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Coalition of states sues Trump administration over new limits on loans for nurses, physician's assistants, therapists

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

LOS ANGELES — California and a coalition of other Democratic-led states are suing the Trump administration over new limits on federal borrowing by aspiring nurses, physician’s assistants, therapists, social workers, mental health practitioners and other healthcare workers, arguing the changes will further reduce a struggling but vital ...Read more

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Salmonella outbreak: Baby chicks, ducklings linked to illnesses

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DETROIT – A series of salmonella outbreaks linked to baby poultry is sickening residents across the country, including 21 people in Michigan, health officials said Monday.

“While raising baby chicks and ducks can be fun and educational, poultry owners should be aware that chickens and other birds can carry germs that can impact human ...Read more

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Eroding ACA enrollment portends higher insurance rates

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Enrollment in the Affordable Care Act continues to erode as some customers struggle to make premium payments, with the declining numbers churning market uncertainty for insurers. In response, insurers are likely to raise rates again next year, following this year’s larger-than-typical hikes.

Sign-ups were already down in January by about 1.2 ...Read more

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'I just don't want it to take over my life': Hantavirus sparks fear, questions for some students in a post-COVID world

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

CHICAGO -- Brooke Loughman knows that when she opens a social media app, she’ll be flooded with posts, whether she wants to see them or not. Lately, the first-year DePaul University student has found herself scrolling quickly through her feed, trying to avoid information about hantavirus and the wave of anxiety she experiences thinking about ...Read more

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Trump and Kennedy seek to relax safeguards for AI healthcare tools

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Paul Boyer, a psychotherapist for Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California, is experiencing the AI revolution firsthand. He’s a little underwhelmed.

The health giant has rolled out a new suite of note-taking software, made by healthcare AI pioneer Abridge, intended to summarize a patient’s visit at supersonic speed. For many clinicians, the...Read more

High blood pressure can happen at any age: Expert shares prevention tips

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

LONDON — High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, can occur at any age. Its prevalence in people in early to mid-adulthood has been rising globally. Bianca Bandarra, M.B.B.S., a general practitioner and executive health physician at Mayo Clinic Healthcare in London, describes lifestyle factors that can influence risk and explains why ...Read more

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19 Legionella bacteria infections linked to California hospital

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

LOS ANGELES — Kaiser Permanente is still trying to determine the source of bacteria responsible for 19 recent cases of Legionella infection identified at a hospital in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The 19 infections were linked to Kaiser's medical center in Santa Clara. Most of those who fell sick are recovering at home, Kaiser said in a recent...Read more

Most people in the U.S. get their vitamin D from sun exposure. Stockbyte/DigitalVision via Getty Images

Vitamin D builds your bones and keeps your gut sealed, among many other essential functions − but many children are deficient

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

You’ve likely heard about vitamin D’s important role in maintaining strong bones and teeth. But it also plays several other important roles to keep your body healthy – including the function of your gut.

As part of our research on how a dietary fiber supplement affects bone mass in children and adolescents, the MetA-Bone Trial, ...Read more

A man washes his hands before being screened to enter Kyeshero Hospital in Goma, Congo, on May 18, 2026.  Jospin Mwisha/AFP via Getty Images

Ebola strain spreading in Congo and Uganda has no approved vaccine

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

As a deadly outbreak of Ebola virus spreads in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on May 17, 2026, that it is transferring “a small number of Americans” who were in Congo and who were exposed to the virus.

Some of these exposures are classified as high-risk, and ...Read more

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American missionary has Ebola; US bans travel from area

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A U.S. missionary has tested positive for the Ebola virus after being exposed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday.

Satish Pillai, incident manager for the CDC’s Ebola response, said on a call with reporters that the missionary is showing symptoms and has been sent to ...Read more

There are currently 45 approved vaping products in the U.S. Most are tobacco- or menthol-flavored; only two are fruit-flavored. Roman Mykhalchuk/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Flavored vapes led to a major shake-up at the FDA – 3 health policy analysts explain the science behind the controversial products

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The resignation of Marty Makary, commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, on May 12, 2026, brought to the forefront a heated controversy over fruit-flavored nicotine vapes.

Rumors had been circulating for weeks that President Donald Trump was planning to fire Makary, in large part due to Makary’s disagreement with ...Read more

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License to deliver: Some midwives break the law to assist with home births

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — In a midwife’s suburban Atlanta home with a playground and chicken coop outside, Madie Collins lay on an examination table while the midwife measured her pregnant belly. Unlike at many a doctor’s office, no crinkly paper sheet covered the table and no antiseptic chill lingered in the air. The room next door, where ...Read more

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Ask the Pediatrician: Water park safety

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

There are 1,300 water parks in the United States and 85 million people visit them each year. As a parent, it's important to know what to look for if you are planning a trip to an indoor or outdoor water park.

First and foremost, know the rules of the park you plan on attending. Water slides are the No. 1 cause of injuries at water parks. It’s...Read more

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Mayo Clinic Q&A: Advances in staging and surgical treatment of melanoma

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I was just diagnosed with early stage melanoma, and I am being referred to an oncologist. What happens next? Will I need a lymph node biopsy, or are there cases where it can be safely avoided? What other surgical or nonsurgical treatment options might be recommended?

ANSWER: Melanoma is a type of skin cancer that ...Read more

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RFK Jr. swaps vaccine talk for healthy foods and reading to tots in push to woo voters

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

TOLEDO, Ohio — The little boy, dressed in a Toy Story sweatshirt, wrapped himself around the nation's health secretary.

"What do you guys want to be when you grow up?" Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asked a carpet full of preschoolers.

"A dinosaur!" the boy replied, squeezing tighter.

Just weeks ago, Kennedy sat ...Read more

Rare Ebola strain with no vaccine linked to 87 Congo deaths

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

A rare strain of Ebola with no approved vaccine or treatment circulated undetected for weeks in conflict-hit northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo before killing at least 87 people.

The first case developed symptoms on April 24, creating a four-week detection delay that enabled extensive uncontrolled community transmission, Africa Centres ...Read more

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3 poisoned by mushrooms foraged in California wine country amid 'unprecedented' outbreak

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Three people were recently hospitalized after eating poisonous wild mushrooms foraged in California wine country amid an unprecedented outbreak of illness and deaths linked to the practice statewide, health officials in Napa County announced.

The adults ate poisonous wild mushrooms foraged in the Napa Valley community of Deer Park over the ...Read more

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With mpox cases increasing, San Diego's at-risk residents urged to get second vaccine dose

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

SAN DIEGO — According to San Diego County vaccination records, about 6,800 of the 19,000 residents who received their initial mpox vaccination dose did not receive a follow-up booster shot, a fact that is increasingly important as the “clade I” version of the virus increasingly causes outbreaks worldwide.

San Diego officials this week ...Read more

Mifepristone is one of two drugs typically used in medication abortions. Carl Lokko/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Supreme Court preserves access to mifepristone via telehealth – at least for now

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided that patients can continue to get mifepristone, one of the two drugs used for medication abortion, via telehealth and by mail. At least for now.

A lower court had temporarily blocked this access nationwide in early May 2026. The case now returns to that lower court, although it may well make it back ...Read more

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FDA blocked melanoma drug as confusion reigned under Makary

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The FDA’s recent decision to withhold approval of a new skin cancer treatment fell like a hammer on doctors who treat melanoma and patients who saw that the drug had prolonged the lives of a third of the participants in a clinical trial.

“It was devastating news,” said Trisha Wise-Draper, a dermatologist at the University of Cincinnati ...Read more