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US measles cases top 5,000 for the first time since the 1990s

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

More than 5,000 people have been infected with measles in the United States this year, as the country faces the loss of its long-held elimination status later this month.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed 5,182 measles infections on Friday, the highest since 1991. The public health agency has recognized just four ...Read more

Demand for the MMR vaccine has risen in Pennsylvania as the state’s measles outbreak has grown.  Joe Raedle via Getty Images News

What the measles vaccine’s ‘97% effective’ rating means for Pittsburgh parents

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Pennsylvania is experiencing its worst measles outbreak in more than three decades, with more than 1,400 confirmed cases and six measles-associated deaths so far in 2026, according to statistics compiled by the state.

Each new case brings a new warning of a measles exposure in that community. Exposures have occurred at hospitals and ...Read more

More isn't always better when it comes to training in youth sports.  Ariel Skelley/DigitalVision via Getty Images

I’m an athletic trainer – here’s how to know when kids sports are too intense

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

At a recent T-ball game, I was talking with another father who mentioned that his son had never played before. As we watched our children falling over trying to scoop up a ground ball, we laughed about how they were still figuring everything out. There was something refreshing about seeing kids learn a game without worrying about how well ...Read more

Bram Sable-Smith/KFF Health News/TNS

Trump administration delays awards slated to improve rural America's health

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Federal leaders overseeing a $50 billion rural health fund missed a critical deadline to announce how much they’ll give states next year, alerting state leaders to the delay with a mass email.

A 12-sentence message from Alina Czekai, director of the federal Office of Rural Health Transformation, said officials “discovered an additional ...Read more

Screenshot by KFF Health News of Google Pixel Android 17/KFF HEALTH/TNS

Your phone knows you're at the doctor, and data brokers do, too -- then profit from it

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Chris McQueen finished treatment for leukemia a year and a half ago, but the ads for fake cures never stopped.

Juice cleanses to cure cancer, “natural” cancer treatments, clinics in Mexico promising full recovery with little chemotherapy — all appeared on McQueen’s mobile phone during routine oncologist visits and monthly bloodwork.

...Read more

Low Ferritin Level Needs To Be Examined Thoroughly By Doctor

Health Advice / Keith Roach /

DEAR DR. ROACH: I'm a 66-year-old female who's in good health. I was experiencing some dizziness and was prevented from donating blood due to a failed finger prick test. I asked my doctor to check my iron levels. All my blood work was excellent, except that my ferritin level was 19 ng/mL with an iron saturation of 18%.

When I researched my ...Read more

The power of pets

I often talk about how loneliness and isolation damage health, increasing everything from heart woes to depression, sedentary behavior and dementia. And you've heard how the trio of posse, purpose and passion can break the downward spiral that loneliness and isolation can cause. But a human posse, while vital, isn't the only posse that can fuel ...Read more

Liz Rymarev/The Dallas Morning News/TNS

Measles count in Minnesota surges to highest in decades

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The measles virus has continued to spread in Minnesota's Todd County because of a lack of widespread vaccination, bringing it to the highest level since at least 1990.

In the past week, 58 confirmed infections in the county helped raise Minnesota’s total this year to 139. The update, provided Thursday by the Minnesota Department of Health, ...Read more

Breast arterial calcification, or BAC, is easily visible on mammograms, and research shows it can add important insights about a woman's risk of heart disease or stroke. peakSTOCK/iStock via Getty Images

Mammograms can do more than detect breast cancer – they also offer important clues on heart health

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

If you’re a woman over 40, you have no doubt heard your doctor tell you to get a mammogram as part of routine screening for breast cancer. But there’s another reason, too.

A mammogram can show no sign of breast cancer and still reveal something worth discussing with a doctor: calcium deposits in the medium-sized arteries that ...Read more

The DRC is in the seventh month of an Ebola outbreak. AP Photo/Sebastien Kitsa Musayi

Delayed international support has hampered efforts to contain and treat Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

I visited a family of 19 in Sierra Leone in 2015. By the time I arrived, eight had died. The other 11 were left to live with the grief and fear of what might happen next.

