Malaria infection rates are soaring in Ethiopia, where a combination of armed conflict, climate change and mosquitoes’ growing resistance to drugs and insecticides has accelerated the spread of a disease the country once thought it was bringing under control. More than 6.1 million malaria cases, and 1,038 deaths, have been …
Read More »U.S. Study on Puberty Blockers Goes Unpublished Because of Politics, Doctor Says
An influential doctor and advocate of adolescent gender treatments said she had not published a long-awaited study of puberty-blocking drugs because of the charged American political environment. The doctor, Johanna Olson-Kennedy, began the study in 2015 as part of a broader, multimillion-dollar federal project on transgender youth. She and colleagues …
Read More »‘No Smoking’ Signs on Planes Can Now Stay On Forever
The days of airplane cabins hazy with cigarette smoke are long gone, but a reminder of that era is still visible inside commercial jets. Smoking has been banned on commercial flights in the United States for decades, but the Federal Aviation Administration is only just updating an outdated rule to …
Read More »Opinion | The Marijuana Landscape
To the Editor: Re “Unexpected Problem in the Rise of Marijuana” (front page, Oct. 5): As we navigate the evolving landscape of marijuana legalization, it is crucial to emphasize the need for effective treatment options alongside these reforms. While legal access to cannabis may alleviate burdens on the criminal justice …
Read More »Novelty Acts
This summer, for the first time in my life, I was the — recipient? beneficiary? some (not me!) would say victim — of a surprise birthday party. It was a delight through and through, but the thing I keep marveling at is how genuinely surprising it all was, from the …
Read More »These Tiny Worms Account for at Least 4 Nobel Prizes
When scientists win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, they typically thank family and colleagues, maybe their universities or whoever funded their research. This year, as the molecular biologist Gary Ruvkun accepted the most prestigious award of his career, he spent a few minutes lauding his experimental subject: a …
Read More »Daring Trump, Harris’s Campaign Releases Medical Information
Vice President Kamala Harris released a letter on Saturday from her White House doctor, who said she is in “excellent health” and is successfully managing some minor health issues. Ms. Harris, 59, has seasonal allergies, mild nearsightedness and skin hives that she treats with over-the-counter and prescription medication, wrote Joshua …
Read More »What Does It Mean to Be Immunocompromised?
Kaley Karaffa had just turned 28 when the reality of having a weakened immune system as a cancer patient started to sink in. A few weeks earlier, at an annual medical exam, Ms. Karaffa had expressed concern to her doctor about enlarged lymph nodes near her collarbone. Testing showed that …
Read More »What, Exactly, Is ‘Moderate Drinking’?
Over the past several years, there has been a rise in alcohol-related deaths and a steady wave of news about the health risks of drinking. Calls for people to drink only in moderation have become more urgent. But what, exactly, does that mean? “Tongue in cheek, people have defined it …
Read More »Aren’t I Entitled to Know Why My Husband Is on a Drug for H.I.V. Risk?
My husband and I have been together since 1976. We have not always lived together, and we haven’t pledged to be monogamous. But neither have we had an ‘‘open marriage’’ or been promiscuous. An occasional fling when we have been traveling separately has been pretty satisfying. Recently I discovered emtricitabine …
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