Health

People with a cervix might notice a change on their next visit to the OB-GYN thanks to new guidelines about cervical cancer screenings. These new rules aim to reduce stress and increase detection of the virus that causes most cervical cancers.

In promoting the reopening of schools this fall, Trump administration officials have, at times, inaccurately described the evidence on how COVID-19 affects children.

Two Chicago hospitals were named among the top 20 in the country, according to the latest ranking by U.S. News and World Report Tuesday. Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Rush University Medical Center ranked at no. 10 and 17, respectively, on the list. According to U.S. News and World Report hospitals are ranked based on their performance in 16 s...

New study results are boosting hopes that there soon may be a simple, reliable way to help family doctors diagnose the most common form of dementia

U.S. drugmaker Pfizer and German biotech BioNTech said they began their late-stage human trial for a potential coronavirus vaccine on Monday as pharmaceutical companies race to win regulatory approval before the end of the year.

The world’s biggest COVID-19 vaccine test got underway Monday with the first of 30,000 planned volunteers

There’s a pandemic. There’s a recession.

Jacob Gise opened a Body Fit Training franchise in Santa Monica, California, in November. By March, the flagship U.S. studio of the global chain had just become profitable.

Preliminary data shows that reports of child abuse around the nation have plunged during the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown, according to an NBC News analysis, while experts are concerned there could be an unseen surge in abuse behind closed doors due to COVID-19 related unemployment and financial strain.

The United States passed a grim milestone Thursday, exceeding 4 million confirmed coronavirus cases and nearly 145,000 deaths nationwide, NBC News reports. As the virus continues to spread in more than 30 states, experts say it could be a while before the country sees the end of this surge of infections. In the early months of the pandemic in the&#...

The nation’s top public health agency has released a new strategy for dealing with the coronavirus epidemic’s unequal impact on minorities

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged Friday that a significant number of COVID-19 patients do not recover quickly, and instead experience ongoing symptoms, such as fatigue and cough. As many as a third of patients who were never sick enough to be hospitalized are not back to their usual health up to three weeks afte...

Americans struggling through the worsening coronavirus outbreak got some rare good news this week as researchers delivered encouraging updates about potential vaccines. Even Dr. Anthony Fauci, whose gloomy warnings have frustrated President Donald Trump, has sounded consistently enthusiastic about the prospects. It’s a heartening tho...

House keys, wallet or purse, mobile phone and …. oh, yes: face mask.

Amid one of the worst downturns in U.S. history, the number of Americans who are struggling to pay for food has soared. Around 20% of adults living with children said they couldn’t afford to adequately feed their families over the last seven days, and nearly 26 million adults said people in their households are not eating enough because of a......

If you are purchasing hand sanitizer to keep your hands clean and slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, avoid purchasing products that contain methanol, a type of wood alcohol that can be toxic when absorbed through the skin.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the shortage of N95 respirator masks presented a dire situation for the healthcare and frontline workers who needed them most. Essential workers who relied on N95 masks had no choice but to wear what were meant to be disposable N95 masks for weeks at a time. Some started disinfecting the masks to be......

When Ervina and Prefina were born two years ago, they were conjoined at the skull, back-to-back. For most of their lives, they never saw the other’s face except when they looked at their reflections in a mirror. In early June, the twins finally had the chance to gaze directly at each other after 30 doctors and nurses separated them during...

As the coronavirus pandemic subsides for now in the hard-hit Northeast, public health officials in the region are bracing for an outbreak of another mysterious virus: eastern equine encephalitis

A new U.S. study shows Black children die more often after common surgeries than whites.

Kayla Christine Long, 17, did not give particular thought to posting a video to TikTok on New Year’s Eve saying that all she had consumed that day was a jug of ice water. She hashtagged it “#whatieatinaday.”

