Feb 01 Purdue Pharma family sought to profit off opioid crisis, filing alleges By Alanna Durkin, Geoff Mulvihill, Associated Press While aggressively marketing OxyContin, the Sackler family also sought to profit off the drug abuse crisis its company helped create by exploring selling drugs used to treat addiction and reverse overdoses, state lawyers contend in previously secret parts of their… Continue reading
Feb 01 Health Secretary Alex Azar unveils plan to revamp prescription drug discounts By Associated Press A day after unveiling the plan as a proposed regulation, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar raised the stakes by calling on Congress to make it law and broaden it to include people covered by employer health insurance, not… Continue reading
Jan 29 Measles patients are mostly children. Here's why By Jamie Leventhal Here’s a look into how the latest epidemic started, why children may face the worst of it, and how it's no surprise that the outbreak hit the Pacific Northwest. Continue reading
Jan 28 Watch 6:38 Washington state's measles outbreak coincides with low rates of immunization Washington state is experiencing an outbreak of measles, with 35 confirmed cases in a single county. The disease's flare-up is reinforcing concerns about insufficient immunization in some communities. Hari Sreenivasan talks to Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of… Continue watching
Jan 26 Measles outbreak grows in northwest U.S., 31 cases reported By Gillian Flaccus, Associated Press The number of confirmed measles cases near Portland grew to 31 on Friday — an outbreak boosted by lower-than-normal vaccination rates in what has been called an anti-vaccination U.S. “hot spot.”… Continue reading
Jan 24 Juuling skyrocketed among students in 2018, national survey finds By Sarah D. Sparks, Education Week The percentage of students who reported vaping nicotine in the last 30 days doubled or nearly doubled among eighth, 10th and 12th graders since 2017, representing some of the largest single-year jumps ever recorded in the survey. Continue reading
Jan 23 Watch 6:56 In Thailand, tracking animal health to prevent outbreaks of human disease By Fred de Sam Lazaro Viruses like avian flu, Ebola and Marburg often fester in animals before moving into human populations. Animals in regions that are geographically remote present particular challenges for disease containment. But in Thailand, local residents are using technology, including digital scanning,… Continue watching
Jan 23 Twitter Chat: Helping millennials step into the role of family caregiver By Zoe Rohrich How can younger Americans balance the stress and responsibility of providing care for loved ones? The PBS NewsHour will explore that and more in our next edition of #NewsHourChats on Twitter Jan. 31 at 2 p.m. EST. Continue reading
Jan 22 Watch 8:27 Coal miners have been inhaling deadly silica dust for decades. Now they're dying For decades, coal miners have been inhaling silica dust on the job. The extremely fine particles, generated when the quartz-rich limestone surrounding coal seams is cut, lodge in the lungs, obstructing respiration. According to a Frontline/NPR report, both the industry… Continue watching
Jan 21 Watch 7:41 Consumption of marijuana edibles rises amidst scarce research into their health impact By Lori Jane Gliha, Rocky Mountain PBS As more states legalize recreational use of marijuana, edible forms of the drug are also becoming increasingly popular. But little research has been done on potential complications of consuming the substance, and some scientists believe they can cause hallucinogenic reactions. Continue watching