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Latest Health Headlines

February 04

Ohio governor orders state employees back to in-office work 5 days a week starting in March

Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has ordered state employees back to full-time in-office work
February 04
FILE - Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine introduces Ohio state senator and Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Matt Dolan during a campaign event in Columbus, Ohio, Monday, March 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Paul Vernon, File)
February 04

Black kidney patients find renewed hope after rules change for transplant list

Why thousands of patients are now moving up on the waitlist.
February 04
Temple University PhD student Jazmin Evans speaks with ABC News.
February 04

Families and doctors sue over Trump's order to halt funding for gender-affirming care

President Donald Trump's effort to ban federal funding for gender-affirming care for young people is facing a legal challenge
February 04
Ann B. Brown, center, holds up a sign during a rally demanding that NYU Langone commit to providing gender-affirming care for transgender youth following an executive order by President Donald Trump aimed at cutting federal funding, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
February 04

Brain tissue may have higher amounts of microplastics than other organs, study finds

Brain samples contained 10 times more microplastics than other organs.
February 04
In this undated stock photo, a woman holds a plastic bottle.
February 04

New study looks at microplastics in our brains

The study looked at brain samples collected in 2024, finding a 50% increase in microplastics compared to samples collected back in 2016.
February 04
The study looked at brain samples collected in 2024, finding a 50% increase in microplastics compared to samples collected back in 2016.
February 03

How race has played a factor in kidney transplants

ABC News examines the historic decision to remove race-based calculations on kidney function, and how it has helped many Black Americans, like Jazmin Evans, receive a transplant sooner.
February 03
How race has played a factor in kidney transplants
February 03

New governor tests relations with North Carolina lawmakers with aid request for Helene recovery

North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein has asked state legislators to double their spending to date on Hurricane Helene recovery and approve it now
February 03
FILE - Gubernatorial candidate North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein speaks at a campaign event for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris in Charlotte, N.C., Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond, File)
February 03

Uganda begins Ebola vaccine trial after new outbreak kills a nurse and infects 2 other people

Ugandan authorities have begun a clinical trial of a vaccine against the Sudan strain of Ebola that has killed one person in the outbreak declared last week
February 03
A health worker prepares to administer a vial of a vaccine against the Sudan strain of Ebola, during a trial, at Mulago Referral Hospital, in Kampala, Uganda Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)
February 03

New York attorney general tells hospitals to continue transgender care after Trump’s executive order

New York Attorney General Letitia James is telling hospitals that they would be violating state law if they stop offering gender-affirming care for people under age 19 in response to an executive order from President Donald Trump aimed at curtailing fe...
February 03
Ann B. Brown, center, holds up a sign during a rally demanding that NYU Langone commit to providing gender-affirming care for transgender youth following an executive order by President Donald Trump aimed at cutting federal funding, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
February 03

More than 1 million children affected by long COVID in 2023: CDC

Higher levels of long COVID were found in lower-income households.
February 03
Stock photo
February 03

Hospitals in eastern Congo are crowded with wounded and exhausting their supplies

Hundreds of wounded people have poured into overcrowded hospitals in Goma after Rwanda-backed rebels captured the major city in eastern Congo last week
February 03
Medics treat a man wounded during fighting between Congolese government troops and M23 rebel forces in Goma's Kyeshero hospital Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
February 02

Africa knew Trump's 'America First' pledge meant it might be last. Then came the freeze on aid

Many Africans knew that Trump’s “America First” outlook meant their continent was likely to be last among his priorities
February 02
President Donald Trump walks from Marine One upon arrival on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
February 01

Multiple health agency websites on HIV, contraception taken down

Researchers were scrambling to collect and archive as much data as possible.
February 01
A general view of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, Sept. 30, 2014.
February 01

Bird flu concerns rising

Dr. Patel joins ABC News Live to deliver the latest on bird flu.
February 01
Bird flu concerns rising
February 01

Sick and wounded children begin crossing from Gaza to Egypt in first opening in months

A group of 50 sick and wounded Palestinian children began crossing through Gaza’s Rafah crossing into Egypt on Saturday for treatment
February 01
Palestinians wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip wait before crossing the Rafah border into Egypt, as wounded and sick Palestinians are allowed to leave the Gaza Strip for medical treatment, in Khan Younis, Saturday Feb. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
January 31

WHO chief asks countries to push Washington to reconsider its withdrawal

The World Health Organization chief is asking global leaders to lean on Washington to reverse President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the U.N. health agency
January 31
FILE - Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), speaks to journalists during a press conference at the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on April 6, 2023. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP, File)
January 31

Rats worldwide are enjoying the perks of climate change

A new study has linked increasing temperatures to growing rat populations.
January 31
Feed a Pigeon, Feed a Rat sign on fence outside public park, discouraging feeding the birds and help reduce rat population, Queens, New York.
January 31

5 years since COVID was declared a public health emergency, thousands still dying

2,861 deaths from the virus have already been reported in the last 28 days.
January 31
In this April 2, 2020, file hoto, medical staff move bodies from the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center to a refrigerated truck in Brooklyn, New York.
January 31

Pentagon strips travel reimbursement for troops seeking abortions, fertility treatment

A new memo says the Defense Department will no longer reimburse service members for travel out of state to get reproductive health care, including abortions and fertility treatments
January 31
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
January 31

Rats! More rodents are infesting cities as scientists say warmer temperatures mean more rat babies

A new study finds that rat infestation in many of the world’s cities appears to be soaring, especially in Washington
January 31
FILE - A rat leaves its burrow at a park in New York City on Sept. 17, 2015. ( AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)
January 31