The Food and Drug Administration has issued an emergency approval a new approach to coronavirus testing in which several people’s samples are tested together in batches instead of individually, speeding up the process

Medical professionals in Alabama are witnessing two starkly different realities: Inside the hospitals, they attend to patients fighting for their lives in overcrowded intensive care units

Evidence behind what role children play in the coronavirus pandemic and how it affects them is inconclusive, despite the Trump administration’s position that the science is clear

The U.S. on Friday set a new record of more than 73,000 coronavirus cases reported within a single day as the total numbers climb to over 3.6 million cases and nearly 140,000 deaths, according to NBC News. About 73,800 cases have been reported by 7 p.m. ET. The number of new cases Friday is expected to rise before the day’s end…....

Millions more children in the U.S. are learning that they’re unlikely to return to classrooms full time in the fall because of the coronavirus pandemic

The coronavirus keeps surging in hot spots around the United States, leading to drastic measures

The U.S. on Thursday set a new record of more than 72,000 coronavirus cases reported within a single day as the total numbers climb to nearly 3.6 million cases and over 139,000 deaths, according to NBC News. The U.S. reported 72,494 cases on Thursday shortly before 9 p.m. ET, according to an NBC News tally. The number of cases is expected&#823...

A government watchdog says the head of the Medicaid and Medicare programs failed to properly manage more than $6 million in communications and outreach contracts

If you decide to have an alcoholic drink, limiting yourself to one a day is best — whether you’re a man or woman.

Hospital data related to the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. will now be collected by a private technology firm, rather than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

California, Arizona, Texas and Florida together are reporting about 36,000 new coronavirus cases as restrictions aimed at combating the spread of the pandemic take hold in the United States and around the world

The United States on Wednesday reached more than 3.5 million cases of the coronavirus and over 138,000 deaths, according to a tally by NBC News. In another grim milestone, Florida, a major coronavirus hotspot in the U.S., surpassed its daily record of virus-related deaths when it recorded 132 on Tuesday, NBC Miami reported. Vice President Mike Penc...

Seven months after the first patients were hospitalized in China battling an infection doctors had never seen before, the world’s scientists and citizens have reached an unsettling crossroads

Moderna’s shares soared after the company said its potential vaccine to prevent Covid-19 produced a “robust” immune response in all 45 patients in its early stage human trial, according to newly released data published Tuesday evening in the peer-reviewed New England Journal of Medicine. Moderna’s stock rose more than 16% in after-hours trading on ...

Politicians and public health leaders have publicly committed to equitably sharing any coronavirus vaccine that works, but the top global initiative to make that happen may allow rich countries to reinforce their own stockpiles while making fewer doses available for poor ones

Florida has surpassed its daily record for coronavirus deaths amid rising global worries of a resurgence, even as researchers announced that the first vaccine tested in the U.S. had worked to boost patients’ immune systems

A debate over whether to reopen schools in the fall has taken center stage nationwide as local officials scramble to prepare for the upcoming school year. On Monday, California’s two largest school systems, Los Angeles and San Diego, announced classes will begin online. The U.S. is grappling with the worst coronavirus outbreak in the world, e...

The Food and Drug Administration has added dozens of hand sanitizers to a growing list of products that tested positive for methanol contamination. Methanol, sometimes called wood alcohol, is not a suitable ingredient for hand sanitizers and can prove “toxic” when absorbed through the skin or ingested, according to the FDA.

The United States was grappling with the worst coronavirus outbreak in the world on Monday, as Florida shattered the national record for a state’s largest single-day increase in new confirmed cases. The Treasury Department reported Monday that the deficit hit $864 billion in June, an amount of red ink that surpasses most annual deficits in the nati...

Black people are facing a combination of stressors experts worry could affect the suicide rate

As the debate over whether to reopen schools in the fall amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic continues, the United States set a new record: more than 70,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day, according to NBC News. In response to President Donald Trump’s threat to “cut off” funding for schools that do not completel...

The World Health Organization published new guidance Thursday, saying it can’t rule out the possibility that the coronavirus can be transmitted through air particles in closed spaces indoors, including in gyms and restaurants. The WHO previously acknowledged that the virus may become airborne in certain environments, such as during “medical procedu...

