#health-officials

#health-officials

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New York state officials said they will allow COVID-19-related masking requirements for staff, patients and visitors in hospitals and other health care facilities to lapse on Sunday.Acting Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said that while the pandemic is not over, "we are moving to a transition."

The test results come less than two weeks after the FBI confirmed it has launched a joint investigation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency into the Martinez plant's spent catalyst release.FBI agents and EPA personnel have gone door to door asking residents about their experience during and after the incident.

Two people in the United States have died with probable cases of fungal meningitis and more than 200 others are at risk after an outbreak of the infection among patients who had surgery in Matamoros, Mexico, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday.At least 220 people in the United States who were treated at two clinics in Matamoros this year could be at risk after having epidural anesthesia, which is injected near the spinal column, the C.D.C. said.

A deadly fungus that is considered an urgent public health threat by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spread at an alarming rate during the pandemic, the C.D.C. said on Monday.The fungus, called Candida auris, preys primarily on older people with weakened immune systems and is particularly dangerous because it resists treatment by common antifungal medications.

Photo courtesy of the Department of Health
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City health officials unveiled a new style of vending machine in Brownsville Monday - but don't expect to find any tasty snacks in there.The machine is loaded with safe-sex kits and toiletries, along with naloxone (a substance that can help treat drug overdoses), which will help tackle the rising number of opioid-related deaths in the Big Apple by making the harm reduction supplies conveniently available.

Two poultry workers have tested positive for bird flu in England.Health officials say there are no signs of person-to-person transmission and contact tracing is being done as a precaution.The cases are believed to be linked to exposure to sick birds on a single poultry farm where the two people were known to have recently worked.

(Mary Altaffer / Associated Press)

Late last summer, the mpox outbreak in California peaked, with the state reporting an average of nearly 100 new cases per day in August.Amid a robust vaccination campaign, new infections dropped sharply and quickly.By September, California was reporting an average of about 50 new cases per day, with that rate dropping below 10 by the end of the next month.

If you're among the group of people most likely to be exposed to the mpox virus formerly known as monkeypox in the event of a new summer surge in cases, the SF Department of Public Health would like you to please consider seeking out your second dose if you never got that.It's apparently, maybe, about to be monkeypox season again.

The West African country of Equatorial Guinea declared an outbreak of the Marburg virus disease in mid-February.There have been at least nine laboratory-confirmed cases, seven of which resulted in death, and 20 probable cases of dead individuals in this outbreak, according to the World Health Organization.

Many of the health providers at Morrisania's 1309 Fulton Ave., a building owned by New York City's health department, provide services for a Bronx clientele in dire need of better health outcomes.On the building's second-floor, the Morrisania Sexual Health Clinic is exploring the realm of positive outcomes when abortion care is unfettered and universally accessible.

In December, China abruptly abandoned its draconian Zero Covid policies, battered by a surge of infections and rising public anger against lockdowns.Half a year on, Covid cases again are on the rise, but this time the nation appears to be determined to press on with normal life as the government focuses on reigniting economic growth.

Certain fungal illnesses are notoriously dangerous and difficult to treat, and now a small pocket of suspected cases of fungal meningitis, a disease that affects the brain and spinal cord, is raising alarm in Texas.State and national health officials released an alert last week about the infectionsall of which were in U.S. residents who had recently received surgery in the Mexican city of Matamoros, which borders on Brownsville, Tex.

Another person has died in an outbreak of extensively drug-resistant bacteria linked to contaminated eye drops, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in an update on Thursday.The outbreak now totals 81 cases across 18 states.In addition to the four deaths, health officials have tallied reports of 14 people with vision loss and an additional four people who have had their eyeballs surgically removed (enucleation) due to infection.

At least five people in Texas have been hospitalized with suspected fungal infections in their brains and spinal cords that developed after traveling to Mexico for cosmetic surgeries involving epidural anesthesia, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned this week.One of the Texans has died and the other four remain hospitalized in the state, the Texas Department of State Health Services reported this week.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommended on May 18 that the next COVID-19 vaccines should no longer include the original SARS-CoV-2 viruswhich all existing vaccines currently doand instead contain a different version of the virus to better match circulating variants.Currently, this means a version of the virus from the XBB.1 family, which is now responsible for most of the new COVID-19 infections around the world.

Five Texas residents became ill with suspected cases of fungal meningitis after traveling to Matamoros, Mexico, for surgery, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.One person died, and four others are hospitalized.In a travel advisory, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged patients to cancel certain procedures in Matamoros, Mexico.

The border crossing from Texas into Matamoros, Mexico.(Sergio Flores/AFP/Getty Images)Comment Gift Article Federal and Texas health officials are alerting Americans and clinicians about suspected cases of fungal meningitis among U.S. residents who traveled to Matamoros, Mexico, for surgery.At least four patients are hospitalized, and one person has died, Texas officials said Tuesday.