New York doctor indicted for prescribing abortion pill in Louisiana

A New York doctor has been indicted by a Lousiana grand jury for allegedly prescribing an abortion pill online in the Deep South state, which has one of the strictest near-total abortion bans in the country
January 31
January 31

Patients who allegedly got fake Botox or Botox from unlicensed injectors speak out

Joey Luther sold fake Botox that caused side effects, prosecutors claim.
January 31
Lori Reed had a bad reaction to Botox treatment several years ago.
January 31

Mushers and dogs braved a horrific Alaska winter to deliver lifesaving serum 100 years ago

The Alaska Gold Rush town of Nome was hundreds of miles from anywhere, cut off by the frozen sea and under siege from a contagious disease known as the “strangling angel” for the way it suffocated children
January 31
FILE - Leonhard Seppala and his sled dog team are pictured on Oct. 12, 1928, in Alaska. In 1925, Seppala was part of the nearly 700-mile relay of mushers and dog teams to get diphtheria antitoxin to Nome, Alaska, during a deadly outbreak of the disease. (AP Photo, File)
January 30

FDA approves new kind of non-opioid pain medication, 1st of its kind in 20 years

The drug is for moderate to severe acute pain.
January 30
This photo provided by Vertex Pharmaceuticals in January 2025 shows a tablet and bottle of the JOURNAVX (suzetrigine) medication.
January 30

What to know about Medicaid, the largest US public health insurance program

There are over 79 million Americans enrolled in Medicaid.
January 30
There are over 79 million Americans enrolled in Medicaid.
January 30

A nurse in Uganda has died from the Ebola virus, in the first outbreak since 2022

A Ugandan health official says a nurse in the capital Kampala has died after testing positive for Ebola
January 30
January 29

Bird flu now 'widespread' among this state's birds

Officials believe bird flu has killed wild and domestic birds across the state.
January 29
In this 2015 file photo, chickens are seen in a contaminate farm while workers from the Animal Protection Ministry prepare to cull them to contain an outbreak of bird flu, at a farm in the village of Modeste, Ivory Coast, Aug. 14, 2015.
January 29
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump's choice to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, appears before the Senate Finance Committee for his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
January 28

2nd-largest egg producer in US confirms bird flu outbreak

The second-largest egg producer in the U.S. reported an outbreak on Tuesday.
January 28
Stock image of an indoors chicken farm.
January 28

Kansas faces one of the largest tuberculosis outbreaks in US history

Johns Hopkins University senior scholar Dr. Amesh Adalja discusses the tuberculosis outbreak happening in the state of Kansas.
January 28
VIDEO: Kansas faces one of the largest tuberculosis outbreaks in US history
January 28

Kansas faces one of the largest tuberculosis outbreaks in US history

So far, there have been 67 confirmed cases of active TB related to the outbreak.
January 28
Light micrograph of multinucleated giant cells in tuberculize lymph nodes.
January 28

Tuberculosis outbreak latest: what you need to know

Dr. Syra Madad, an epidemiologist and chief biopreparedness officer at NYC Heath and Hospitals, explains symptoms and how the bacterial infection spreads.
January 28
VIDEO: Tuberculosis outbreak latest: what you need to know
January 27

Leading cause of death US continues to be heart disease as risk factors rise

In 2022, more than 941,600 Americans died from cardiovascular disease.
January 27
In this undated stock photo, an elderly man grabs his chest after experiencing pain.
January 26

Woman becomes longest-living recipient of pig organ transplant

An Alabama woman became the longest-living recipient of a pig organ transplant on Saturday, which marked 61 days since she received it.
January 26
VIDEO: Woman becomes longest-living recipient of pig organ transplant
January 24

What to know about Trump's first executive actions on climate and environment

President Trump’s first week in office included a flurry of executive orders with implications for Earth’s climate and environment
January 24
FILE - Pumpjacks operate in the foreground as the Buckeye Wind Energy wind farm rises in the distance, Sept. 30, 2024, near Hays, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)
January 24

Vaccine bills stack up in statehouses across the US

Vaccination bills are popping up in more than 15 states as lawmakers aim to potentially resurrect or create new religious exemptions from immunization mandates, establish state-level vaccine injury databases or dictate what providers must tell patients...
January 24
FILE - This photo from Wednesday Aug. 25, 2021, shows teachers protesting against COVID-19 vaccination mandates in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, file)
January 22

Long COVID Patients Frustrated That Federal Research Hasn't Found New Treatments

This is a MedPage Today story. Erica Hayes, 40, has not felt healthy since November 2020 when she first fell ill with COVID. Hayes is too sick to work, so she has spent much of the last 4 years sitting on her beige couch, often curled up under an electric blanket. "My blood flow now sucks, so my hands and my feet are freezing. Even if I'm sweating, my toes are cold," said Hayes, who lives in Western Pennsylvania. She misses feeling well enough to play with her 9-year-old son or attend her 17-year-old son's baseball games. Along with claiming the lives of 1.2 million Americans, the COVID-19 pandemic has been described as a mass disabling event. Hayes is one of millions of Americans who suffer from long COVID. Depending on the patient, the condition can rob someone of energy, scramble the autonomic nervous system, or fog their memory, among many other symptoms. In addition to the brain fog and chronic fatigue, Hayes' constellation of symptoms includes frequent hives and migraines....
January 22
January 18

Wellness challenge rebuilds body, mind and soul

Fitness expert Joey Thurman discusses his new wellness challenge “commit not to quit” and it’s potential to better your body, mind and soul.
January 18
VIDEO: Wellness challenge rebuilds body, mind and soul
January 16

By the Numbers: New stats on cancer mortality rates

The American Cancer Society Thursday released its annual statistics on trends regarding who is being diagnosed -- and who is dying -- from cancer.
January 16
By the Numbers: New stats on cancer mortality rates