Whenever Ebola comes, some of those stricken choose the road to the nearest hospital. Others take the path to the shrine of a traditional healer who can prescribe herbs or offer prayers. With often devastating consequences, too many choose to go to sacred places when they feel the hemorrhagic fever possessing them is perhaps a spiritual event. This is the case now in Congo, which is suffering its seventeenth outbreak of Ebola in a remote eastern region. Five decades after the Ebola virus was first identified in the rich ecosystem known as the Congo Basin, the disease's symptoms retain the capacity to mystify the afflicted while turning religious leaders into first responders in a deadly emergency.
Congolese authorities report a large daily increase in Ebola cases as the virus without a approved medicine or vaccine spreads rapidly. On Sunday, the Ministry of Health confirmed 72 new cases, bringing the total to 782, with 181 confirmed deaths. The outbreak, caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, is spreading in Congo's remote eastern province of Ituri. The World Health Organization is intensifying testing and contact tracing. Africa's top health body is deploying technical expertise to accelerate the response. Nearly a million people have been displaced by years of conflict in the region, complicating efforts to contain the outbreak.
TUCSON, Ariz. — Carol Ross can't stop smiling at dance practice as she shouts out the steps of a routine to members of her tap and jazz troupe for women age 50 and older.
A study commissioned by President Joe Biden's administration to investigate alcohol-related health harms was released independently on June 9, after President Donald Trump's administration decided not to feature the researchers' findings in new dietary guidelines as it faced pushback from th…
A new memo from U.S. health regulators is raising questions about a recent decision to authorize the first fruit-flavored e-cigarettes for adult smokers. The Food and Drug Administration document posted online this week shows that adding flavors like mango and blueberry didn't help smokers quit when compared with older, tobacco-flavored vapes. The memo provides the first detailed look at how the FDA made its decision to approve the e-cigarettes from a small California vaping company. The decision marked a first for the agency and has been heavily criticized by health groups and lawmakers.
The Trump administration is telling European nations that they need to step up their travel restrictions for people from Ebola-hit countries in Africa. It's warning that failure to do so may result in increased U.S. regulations on travel from Europe, including for the World Cup soccer tournament. The State Department says Secretary of State Marco Rubio called European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday to convey concerns about "U.S. and European coordination and response efforts to the Ebola outbreak." A department official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the private call, was more blunt, saying it's time for action and hinting that without it, transatlantic travel could be affected.
The second-biggest outbreak of Ebola in history took place in Congo’s North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri provinces, with some cases in neighboring Uganda between 2018-2020. In Beni, North Kivu province, survivors recall their memories of that outbreak eight years ago.
Pope Leo XIV is presiding over a youth rally in Barcelona. It's notable for its frank discussion of depression, domestic violence and "toxic" family relationships. The American pope is urging young people to persevere in their faith when times are dark. The event featured several nods to Catalan culture, including a demonstration of the region's famed human tower acrobats, known as castellers. Leo also spoke in Catalan, more than initially foreseen.
CINCINNATI — The first time 5-year-old Calvin Owens went outside in more than a month, he met up with his canine friend Hadley on a hospital patio. Despite being tethered to equipment with wires and tubes, the little boy managed to stand up near his wheelchair long enough to toss her a ball.
A survey by mattress company Amerisleep finds the average American now spends 364 hours a year bed rotting. That's the equivalent of 15 full days spent in bed outside of sleeping. Gen Z leads the trend, spending 498 hours or 21 days a year practicing the self-care trend; 89% admit they do it.
In Congo, the battle against the rare Bundibugyo type of Ebola has been complicated by skepticism, attacks on health workers and misinformation. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported at least 63 deaths from 397 confirmed cases as of Friday. Many locals dismissed the outbreak as a conspiracy. In response, journalist Vérité Johnson launched a radio program in Bunia to combat rumors and educate residents. The World Health Organization and Africa CDC have launched a $518 million response plan. Resistance to health protocols is common in Congo, fueled by mistrust and misinformation, complicating efforts to contain the virus.
The World Health Organization chief says Congo's Ebola outbreak had a head start but that testing is improving, even as violence plagues the region. Since mid-May, 344 cases and 60 deaths have been confirmed in three eastern provinces. The number of suspected cases has dropped significantly. Uganda has 15 confirmed cases, including one death. The outbreak involves a rare Ebola type with no approved medicine or vaccine. Limited testing and access issues make assessing the outbreak's extent difficult. WHO's Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that only 45% of contacts have been traced, with insecurity and displacement complicating efforts. Health workers face challenges, including attacks and skepticism about Ebola's existence.
