Health Advice

/

Health

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

West Nile virus case reported in Lexington. Officials to spray for mosquitoes

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

A West Nile virus case has been confirmed in Lexington, according to the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department.

West Nile virus is most commonly spread through the bite of an infected mosquito, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is the leading cause of mosquito-borne disease in the contiguous United States.

...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Affirmative action critics refuse to back down in fight over medical bias training

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Critics of affirmative action have launched a long-shot appeal aimed at stopping California from requiring training on unconscious bias in every continuing medical education class.

A July ruling by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld California’s right to mandate that every course doctors take to remain ...Read more

Alejandro A. Alvarez/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Researchers are testing whether two common generic medications could help kill dormant cancer cells

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

PHILADELPHIA — Penn researchers have found that a combination of common, generic drugs could be used to kill dormant breast cancer cells, preventing the disease from recurring.

Though often highly treatable, breast cancer returns in about 30% of patients and is then almost always fatal.

Relapse can happen at any time — months, years or ...Read more

FREDERIC J. BROWN/Getty Images North America/TNS

California says it can no longer trust Washington on COVID vaccines. A major battle is looming

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

LOS ANGELES — California's late summer COVID surge is showing signs of peaking, but the state's war with the Trump administration over vaccines is just beginning.

Coronavirus levels in California's wastewater remain "very high," according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as they are in much of the country. But some ...Read more

Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images North America/TNS

Judge denies preliminary injunction request in Kentucky transgender health care case

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

A federal judge has declined to temporarily block a Kentucky law that bans gender-affirming health care access for transgender people who are incarcerated in the commonwealth.

Maddilyn Marcum, a trans woman currently imprisoned at Northpoint Training Center in Boyle County, filed a lawsuit in federal court in July arguing that the Department of...Read more

Gaylord Specialty Healthcare/TNS

This hospital became an expert in adaptive sports over three decades. Hundreds now participate

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Karen Smith was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1990. The competitive skier recalled the doctor coming in and telling her she might not be able to walk anymore.

“I said to him, ‘Well, how am I going to ski?’” Smith said. “He said, ‘I just told you you might not walk, did you hear that?’ I said, ‘I did, ...Read more

Blake Farmer/KFF Health News/TNS

Lice pose no health threat, yet some parents push back on rules to allow affected kids in class

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Any evidence of lice was once a reason for immediate dismissal from school, not to return until the student’s head was lice-free. But what are known as “no-nit” policies have been dropped in favor of “nonexclusion” rules, prioritizing class time over any nuisance caused by parasites the size of sesame seeds. That leniency, of late, is ...Read more

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images North America/TNS

Ask the Pediatrician: Which flu vaccine should children get?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Many people don't realize how serious influenza (flu) illness can be, even for previously healthy kids and teens. Children also play a role in spreading the flu in their homes, schools and communities.

The 2024-25 flu season was more severe than usual. A record number of U.S. children were hospitalized with the flu, and more than 260 died. As a...Read more

Samuel Corum/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump's Medicaid cuts were aimed at 'able-bodied adults.' Hospitals say kids will be hurt

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Republicans insist that President Donald Trump’s cuts to Medicaid were aimed at reducing fraud and getting more of its adult beneficiaries into jobs. But the side effects may include less care for sick kids.

Some children’s hospitals collectively stand to lose billions of dollars in revenue once Trump’s wide-ranging tax and spending law, ...Read more

Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images North America/TNS

Fact check: RFK Jr. said 'everybody can get' a COVID vaccine. Is that true?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

“Everybody can get” the COVID-19 vaccine.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Sept. 4 in a Senate Finance Committee hearing

____

When health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified before the Senate Finance Committee on Sept. 4, several senators criticized him for restricting the COVID-19 shots after promising in November he wouldn’t “take ...Read more

Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/TNS

Should physicians have to see children whose parents oppose vaccinations?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

ORLANDO, Fla. — As Florida seeks to end vaccine mandates, a behind-the-scenes debate in the medical community has been thrust into the public spotlight: Should doctors see young patients whose parents do not want them to get shots?

The decision has long rested with physicians, who say they weigh the needs of children who have no control over ...Read more

Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Residents can get updated COVID vaccines, but insurance might not cover the shots

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DENVER — Anyone 6 months and older who wants a COVID-19 shot in Colorado can now get one, but the vaccine will only be free for those with the right insurance — at least for now.

Initially, pharmacies couldn’t administer the updated shots in Colorado unless a patient had a prescription. The state allows pharmacists to administer vaccines ...Read more

Spencer Platt/Getty Images North America/TNS

Instead of selling, some rural hospitals band together to survive

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

BOWMAN, N.D. — Retta Jacobi stepped onto a metal platform that lifted her to an entrance on the side of a custom-designed semitrailer. Once inside, she lay down on a platform that technicians slid into an MRI machine. Jacobi hoped the scan would help pinpoint the source of the pain in her shoulders.

The mobile MRI unit visits Southwest ...Read more

Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Advocates say light rail stabbing exposes poor mental health system in Charlotte

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The fatal stabbing of a Ukrainian refugee on Charlotte’s light rail has rekindled conversations about the failures of America’s criminal justice system.

But some Charlotte advocates say an important component is being left out of the conversation: mental health.

Fonda Bryant, a Charlotte area mental health advocate, said...Read more

C5Media/Dreamstime/TNS

When should I get my flu shot? Can I get COVID vaccine at the same time?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — As fall approaches, it’s time to start preparing for the start of flu season as well.

Influenza can spread any time of year, but typically increases in fall and winter in the U.S., according to the California Department of Public Health.

And COVID-19 cases — as well as the new variant — are once again on the rise ...Read more

DREAMSTIME/TNS

Genetic testing isn't common in adults. A new study shows it should be

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

PHILADELPHIA -- The first time the seemingly healthy woman gave birth, she went into heart failure. She recovered and went on to deliver her second child a few years later. Doctors cleared the woman to go home with her newborn.

But within months, the woman in her early 20s was rushed back to the hospital, again in heart failure, and ultimately ...Read more

Under Trump, FDA seeks to abandon expert reviews of new drugs

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

FDA leaders under President Donald Trump are moving to abandon a decades-old policy of asking outside experts to review drug applications, a move critics say would shield the agency’s decisions from public scrutiny.

The agency “would like to get away” from assembling panels of experts to examine and vote on individual drugs, because “I ...Read more

Tess Dana/Our Children’s Trust/Our Children’s Trust/TNS

Climate activists cite health hazards in bid to stop Trump from 'unleashing' fossil fuels

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

HELENA, Mont. — In 2023, a group of 16 young Montanans won a much-heralded climate change case that said the state had deprived them of a “clean and healthful environment,” a right enshrined in Montana’s constitution.

Their victory in Held v. Montana , later upheld by the state Supreme Court, resounded across the country, showing that ...Read more

Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post/TNS

In Congress, Colorado representatives push to limit health care losses

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Major changes are coming to health insurance in Colorado over the next two years, but members of the state’s delegation in Congress are pitching bills that would dampen the impacts of those disruptions to health care.

H.R. 1, known as the “Big Beautiful Bill,” will reduce the number of people covered by Medicaid by adding work ...Read more

Mark Mirko/The Hartford Courant/TNS

Strokes can cause debilitating damage. Researchers have found a way to limit it

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

HARTFORD, Conn. -- With limited treatment options for stroke patients available, two UConn researchers are developing an experimental drug that is capable of protecting the brain and improving recovery after a cerebral vascular accident also known as a brain attack.

Rajkumar Verma, assistant professor at UConn Health who leads a research ...Read more