CNN – Health

By Tasnim Ahmed, CNN The flurry of new abortion restrictions across mostly Republican-led states leaves neighboring states to fill the gap in abortion care. Republican Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Sitt signed a bill Tuesday that would make providing an abortion a felony punishable by a maximum fine of $100,000 or a 10-year prison sentence. In one

By Brenda Goodman, CNN Covid-19 case numbers have begun to edge up in the United States, and nearly all of them are caused by the Omicron subvariant BA.2. According to the latest estimates from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, BA.2 caused 86% of new Covid-19 cases nationwide last week. In some ways,

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN A recent outbreak of Covid-19 cases among officials in Washington, with dozens testing positive after attending the Gridiron Club Dinner, has put the concept of Covid-19 superspreading back in the spotlight. Covid-19 superspreading, which involves the virus spreading at a single event on a larger scale than what is typically expected,

By Virginia Langmaid, CNN Data published Tuesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that rates of sexually transmitted diseases in the United States decreased in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, but many had recovered and even increased by the end of 2020. According to the 2020 STD Surveillance Report,

By Sandee LaMotte, CNN If you have a history of asthma or allergies, you may be at increased risk of developing high blood pressure and coronary heart disease, new research finds. Adults between the ages of 18 and 57 who have suffered from an allergic disorder had a higher risk of high blood pressure, according

By Channon Hodge, CNN I have been in pain nearly every day for 21 years. It’s like a brick of hell at the crux of my neck and shoulders that throbs all day long, and it’s been haunting me since college. I look back at old photos, and I see a girl who’s hurting. Living

By Jen Christensen, CNN The health care work force in the US had huge turnover at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic but seems to be getting back to prepandemic levels, although it’s not there yet, according to a new study. The study, published Friday in the journal JAMA Health Forum, found that the recovery

By Katia Hetter, CNN More people can now get second Covid-19 booster shots after federal health officials announced they are allowing a broader group to get fourth doses of the two messenger RNA Covid-19 vaccines made by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. Adults 50 and older, who received three previous mRNA doses, can get a second booster

By Naomi Thomas, CNN Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Wednesday that he thinks there will be an uptick in cases of Covid-19 over the next few weeks and that it is likely that there could be a surge in the fall. “I think we should

By Tasnim Ahmed, CNN Watching an ad in which former President Donald Trump promoted Covid-19 vaccines was linked to increased vaccinations in US counties with low immunization rates, according to a new study. The study was released Monday as a working paper in the National Bureau of Economic Research that has not yet been peer-reviewed.

By Brenda Goodman, CNN From the early days of the pandemic, doctors noticed that in severe cases of Covid-19 — the ones that landed people in the hospital on ventilators with shredded lungs — most of the internal wreckage wasn’t being directly inflicted by the virus itself but by a blizzard of immune reactions triggered

By Jen Christensen, CNN Covid-19 has become a chronic condition for tens of millions of people — and an expensive one, as well. Long Covid — a condition marked by lingering symptoms that can involve multiple bodily systems — has cost a cumulative $386 billion in lost wages, savings and medical expenses in the US

By Sandee LaMotte, CNN An additional 42 genes connected to the development of Alzheimer’s disease have been uncovered in the largest study of genetic risk for Alzheimer’s to date. “This is a landmark study in the field of Alzheimer’s research and is the culmination of 30 years’ work,” study co-author Julie Williams, center director at

By Jen Christensen, CNN A fourth dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine seems to offer short-lived protection against infection overall, but protection against severe illness did not wane for at least several weeks, according to a new study. The study, published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, looked at the health records of

By Virginia Langmaid, CNN A new study found that women in the US face the highest rates of preventable and maternal mortality when compared with women in 10 other wealthy nations. According to data collected by the Commonwealth Fund and published Tuesday, American women have an avoidable mortality rate of 198 per 100,000, the highest

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN Advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration are scheduled to meet Wednesday to get a clearer picture of what the future of Covid-19 booster shots might look like. Just last week, the FDA expanded the emergency use authorization of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines to allow adults 50 and older

By Virginia Langmaid, CNN Two new pieces of research highlight the broader effects of gun violence on health and examine how early intervention on gun safety could be effective in certain groups. One study, published Monday in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, identified significant health and economic consequences of surviving a firearm injury, both

By John Bonifield, CNN US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky announced a sweeping review of the nation’s lead public health agency Monday. The review will evaluate the CDC’s structure, systems and processes, Walensky told CDC staff in an email. Starting April 11, Jim Macrae, an administrator with the US Department

By Tasnim Ahmed, CNN Pandemic hospitalization rates are at new lows, the vast majority of US counties have low community levels of the coronavirus, and as of March 25, all 50 states have lifted mask requirements. But is there a cost to lifting restrictions and trying to return to a pre-pandemic normal? In a new