The state of Florida has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, claiming the company knowingly released and aggressively marketed ChatGPT to the public while concealing serious risks. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said Monday that the company suppressed internal safety warnings and deceived users about the true nature and dangers of the product. The lawsuit mentioned two recent criminal cases in which the suspects allegedly used OpenAI to plan the attacks. OpenAI says its models repeatedly encouraged the individuals to seek real-world support, including from mental health professionals. The company also says it has cooperated with law enforcement in both cases.
Hundreds of youths in the Kenyan town of Nanyuki have demonstrated against an Ebola quarantine center at Laikipia Air Base. The protests took place two days after Kenya's High Court suspended the facility's establishment and the arrival of foreign patients. The Law Society of Kenya and a constitutional watchdog filed a case citing Kenya's fragile health system. U.S. officials said Thursday that Americans exposed to Ebola abroad would be sent to the new facility. Health Minister Aden Duale said Sunday the center was for everyone, not just U.S. nationals. The U.S. government says it plans to commit $13.5 million to Kenya's Ebola preparedness efforts.
Hundreds of people in Kenya’s central town of Nanyuki demonstrated on Monday against the establishment at the Laikipia Air Base of an Ebola quarantine center for American citizens exposed to the virus.
NEW YORK — Yoselin Sanchez has been in chronic pain since she was born with cervical scoliosis. While little eases the discomfort, she’s found ways to distract herself from hurting.
WASHINGTON — A first-of-its-kind drug for hepatitis B is letting some patients stop treatment without showing signs of the dangerous liver virus, what’s called a “functional cure,” researchers reported May 28.
The head of the World Health Organization has arrived in Congo's capital, Kinshasa, to support efforts against an Ebola outbreak. Medical personnel are struggling with equipment shortages, distrustful populations and armed groups. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus emphasized community collaboration. The outbreak of a rare type of Ebola is spreading faster than the response, with 906 suspected cases and 223 deaths. Aid from the EU and the U.S. is arriving. Health workers face challenges due to local burial rites and regional conflicts. The WHO is discouraging travel bans, but the U.S. has imposed a 21-day ban on noncitizens who have visited Congo and two neighboring countries.
Aid workers rushed supplies Thursday to the center of Congo's outbreak of a rare type of Ebola virus while beleaguered medical personnel struggled with a lack of equipment, a distrustful population and armed groups in a volatile region.
A new report from the United Nations weather agency gives a three-out-of-four chance that the next five years will average more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial temperatures. That's the international safety limit set in 2015. There's an even higher chance — 86% — that one of the next five years will smash the global heat record set in 2024 and next year looks like a leading contender. So expect more extreme weather. The next five winters in the Arctic are predicted to be nearly 3 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the last five years. Meteorologists also forecast an Amazon drought that may spark wildfires.
A new World Meteorological Organization report gives a three-out-of-four chance that the next five years will average more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial temperatures. That's the international safety limit set in 2015.
Aid supplies have been rushed in to the center of Congo's Ebola outbreak where medical workers are struggling with equipment shortages, distrustful locals and armed groups. On Thursday, a white cargo plane delivered masks, gloves, boots, and medications donated by the European Union to Bunia, a northeastern town at the heart of the outbreak. The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak a public health emergency. The Congolese government has confirmed over 1,000 suspected cases and at least 220 deaths. The virus has also reached Uganda. The response faces challenges like customs delays, bad roads and weak telecommunications.
Ugandan authorities have ordered the closure of the border with Congo amid a surge in Ebola cases. The decision was made by a local Ebola task force. This comes after a rise in Ugandan health workers exposed to Ebola by Congolese patients who crossed the border before the outbreak was declared on May 15. Uganda has reported seven cases of Ebola, including a 59-year-old man who died in Kampala on May 14. Meanwhile, the number of suspected Ebola cases in eastern Congo is nearing 1,000, with at least 220 suspected deaths.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday the U.S. “cannot and will not allow” Ebola cases into the country as officials work to contain the outbreak in Africa. The Trump administration is also setting up a quarantine facility in Kenya for exposed Americans.
Schools across the U.S. are starting to rethink the abundance of digital devices in classrooms. After pouring billions of dollars into laptops, tablets and learning apps, a growing number of schools say it is time to scale back. The Los Angeles public school system announced it will stop giving its youngest students devices, as part of a sweeping new screen policy in the nation's second-largest school district. Concerned parents are driving the reforms. As one mother says: her daughter came home from school "with a screen addiction in her backpack."
