TimeMagazine 
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Florida has seen an increase in cases of flesh-eating bacteria this year driven largely by a surge in the county hit hardest by Hurricane Ian. The state Department of Health reports that as of Friday there have been 65 cases of vibrio vulnificus infections and 11 deaths in Florida this year. … Read more
WASHINGTON — Federal health advisers have concluded that a drug intended to prevent premature births hasn’t been shown to work, clearing the way for U.S. regulators to follow through on a long-delayed effort to get it off the market. The Food and Drug Administration’s advisory panel voted 14-1 Wednesday that the injectable drug Makena should … Read more
With another potential COVID-19 surge looming, experts are turning their attention to a pair of new variants that are steadily spreading: BQ.1 and BQ.1.1. Both BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 descended from BA.5, an Omicron subvariant that currently accounts for about 68% of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. But BA.5’s relatives are quickly gaining ground. BQ.1 and … Read more
On Oct. 17, hearing aids approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) became available over the counter for the first time, for potentially thousands of dollars less than prescription hearing aids. Many experts are hopeful that opening the market up will spur the creation of innovative new devices, bring down costs, and encourage … Read more
COVID-19 has caused an inordinate number of deaths around the world so far, causing life-expectancies to plunge. Historically, countries have recovered from other so-called “mortality shocks,” such as the 1918 flu and two world wars, within one to two years. But the shock of the pandemic is enduring in many places. A study published Oct. … Read more
DES MOINES, Iowa — The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday proposed sweeping changes in the way chicken and turkey meat is processed that are intended to reduce illnesses from food contamination but could require meat companies to make extensive changes to their operations. Despite decades of efforts to try and reduce illnesses caused by … Read more
Public health data signals a genuine crisis in adolescent mental health: rising rates of anxiety, depression, and hopelessness. But as we worry about tweens and teens who are struggling, we can’t ignore another mounting toll—the burdens that are shouldered by their friends and peers in an “always on” world. We have studied teens and tech … Read more
Five months after the Democratic nominee in one of the nation’s most competitive Senate races suffered a stroke, there’s still a lot to learn about his recovery. In the final weeks of the Pennsylvania Senate campaign, a key Republican attack against the state’s lieutenant governor, John Fetterman, has centered on his use of closed-captioning technology, … Read more
Pfizer-BioNTech announced that they now have the first human data hinting at how effective the new Omicron booster might be. The updated bivalent vaccine targets both the original SARS-CoV-2 strain and the currently circulating Omicron BA.4/5 variants and is authorized for use in Americans age 12 and older (and soon for ages 5 and older … Read more
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.’s shortage of Adderall is expected to last through March, longer than the two to three months the company said last week, according to U.S. regulators. The popular treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder has been in short supply since at least August, leaving people racing to fill prescriptions and find pharmacies with the … Read more