By Deidre McPhillips, CNN Fewer people are hospitalized with Covid-19 in the United States now than at any other point in the pandemic, but hospitals and staff continue to feel the strain. As of Friday, there are 16,138 people in the hospital with Covid-19 — fewer than there have ever been since the US Department

By Kathleen Toner, CNN As Covid-19 infection rates and restrictions are waning in some places and a variant is surging in others, it’s difficult to understand where we are in the pandemic. But two years ago, the situation was clear: for many people, coronavirus had brought the world to a stop. That’s when pediatric surgeon

By Deidre McPhillips, CNN Mental health concerns among high school students in the United States were exacerbated during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to survey results published Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There have been significant increases in high school students reporting persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, considering suicide or

By Katia Hetter, CNN On Tuesday, the US Food and Drug Administration expanded its authorization of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines. Now, adults ages 50 and older are able to get a second booster if at least four months have passed since their first one. Within hours, the US Centers for Disease Control and

By Jen Christensen, CNN The Omicron coronavirus variant may be reaching around the world, but different places are seeing significantly different effects. In the United States, Covid-19 case numbers have been falling since January. They may have hit a plateau as a subvariant of Omicron, BA.2, becomes the main cause of infections. But in China,

By Nadia Kounang and Deidre McPhillips, CNN The youngest group eligible to be vaccinated against Covid-19 in the US, children ages 5 to 11, is also the least vaccinated one. In about half of US counties, less than 10% of children 5 to 11 are fully vaccinated, according to a CNN analysis of data from

By Sandee LaMotte, CNN Bruce Willis is taking a break from acting due to a brain disorder called aphasia, “which is impacting his cognitive abilities,” his family announced Wednesday. “As a result of this and with much consideration Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him,” his daughter Rumer

By Madeline Holcombe, CNN It’s not hard to see the Oscars blowup between Will Smith and Chris Rock played out at recess in the schoolyard. One person makes a mean joke about someone else that strikes a nerve, and someone who cares about the targeted person gets upset and hits or smacks or punches the

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN The US Food and Drug Administration has authorized additional booster doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna coronavirus vaccines for adults 50 and older — and now, many people in that group are wondering whether to get that dose now or later. On Tuesday, the FDA announced that it has expanded the

By Brenda Goodman, CNN The US Food and Drug Administration has expanded the emergency use authorization of the Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines to allow adults 50 and older to get a second booster as early as four months after their first booster dose of any Covid-19 vaccine. The move extends the availability of additional

By Brenda Goodman, CNN The highly contagious Omicron subvariant BA.2 is now the dominant coronavirus strain in the United States, causing more than half of all Covid-19 infections last week, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday. The new numbers come from the CDC’s genomic surveillance. Based on its models, the agency

By Tasnim Ahmed, CNN Over a year after recovering from a Covid-19 infection, Jennifer Hobbs is adjusting to her new normal: brain fog, joint pain, elevated liver enzymes and, now, type 2 diabetes. Hobbs had prediabetes before she got Covid-19, but her blood sugar levels were under control, and she didn’t need any treatment. Recently,

By Zoe Sottile, CNN New York City is to offer free access to doulas for families in the city’s most vulnerable neighborhoods. Mayor Eric Adams announced the expansion of the program, known as the Citywide Doula Initiative, on Wednesday. The project aims to provide access to doulas for 500 families by the end of June,

By Brenda Goodman, CNN The Biden administration is expected to give older adults the option of getting a second Covid-19 vaccine booster as early as this week. Two sources familiar with the government’s plans said the US Food and Drug Administration is planning authorize a fourth dose of the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines for

By Melanie Radzicki McManus, CNN Forty-five percent of the world’s population is trying to shed a few pounds, according to a 2020 Ipsos poll. And they prefer to do it by exercising more and eating better, not by dieting. That’s essentially the well-known “calories in, calories out” method, where you try to burn more calories

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN After circulating at nearly nonexistent levels last year, influenza is increasing in most of the United States. That’s according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s most recent flu report, released Friday, which also notes that the number of reported flu-related hospital admissions has increased each week for the

By Madeline Holcombe, CNN Many of us spend hours a day in front of a screen. Shouldn’t it be joyful? Unfortunately, it isn’t always so easy. Prolonged screen time disrupts sleep and gives us a big hit of dopamine, often called the “feel-good” neurotransmitter — so much of it that if you go overboard, your

By John Bonifield, CNN Moderna announced interim results of its Covid-19 vaccine for children younger than 6 on Wednesday. The company said two 25-microgram doses of its Covid-19 vaccine for children ages 6 months through 5 years old provided a similar immune response to two 100-microgram doses for adults ages 18 to 25, indicating that

By Brenda Goodman, CNN After weeks in free fall, new Covid-19 cases are starting to level off in the US, as the BA.2 subvariant continues its ascent. BA.2 caused about 35% of cases in the US last week, up from 22% the week before, according to new estimates from the United States Centers for Disease