Health

By Madeline Holcombe, CNN (CNN) — Offering “thoughts and prayers” after a tragedy may sound insufficient, said Father Chris Collins, a Jesuit priest and vice president for mission at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey expressed a similar point of view on Wednesday after two children were killed

By Deidre McPhillips, CNN (CNN) — Federal officials in the US say that Covid-19 vaccines remain available to everyone, despite new restrictions on the groups that they’re approved for. But experts suggest that claim is misleading, as the more narrow approval may raise significant barriers to access for many Americans. On Wednesday, the US Food

By Sarah Owermohle, Adam Cancryn, CNN (CNN) — Deputy Health and Human Services Secretary Jim O’Neill will serve as acting director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy said in a letter to CDC staff. O’Neill joined HHS in June after years as a

CNN By Jade Walker, CNN As we head into Labor Day weekend, take a moment to honor the American labor movement, which fought for decades to bring us all improved working conditions, fair wages and an end to child labor. As for the 5 Things team, we’re going to take a short break. 5 Good

By Brenda Goodman, Katherine Dillinger, CNN (CNN) — Top officials who resigned their positions at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over the ouster of the agency’s director were escorted out of the building Thursday morning, then celebrated and saluted by CDC staffers in the afternoon. Before the crowds gathered outside the Atlanta

By Katia Hetter, CNN (CNN) — Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide, responsible for 3.5 million deaths in 2021, according to the World Health Organization. It’s a common disease in the United States, affecting about 6% of US adults and ranking among the country’s top 10 causes

By Sarah Owermohle, Adam Cancryn, Brenda Goodman, Meg Tirrell, CNN (CNN) — Dr. Susan Monarez, who was sworn in as director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on July 31, has been removed from the position, the White House said Wednesday. Several high-level veteran agency officials resigned after word spread about her

By Jamie Gumbrecht, Deidre McPhillips, Brenda Goodman, CNN (CNN) — The US Food and Drug Administration approved updated Covid-19 vaccines Wednesday, but for a limited group: adults 65 and older, and younger people who are at higher risk from Covid-19. “FDA has now issued marketing authorization for those at higher risk: Moderna (6+ months), Pfizer

By Kameryn Griesser, CNN (CNN) — As AI chatbots become a popular way to access cost-free counseling and companionship, a patchwork of state regulation is emerging, restricting how the technology can be used in therapy practices — and determining whether it can replace human therapists. The string of new regulations follows reports of AI chatbots

By Gina Park, CNN (CNN) — If you told me four years ago that I’d be living a sustainable life, I wouldn’t have known what that meant. With the planet getting warmer and more people viewing global warming as a serious threat, there is no better time to act than now. At least, that’s the

By Jen Christensen, CNN (CNN) — A division of the US Department of Health and Human Services told 40 states, five territories and the District of Columbia on Tuesday that they “are now on notice”: Some federally funded sex ed programs need to remove any mention of gender identity or transgender people, even in passing,

CNN By Sandee LaMotte, CNN (CNN) — A combination of a lower-calorie Mediterranean diet, exercise and nutritional support kept overweight to severely obese people between the ages of 55 and 75 from progressing to type 2 diabetes, a new study found. “Our study shows that modest, sustained changes in diet and lifestyle could prevent millions

By Jen Christensen, CNN (CNN) — The latest results from a trial of a pill form popular GLP-1 medications offer enough information for the Eli Lilly to request global regulatory approval this year, the company said Tuesday. Lilly, which makes the injectable drugs Zepbound to treat obesity and Mounjaro and Trulicity to treat diabetes, is

By Sandee LaMotte, CNN (CNN) — A combination of a lower-calorie Mediterranean diet, exercise and nutritional support kept overweight to severely obese people between the ages of 55 and 75 from progressing to type 2 diabetes, a new study found. “Our study shows that modest, sustained changes in diet and lifestyle could prevent millions of

By Jamie Gumbrecht, Brenda Goodman, CNN (CNN) — A rare case of travel-related New World screwworm was identified in Maryland in a patient who traveled from El Salvador, a spokesperson from the US Department of Health and Human Services said. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Maryland Department of Health are

By Jen Christensen, CNN (CNN) — A genetically modified pig lung was transplanted into a brain-dead man and functioned for nine days, according to a newly published report. There has been some recent success transplanting pig kidneys and hearts into people, but this is believed to be the first attempt to transplant a pig lung

By Ian Kerner, CNN (CNN) — Nearly every day I meet couples in long-term relationships who lament about missing the early days of great sex — when they couldn’t keep their hands off each other, when sex was new and exciting, bold and bawdy. “What happened?” they ask each other and me. “How do we

