Just in time for the holiday season, on Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that it is now tracking a new COVID-19 “variant of concern” around the U.S. known as XBB, which has grown to make up an estimated 3.1% of new infections nationwide. According to CBS News, the new strain’s […]
As CNN reports, for the first time since 2016, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated its guidelines for clinicians and patients on the use of prescription opioids to treat short-term and long-term pain. The update comes as drug overdose deaths have risen dramatically in recent years, although the majority of those deaths […]
Pfizer announced on Tuesday that its experimental RSV vaccine for pregnant women protects newborns against severe illness for at least six months after birth. As Yahoo News reports, in phase III of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, considered the gold standard of epidemiologic studies, the vaccine was found to be about 82% effective at preventing […]
Allergy medications like antihistamines can provide relief during autumn, but a new study suggests they may be lethal to victims of the opioid epidemic. As USA Today reports, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have identified approximately 92,000 drug overdose deaths in 43 states and Washington, D.C., between 2019 and 2020, […]
Hurricane Ian dealt a severe blow to hundreds of thousands of homes in Florida when it made landfall September 28 as a churning Category 4 monster of a storm. According to AccuWeather, storm surges in excess of 12 feet left many houses submerged in feet of water in just a short period of time. And the […]
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the United States. About 1 in 8 women will get breast cancer during her life. And although breast cancer mostly occurs among women over the age of 45, in some cases breast cancer is diagnosed in women in their 20’s and 30’s. Currently, about 9% of […]
There are growing concerns over mental health in the Latino community. As a result, there’s been a new push by counselors, celebrities, and influencers to provide access to treatment and create safe conversations within communities. According to data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), in 2020, more than 18% of the Latinx community […]
The Partnership for Food Safety Education (PFSE) sponsors National Food Safety and Education Month. This month take an active role in preventing foodborne illness, also known as “food poisoning.” The FDA and CDC estimate that there are about 48 million cases of foodborne illness annually – that’s about 1 in 6 Americans each year. Each […]
If you haven’t had or been vaccinated against COVID-19 in the last few months, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says you should get a new booster shot this fall. The latest shots, which were FDA-authorized in late August and are available now, were designed specfically to target currently circulating – and […]
As CNN reports, early in the coronavirus pandemic, health officials closely monitored sewage samples for signs of the virus to track where it could be circulating. Now, that technique is being used to detect other infectious diseases: polio and monkeypox. Some disease detectives in the United States are narrowing their wastewater surveillance efforts to zero […]