Two poultry workers have tested positive for bird flu after coming into contact with infected birds on the same farm in England, according to the UK Health Security Agency.The cases were picked up through a screening programme for people who have come into close contact with the virus, though neither individual suffered symptoms and both have since tested negative.

In 2011, Judy Huie-Kennedy was diagnosed with stage 3B cervical cancer, and the journey to a cancer-free status in the following years was arduous, including two rounds of intense chemotherapy, radiation treatment and a hysterectomy.Getting screened and diagnosed was "half the battle," Huie-Kennedy told the Bronx Times.

The global public emergency caused by Covid-19 may be officially over but the pandemic will still be with us for many years.Nor is it clear that governments have learned sufficiently from the outbreak to be ready to fight off new emerging microbes that could trigger worse calamities.These are the stark conclusions of scientists reacting to last week's news that the World Health Organization (WHO) no longer considers Covid-19 which has killed more than 7 million people over the past three years to be a public health emergency of international concern.

New York and federal health officials have issued a warning about two cases of a drug-resistant, highly contagious skin infection in New York City.The new report, published late last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, linked two local cases of ringworm rash to an aggressive strain of a fungus named Trichophyton indotineae.

Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine, a single-shot alternative to other pharmaceutical companies' two-dose series, is "no longer available" in the United States, health officials said.The last of the government's J&J vaccine stock expired May 7, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Thursday marked the end of Covid-19's public health emergency status in the US, concluding more than three years of free access to testing, vaccines, virtual accommodations and treatment for the majority of Americans.The end of the emergency designation comes just weeks after the World Health Organization declared an end to the global health emergency.

Mpox, a sometimes deadly virus that causes unsightly, painful rashes, is no longer a global health emergency, but more needs to be done to eradicate the disease, the World Health Organization said.WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus lowered the global alert level on mpox, previously known as monkeypox, almost a year after first declaring the spread of the virus an extraordinary event.

Journalist Thomas Bwire asked these Kenyans how the pandemic has changed their lives.Top row from left: Abdala Hamadi, Judith Shitabule and Innocent Agwenyi.Bottow row from left: Phillister Atieno, Father Ignacio Flores Garcia and Valary Judith Atieno.Thomas Bwire for NPR We sent journalist Thomas Bwire to interview residents of Kibera, often referred to as the biggest slum in Africa and home to an estimated 800,000 people and neighboring communities.

The New York City and State health departments are teaming up to launch an mpox vaccination awareness campaign one year after an outbreak gripped the community over the spring and summer of 2022.New York City declared an end to the outbreak in February after consecutive months of minimal spread, and no new cases of mpox - formerly known as monkeypox - have been reported in New York State since March 17, according to the state's website.

The World Health Organization said Friday that Covid-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency, marking a symbolic end to the devastating coronavirus pandemic that triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies worldwide and killed at least seven million people worldwide.WHO said that even though the emergency phase was over, the pandemic hasn't come to an end, noting recent spikes in cases in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

The World Health Organization said Friday that COVID-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency, marking a symbolic end to the devastating coronavirus pandemic that triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies worldwide and killed at least 7 million people worldwide.WHO said that even though the emergency phase was over, the pandemic hasn't come to an end, noting recent spikes in cases in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

Starting Friday, major hospitals in the Boston area will no longer require most people to wear masks while on their grounds.The state's COVID-19 public health emergency is set to expire on May 11.The following day, Boston Medical Center, Mass General Brigham, Tufts Medical Center, Beth Israel Lahey Health, and UMass Memorial Health will lift their mult-year mask mandates requiring every person on hospital premises to wear a mask regardless of vaccination status.

The Covid-19 pandemic, which has sickened or killed almost 800 million people over three years, no longer constitutes a global health emergency, the head of the World Health Organization has said.The WHO first gave Covid its highest level of alert on 30 January 2020, and its panel has continued to apply the label at meetings held every three months.

Investigators have identified Gold Medal flour as the source of a salmonella outbreak that has infected at least 13 people in 12 states, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday.General Mills announced last week that it's recalling 2-, 5- and 10-pound bags of bleached and unbleached all-purpose Gold Medal flour that have a better if used by date of March 27 or 28, 2024.

Children as young as 12 in England could be given weight-loss injections on the NHS after the government asked medical watchdog Nice to assess the potential benefits of prescribing them to under-18s.Department of Health officials have asked the watchdog to evaluate the clinical and cost effectiveness of giving semaglutide injections to obese children aged 12 to 17, in addition to healthy nutrition and increased physical activity, the Observer can reveal.

Hospitals in England have recorded more than 450 sewage leaks in the last 12 months, data shows, putting patients and staff in danger and prompting warnings that the NHS estate is falling apart after a decade of underinvestment.Freedom of information requests to NHS trusts by the Liberal Democrats found alarming examples of sewage leaking on to cancer wards, maternity units and A&E departments.