By Sandee LaMotte, CNN (CNN) — Closely following the Mediterranean diet lowered the risk of dementia by at least 35% in people with two copies of the APOE4 gene, a major risk factor for Alzheimer’s, according to a new study. “We followed over 5,700 people for 34 years and found those who followed a baseline

By Gina Park, CNN (CNN) — Have you ever wanted to burn a man? In June 1986, the founders of the Burning Man project and nonprofit, Larry Harvey and Jerry James, built a wooden human effigy and set it on fire on San Francisco’s Baker Beach as a symbolic act of letting go of their

By Deidre McPhillips, CNN (CNN) — The Mississippi health department declared a public health emergency Thursday over rising infant mortality rates in the state. There were 9.7 deaths for every 1,000 births in Mississippi in 2024, the highest rate in more than a decade, according to a news release from the state health department. More

By Deidre McPhillips, CNN (CNN) — The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists on Friday reaffirmed support for Covid-19 vaccination during pregnancy, becoming the second major professional medical association to break from current US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations this week. “While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently removed its

By Gina Park, CNN (CNN) — I witnessed a lot of odd things during my freshman year in college: squirrels eating sub sandwiches, team mascots crowd-surfing at school events — and parents doing their child’s laundry in my dorm. Eventually those things didn’t surprise me as I worked and played through the next three years

By Brenda Goodman, Meg Tirrell, CNN (CNN) — The man who fired more than 500 rounds at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention appears to have tried to get onto the agency’s campus two days before the August 8 shooting, according to an agency email obtained by CNN. During the investigation, the CDC’s

By Nadia Kounang, CNN (CNN) — A Lake Tahoe area resident has tested positive for plague, California health officials said Tuesday. Officials said they believed the resident was infected after being bitten by an infected flea while camping in the South Lake Tahoe area. The person is recovering at home and under the care of

KTVN By Nadia Kounang, CNN (CNN) — A Lake Tahoe area resident has tested positive for plague, California health officials said Tuesday. Officials said they believed the resident was infected after being bitten by an infected flea while camping in the South Lake Tahoe area. The person is recovering at home and under the care

By Madeline Holcombe, CNN (CNN) — Sarah J. Maas, Freida McFadden and Emily Henry –– can these popular authors join forces and save the day against a dangerous decline in reading for enjoyment? Daily reading for pleasure has plummeted 40% over the past 20 years, according to a new study published Wednesday in the journal

By Meg Tirrell, CNN (CNN) — More than 750 current and former staffers at the US Department of Health and Human Services implored Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. in a letter Wednesday to “stop spreading inaccurate health information” after a shooter fired hundreds of rounds at the headquarters of the US Centers for Disease Control

By Jeffrey Kopp, CNN (CNN) — The US Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday urged the public not to eat certain bags of frozen raw shrimp sold at Walmart, citing concerns about unsanitary conditions and radioactive contamination found in shipments from the same supplier. The FDA said that a radioactive isotope, cesium-137, was detected in

By Katia Hetter, CNN (CNN) — We all know that influenza is a common and serious viral infection, but it’s good to be reminded ahead of the upcoming flu season, which typically starts in October. There were an estimated 47 million to 82 million flu illnesses in the United States between October 2024 and May

By Andrea Kane, CNN (CNN) — Parenting is not for the faint of heart. It can take new parents a beat or two to fully tune in to what their baby’s cries could mean. So many small but consequential decisions need to be made on a daily, if not hourly, basis. There are also questions.

By Amanda Sealy, Deidre McPhillips, CNN (CNN) — The American Academy of Pediatrics released its updated recommendations for vaccines on Tuesday, including Covid-19 shots for infants and young children – a break from the current US for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations. “It differs from recent recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN (CNN) — About two years after the US Food and Drug Administration approved the first over-the-counter birth control pill in the United States, a new study suggests that many people who may not have had access to contraception before are now using the over-the-counter option. More than a quarter – 26.2%

By Melanie Radzicki McManus, CNN (CNN) — More than 15 million Americans are now losing weight with GLP-1 drugs. The medications — drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro that were originally created to treat type 2 diabetes — have been shown to produce superior weight loss effects with little risk, according to a 2023 study.

