May 29 Measles in U.S. reaches two-decade high, hits Amish communities hardest By Talia Mindich This year’s measles outbreak in the U.S. is the largest in 20 years, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday. A total of 228 confirmed cases have been reported to the CDC in the country between Jan. Continue reading
May 26 Suspended animation human trials to begin for wounded patients By Justin Scuiletti The process, which is being called “emergency preservation and resuscitation,” replaces all of a patient’s blood with a cold saline solution in order to induce hypothermia and stop almost all cellular activity in the body. In the cooler body… Continue reading
May 25 Watch Can Mexico's health program teach the U.S. to lose weight? By PBS News Hour With obesity levels rivaling those seen in the United States, Mexico has launched a rigorous campaign to combat the epidemic, including taxes on sugary drinks and other high-calorie snack foods. How well is that strategy is working -- and what… Continue watching
May 23 Watch New series reveals 'The Cost of Not Caring' for Americans with mental illness By PBS News Hour Mental health funding has suffered cuts and negligence in recent decades, leaving hundreds of thousands of Americans on the streets, behind bars, in homeless shelters, or simply isolated and miserable. With their new series “The Cost of Not Caring,” USA… Continue watching
May 23 Watch Memphis churches rally to close disparity in breast cancer survival rates By PBS News Hour The rate of breast cancer deaths for African American women nationally is 40 percent greater than that of white women, according to a study published in the Journal of Cancer Epidemiology. In Memphis, the city with the widest disparity, a… Continue watching
May 23 New York City enlists Yelp to track down food poisoning By Talia Mindich Working with Yelp and Columbia University, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene sifted through 294,000 Yelp reviews between July 1, 2012 and March 13, 2013 to identify cases of food-borne illness. Continue reading
May 23 E. coli outbreak in Portland water and Idaho sprouts By Ariel Min This week may have been a good week for E. coli, but not for us. The deadly bacteria broke out in several U.S. communities. Continue reading
May 23 Why self-insured companies help pay for high-risk individuals on exchanges By Sarah Jane Tribble, Ideastream Sherwin-Williams is one of the self-insured companies that pays a fee to help cover high-risk individuals that enrolled on newly created insurance exchanges. While the fees are supposed to be temporary, some health care administrators worry they won't go away. Continue reading
May 22 Death of Philly first grader at school leads to calls for nurses, funding By Kyla Calvert Mason A Philadelphia first grader collapsed in his classroom at Andrew Jackson Elementary School in South Philadelphia Wednesday and died two hours later, according to the Philadelphia Daily News. The 7-year-old boy was the second student to die in the… Continue reading
May 22 Clara Barton's crusade to bring the Red Cross to America By Dr. Howard Markel May 21 marks the founding of the American Red Cross. Over its 133-year history, it has provided a wide menu of services to help the needy, disaster victims, military personnel and their families. The American Red Cross is also a… Continue reading