Until gunfire broke out on the streets of El Fasher this month, the state capital of North Darfur had several main hospitals.There was the big teaching hospital, the Saudi hospital, a paediatric hospital and the South hospital, a modest 35-bed facility with big ambitions and a specific remit: to help bring down the high numbers of local women dying in pregnancy and childbirth.

The fungus, Candida auris, can be a deadly risk to fragile hospital and nursing home patients.Cases of a dangerous fungus tripled in the United States over just three years and more than half of states have now reported it, according to a new study.The COVID-19 pandemic likely drove part of the increase, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) wrote in the paper published on Monday by Annals of Internal Medicine.

Nineteen children have died of acute respiratory infections in West Bengal this year, and thousands more are in hospital as India grapples with an adenovirus outbreak.More than 12,000 cases of adenovirus have been recorded in the state since January.More than 3,000 children have been admitted to hospital with severe flu-like symptoms.

Deaths from the massive earthquake and aftershocks that violently struck parts of southern Turkey and northern Syria in the early hours of Monday have now surpassed 20,000-a staggering toll of devastation.As of Thursday, Turkey's national emergency management agency reported more than 17,000 deaths, as well as over 70,000 injured.

Each health care provider will now set up its own mask-related rules.Health officials just announced that New York State has ended its mask-related requirements inside healthcare settings, from hospitals to nursing homes and doctors' offices.Moving forward, all facilities will be allowed to come up with their own rules.

WASHINGTON A requirement that travelers to the U.S. from China present a negative COVID-19 test before boarding their flights expired Friday after more than two months as cases in China have fallen.The restrictions were put in place Dec. 28 and took effect Jan. 5 amid a surge in infections in China after the nation sharply eased pandemic restrictions and as U.S. health officials expressed concerns that their Chinese counterparts were not being truthful to the world about the true number of infections and deaths.

Health "We need to make sure that our providers and frontline responders have the education, training, and awareness that they need to deal with this."Xylazine, an animal tranquilizer with the street name "tranq," has been showing up in more and more of New England's illicit street drugs, according to the Brandeis University Opioid Policy Research Collaborative.

New York State will end its requirement that masks be worn in health care settings, including hospitals and nursing homes, starting on Sunday, health officials announced on Friday.After that, such facilities will be allowed to set their own masking rules.The move brings the state's guidance in line with that of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which lifted the federal mandate requiring masks in health care facilities in September.

Madison Muller | (TNS) Bloomberg News Clusters of infections linked to the use of eye drops have been found in four states, according to U.S. health officials tracking the outbreak that's already led to the death of one person.At least 35 of 56 cases related to the recalled eye drops have been reported from California, Connecticut, Florida and Utah, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesperson.

AUSTIN, Texas Throughout American Heart Month, it's important to be aware of the signs and symptoms of cardiovascular disease.Dr. Anne Mani, a cardiologist with the Heart Hospital of Austin and Austin Heart, said while heart disease impacts everyone, it's especially significant for women.According to the American Heart Association, heart disease is the leading cause of death among women in the nation.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Recent cases of bird flu discovered in two Cambodian villagers, one of them fatal, show no sign of human-to-human transmission, health officials in the Southeast Asian nation say, allaying fears of a public health crisis.An 11-year-old Cambodian girl from a village in the southeastern province of Prey Veng died Feb. 22 at a hospital in the capital, Phnom Penh, shortly after tests confirmed she had Type A H5N1 bird flu.

Avian flu - or H5N1 - is a deadly disease, although not one that typically affects humans.It's been going around globally for decades, but there have been no cases of human-to-human transmission.Human cases instead typically result from interactions with sick birds.When it does infect humans, the mortality rate is more than 50%-on par with ebola and about 16 times higher than covid.

A black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, as a result of a controlled detonation on Feb. 6 of a portion of the derailed Norfolk Southern trains.Gene J. Puskar/AP Welcome to a new NPR series where we spotlight the people and things making headlines and the stories behind them.Health concerns are lingering in East Palestine, Ohio, after a train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed on February 3. Residents were temporarily evacuated from the area two days later to allow for a controlled burn of the chemicals, which sent a large plume of black smoke into the sky.

By Sopheng Cheang | Associated Press PHNOM PENH, Cambodia An 11-year-old girl in Cambodia has died from bird flu in the country's first known human H5N1 infection since 2014, health officials said.Bird flu, also known as avian influenza, normally spreads in poultry and wasn't deemed a threat to people until a 1997 outbreak among visitors to live poultry markets in Hong Kong.

An 11-year-old girl in Cambodia has died after being infected by a strain of avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu, the government says.It was the first known human infection with the H5N1 strain in the country since 2014, the health minister, Mam Bunheng, said in a statement on Thursday.The girl from Prey Veng province, east of the capital, Phnom Penh, was diagnosed with bird flu after falling sick with a high fever and cough on 16 February, the statement said.