Is it safe to visit the dentist during the COVID-19 pandemic

In the U.S., the number of confirmed coronavirus cases has passed 3.1 million — meaning nearly one in every 100 people has been confirmed as infected — and the number of deaths is more than 133,000, according to a tally from NBC News. Despite the outbreak, President Donald Trump remains determined to reopen America’s schools, threatening on Wednesd...

The head of the Tulsa-County Health Department says President Donald Trump’s campaign rally in late June “likely contributed” to a dramatic surge in new coronavirus cases there

Weeks after he was hospitalized with what his doctors assumed was the coronavirus, NBC News contributor and virologist Dr. Joseph Fair, Ph.D., M.P.H., said his recent antibody test has come back negative. He said his earlier illness “remains an undiagnosed mystery” in a tweet on Tuesday. “Symptomatically, yes, I thought ...

Six months after COVID-19 started spreading around the globe, desperation rather than information is still driving many decisions about how to treat the disease

The total cases of the coronavirus in the United States are over 3 million, according to a tally from NBC News. There have been more than 132,000 confirmed deaths as a result of COVID-19. And, as many states battle outbreaks, hospitals are facing a shortage of personal protective equipment, or PPE. Rear Adm. John Polowczyk, who is in charge of&#823...

The U.S. government is launching a national campaign aimed at reducing high suicide rates, particularly among veterans.

Doctors say a Brazilian man who was infected with the AIDS virus has shown no sign of it for more than a year since he stopped HIV medicines after an intense experimental drug therapy aimed at purging hidden, dormant virus from his body

The United States continues to see a massive outbreak of the new coronavirus as the total cases reached 3 million Tuesday, according to a tally from NBC News. Confirmed cases are on the rise in 41 out of 50 states plus the District of Columbia, and the percentage of tests coming back positive for the virus is increasing in 39…

President Donald Trump is claiming that coronavirus infection is harmless to 99% of the people who get it.

Two weeks after the Food and Drug Administration warned against the use of nine hand sanitizer products due to the potential presence of methanol, the agency added five more brands that tested positive for the toxic substance.

More than 200 scientists have called for the World Health Organization and others to acknowledge that the coronavirus can spread in the air.

As coronavirus infections explode in states like Arizona and Florida, people in communities of color are fighting to get tested

New numbers on the global AIDS epidemic are showing some big successes, but also some tragic failures

The United States dipped under 50,000 new coronavirus cases for the first time in four days, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, but experts fear Fourth of July celebrations will act like rocket fuel for the nation’s surging outbreak. Leaders in Austin and Houston, Texas, warned Sunday of hospitals nearing capacity, and asked Republic...

The Texas Medical Association has released a chart explaining which behaviors put you at risk of getting COVID-19.

The U.S. is heading into the Fourth of July weekend with many parades and fireworks displays canceled, beaches and bars closed, and health authorities warning that this will be a crucial test of Americans’ self-control. They say this could determine the trajectory of the surging coronavirus outbreak. With confirmed cases climbing in 40 states,...

Does wearing a mask pose any health risks? No, not for most people. Babies and toddlers should not wear masks because they could suffocate. The same goes for anyone who has trouble removing a mask without help. Others can wear masks without risking their health, according to experts, despite false rumors to the contrary. In areas where COVID-19 is ...

The U.S. reported a record number of new daily coronavirus infections, surpassing 50,000 cases a day for the first time as many states struggled to contain the spread of the pandemic, blamed in part on Americans not wearing masks or following social distancing rules. In response, California and New York City joined a growing number of states and ci...

It could be the future of coronavirus care. “The technology is sophisticated enough that we’re going to see things that the nurse can take care of before the patient feels the symptoms,” said Gary Conkright, CEO of physIQ. The Chicago-based company makes pinpointIQ, a system made up of wearable biosensors and artificial intelligence technolog...

Health experts on Wednesday slammed the U.S. decision to hog nearly the entire global supply of remdesivir, the only drug licensed so far to treat COVID-19, warning that type of selfish behavior sets a dangerous precedent for attempts to share scarce treatments amid the pandemic. The U.S. government announced Tuesday that President Donald Trump had...

