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What is listeria? Things to know about the bacteria and how to prevent infection

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

BALTIMORE — At least two cases of listeria have been linked to ice cream in the Baltimore metro area, prompting health and safety concerns.

Listeria is a bacterium that can contaminate food and cause serious, sometimes fatal infections, particularly in pregnant women, newborns, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems, according to ...Read more

Jan Sonnenmair/Getty Images North America/TNS

Health department confirms Virginia's first measles case of 2025

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — The Virginia Department of Health confirmed the state’s first measles case of 2025 in a Saturday announcement.

The agency said a child 4 or under living in the state’s northwest health region contracted the disease after recent international travel.

“This first case of measles in Virginia this year is a reminder of ...Read more

Todd McInturf, The Detroit News/The Detroit News/TNS

Health officials confirm Michigan's first measles outbreak since 2019

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DETROIT — Local and state health officials confirmed Thursday that Michigan is experiencing its first measles outbreak since 2019.

An outbreak is defined as three or more related cases, which has been confirmed in Montcalm County, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and the Mid-Michigan District Health Department...Read more

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Supreme Court to hear arguments over preventive care task force

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments Monday about the legality of the process to mandate cost-free preventive care used by millions of Americans, in a case brought by a group of Texas businesses objecting to coverage for an HIV preventive drug.

The U.S. government has asked the justices to overturn a decision by the U....Read more

As views on spanking shift worldwide, most US adults support it, and 19 states allow physical punishment in schools

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

_Nearly a half-century after the Supreme Court ruled that school spankings are permissible and not “cruel and unusual punishment”, many U.S. states allow physical punishment for students who have misbehaved.

_Today, over a third of the states allow teachers to paddle or spank students. More than 100,000 students are paddled in U.S...Read more

Michael B. Thomas/KFF Health News/TNS

Magic happens when kids and adults learn to swim. Tragedy can strike if they don't

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

At a swim meet just outside St. Louis, heads turned when a team of young swimmers walked through the rec center with their parents in tow.

A supportive mom kept her eye on the clock while the Makos Swim Team athletes tucked their natural curls, braids, and locs into yellow swimming caps. In the bleachers, spectators whispered about the team’s...Read more

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Mayo Clinic Q and A: Is intermittent fasting a helpful practice or health risk?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: My friend swears by intermittent fasting since her recent weight loss. I know it works for some people, but is it actually healthy?

ANSWER: Although it may appear to be a new trend, intermittent fasting has been popular for over 1,500 years. While we know that it works for some people to lose weight, the reality is that ...Read more

Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Can a baby struggle with their mental health? How this hospital is helping LA's youngest

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

LOS ANGELES -- A major initiative at Children's Hospital Los Angeles aims to address a critical but much overlooked need: mental health care for families experiencing the complex flood of joy, fear and upheaval during the first few years of a child's life.

Myriad issues can emerge or become exacerbated in a family after a baby is born, ...Read more

FDA covered up E. coli outbreak that killed 1 person, spread to 15 states

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The federal government covered up an outbreak of E. coli that killed one person and spread across at least 15 states, according to a report published Thursday.

A series of E. coli cases was first reported in November in St. Louis County, Mo., but the Food and Drug Administration never released any information about the outbreak, NBC News ...Read more

Elena Zlatomrezova/Dreamstime/TNS

More psych hospital beds are needed for kids, but neighbors say not here

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental health crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing or texting “988.”

____

In January, a teenager in suburban St. Louis informed his high school counselor that a classmate said he planned to kill himself later that day.

The 14-year-old classmate denied it, but his ...Read more

Jana Hollingsworth/Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Do you sweat while you drive? Researchers say stress affects your decisions behind the wheel

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DULUTH, Minn. – When a Jeep cut me off and then slowed to several notches below the speed limit, I first gasped and then gestured wildly, swearing. These things I remember.

But a sensor I was wearing to capture my heart rate and electrical changes in my skin, along with a vehicle “black box,” revealed more: aggressive braking and ...Read more

Rae Solomon/KUNC/TNS

Deportation fears add to mental health problems confronting Colorado resort town workers

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

SILVERTHORNE, Colo. — When Adolfo Román García-Ramírez walks home in the evening from his shift at a grocery store in this central Colorado mountain town, sometimes he thinks back on his childhood in Nicaragua. Adults, he recollects, would scare the kids with tales of the “Mona Bruja,” or “Monkey Witch.” Step too far into the dark, ...Read more

Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Misinformation about fentanyl exposure threatens to undermine overdose response

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Fentanyl, the deadly synthetic opioid driving the nation’s high drug overdose rates, is also caught up in another increasingly serious problem: misinformation.

False and misleading narratives on social media, in news reports, and even in popular television dramas suggesting people can overdose from touching fentanyl — rather than ingesting ...Read more

Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Oregon health officials investigate rare brain disease blamed for 2 deaths

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Health officials in Hood River County, Oregon, are investigating three cases of a rare and fatal brain disease known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Two people have died and a third person is showing symptoms consistent with the disease. The disease has been confirmed in one of the deceased through an autopsy; the other two cases are considered ...Read more

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Republicans in Congress are eyeing cuts to Medicaid. But what does Medicaid actually do?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Republicans in Congress are eyeing $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid, the joint federal-state government health care program for lower-income people.

Depending on how states respond, a Republican proposal that would slash the 90% federal contribution to states’ expanded Medicaid programs would end coverage for as many as 20 million of the 72 ...Read more

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Measles outbreak in Kansas rises to 37 cases, mostly unvaccinated patients

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The measles outbreak in Kansas continued to grow over the past week, driven largely by unvaccinated children and teens, according to health officials.

The Kansas Department Health and Environment reported Wednesday that there have been 37 positive cases of measles, up from 32 cases a week ago, according to the 2025 Kansas Measles Outbreak ...Read more

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US, Europe diverge on infectious disease messaging

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

STOCKHOLM — In both the United States and Europe, two public health agencies aim to fight the spread of infectious diseases.

But the Trump administration’s rapidly evolving approach to public health prevention has highlighted stark and growing differences in their approaches.

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was born ...Read more

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Idaho law allows over-the-counter sale of controversial drug ivermectin

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

BOISE, Idaho — It was a scene that doctors saw play out over and over during the COVID-19 pandemic, said David Pate, the former president and CEO of St. Luke’s Health System.

People brought critically ill family members to the hospital and were “in shock” when they learned that a family member had been infected by the coronavirus even ...Read more

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Commentary: Searching for the cause of autism diverts attention from where it's needed: Helping autistic people

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new data this week showing that 1 in 31 children in the U.S. is autistic. As researchers and physicians, we welcome the growing national attention—and federal funding—this condition is receiving.

But we worry the money is being directed toward the wrong question.

For decades, the lion...Read more