Scribd

Gonorrhea can also live in your throat. Pexels These days, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are pretty much a fact of life: the American Sexual Health Association reports that more than half of all people will have some kind of STI at some point in their lifetime. And thanks to frequently asymptomatic infections like herpes and HPV, many sex-havers carry on blissfully unaware of the things they've picked up from friends—especially since less than one third of physicians routinely screen their patients for such infections. So unless you've regularly gotten tested for everything since the

The cholera outbreak in Yemen marked a grim milestone Monday, as the International Committee of the Red Cross announced there are now more than 300,000 suspected cases of the disease in the country. The epidemic has claimed more than 1,600 lives in roughly 10 weeks and "continues to spiral out of control," according to the agency. In late June, the World Health Organization declared the epidemic in the war-torn nation "the worst cholera outbreak in the world." At that point, the WHO placed the number of cases at more than 200,000. Robert Mardini, the Red Cross regional director for the Middle

Ever since she was a child, Tracy Antonelli has suffered from thalassemia, a rare blood disorder that now requires her to undergo blood transfusions once every three weeks. So when the Arlington, Mass., stay-at-home mom saw an 18-month-old little girl in southern China with the same condition listed on an adoption website, she knew what she had to do. “From that moment on, it became my life’s work to make her my daughter,” says Antonelli, 43. And she didn’t stop there. As she and her husband, Patrick Mooty, 45, an attorney, worked to bring Emmie, now 7, home in 2011, they learned that there is

NPR's ongoing investigation of the advanced stage of the fatal lung disease that afflicts coal miners has identified an additional 1,000 cases in Appalachia. That brings the NPR count of Progressive Massive Fibrosis (PMF), the most serious stage of the disease known as black lung, to nearly 2,000 cases in the region, all of which were diagnosed since 2010. In the same years, researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reported just 99 cases nationwide. NPR's count is now 20 times what had been considered the official tally of the advanced stage of disease.

Have you ever gotten a skin test for a penicillin allergy? Fiona Moore via Flickr "Are you allergic to any medications?" I've answered that query dozens of times since a childhood incident when penicillin, taken to treat a minor infection, instead gave me an itchy rash all over my body. So I respond automatically, and call out the common antibiotic. But I recently learned that this diagnosis could be wrong. Penicillin sensitivity can disappear over time, a fact researchers have known for years. So why hasn't my doctor told me to go get an official test? It could be because she doesn't actually

Jack Ende, president, American College of Physicians Light, relatively inexpensive, and so attractive whether draped around the neck or dangling down the chest, the stethoscope connects doctors to patients, and to their organs. What could be more valuable as we struggle with escalating costs in health care and concerns about the eroding relationship between doctors and patients? Jennifer Doudna, co-inventor, crispr, and co-author, A Crack in Creation Blood typing allows us to safely and routinely perform sensitive procedures such as transfusions and transplant surgery. Since its invention more

There's no doubt about it: Zika is on the retreat in the Americas. In Brazil, cases are down by 95 percent from last year. Across the Caribbean, outbreaks have subsided. And in Florida, the virus seems to have gone into hiding.Health officials haven't investigated a new Zika case for more than 45 days in Miami-Dade County. Last week, the Centers Disease Control and Prevention lifted the last travel warning for southern Florida. The agency is no longer recommending pregnant women avoid the region. "That's really exciting news," says Dr. Christine Curry, an OB-GYN at the University of Miami and

Washing hands reduces the spread of infectious diseases. Pexels It doesn’t matter what temperature water you use to wash your hands: all that matters is that you wash them, according to a study released earlier this week in the Journal of Food Protection. And you're probably doing it wrong. Understanding what gets our hands the cleanest matters, because not washing our hands is one way that germs—from those that cause colds to those that cause life threatening infections—spread. To figure out how water temperature affects hand sanitation, the researchers contaminated participants’ hands with h

President Donald Trump released his first full budget proposal on Tuesday. In it, Trump and his administration proposed deep cuts to social services including cutting $616 billion from Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program over 10 years. It additionally slices nearly $200 billion from food stamps and also proposes to end $72 billion in funding for programs for people with disabilities. Beyond social welfare, the budget also takes direct aim at more domestic programs including those focused on science and research, such as the proposed $1.2 billion cut to the the Centers for Dise

Sleek, high-tech wristbands are extremely popular these days, promising to measure heart rate, steps taken during the day, sleep, calories burned and even stress. And, increasingly, patients are heading to the doctor armed with reams of data gathered from their devices. "They're essentially asking us to digest the data and offer advice about how to avoid cardiovascular disease," says cardiologist Euan Ashley, associate professor of medicine at the Stanford University Medical Center and Stanford Hospital and Clinics in northern California. And, being somewhat near Silicon Valley, he says he get

The year was 1945, and 2-year-old Lindy Thomson had been given a few weeks to live. She suffered from diarrhea and projectile vomiting, and she was so thin and weak, she could no longer walk. Her parents had taken her from doctor to doctor. Finally, Dr. Douglas Arnold in Buffalo, N.Y., offered a most unusual prescription: She was to eat bananas. "At least seven bananas a day," recalls the patient, who now goes by her married name, Lindy Redmond. "To whom it may concern," the doctor wrote on a prescription pad that Lindy still has as a keepsake. Lindy Thomson "has celiac disease (a nutritional

