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Tuberculosis cases have been rising as public health agencies struggle to keep up

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

In Johnson County, Iowa, the number of tuberculosis cases has increased in recent years — and so has the cost of containing it.

The cost of contact tracing and surveillance, traveling each day to patients’ homes to ensure they take their meds or booking hotel rooms to quarantine patients, has surged from $17,000 in 2020 to $65,000 last ...Read more

Mobile clinic brings mammograms to women on Los Angeles

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

LOS ANGELES — Sharon Horton stepped through the door of a sky-blue mobile clinic and onto a Skid Row sidewalk. She wore a yellow knit beanie, gold hoop earrings and the relieved grin of a woman who has finally checked a mammogram off her to-do list.

It had been years since her last breast cancer screening procedure. This one, which took place...Read more

(Taylor Pradine)/KFF HEALTH/TNS

'You aren't trapped': Hundreds of US nurses choose Canada over Trump's America

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Earlier this year, Justin and Amy Miller packed their vehicles with three kids, two dogs, a pet bearded dragon, and whatever belongings they could fit, then drove 2,000 miles from Wisconsin to British Columbia to leave President Donald Trump’s America.

The Millers resettled on Vancouver Island, their scenic refuge accessible only by ferry or ...Read more

Christine Mai-Duc/KFF Health News/TNS

'Kind of morbid': Health premiums threaten their nest egg. A terminal diagnosis may spare it

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

COLUSA, Calif. — Early on, Jean Franklin got some career advice she followed religiously: “Pay yourself first.” So she did, socking away hundreds of thousands of dollars in retirement savings by the time she became a stay-at-home mom at age 41.

She and her husband, Charles, a former high school teacher who goes by Chaz, planned to retire ...Read more

Signs you are not getting vital nutrients

Only 12% of Americans get the recommended amount of vegetables, 15% eat the minimum recommended amount of fruit and a measly 1% get the amount of whole grains needed for a healthy diet, according to a study in Circulation. And a recent survey by Purdue University determined that almost 46% of people have a markedly unhealthy diet.

Unfortunately...Read more

Continuous Symptoms After Covid Point To A Bacterial Infection

Health Advice / Keith Roach /

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 49-year-old woman who recently had COVID. When I was sick with it, I lost my sense of taste and smell. I no longer have COVID, but I still have a stuffy nose with no sense of taste or smell. Then one day, out of nowhere, I smell this horrible smell, like an infection. I went to the doctor and was told that it was a sinus...Read more

HELEN H. RICHARDSON/The Denver Post/TNS

Colorado may owe federal government $42 million for improper autism therapy payments

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DENVER — Colorado may have improperly paid more than $75 million to autism service providers and could be on the hook to return more than half that sum to the federal government, a new report found.

The Office of the Inspector General estimated the state’s Medicaid program overpaid $77.8 million for applied behavior analysis services in ...Read more

TIMOTHY A. CLARY/TNS/TNS

UNC Rex Healthcare settles lawsuit that claimed religious discrimination over COVID vaccine

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

RALEIGH, N.C. — Rex Healthcare has agreed to pay $150,000 to settle a federal lawsuit that claimed it discriminated against an employee who refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19 for religious reasons.

Rex had granted the employee a religious exemption for the flu vaccine in 2019 and 2020, according to the lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal ...Read more

Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group/TNS

Newsom: 10 'failing' California counties could lose CARE Court funds

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday he was prepared to claw back state funds from 10 counties he said had not made sufficient progress to treat people struggling with their mental health, homelessness, and substance use disorder.

Newsom labeled San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange, Kern, Riverside, Yolo, Monterey,...Read more

Evidence shows that voluntary treatment for substance use disorder tends to be more effective and less risky than involuntary treatment.
              Olga Rolenko/Moment via Getty Images

What decades of research reveal about involuntary substance use treatment – and why evidence points elsewhere

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Since President Donald Trump issued a July 2025 executive order aimed at “ending crime and disorder on America’s streets,” national attention has increasingly focused on involuntary treatment as a response to visible homelessness and drug use.