A $25 million grant to support struggling hospitals in California has become law just days after its introduction. The rapid approval surprised many hospitals and lawmakers. Assembly Bill 108, signed last week, provides grants to public and nonprofit hospitals meeting specific criteria, like having less than 10 days of cash on hand. The goal is to help these hospitals until the new fiscal year begins on July 1. The Department of Health Care Access and Information will announce recipients on May 26. Some lawmakers and hospital leaders expressed concerns about the narrow criteria and whether the funding is sufficient to prevent closures.
Africa's top public health body confirms a new Ebola outbreak in Congo's Ituri province. There are 246 suspected cases and 65 deaths so far. Uganda also reports one death from a case it says was imported from neighboring Congo. Most cases are in Mongwalu and Rwampara health zones. The Africa CDC says preliminary tests suggest a non-Ebola Zaire strain. Uganda's Health Ministry confirms the imported case and has quarantined contacts. The WHO is sending aid and funds to help Congo's response. The outbreak is the 17th in Congo since 1976 and raises concerns due to its proximity to Uganda and South Sudan.
The Trump administration is expanding its fraud-busting initiative in federal health programs. Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday announced a $1.3 billion deferral in Medicaid reimbursements to California, and that's said to be largest-ever deferral. The press office of California's governor is disputing the administration's suspicions of fraud. The administration is also imposing a six-month freeze on some new Medicare enrollments and warning states to investigate Medicaid fraud or risk losing funding. The new efforts are part of Vance's anti-fraud task force. Several alleged fraud schemes have been prosecuted in federal health programs, and states have acknowledged it's a legitimate concern. But some have pushed back on the administration's aggressive tactics.
American women in their 30s rethink the nearly $10,000 they spend each year on beauty. Instead of giving up self-care, they look for simpler ways to feel good. With everyday expenses on the rise, more turn to DIY beauty, using natural ingredients and at-home rituals that keep things personal…
The American obsession with the iPhone is complicated, as most love-hate relationships are. It sometimes seems like a talisman so magically powerful that we can't fathom living without it. The iPhone, and its smartphone brethren, enable pictures that can almost instantly be posted on social media, play a video game, watch a video, listen to music, send a text, check email, surf the internet, catch up on on the news, get directions, tap to pay at the checkout stand. Oh — and, every once in a while, it can even make or answer a phone call. At other times, it seems like a drug-dealing pusher preying on our weaknesses and worst impulses while deepening our addiction.
Marty Makary is resigning as President Donald Trump's Food and Drug Administration head. The surgeon and health researcher's tenure had drawn complaints from health industry executives, anti-abortion activists and other Trump allies. Trump said Tuesday that Makary "was having some difficulty" but "he's going to go on and he's going to do well." Makary came to the attention of Republicans as an outspoken critic of COVID-19 health measures during the pandemic, when he appeared frequently on Fox News Channel. But at the FDA, Makary failed to win the staff's confidence after mass layoffs, leadership changes and a series of controversies in which the agency's scientific principles appeared to be overridden by political interests.
The head of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Marty Makary, is resigning after a rocky tenure that drew months of complaints from health industry executives, anti-abortion activists, vaping lobbyists and other allies of President Donald Trump.
For the first time in more than a decade, a leading pediatricians group has put out new guidance about recess, saying it's crucial for good health and good grades and should be part of the school day for students of all ages. The updated policy statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics comes after years of shrinking breaks between lessons and worsening children's health. The group cites the latest research on why these breaks are essential for kids' academic success and mental, physical, social and emotional growth. The guidance was published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.
For the first time in more than a decade, a leading pediatricians group has put out new guidance about recess, saying it’s crucial for good health and good grades.
The Supreme Court is leaving women's access to a widely used abortion pill untouched until at least Thursday, while the justices consider whether to allow restrictions on the drug, mifepristone, to take effect. Justice Samuel Alito's order Monday allows women seeking abortions to continue obtaining the pill at pharmacies or through the mail, without an in-person visit to a doctor. It prevents restrictions on mifepristone imposed by a federal appeals court from taking effect for now. The court is dealing with its latest abortion controversy four years after its conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed more than a dozen states to effectively ban abortion outright. Louisiana leads the current challenge.
The Centers for Disease Control estimates as many as 450,000 Americans could suffer from alpha-gal syndrome. The allergy, brought on by a tick bite, can make eating red meat, consuming dairy and using other mammal-derived products dangerous for people with the condition.