These girls are too cool to worry about a few little parasites — just check out those shades. Juan Salamanca/Pexels Let’s start with the gross stuff: up to ten grams of poop can wash off a little kid’s butt in a pool. Ten grams is a pretty small amount, but now multiply that by the number of children in your average public pool. Think about how much poop that is. And now think about the last time you got an infection from swimming in a pool. Was it last summer? The summer before that? To be fair, young kids are far more likely to get sick because they end up swallowing the water, so think back

As health department officials work to contain Minnesota's largest measles outbreak in decades, the most heavily affected population is contending with continued targeting from anti-vaccination advocates.  As of Monday, 51 people have been sickened in the current outbreak, 46 of whom are members of the Somali community.  As Mic reported in April, the Somali population in Minneapolis and St. Paul has been preyed upon by so-called "anti-vaxxers" spreading misinformation about vaccines and autism — and its an ongoing issue. On April 30, some "vaccine-concerned groups" held an in-person "Community

If you've been brushing your teeth the same way since childhood, it may be time to reconsider how you brush. Pixabay Daily brushing and flossing has become so ingrained in our society that, for most adults, our oral hygiene routines have become second nature. But that means we don't think twice about whether we're actually caring for our teeth properly. In fact, if done incorrectly, brushing and flossing can have a detrimental effect on our health. So use this scientific advice to take a step back and evaluate your cleaning work—your teeth will thank you for it! First of all, the bad news: Nei

Miranda was four months pregnant and extremely anxious when she got her first HIV test. She had long been afraid of a positive diagnosis, and shortly after stepping into a tent offering free HIV tests at a taxi stand in central Johannesburg, her fear was confirmed. Miranda—who asked to use a pseudonym to protect her safety and privacy—had never been tested. “[I thought], It’s not going to happen to me.… [But] part of me knew it was true. I wasn’t handling it very well.” Nor was her partner. “He would tell me that I was the one who brought [HIV] into our house and get physical with me.” After h

What would go through your mind if I told you that you had cancer? Perhaps you’d wonder how you got it, or how you were going to get rid of it. Maybe you’d worry about whether you could keep working, or, if you have children, how they might react when you broke the news to them. You always had good hair, you think, but all good things…well, let’s not finish that thought just yet. Or maybe you’d have a sense, false or otherwise, that you would not best cancer, but that it would best you. Now what if I told you that counseling led by a specialist physician on the psychological, social, and exist

Olivia Koburongo’s grandmother was 86 when she died, but she should have lived longer. She spent the months preceding her death in June 2014 in various Ugandan hospitals as doctors tried to figure out what was causing her chest pains, shortness of breath and persistent dry cough. “In the end, they found out she had pneumonia, which is a treatable disease,” says Brian Turyabagye, Koburongo’s former business partner. “But it wasn’t detected in time.” Wanting to understand how her death could have been prevented, the pair—both telecommunication engineering students at the time—researched the dise

Olivia Koburongo’s grandmother was 86 when she died, but she should have lived longer. She spent the months preceding her death in June 2014 in various Ugandan hospitals as doctors tried to figure out what was causing her chest pains, shortness of breath and persistent dry cough. “In the end, they found out she had pneumonia, which is a treatable disease,” says Brian Turyabagye, Koburongo’s former business partner. “But it wasn’t detected in time.” Wanting to understand how her death could have been prevented, the pair—both telecommunication engineering students at the time—researched the dise

Don't come for Meals on Wheels if you don't have your facts straight. At a Thursday press briefing, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney defended President Donald Trump's proposed budget cuts by saying the grants that help fund Meals on Wheels, among other anti-poverty programs, "were just not showing any results." "We can't do that anymore," Mulvaney said. "We can't spend money on programs just because they sound good. And great — Meals on Wheels sounds great. Again, that's a state decision to fund that particular portion of it. I can't defend that anymore. We cannot defend that anymore.

M.O. TO HERB KROHN, A RAILROAD WORKER in Seattle, no living creatures are more precious than his four dogs. “From the day you get your dog, you worry about the day you’re going to have to say goodbye,” he says. So three years ago, when he saw an article about a new study called the Dog Aging Project—a trial designed to test a drug that might help dogs live longer—he volunteered his four-legged friends. One of his pups, Lola, made the cut. Three times a week for 10 weeks, Krohn fed his puffy chow chow a pill covered in peanut butter. He didn’t know whether the pills were the real deal or a p

THE TITANS OF THE TECH INDUSTRY ARE KNOWN for their confidence that they can solve any problem—even, as it turns out, the one that’s defeated every other attempt so far. That’s why the most far-out strategies to cheat death are being tested in America’s playground for the young, deep-pocketed and brilliant: Silicon Valley. Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle, has given more than $330 million to research about aging and age-related diseases. Alphabet CEO and co-founder Larry Page launched Calico, a research company that targets ways to improve the human lifespan. Peter Thiel, co-founder of