By Deidre McPhillips, CNN (CNN) — The measles outbreak centered in West Texas – one of the largest and deadliest in decades – has ended, state health officials announced on Monday. No new cases have been reported in the counties that had previously shown evidence of ongoing transmission in more than 42 days, according to

CNN By Don Riddell, CNN (CNN) — This month, our twin boys — our only children — will fly the coop and head off to university. For the first time in 19 years, just two of us and our 12-pound Maltese Shih Tzu will be rattling around inside our family home. The laughter and music

By Deidre McPhillips, CNN (CNN) — The director of the US National Institutes of Health outlined on Friday a “unified strategy” to align the agency’s priorities and funding, a move he said was meant to offer clarification following sweeping changes at the agency, including massive budget cuts, grant cancellations and plans for reorganization. In Friday’s

By Nadia Kounang, CNN (CNN) — Health officials in New York City say a cluster of Legionnaires’ disease in Central Harlem has grown to 101 cases, including four deaths. Health officials suspect the bacteria that causes the disease, Legionella, originated cooling towers — devices that uses water to cool large buildings and then disperse mist

By Meg Tirrell, Sarah Owermohle, CNN (CNN) — The Trump administration’s strategy to “Make America Healthy Again” will bypass aggressive action on farm-used pesticides or regulatory crackdowns on ultraprocessed foods, according to a draft document obtained by CNN. The MAHA Commission, led by US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is set

By Madeline Holcombe, CNN (CNN) — Millions of Americans watched for 18 seasons as people pushed their bodies to the limits physically, ate as few calories as possible, and underwent sometimes mortifying challenges to be crowned “The Biggest Loser.” It was discomfort worth grappling with for a shot at better health and a new life,

Personal essay by Mary Frances Ruskell, CNN (CNN) — The first round of admissions decisions for Clemson University came out on a December evening, days before midterms at my South Carolina high school. Everything that day felt like a waiting game. Nearly my entire senior class had applied early action, one of the many admissions

By Deidre McPhillips, CNN (CNN) — For the first time, many people in the United States who want to protect themselves against the flu this respiratory virus season can order a vaccine to give themselves at home. AstraZeneca’s FluMist, the only nasal spray flu vaccine in the US that has been approved by the US

By Jeffrey Kopp, CNN (CNN) — A record low number of Americans are drinking, according to a new Gallup poll released this week. Just 54% of Americans said they consume alcohol at all. Gallup has been tracking Americans’ drinking behavior since 1939, and their views of the health implications of drinking since 2001. For the

By Meg Tirrell, Sarah Owermohle, CNN (CNN) — The US Department of Health and Human Services said it is re-establishing the Task Force on Safer Childhood Vaccines, a panel of US health officials tasked with making recommendations on vaccine development, distribution and monitoring. The task force, which will be helmed by US National Institutes of

By Jen Christensen, CNN (CNN) — The next time you get your blood pressure checked, expect your medical provider to be a bit more aggressive about high levels. And if you like a glass of wine with dinner or a cocktail on the weekends, brace yourself: New guidelines from the American Heart Association and the

By Katia Hetter, CNN (CNN) — Imagine if there were a vaccine for breast cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, uterine cancer, ovarian cancer or any of the most well-known cancers that sicken and kill so many people. Every year, there are an estimated 48,000 new cases of cancers associated with the human papillomavirus, or HPV,

By Jen Christensen, CNN (CNN) — After a random shooting in Austin, Texas, left three people dead, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said that the suspect had past criminal offenses and “serious issues.” The 32-year-old suspect was arrested after police found him naked, holding a Bible and claiming he was Jesus. “There were some serious

By Deidre McPhillips, Brenda Goodman, Meg Tirrell, CNN (CNN) — Parents in the United States who want to vaccinate their young children against Covid-19 may face a growing set of challenges this fall. The US Food and Drug Administration might not renew authorization for Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine for children younger than 5, the US Centers

By Gina Park, CNN (CNN) — Put yourself in Emma’s shoes: You’re scrolling on your phone and get a text notification that says, “Hey girly, your boyfriend said you guys would have a threesome with me, and I think he didn’t tell you about that.” Would you (a) ignore the message or (b) look through

By Dana Santas, CNN (CNN) — That persistent tension in your back, hip or shoulder never seems to fully resolve despite stretching before and after workouts, foam rolling, and even visiting a massage therapist regularly. In fact, sometimes the tightness feels worse after stretching. If this situation sounds familiar, your body might not just be

By Jeffrey Kopp, CNN (CNN) — Health officials in New York City say a cluster of Legionnaires’ disease in Central Harlem has grown to 90 cases, including three deaths. The update comes days after New York City’s health department proposed new regulations for the testing of cooling towers, which they suspect are linked to the