California will become the first state in the nation to provide infants with hundreds of free diapers before they leave hospitals after birth. Officials say the goal is to ease the financial burden on families welcoming newborns in the notoriously costly state. The state will provide 400 diapers to each newborn through participating hospitals. The program in its first year will be limited to hospitals largely serving low-income patients, and then it will expand statewide after that. It comes two years after Tennessee and Delaware became the first states to offer free diapers to families enrolled in their state's Medicaid programs.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other health officials have repeatedly announced major changes before any new rules have been drafted. While it's true that writing new health regulations is a notoriously slow process, former health officials say the Trump administration's approach is good for driving headlines but not for making permanent changes. That was the case with last year's public announcement that the Food and Drug Administration would phase out all synthetic food dyes. A year later, no formal regulation for accomplishing the change has appeared. Instead, the FDA has pressured companies to voluntarily drop the colors.
Oceanwide Expeditions has revealed that 30 passengers disembarked from its cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak on April 24. They left the ship on the remote island of St. Helena, nearly two weeks after the first passenger died. The company had previously said that a Dutch man's body was removed there, and that his wife also disembarked. She later died in South Africa. Authorities across four continents are tracing contacts of passengers who left the ship. Three passengers have died in the outbreak, and several others are sick. Argentina's Health Ministry tells The Associated Press that a team of investigators has yet to leave for the southern town they suspect is where a Dutch couple contracted the virus.
Giulia Gallo, Postdoctoral Scientist in the Viral Glycoproteins Group at The Pirbright Institute told The Associated Press that "the most important thing is not to create panic" as the transmission rate for the virus is very low. Three passengers have died and several others have been sicken…
The U.N. health agency says two patients with hantavirus and one suspected of infection were evacuated from a cruise ship at the center of a deadly outbreak. Two of the patients arrived at Amsterdam's airport Wednesday evening and were driven off in ambulances. The ship departed from Cape Verde and headed to Spain's Canary Islands. The World Health Organization says eight cases have been recorded, with five confirmed by lab tests. Three people have died. Two Argentine officials investigating the origins of the outbreak say the government's leading hypothesis is that a Dutch couple contracted the virus during a bird-watching outing before boarding.
South African health authorities have identified the Andes strain of hantavirus in two passengers who were on a cruise ship at the center of an outbreak of the rare infection.
Technological advancements have made cosmetic procedures more accessible but have also lead many to grapple with the philosophical and ethical implications. Some religious views discourage vanity while others see cosmetic surgery as a personal choice. Women are often faced with these conversations although they are not the only demographic considering personal autonomy, social pressures and the medical profession's role. There has been little in the way of official guidance or explicit prohibitions from major religions. But a growing chorus of theologians, philosophers and bioethicists from all backgrounds are calling for more thoughtful discourse surrounding these procedures and treatments.
San Mateo County will purchase a $13 million Burlingame property to hopefully open up a sobering station as soon as possible, house the Pride Center and provide an option for a treatment facility, with supervisor approval Tuesday.
President Donald Trump is reviving the Presidential Physical Fitness Award as he reintroduces a competitive physical fitness test in America's schools. The award is part of Trump's revamped Presidential Fitness Test, which had been a public-school fixture for decades but was phased out under President Barack Obama. The earlier exam tested children on exercises including a 1-mile run and sit-ups. Those scoring above the 85th percentile received the presidential award. Details of the revived test have yet to be released. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the test is now mandatory in 161 schools on U.S. military installations.
President Donald Trump's deals with drugmakers requiring many of their U.S. prescription prices to drop could save the economy $529 billion over the next decade. That's according to the first analysis from the White House Council of Economic Advisers of what's known as the "most favored nation" policy. Democrats have said they want more details about the agreements made between drugmakers and the government. Trump says his prescription drug pricing plan is critical for Republicans in the November midterm elections, which will decide majorities in the House and Senate. The new analysis, obtained by The Associated Press, comes as voters express concern about higher energy prices tied to the Iran war.
Footage obtained by The Associated Press of a cruise ship in a rare-virus outbreak shows deserted decks and medical teams in protective gear as the vessel and its nearly 150 passengers and crew waited another day for help off West Africa. Officials say three passengers have died, and at least four people are sick. Authorities say the outbreak involves hantavirus, which usually spreads by inhaling contaminated rodent droppings. Two cases are confirmed. Passengers are isolating in cabins. The vessel is in the Atlantic off Cape Verde. Officials say it plans to move to Spain's Canary Islands after medical evacuations. But Spanish officials said earlier Tuesday that they haven't made a decision.
A cruise ship with nearly 150 people aboard was waiting for help off the coast of Cape Verde in the Atlantic Ocean on Monday after three passengers died and at least three other people were left seriously ill in a suspected outbreak of the rare hantavirus, according to the World Health Organ…
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