Public Health

According to a recent study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania, the percent of Americans who believe that vaccines are approved for safe use in the US has dropped since April 2021 to 71% and the percent of adults who believe the approved vaccines are unsafe increased to 16%. They found…

Ketamine prescriptions have increased over the past couple years, but it has not been backed by significant research on its benefits or its side effects. Despite warnings from the FDA about the dangers of ketamine, it is still being prescribed and used due to its effects on pain. Click here to read…

COVID-19 hospitalizations in the U.S. have been steadily declining, with approximately 16,000 new hospitalizations reported in the week ending October 14, marking a 5% decrease from the previous week. This continues the trend of decreasing hospitalizations after a peak in early September. The data…

University of Oxford researchers have made a significant breakthrough by 3D printing human stem cells to create engineered brain tissue that mimics the architecture of the cerebral cortex. When implanted into mouse brain slices, the printed cells integrated with the host tissue. According to an…

Methadone is one of the most effective treatments for opioid use disorder, however, there are stricter laws regulating peoples’ access to this drug than any other drug with a similar function. These laws are extremely outdated, with some being more than 50 years old, but have not been changed to…

With regards to the rules of war involving health care, the international humanitarian law is designed to draw a clear distinction between civilian and military objects with the goal of limiting harm to civilians. The violation of these rules by one side does not permit the opposing side to deviate…

The lawsuit was filed against insulin makers Sanofi, Novo Nordisk and Lilly in 2017 for purposefully raising the price of their insulin. As part of the $13.5M settlement, Lilly has agreed to cap its out-of-pocket insulin prices at $35 for the next four years. Sanofi and Novo Nordisk have also…

President Biden announces that Dr. Monica Bertagnolli will be the next director of the National Institutes of Health (N.I.H.). Bertagnolli has previously headed the National Cancer Institute and is herself battling early stage breast cancer. She will be just the second woman to hold this position.…

Preliminary federal data reveals that approximately 110,000 individuals died from drug overdoses in the United States last year. While this number indicates a plateau after two years of sharp increases, it remains a devastating toll. Synthetic opioids like fentanyl, often mixed with other drugs,…

Drug shortages in the United States are causing significant delays in accessing vital treatments, particularly chemotherapy, bypass surgery, and lead-poisoning drugs. The generic drug market, responsible for 90% of domestic prescriptions, is grappling with supply chain disruptions, quality…

The number of diphtheria cases in the UK have risen in the past year, with 3 people having died from the disease. According to the UK Health Security Agency, the increase could have been caused by an increase in the number of asylum seekers in the UK as well as people catching diphtheria from their…

On April 5, 2023, the National IHR Focal Point for the United Kingdom informed WHO of an increase in severe myocarditis in neonates associated with enterovirus infection in Wales. Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle, and the most common cause is viral infection, but it can also be…

The WHO has ended the monkeypox global emergency, declaring it to no longer be a public health emergency. The number of monkeypox cases have fallen by 90% in the last 3 months.  To read the full article on the New York Times by Apoorva Mandavilli, click here

Vivek Murthy, the US surgeon general, urged people to treat loneliness as seriously as they would other health issues like obesity and drug use. Loneliness is linked to increased risk of premature death in the US due to elevated anxiety and depression and other health issues like heart attacks. The…