs itself. And a good night's sleep often can be determined by what position you are lying in bed.

Back-sleepers beware.

"I know many people find it to be comfortable, because they're not putting ...Read more

DENVER — Two weeks after a routine trip to a health clinic turned into a psychiatric hospitalization, Emma Troughton was on a plane to Denver.

The intervention had been building: By early 2017, Troughton had struggled with body image and eating for years, first as a high schooler in Indiana piecing through their gender identity (Troughton is ...Read more

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I recently began experiencing swelling in my legs, feet and hands, as well as fatigue. Testing led to a diagnosis of pericardial constriction. Can you explain what this is and how it's treated? Is there anything I can do to reduce the swelling?

ANSWER: Pericardial constriction is a condition with multiple possible causes. It ...Read more

People have used poisons throughout history for a variety of purposes: to hunt animals for food, to treat diseases and to achieve nefarious ends like murder and assassination.

But what is a poison? Do all poisons act in the same way? Does the amount of the poison matter in terms of its toxicity?

I am a toxicologist who studies...Read more

ATLANTA — The Georgia Senate on Tuesday voted to send to the governor a bill that would prevent medical professionals from giving transgender children certain hormones or surgical treatment.

The Senate voted 31-21 on a party-line vote, with Republicans supporting the measure, to agree to changes made to Senate Bill 140 by the House. That ...Read more

A new bill introduced in the California state Senate aims to lay the groundwork for a state universal health care system, proposing an incremental approach that departs from recent sweeping, and unsuccessful, efforts to reshape how Californians receive care.

Under the measure by state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), California would begin...Read more

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.

The COVID-19 pandemic intensified the opioid epidemic, according to our new research, which finds that opioid overdoses increased in Pennsylvania in 2020 compared with 2018 and 2019.

Yet general trends obscure critical local variations. Specifically, 19 ...Read more

Many people are flocking to the Gulf Coast for spring break. However, toxic red tide algal blooms have put beachgoers and residents on alert.

In the Gulf of Mexico, red tide is caused by a microscopic organism called Karenia brevis. The organism was detected in 172 samples along Florida's Gulf Coast last week, according to Florida officials.

...Read more

The costs of Alzheimer’s disease – human and financial – are rising sharply in California and nationally, and census projections for America’s rapidly aging population suggest the scope of the disease soon might rival what America saw during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In fact, new data from the Alzheimer’s Association’s ...Read more

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Monday that cases of Candida auris, or C. auris — a potentially deadly and drug-resistant fungal infection — are on the rise at U.S. health-care facilities.

New CDC data published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine showed that the number of infections has grown since it was ...Read more

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey on Monday said his office plans to file a set of emergency rules aimed at restricting how doctors provide gender-affirming care to minors.

The rules include strict psychological therapy requirements for doctors providing care as well as banning care until all of a patient’s other...Read more

MIAMI -- Mike Hugo, a 37-year-old Wellington, Florida, resident, has two young daughters, a wife, and a rare form of brain cancer.

Hugo spends his days in South Florida writing milestone birthday cards to his daughters, recording a song for their weddings, and benefiting from advancements in medical technology that give him a better quality of ...Read more

You've probably heard that when your baby is around 6 to 9 months old, it's time to begin moving away from bottle feeding. But like many parents, you may feel a little apprehensive about this next step in your child's growth and development.

If your little one pouts, shouts or bursts into tears when you offer them a "big kid cup," take a deep ...Read more

Novo Nordisk A/S replenished supplies of Ozempic, a treatment for diabetes, after social media-driven enthusiasm over the drug’s use for weight loss led to six months of shortages.

Two common doses of Ozempic are now available again, according to an update posted on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s drug shortage database that Novo ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento and Solano counties are in a standoff with the state over mental health coverage for a portion of Medicaid patients in those counties — a dispute that threatens to disrupt care for nearly 50,000 low-income residents receiving treatment for severe mental illness.

The Department of Health Care Services, which ...Read more

CHICAGO -- When traditional treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation fail, lung cancer can be a death sentence for many patients.

That, however, may be changing, with Northwestern Medicine leading the way.

Northwestern plans to begin regularly performing double lung transplants on patients with terminal lung cancer, after successfully ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- When U.S. Sen. John Fetterman checked into a hospital for clinical depression last month, critics questioned whether he would be able to serve his six-year term.

Mental illness is often portrayed as an inescapable condition.

Everyone's experience is different, and people who've had an episode of mental illness are at greater ...Read more

FRANKFORT, Ky. — The Kentucky General Assembly voted Thursday to ban gender-affirming care for transgender kids as a part of an omnibus anti-LGBTQ bill, following a last-minute committee substitute.

The Senate vote was 30 to 7, with one Republican voting against it and one Democrat voting for Senate Bill 150. The bill now goes to Gov. Andy ...Read more

FRANKFORT, Ky. — In a last-minute switch Thursday, Republicans revived an omnibus anti-LGBTQ bill, which includes a ban on gender-affirming health care for Kentucky’s transgender youth.

Less than a day after Senate Republicans voted to dramatically scale back a bill that many in the party said went too far because it left trans kids with no...Read more