A few months later, in September 2025, officials in Utah announced plans for a 16-acre...Read more

Free short, easily accessible programs could allow many more people to access mental health treatments. Elena Kalinicheva/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Free 10-minute online programs aimed at overcoming depression led to real improvements – new research

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

A well-designed 10-minute online exercise can spark small reductions in depression. That’s the key finding of my team’s paper, published in Nature Human Behaviour.

Many people believe that to start overcoming depression, they need a therapist, medication or a radical change in their environment. However, our study shows that ...Read more

(KFF Health News illustration/KFF HEALTH/TNS

Hospitals fighting measles confront a challenge: Few doctors have seen it before

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — At around 2 a.m., 7-year-old twin brothers arrived at Mission Hospital in Asheville. Both had a fever, a cough, a rash, pink eye, and cold symptoms.

The boys sat in one waiting room and then another. Two hours and 20 minutes passed before the two were isolated, according to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services records ...Read more

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images North America/TNS

FDA is removing the 'black box' warning on hormone treatments for women in menopause. Here's what you need to know

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

PHILADELPHIA — For years, Cathleen “Cat” Brown, a Philadelphia obstetrician and gynecologist, would listen to patients complaining of hot flashes, brain fog, and painful sex and prescribe estrogen as a safe option for easing their menopausal symptoms.

But when the women read the drug label and pharmacy package insert, they’d recoil at a...Read more

Putting cancer on the run

Obesity is an epidemic in countries around the world. The U.S.A comes in at No. 10, with almost 42% of folks having obesity. (American Samoa is No. 1; 70% of their population has obesity.) Add to that the fact that 28 million Americans contend with alcohol abuse and almost 11% smoke marijuana, around 9% smoke cigarettes and 6.5% vape, and you've...Read more

Man With Very Low Kidney Function Chooses To Avoid Dialysis

Health Advice / Keith Roach /

DEAR DR. ROACH: A loved one of mine has had kidney problems for his whole life. He's now on the transplant list, and his kidney function is very low. But he continues to avoid dialysis, saying that he's not ready for it. Surprisingly, his heart health, cholesterol and blood pressure are always great when tested. He sometimes has swelling if he...Read more

Anti-trans bills effectively restrict transgender people's ability to participate fully in society. AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson

Kansas revoked transgender people’s IDs overnight – researchers anticipate cascading health and social consequences

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The number of bills directly targeting and undermining the existing legal rights of transgender and nonbinary people in the U.S. has been escalating, with sharp increases since 2021 and with each consecutive year. Kansas dealt the most radical blow yet on Feb. 26, 2026, as a law that immediately invalidates state-issued driver’s licenses, ...Read more

Brandon Bell/Getty Images North America/TNS

Massachusetts reports first measles cases of year: 'Getting vaccinated is the best way for people to protect themselves'

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

BOSTON — Bay State health officials have confirmed the first measles cases of the year amid a large national outbreak of the life-threatening virus.

The first case was reported in a school-aged Massachusetts resident who was exposed and diagnosed out-of-state, and remains out of state during the infectious period, according to the state ...Read more

DREAMSTIME/TNS

Mayo Clinic Q&A: Is my racing heart an arrhythmia?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I've noticed that sometimes my heart races or skips a beat. What causes this? Is there treatment for it?

ANSWER: What you're experiencing may be an abnormal heart rhythm, also known as an arrhythmia. Arrhythmias fall into two categories: too fast or too slow. A racing heart or a skipped beat typically falls into the "too fast"...Read more

Patient With Family History Of Lymphoma Questions Drug For RA

Health Advice / Keith Roach /

DEAR DR. ROACH: I'm 72 years old, and I have been prescribed azathioprine for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). I have only mild discomfort in my hands and wrist, which came on suddenly. While researching this medicine, I saw that the extended use of it increases the risk of lymphoma. My brother has been treated for lymphoma for 12 years, and my sister...Read more

George Frey/Getty Images North America/TNS

10 cases of measles already reported in Minnesota this year

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota has reported 10 measles cases so far in 2026 amid a declining vaccination rate that’s left more people vulnerable to the highly infectious disease and its characteristic head-to-toe rash.

The case cluster is raising concerns when considering that Minnesota had 26 infections in total last year. All 10 people were ...Read more