CNN – Health

By Janelle Chavez, CNN A rare strain of bacteria found in recalled eyedrops has been linked to dozens of infections, as well as cases of vision loss, surgical removal of eyeballs and one death. Global Pharma Healthcare’s Artificial Tears Lubricant Eye Drops, distributed by EzriCare and Delsam Pharma, were first recalled in early February. In

By Christina Zdanowicz, CNN Effie Schnacky was wheezy and lethargic instead of being her normal, rambunctious self one February afternoon. When her parents checked her blood oxygen level, it was hovering around 80% — dangerously low for the 7-year-old. Her mother, Jaimie, rushed Effie, who has asthma, to a local emergency room in Hudson, Wisconsin.

By Janelle Chavez, CNN Advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration voted 16-1 on Thursday in support of full approval of Paxlovid, stating that the benefits outweigh the risks of the drug for treatment of mild to moderate Covid-19 in adults who are at high risk for severe disease, including hospitalization and death. Before

By Annette Choi and Will Mullery, CNN The Supreme Court on Friday protected access to a widely used abortion drug by freezing lower-court rulings that placed restrictions on its usage. A federal judge in Texas previously ruled to suspend the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, the first drug in the medication abortion process,

By Sandee LaMotte, CNN Closely following a Mediterranean diet may cut a woman’s risk of heart disease and death by nearly 25%, according to a new analysis of 16 studies. “This study adds to what is already known about the cardiovascular benefits of a Mediterranean diet but further reiterates that it can be equally as

By Deidre McPhillips, CNN The mortality rate for children and teens in the United States surged in 2020 and 2021, driven not by deaths from Covid-19 but from fatal injuries from things like firearms, drugs and cars, according to a study published Monday in JAMA. The pandemic years brought a marked shift to the trends

By Jen Christensen, CNN The US Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday proposed the first national drinking water standard for “forever chemicals” that are dangerous to human health. The move could radically affect drinking water for nearly everyone in the United States. The new rule intends to set drinking water standards for six per- and polyfluoroalkyl

By Sandee LaMotte, CNN Are you ready to move your clocks forward by an hour? That’s right — for most people in the United States, it’s time to “spring forward” into Daylight Saving Time. “For whatever reason, Daylight Saving Time always just creeps up on us,” said pediatrician Dr. Cora Collette Breuner, a professor of

By Jen Christensen, CNN The Biden administration is monitoring what experts say is the deadliest outbreak of bird flu that the US has ever seen, and officials are considering a “range of options” on how to respond. The outbreak is not currently considered a serious threat to human health, according to the US Centers for

By Andrea Kane, CNN Is the internet — and all that goes along with it: the screens, the technology, the apps — good or bad? That’s been the question churning in the undercurrent of this season of CNN’s Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta. The podcast has been examining the effects of screens on our

By Jamie Gumbrecht, CNN A new recommendation from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says all adults should be screened at least once in their lifetime for hepatitis B, an illness that’s linked to liver disease and cancer. The agency estimates 580,000 to 2.4 million people live with hepatitis B, known as HBV,

By Katia Hetter, CNN Up to 20,000 people who attended a religious gathering at a college in Wilmore, Kentucky, in February could have been exposed to a person later diagnosed with measles. On Friday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an alert to clinicians and public health officials about the confirmed case

By Elle Reeve, Samantha Guff and Deborah Brunswick, CNN What drug users and people who work with them in Philadelphia talk about is the smell. The smell of rotting flesh from open infected wounds. Some users say they feel ashamed of the state of their bodies, but more feel a sense of urgency. They need

By Jacqueline Howard and Janelle Chavez, CNN One of the four Americans who were kidnapped in Mexico last week was traveling for medical tourism, a friend said. A growing number of US residents are traveling internationally to seek more affordable medical care, more timely care or access to certain treatments or procedures that are unapproved

By Sandee LaMotte, CNN Her smile is bright, cheery, sometimes goofy and always contagious. But pictures can’t completely capture her upbeat, positive vibe. At 21, Claire Bridges has a mature spirit that amazes those who love her as well as the doctors who had to operate on her heart and remove both legs to save

By Lauren Lee, CNN With the third anniversary of the Covid-19 outbreak, the secondary pandemic of hunger still looms for many Americans. According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service, nearly 34 million people in the US live in food-insecure households. It’s a figure that just scratches the surface according to Claire

By Deidre McPhillips, CNN Cronobacter sakazakii, the bacteria that contaminated a major infant formula manufacturing plant and led to a nationwide shortage, is a common natural pathogen. It’s harmless for most people, but it can be life threatening for infants, especially those who are born prematurely or with weakened immune systems. Infections caused by the

By Brenda Goodman, CNN This had been a quiet little town of about 4,700 people nestled in the rolling hills of Northeast Ohio. A sign posted on State Road 14 welcomes visitors to East Palestine, “the place to be.” But for the past month, ever since a freight train derailed and caught fire, the town

By Janelle Chavez, CNN About 20,000 people who attended a large religious gathering in Kentucky last month may have been exposed to measles, and undervaccinated attendees should quarantine and monitor symptoms for 21 days, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a Health Alert Network Advisory on Friday. The CDC alert was

By Jen Christensen, CNN A mobile lab monitoring for air pollution at the site of the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, found one potential chemical of concern at higher levels than normal, a team of scientists from Carnegie Mellon University and Texas A&M said at a briefing on Friday. Researchers said it’s

By Katia Hetter, CNN Two advisory committees to the US Food and Drug Administration have voted unanimously to recommend that a nasal spray version of the opioid overdose antidote, naloxone (also called Narcan), be made available over the counter. If the FDA agrees with this recommendation, naloxone may soon be sold without a prescription in

By Brenda Goodman, CNN The municipal building in tiny Darlington Township, Pennsylvania, was buzzing with activity on Wednesday afternoon as a stream of locals arrived seeking information on health screenings, chemical exposures and well testing. Darlington, home to about 1,800 people, sits just over the border from East Palestine, Ohio, the site of a catastrophic

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN A person in Charlotte County, Florida, has died after being infected with the rare brain-eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri. The infection possibly resulted from “sinus rinse practices utilizing tap water,” according to a news release from the Florida Department of Health in Charlotte County. The release was issued in February to alert

By Jacqueline Howard and Kyla Russell, CNN Among older patients, Black men may have a higher chance of dying within 30 days following surgery than their peers, according to a new study. The study, published Wednesday in the medical journal BMJ, suggests that this inequity could be driven by outcomes following elective surgery, for which

By Jen Christensen and Betsy Klein, CNN Eli Lilly announced Wednesday a series of price cuts that would lower the price of the most commonly used forms of its insulin 70% and said it will automatically cap out-of-pocket insulin costs at $35 for people who have private insurance and use participating pharmacies. Lilly says it

By Deidre McPhillips, CNN A month after announcing plans to make a sweeping redesign of its food safety programs, the US Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that it has begun the search for a deputy commissioner for human foods and plans to have a final reorganization proposal to share in the fall. But key

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN Cell therapy, involving adult stem cells from bone marrow, has been shown to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in severe heart failure patients, according to a new study. A single administration of adult stem cells directly into an inflamed heart, through a catheter, could result in a long-term