The coronavirus is hitting an ailing American public health system hard. No state was ready for this emergency, according to an annual review. “In every state, we’re pretty far from our optimal level of being prepared,” said Glen Mays, lead researcher for the National Health Security Preparedness Index. “We’ve had a lot of years of underinvestment. Eventually, that catches...

The new coronavirus can survive for several hours in air particles and last days on surfaces, according to a new federally funded study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers from the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UCLA and Princeton University examined how long COVID-19 survives in the air as well as on copper,...

Viral posts on social media claim COVID-19 is no worse than other outbreaks that have occurred in “every election year,” suggesting that the new coronavirus is being “hyped” to hurt President Donald Trump. But most of the dates cited to defend those conclusions about previous outbreaks are misleading or incorrect.

It’s abundantly clear that governors and mayors, not the federal government, have the broadest quarantine and isolation authority. That’s because the Constitution leaves that kind of police power in the hands of the states. Longstanding federal laws, and rules put in place at the end of the Obama administration, give the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention authority to quarantine people...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday an employee of the U.S. agency tested positive for the coronavirus, the first known employee with the respiratory disease.

The spread of coronavirus and cutbacks in domestic and international airline schedules continue to raise concerns and insecurities for those with travel plans for the next few weeks and months. If your airline cancels your flight, your employer restricts business travel or an organization cancels its scheduled conference, your decision about whether to go or stay home will be made for...

As global concerns over the coronavirus outbreak grow, the U.S. is taking steps to prepare for the possibility of a pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. Health authorities are closely monitoring the spread of the virus — not only in China, where the outbreak began and where the vast majority of the cases have been diagnosed…

It may be a bad flu season for kids, but early signs suggest the flu vaccine is working OK

As new cases of the coronavirus are reported around the world, a doctor explains where the 2019 Novel Coronavirus comes from and what you can do to protect yourself from the outbreak.

A man who recently traveled to Wuhan, China has been diagnosed as the first Massachusetts resident with coronavirus, and the eighth case confirmed in the U.S.

As the coronavirus outbreak rages on in China, at least 110 people in the United States are undergoing testing for the new respiratory illness, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Monday. Five people in the U.S. have been hospitalized with confirmed cases of the coronavirus: one in Washington, one in Illinois, one in Arizona and two in California, NBC...

Health officials now blame vitamin E acetate for the “vast majority” of cases in the U.S. outbreak of vaping illnesses and they say doctors should monitor patients more closely after they go home from the hospital. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the updated advice Friday. And, in a related move Friday, authorities investigating how patients obtained...

Health officials in Chicago say it’s not too late to get a flu shot. The Chicago Department of Public Health is hosting four flu clinics this week, offering free vaccines. The events are on Monday, Tuesday and Saturday.

More evidence from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention links synthetic vitamin E oil added to illegal THC products to the vaping-related illnesses that have sickened 2,290 people, NBC News reported. In the report published Tuesday, investigators at the Minnesota Department of Health analyzed products containing THC, marijuana’s psychoactive ingredient. Twenty product samples obtained from vaping illness patients contained...

Fresh Express recalled some of its prepackaged salad mix from Wal-mart stores in the Southeastern United States after a dead bat was found inside a container sold in Florida.

Flu activity is picking up across the country, indicating an earlier start to this year’s flu season, particularly in the South and in the West, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The uptick doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be a bad season — flu is notoriously unpredictable — but some clues from earlier this year point...

A hepatitis A outbreak in Nebraska, Indiana and Wisconsin has been traced to blackberries sold in Fresh Thyme grocery stores and federal authorities on Wednesday warned consumers in 11 states against eating some berries bought from that chain.

The American Medical Association on Tuesday called for an immediate ban on all electronic cigarettes and vaping devices. The group adopted the sweeping stance at a policy-making meeting in San Diego. It aims to lobby for state and federal laws, regulations or legal action to achieve a ban, but the industry is sure to fight back.

Drug-resistant “superbug” infections have been called a developing nightmare that could set medicine back a century, making conquered germs once again untreatable. So there’s some surprising news in a report released Wednesday: U.S. superbug deaths appear to be going down. About 36,000 Americans died from drug-resistant infections in 2017, down 18% from an estimated 44,000 in 2013, the Centers for...