Health category, Page 13

Women will have an alternative Pap smear option starting this fall, the New York Times reported. The new option is a swab to screen for cervical cancer, rather than the speculum, which has been the norm during Pap smear examinations. The Times said a Pap smear requires a patient’s legs...

LONDON — Swedish health officials said Thursday they have identified the first case of a person with the more infectious form of mpox first seen in eastern Congo, a day after the World Health Organization declared the outbreaks there and elsewhere in Africa to be a global emergency. The Swedish...

WASHINGTON — Taxpayers are expected to save billions after the Biden administration inked deals with pharmaceutical companies to knock down the lists prices for 10 of Medicare’s costliest drugs. But how much older Americans can expect to save when they fill a prescription at their local pharmacy remains unclear, since...

LONDON — The World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreaks in Congo and elsewhere in Africa a global emergency on Wednesday, with cases confirmed among children and adults in more than a dozen countries and a new form of the virus spreading. Few vaccine doses are available on the continent....

WASHINGTON — Bleeding and in pain, Kyleigh Thurman didn’t know her doomed pregnancy could kill her. Emergency room doctors at Ascension Seton Williamson in Texas handed her a pamphlet on miscarriage and told her to “let nature take its course” before discharging her without treatment for her ectopic pregnancy. When...

A needle-free nasal spray has been approved for serious allergic reactions to food, medications and insect stings — an alternative to the well-known EpiPen, the Washington Post reported. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the alternative 2-milligram spray, which is called Neffy, on Friday, and it’s the first needle-free...

WASHINGTON — Federal health regulators on Friday declined to approve the psychedelic drug MDMA as a therapy for PTSD, a major setback for groups seeking a breakthrough decision in favor of using mind-altering substances to treat serious mental health conditions. Drugmaker Lykos Therapeutics said the FDA notified the company that...

U.S. death rates fell last year for all age groups compared with 2022, federal health officials said Thursday. Here’s what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data showed: — Covid-19 fell to the 10th leading cause of death. Early in the pandemic, the coronavirus was the nation’s third leading...

Shanon Williams was joking with her husband and business partner Chris about how “speed dating” to connect with therapists and wellness practitioners would be interesting. The founders of The Wellness Collective made the hypothetical a reality with Mental Wellness Speed Dating. In a time when mental health is at the...

At age 57, Christine Lieb of Scottdale has hope that the new treatments she is undergoing for early onset Alzheimer’s disease will give her more time to enjoy her life. “I feel 100% better when I’m done. I feel it when it is time to have another one,” Lieb said....

The multistate listeria outbreak linked to deli meat has led to recalls of numerous Boar’s Head products, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pennsylvania is one of the now 13 states affected by the outbreak, the CDC said. As of Thursday, there have been three deaths and...

The number of women getting abortions in the U.S. actually went up in the first three months of 2024 compared with before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, a report released Wednesday found, reflecting the lengths that Democratic-controlled states went to expand access. A major reason for the increase...

NEW YORK — Microplastics have been found in the ocean and the air, in our food and water. They have been found in a wide range of body tissues, including the heart, liver, kidneys and even testicles. But are they actually harming you? Evidence suggests they might, but it’s limited...

FRANKFURT, Germany — TikTok has agreed to withdraw a rewards feature that raised concerns about its potential to encourage excessive screen time, particularly among children, the European Union’s executive commission said Monday. It was the first resolution of an investigation under the 27-country EU’s sweeping Digital Services Act, which went...

Advances in blood tests aimed at screening for ailments like Alzheimer’s disease and colon cancer can mean faster diagnosis and treatment for patients, said two Allegheny Health Network doctors. Problems can be found earlier in a way that’s easier on the patient than more invasive cancer screenings, such as a...

West Nile virus has been detected in Westmoreland County for the first time this year. Mosquitoes tested positive for the disease after being captured in Latrobe and at the border of Greensburg and Hempfield, according to Chrissy Edwards-McCune, who conducts the county’s West Nile virus monitoring program for the Westmoreland...

Tom Farino of North Huntingdon is eight months into what could be a seven-year wait for a kidney transplant. A transplant would give Farino, 72, a new lease on life. “They’re trying to find a living donor before I need dialysis,” Farino said. Farino said his doctor at Allegheny General...

Guardian Elder Care, the parent company of skilled nursing facilities including Belair in Lower Burrell and Oak Hill in Greensburg, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The Johnstown-based health care company filed the petition for relief this week. Nineteen facilities — including locations in Lower Burrell, Greensburg, Bethel Park and...

BANGUI, Central African Republic — African health officials said mpox cases have spiked by 160% so far this year, warning the risk of further spread is high given the lack of effective treatments or vaccines on the continent. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report...

New federal protections for transgender students at U.S. schools and colleges will take effect Thursday with muted impact because judges have temporarily blocked enforcement in 21 states and hundreds of individual colleges and schools across the country. The regulation also adds protections for pregnant students and students who are parents,...

The popular deli meat company Boar’s Head is recalling an additional 7 million pounds of ready-to-eat products made at a Virginia plant as an investigation into a deadly outbreak of listeria food poisoning continues, U.S. Agriculture Department officials said Tuesday. The new recall includes 71 products made between May 10...

Wildfire smoke may be worse for brain health than other types of air pollution, according to new research linking it to an increased risk of dementia. The findings, reported Monday at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Philadelphia, come as millions spent the weekend under air quality warnings from wildfires...

WASHINGTON — U.S. health regulators on Monday approved a first-of-its-kind blood test for colon cancer, offering a new way of screening for a leading cause of cancer deaths. Test manufacturer Guardant said the Food and Drug Administration approved its Shield test for screening in adults 45 and older who have...

NEW YORK — Tongue-tie —a condition in infants that can affect breastfeeding — may be overdiagnosed in the U.S. and too often treated with unnecessary surgery, a prominent doctors’ group said Monday. The American Academy of Pediatrics is the latest, and largest, medical society to sound an alarm about the...