LOS ANGELES — COVID-19 is on the upswing in California and across a swath of the West and the South, a sign that the virus may be starting its seasonal summer uptick.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that COVID is growing in California, Texas, Florida, Missouri, Alabama, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico and Hawaii...Read more

Companies accused of recklessly marketing and distributing prescription opioid painkillers are paying roughly $58 billion to settle lawsuits over their role in fueling the addiction crisis. It’s a pot of gold eyed by addiction treatment providers, companies creating the latest opioid-related products, and government officials struggling to ...Read more

My first science experiment was in sixth grade for our county’s science fair. Over three months, I tested how my grandfather’s blood sugar responded to green leafy vegetables versus brown rice at dinnertime. My mom would prepare traditional South Indian meals, including those foods, and my dad would supervise as I measured and ...Read more

South Dakota is having trouble enforcing a law banning advertising about abortion pills. On July 17, 2026, less than three weeks after the ban took effect on July 1, U.S. District Judge Camela C. Theeler issued an injunction blocking its enforcement.

She ruled that the ban likely is unconstitutional in response to a lawsuit filed by ...Read more

A dangerous social media trend that started in 2020 has persisted into 2026, with heartbreaking consequences.

In May and June 2026, four American teens died participating in the “Benadryl Challenge.” This trend encourages adolescents and young adults to consume excessive amounts of diphenhydramine – the active ingredient in ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Federal health officials on Friday said they have linked cases of a diarrhea-causing parasite tied to shredded lettuce to an additional four states, expanding the scope of the largest U.S. outbreak of cyclospora.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the outbreak first tied to Taco Bell restaurants now includes ...Read more

Measles cases have hit a record in the United States not seen since 1991, nearly a decade before the viral disease was declared eliminated.

The grim milestone comes amid a generational setback in controlling the highly contagious disease, which prior to the vaccine era caused millions of infections a year, and annually left 400 to 500 people ...Read more

Identifying the source of a food-borne illness such as cyclosporiasis — a diarrhea-causing parasite that has sickened thousands of people in the United States — is almost as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack.

It's not impossible to narrow down the culprit but it is a challenge because public health investigators are analyzing ...Read more

DETROIT — The number of reported cyclosporiasis cases in Michigan rose to 8,176 on Friday, a 6.7% increase over the previous day's case count.

Health officials continue to investigate the state's worst outbreak of the parasitic illness that usually causes frequent, watery and explosive diarrhea. As of Thursday, 160 people have reportedly been...Read more

The Trump administration has a new plan for teenagers learning about pregnancy: Beginning this summer, it will steer millions of dollars toward organizations that focus on anatomy, fertility tracking, hormonal production and “reproductive goals counseling.”

The plan will also emphasize abstinence from sex and the importance of marriage.

In...Read more

Measles cases have doubled in California so far this year compared to last year — and 2026 is barely half over.

California has confirmed 52 measles cases in the first 6½ months of the year; that's more than double the 25 cases reported in all of 2025. If this pace continues, the number of cases will pass California's high from 2015, when ...Read more

Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration is significantly reducing staffing at a long-troubled downstate center for people with mental health issues and developmental disabilities, state and union officials said Thursday.

A statement from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, which represents employees at the ...Read more

More than one-third of American households rely on natural gas stoves to prepare their meals.

Burning natural gas generates carbon dioxide, which is the main driver of climate change. But cooking on gas stoves is also an under-recognized and important source of indoor air pollution. Combustion of natural gas creates nitrogen dioxide ...Read more

DETROIT — Michigan added 493 more cases of cyclosporiasis, a parasitic illness, on Thursday, according to state health officials, bringing the state's total to more than 7,600, although cases appear to be leveling off.

The new cases, reported by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, mark a 6.9% increase over Wednesday, for a ...Read more

Marie Noon takes eight medications a day. One keeps her heart rate from spiking to avoid a stroke. One prevents debilitating headaches. Another ensures she doesn’t retain excess fluid.

More than a decade ago, Noon said, she was diagnosed with adult-onset Still’s disease, a rare type of inflammatory arthritis that can cause rashes, ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Two Maryland residents this week have contracted measles after traveling to a part of the United States experiencing an active outbreak, prompting state health officials to warn of possible public exposure.

The Maryland Department of Health said it is working to notify people who may have been exposed, and urged residents to ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — As the fungus that causes Valley fever expands across the western United States and cases skyrocket in California, researchers say they may have found a new drug that can help those suffering from the most advanced form of the disease.

And they're hoping that someday the anti-fungal drug known as Olorofim can be given to ...Read more

BELZONI, Miss. — Harmony Ball-Stribling’s path to pregnancy had been turbulent, from an endometriosis diagnosis to an arduous in vitro fertilization process and sky-high blood pressure. But as her due date approached in the summer of 2021, her health improved and those storm clouds seemed to scatter.

“It was just too perfect,” said her ...Read more

Sam Ato Timaloa, a paroled sex offender who also served time for attempted murder, had dementia and an acute intolerance of noise — especially from roommates at Sunrise Post Acute, a nursing home in Banning, California. Over four months in 2025, a state investigative report found, Sunrise switched Timaloa's room eight times, the last into one ...Read more

ʻAIEA, Hawai‘i — Christian Alameda used a cane to push himself up out of bed in his cell at the Halawa Correctional Facility in Honolulu. He has been recovering in the prison’s medical infirmary since a January stroke left the right side of his body mostly paralyzed.

In February, Hawai‘i’s parole board granted the now-52-year-old ...Read more