The U.S. public health system has been starved for decades and it lacks the resources to confront the worst health crisis in a century

Arizona recorded more coronavirus deaths, infections, hospitalizations and emergency-room visits in a single day than ever before in a crisis Wednesday across the Sunbelt that sent a shudder through other parts of the country and led distant states to put their own reopening plans on hold. In Florida, hospitals braced for an influx of pat...

If another pandemic were to emerge in the U.S., the nation would need a better coordinated response and greater funding for public health on the local and federal level to respond accordingly, top U.S. health officials told lawmakers on Tuesday.

Amid an alarming resurgence of coronavirus cases nationwide, leaders in several states are backtracking on reopening plans and ordering residents to wear masks in public.

Scientists have identified a new strain of flu carried by pigs in China that they say has the potential to become a pandemic.

Arizona’s Republican governor has shut down bars, movie theaters, gyms and water parks amid a dramatic resurgence of coronavirus cases.

The coronavirus is spreading too rapidly and too broadly for the U.S. to bring it under control, Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Monday.

The coronavirus pandemic is accelerating around the world as many countries that reopened their economies see a resurgence in COVID-19 cases, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said Monday.

Democrats have pushed an election-year package expanding “Obamacare” coverage through the House

Millions of people have been pushed into hunger by the new coronavirus, said the United Nations World Food Program.

The world reached another tragic milestone in the coronavirus pandemic on Sunday: 500,000 COVID-19 related deaths, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University.

Texas and Florida have clamped down on bars in America’s biggest retreat yet as the nation’s daily number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose to an all-time high of 45,300.

As an alarming coronavirus resurgence sets records for confirmed cases and hospitalizations across the U.S. South and West, some governors are backtracking or at least pausing the reopening of their states.

The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to wipe out Obamacare, arguing that the individual mandate is unconstitutional and that the rest of the law must be struck down with it.

Close to half a million people who lost their health insurance amid the economic shutdown to slow the spread of COVID-19 have gotten coverage through HealthCare.

President Donald Trump keeps spinning a tale about COVID-19 that is at odds with his own administration’s disease experts and data compiled by his own coronavirus task force, which was obtained exclusively by NBC News.

Missouri’s health department is giving the only abortion clinic in the state another license

The true number of Americans who’ve been infected with COVID-19 may top 20 million, according to new estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Our best estimate right now is that for every case that’s reported, there actually are 10 other infections,” CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield said on a call with...

From New York to the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, governments and businesses are ramping up precautions as coronavirus case numbers surge.

U.S. health officials say the flu vaccine did a disappointing job last winter, and officials worry it might be a bad sign for the fall

In less than two months, the United States Food and Drug Administration has approved seven new treatments for lung cancer, making major progress in the fight against the deadly disease. “We see patients living longer than I ever dreamed they would have when I started, and living well,” said Dr. Jyoti Patel, a thoracic oncologist and associate vice ...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is taking a jab at President Donald Trump as she unveils a plan to expand the Obama-era health law

The spread of the coronavirus is prompting soaring demand for oxygen.

The United States has set a new highest daily total of confirmed coronavirus cases with at least 45,557 cases recorded Wednesday, NBC News reports.

The Trump administration has won a court ruling upholding its plan to require hospitals and insurers to disclose the actual prices for common tests and procedures in a bid to promote competition and push down costs

President Donald Trump recently declared that the coronavirus is “fading” and that U.S. testing for COVID-19 is the best anywhere.

The U.S. is seeing a “disturbing surge” of COVID-19 infections, particularly in the Southeast and West, Dr. Anthony Fauci said during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing Tuesday.

Nations around the world and U.S. states struggled mightily Tuesday to contain a surge of coronavirus infections as lockdowns eased

The government’s top infectious disease expert said Tuesday he is cautiously optimistic that there will be a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the year or early 2021, and warned that the next few weeks will be critical to tamping down coronavirus hot spots around the country.