I am a medical doctor and epidemiologist, and at that time I was serving on an African Union Ebola response mission. The 2014-16 epidemic in West Africa caused more ...Read more

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Mayo Clinic Q&A: What to know about complex heart valve surgery

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: My dad's cardiologist told him he may need complex heart valve surgery. What makes heart valve surgery "complex," and how do doctors decide whether a valve should be repaired or replaced?

ANSWER: Heart valve surgery can range from a straightforward repair or replacement of one valve to a more complex operation involving ...Read more

(Eric Harkleroad/KFF Health News)/KFF HEALTH/TNS

A few miles from the US Capitol, dozens slept in their cars, waiting for free care

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

TAKOMA PARK, Md. — Friday night lights took on a whole new meaning at a high school here in this suburb of Washington, D.C.

Instead of fans packing stadium bleachers to watch football, on this recent October weekend the gymnasium, hallways, and parking areas were jammed with people desperately seeking healthcare at a free pop-up clinic.

The ...Read more

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Mayo Clinic Q&A: What to know about complex heart valve surgery

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: My dad's cardiologist told him he may need complex heart valve surgery. What makes heart valve surgery "complex," and how do doctors decide whether a valve should be repaired or replaced?

ANSWER: Heart valve surgery can range from a straightforward repair or replacement of one valve to a more complex operation involving ...Read more

Explaining Next-Generation Sequencing For Cancer Testing

Health Advice / Keith Roach /

DEAR DR. ROACH: I read that genetic testing of cancers can lead to exceptional success rates with new therapies that precisely attack cancer for an individual. Should people with a new diagnosis of cancer get this testing? -- R.L.

ANSWER: The evidence supports genetic testing (next-generation sequencing, or NGS) on some cancers when there are...Read more

The failure of heart failure prevention, diagnosis and treatment

When you think of heart failure (if you ever do), chances are you assume that it happens to older folks. Not anymore. Heart failure (HF) mortality has risen 121% in the past 20 years among folks ages 25 to 44 and 96% in those ages 45 to 64. And according to new info, almost 25% of U.S. adults will develop HF. That's both awful and preventable.

...Read more

Boiling makes tap water safe during advisories. karimitsu/iStock via Getty Imags Plus

Why one positive E. coli sample put a Pittsburgh-area community under a boil-water advisory

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

A boil-water advisory was issued on Nov. 2, 2026, by officials in Center Township in Beaver County, 25 miles from Pittsburgh, after a routine sample tested positive for coliform bacteria, including E. coli, according to the township’s water authority.

The advisory stayed in place while the authority kept testing, and Central Valley ...Read more

Paul Morigi/Getty Images North America/TNS

Democrats' election rout is poised to dramatically reorder federal health policy

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Democrats’ decisive sweep of the U.S. House and Senate in Tuesday’s elections will reshape the direction of federal health policy — setting the stage for oversight investigations, a legislative push to reverse cuts to the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid, and a focus on lowering costs such as insurance premiums and drug prices.

The ...Read more

Chris Walker/Chicago Tribune/TNS

CVS plans to break up $117 billion healthcare conglomerate

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

CVS Health Corp. plans to spin off its retail pharmacy business in one of the biggest-ever breakups in the healthcare industry.

The drugstore business will be separated into a new company called CVS Pharmacy in the first half of 2028, split from the Aetna insurance unit and Caremark prescription benefits division. The company holding those ...Read more

Joe Raedle/Getty Images North America/TNS

After sex, many girls and young women try to avoid pregnancy with unproven methods

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

To prevent pregnancy after sex, U.S. teenage girls and young women are more likely to rely on unproven strategies such as prayer, exercise and jumping up and down than they are on evidence-based methods such as Plan B emergency contraception, according to a new study.

The study, published in The Journal of Sex Research, is based on a survey of ...Read more

Buying your own health insurance? Bronze and catastrophic plans now open the door to HSAs

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

If you run a small business or work for yourself, you may be preparing for Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace open enrollment this fall. Business owners and the self-employed account for roughly 28% of working-age marketplace enrollment.

Most people in this position are also their own benefits department. There is no HR team to walk through ...Read more

 

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