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COVID vaccine provided some protection this winter, even if only 1 in 5 got it

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Few Minnesotans sought COVID-19 vaccine to reduce their infection risks this winter, but at least the shots offered some protection for those who did.

The current vaccine was 33% effective at preventing emergency room and urgent care visits among adults who got COVID, according to interim federal estimates published Thursday. HCMC in ...Read more

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Measles outbreak: 5 things to know about the current spread

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

A new outbreak of measles has taken hold in Texas beginning at the end of January, when two cases were diagnosed in Harris County. The cases were the first in that state since 2023. Now, a little more than a month later, the number of measles cases has increased exponentially to 124, as of Tuesday.

Harris County includes Houston, which has a ...Read more

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A diabetes drug may cut the risk of certain skin cancers, study finds

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Metformin is a medication prescribed to help manage type 2 diabetes. Recent research suggests, however, this medication may potentially decrease risk of certain types of skin cancer.

A retrospective case-control study published in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology explored whether metformin could reduce the risk of non-melanoma skin cancers, ...Read more

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Opioid cash grab: As federal funding dries up, states turn to settlement money

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

At a recent Nevada legislative committee hearing, lawmakers faced off with members of the governor’s administration over how to fill gaping holes in the state’s upcoming budget.

At issue: whether opioid settlement money — paid by health care companies that were sued for fueling the opioid crisis and meant to help states abate addiction �...Read more

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Health clinic workers brush up on constitutional protections as immigration raids loom

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The lobby at this St. John’s Community Health clinic in South Los Angeles bustles with patients. But community health worker Ana Ruth Varela is worried that it’s about to get a lot quieter. Many patients, she said, are afraid to leave their homes.

“The other day I spoke with one of the patients. She said: ‘I don’t know. Should I go to...Read more

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Second wave of seasonal flu hits Washington state hospitals, fills ERs

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

SEATTLE — A second powerful wave of influenza has washed over many parts of the country this winter, including Washington, where flu patients are filling hospital ERs and deaths have already surpassed last season's total.

Nationally, more people died of flu than COVID during one week in late January — the first time that's happened since ...Read more

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Mayo Clinic Minute: Know the warning signs of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

It's often silent but can be a deadly killer. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a genetic condition that occurs in 1 in 500 people.

Dr. Said Alsidawi, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist, says the problem is that many people don't even know they have it because they have no symptoms. And in many cases, the first presentation is sudden cardiac death.

...Read more

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Health Secretary RFK Jr. downplays child's death from measles outbreak in Texas

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Newly appointed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared to dismiss a rare measles outbreak that has killed a child in Texas and sickened more than 120 people.

“It is not unusual, we have measles outbreaks every year,” the controversial politician said during Trump’s first cabinet meeting Wednesday afternoon.

...Read more

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9/11 survivors, advocates travel to Washington in push to fully fund embattled responder health program

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

NEW YORK — Sept. 11 survivors and advocates flocked to Washington, D.C., to again push for fully funding the embattled World Trade Center Health Program — a pivotal lifeline the Trump administration has tried to gut amid its proposed federal budget cuts.

A bipartisan bill to fully fund the program through 2090 was introduced in Congress ...Read more

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Nearly 90 sick with norovirus on Holland America cruise that left Florida

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Nearly 90 passengers and crew members aboard a cruise ship that left from Florida have fallen ill with norovirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s Vessel Sanitation Program.

The Holland America Line vessel, the Eurodam, departed from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale on Feb. 19 for a 10-day cruise with multiple stops in the ...Read more

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Audit finds thousands were improperly enrolled in state health care program for noncitizens, while costs were vastly underestimated

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

SPRINGFIELD — Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration vastly underestimated the cost and popularity of a pair of health insurance programs for immigrants who are not citizens that has ended up costing the state $1.6 billion since the initiative began in 2020, according to an audit report released Wednesday.

Aside from inaccurate projections of ...Read more

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Maryland behavioral health advocates balk at more than $100 million in proposed cuts

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

BALTIMORE — Maryland behavioral health advocates are urging Gov. Wes Moore and lawmakers to restore more than $116 million in proposed budget cuts to mental health services, warning that the reductions could hurt a wide swath of programs.

The largest behavioral health cut under Moore’s proposed fiscal 2026 budget, about $90 million, would ...Read more

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Child dies from measles amid West Texas outbreak, first US death since 2015

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

A Texas child has died from measles amid an outbreak across Texas and New Mexico that has sickened more than 130 people, authorities said Wednesday.

The child is the first person to die from measles in the U.S. since 2015. The victim, who has not been identified further, was not vaccinated against the disease, officials said.

In Texas, 124 ...Read more

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Thousands of University of California healthcare and research employees go on strike

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Thousands of University of California healthcare, research and technical employees walked off the job Wednesday, urging the university to address staffing shortages and end what they describe as restrictions on employees' ability to raise concerns about workplace conditions.

The planned three-day strike comes amid strained negotiations between ...Read more

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Trump froze out Project 2025 in his campaign. Now its blueprint is his health care playbook

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Few voters likely expected President Donald Trump in the first weeks of his administration to slash billions of dollars from the nation’s premier federal cancer research agency.

But funding cuts to the National Institutes of Health were presaged in Project 2025’s “Mandate for Leadership,” a conservative plan for governing that Trump ...Read more

Mayo Clinic Q&A: Myths about minority organ donation

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: A co-worker was diagnosed with kidney disease last year. He is now on dialysis three times a week as he waits for a kidney transplant. He shared his hope to get a living donor, explaining that he will have a longer wait since there are not as many diverse people signed up as organ donors. Can you explain why this is and what ...Read more

7 worst foods for your immune system

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Like a cape-clad superhero, your immune system constantly monitors villainous threats like viruses or bacteria and jumps into action when you come down with an illness. While no specific food or supplement can guarantee that you’ll never get sick, your overall diet can play an important role in supporting the work your immune system does to ...Read more

Environmental Nutrition: Do you know tofu?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Tofu’s unique neutral flavor and range of textures may enhance a variety of dishes.

The folklore

Tofu has been enjoyed around the world for 2,000 years. It was likely invented by accident during China’s Han Dynasty when a cook mistakenly dripped brine into soy milk which caused it to curdle, creating an early type of tofu. Packed with ...Read more

Feel like you should be drinking less? Start here

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

When experts talk about the dangers of excessive drinking, we often assume those warnings apply mostly to people with alcohol use disorder, a health issue sometimes referred to as alcoholism.

But people who don’t meet formal criteria for this disorder can still experience toxic effects and suffer other serious harms from alcohol, says Dr. ...Read more

How GLP-1 drugs could revolutionize retirement

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

You know something is a big deal when Big Food gets nervous.

The culprit? Popular weight-loss drugs like Ozempic, which mimic the hormone glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) to curb hunger. But these medications aren’t just suppressing appetites. They’re reshaping eating habits, steering people away from sweet and salty cravings.

A Cornell ...Read more