CNN – Health

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN Seasonal flu activity remains high in the United States but continued to decline in most areas last week, leading up to Christmas, according to data published Friday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The numbers do not include flu activity from after the holiday. The CDC estimates that

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN As the world enters a new year, many public health and infectious disease experts predict that monitoring for new coronavirus variants will be an increasingly important part of Covid-19 mitigation efforts — and some are turning their attention to a surge in cases in China. Subvariants of the Omicron coronavirus variant

By Brenda Goodman, CNN Early this year, even before the national shortage of infant formula or a demand-driven shortfall of pain medications for kids, children’s hospitals began to worry about looming shortages of two critical medications for premature infants: sodium chloride and potassium chloride. These solutions of life-sustaining minerals are key to a therapy called

By Kristen Rogers, CNN Starting January 1, sesame will join the list of major food allergens defined by law, according to the US Food and Drug Administration. The change comes as a result of the Food Allergy Safety, Treatment, Education and Research Act, or FASTER Act, which was signed into law in April 2021. The

By Brenda Goodman, CNN The drug that Jeremy Mitchell takes to manage his diabetes, Ozempic, has become a hot new weight loss fad, and now he’s having trouble finding it. Mitchell, 39, of El Dorado, Kansas, was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2020. It runs in his family. His father, a double amputee, died

By Faye Chiu, CNN At the end of 2020 and 2021, many people greeted the start of the coming year hunkered down due to the risk of Covid-19. But now, New Year’s Eve events and celebrations are back in a big way. A lot of people have plans to attend social functions, whether they are

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN Emergency department visits and revisits in children’s hospitals that are related to mental health are “increasing rapidly,” a new study suggests. Between 2015 and 2020, mental health visits in pediatric emergency departments increased by 8% annually, with about 13% of those patients revisiting within six months, according to the study published

By Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent At least once a year, we read a sparkling headline about some promising new drug that might help patients with Alzheimer’s disease. And at least once a year, we also hear about failed drug trials and reversals of promises that a cure-all is in sight. I wrote

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN There is growing concern among infectious disease and public health experts that the US could face even more respiratory infections in January. It is “highly likely” that respiratory viruses could spread even more following holiday gatherings and New Year’s Eve celebrations, Dr. William Schaffner, a professor in the Division of Infectious