Health

H5N1 avian influenza, or bird flu, continues to rip across the U.S. In just the last few months, it’s infected at least three people—all dairy workers—while spreading among chickens and cows in dozens of farms across several states.Government officials and farmers have been responding to H5N1 since Feb. 2022 when the virus was first detected in U.S. poultry farms. When it spread to dairy farms in recent weeks, the U.S. Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Health and Human Services (HHS) immediately surged their response efforts—ensuring the safety of our commercial milk supply, educating health care providers, scaling up testing, and ordering the production of millions of vials of H5N1 vaccine—with coordination support from the White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response and ...

New York — America’s perennial hot dog swallowing champion won’t compete in this year’s Independence Day competition due to a contract dispute, organizers said Tuesday.Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, 40, has been competing since 2005 and hasn’t lost since 2015. At last year’s Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest he downed 62 franks and buns in 10 minutes.But Major League Eating event organizer George Shea says Chestnut is moving away from the contest due to a contract dispute.“We love him, the fans love him,” Shea said, adding that “He made the choice.”Shea says Chestnut struck a deal with a competing brand — a red line for the Nathan's-sponsored event — but did not elaborate. He said the dispute came down to exclusivity, not money.“It would be like Michael Jordan saying to Nike, ‘I...

Some people may want to put their summer vacation plans to the Las Vegas area on hold, after health officials reported that Southern Nevada is experiencing the highest level of mosquito activity in known history, with more than 3,000 mosquitoes testing positive for West Nile virus.Southern Nevada Health District said in a press release Monday that as of June 6, 91 pools, comprising 3,081 mosquitoes from 16 ZIP codes, have tested positive for the virus. Two pools, comprising 46 mosquitoes from two ZIP codes, have also tested positive for the virus that causes St. Louis encephalitis.The health district’s Mosquito Surveillance Program has received an increased number of complaints from residents about mosquito activity, according to the press release. Health officials attributed the rise in r...

Washington — Most Black Americans say they’ve experienced racial discrimination regularly or from time to time, which colors how they view U.S. institutions like policing, the political system and the media, according to a study on conspiracy theories.The study released Monday by the Pew Research Center examined the intersection of race and conspiratorial beliefs. It's the second installment in the research group's series on how Black Americans see success and failure.The study defines racial conspiracy theories as ideas that Black Americans might have about “the actions of U.S. institutions" that aren't necessarily the stated goals of the institution. The study stresses that these are claims that Black Americans may have because of America's documented history of racist policies largely i...

Never underestimate the mind of a crow. Members of a family of birds that includes ravens, rooks, magpies, and jays, crows have been known to bend wire into hooks to retrieve food; drop nuts in a road so passing cars will crack them open; and recognize humans who have posed a threat, harassing them on-sight even months after their first encounter. But some of the smartest crows of all may be found in the animal physiology lab at the University of Tübingen in Germany. It’s there that the birds are mastering a skill you couldn’t manage until you were up to 4 years old: counting.In a new study published in Science, researchers trained three crows to emit one to four caws in response to seeing the numbers 1, 2, 3, or 4 projected on a screen. The birds also learned to count out the proper numbe...

A panel of experts advising the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) voted against adopting MDMA as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on Tuesday.Members of the FDA’s Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee said that they did not feel there is sufficient evidence to show that the drug is effective in a 9-2 vote. In a 10-1 vote, experts overwhelmingly said that the benefits of MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy or molly, do not outweigh the risks.The panel was tasked with evaluating a proposed treatment developed by Lykos Therapeutics, which involves taking prescribed doses of MDMA under the supervision of clinicians providing psychotherapy to treat patients with moderate to severe PTSD. The FDA does not have to abide by the panel’s guidance, but does take its input ...

Losing weight is one the best ways to lower your risk of heart disease, and cutting back on sugar can contribute to that. But sweeteners that mimic the taste of sugar with fewer—or no—calories could be increasing, rather than decreasing, the risk of some heart events.In a study published Thursday in the European Heart Journal, an international group of researchers led by a team at the Cleveland Clinic report that higher levels of xylitol, a sugar substitute found in candy and even toothpaste, are linked to a higher risk of heart attack, stroke, and death.The study included more than 3,000 people in the U.S. and Europe, about half of whom had a history of heart disease, and almost all of whom had at least a few risk factors for heart disease. They were followed for several years. The resear...

Waking up throughout the night is normal. Most adults do it between two and six times per night—and if you’re a good sleeper, these wakings will be so brief that you likely won’t remember them, says Lynelle Schneeberg, a sleep psychologist and assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale Medicine. But for some people, nighttime wakings are so intrusive that they experience what Schneeberg calls “the download.”“You wake up and think, Why am I awake? How long have I been asleep? How much longer do I have to sleep?” she says. You might start worrying about something that’s been on your mind, whether it’s a big presentation at work or a conflict with a family member. After the download, you’re up.Even people who have no trouble falling asleep can struggle with night wakings. These expert tips wil...

Taking the COVID-19 antiviral Paxlovid does not appear to improve Long COVID symptoms in a meaningful way, a new study finds. Those results are a blow to the millions of people living with the condition, which currently has no approved treatment or cure.Paxlovid has long been a source of hope for those with Long COVID. Scientists don’t know exactly what causes Long COVID, but many have hypothesized that viral material lingers in the body, potentially causing long-lasting symptoms including fatigue, the inability to exercise, brain fog, and more. Given that theory, a drug like Paxlovid, which stops the virus from multiplying and reduces the amount of it in the body, seemed to many like a promising treatment.But the new study, which was published June 7 in JAMA Internal Medicine, found that ...

Lately, the biggest news in Alzheimer’s has been around a new drug treatment that can slow cognitive decline by nearly 30% among people in the early stages of the disease. In coming months, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to make a decision about another such promising therapy.But in addition to pharmaceutical interventions, which are expensive and require repeated infusions, making sustained lifestyle changes can also slow the progression of the disease, and possibly even prevent further decline, according to a new study.In the trial, an intensive program of diet, exercise, stress reduction, and social interaction slowed the progression of cognitive decline as measured on standard tests for dementia, and even improved some people's symptoms. The study was conducted by Dr...