Health

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images (WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump is nominating a critic of COVID-19 lockdown policies to serve as the head of the National Institutes of Health. In a statement, Trump said he has picked Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to serve as NIH director to work in cooperation with Robert F. Kennedy […]

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images (WASHINGTON) — Named to lead the nation’s sprawling Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has big ideas for busting public health policy norms. His Senate confirmation hearings — should they happen — will come with lots of questions about what Kennedy’s ideas would look like in practice. His […]

Pierre Crom/Getty Images (FRESNO, CA) — After bird flu was detected in a retail sample of raw milk produced and packaged by Raw Farm, LLC, the California Department of Public Health warned consumers on Sunday to avoid consuming any from the same lot. At the state’s request, the Fresno County-based company also issued a voluntary […]

Three influenza A (H5N1/bird flu) virus particles (rod-shaped). Note: Layout incorporates two CDC transmission electron micrographs that have been inverted, repositioned, and colorized by NIAID. Scale has been modified. Image via CDC and NIAID. (NEW YORK) — As seasonal influenza ramps up, and with bird flu continuing to circulate, some public health experts are worried […]

PhotoAlto/Ale Ventura/Getty Images (NEW YORK) — Some hospitals in the U.S. are seeing an increase in RSV and higher levels of “walking pneumonia” among young children despite overall respiratory illness activity remaining low nationally. Cook Children’s Medical Centers in Texas reported a “steep increase” in children visiting the emergency room due to respiratory-related illnesses. On […]

Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images (NEW YORK) — President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that heart surgeon-turned-TV-host Dr. Mehmet Oz would lead the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). “America is facing a Healthcare Crisis, and there may be no Physician more qualified and capable than Dr. Oz to Make America Healthy Again,” Trump said in a statement. “He is […]

Yemassee Police Department (YEMASSEE, SC) — With four primates still on the loose after 43 of them escaped on Nov. 6 from the Alpha Genesis Inc. research laboratory in South Carolina, the Low Country facility has come under intense scrutiny. Animal rights groups have cited the company’s history of violations and previous monkey breakouts; a […]

Jun Li/Getty Images/STOCK (SAN MATEO COUNTY, Calif.) — Health officials in California have confirmed the first domestic case of a more severe strain of mpox in a traveler from Eastern Africa, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The risk to the public remains low, according to the agency. Health officials are […]

Евгения Матвеец/Getty Images (NEW YORK) — With the recent pick of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, the environmental attorney’s views on vaccines have been thrust back into the spotlight. Kennedy has been a prominent vaccine skeptic, arguing that more research of vaccines is needed, although he has […]

Peter Dazeley/Getty Images/STOCK (NEW YORK) — Women are stocking up on birth control and asking for long-term contraception methods following President Donald Trump being elected to a second term last week, doctors say. Searches for “birth control” and “Plan B” doubled between Nov. 2 and the two days after the election, with a notable spike […]