Latest Health News

FRIDAY, Oct. 2, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Everyone 6 months of age and older should get a flu shot this season, the American Medical Association (AMA) says. With the coronavirus pandemic raging, a flu shot is more important than ever to protect yourself, your loved ones and your community from the flu. "Routine vaccination is essential preventive care for children, adolescents and adults -- including pregnant women -- that should not be delayed because of the pandemic," said AMA President Dr. Susan Bailey. Experts have warned that a "twindemic" of flu and COVID-19 could overwhelm the health care system. Just as wearing a mask helps prevent spread of the new coronavirus, getting a flu shot helps prevent people from getting sick and spreading flu to others. Flu shots also shield...

FRIDAY, Oct. 2, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- What next, 2020? In this year of surprising threats to public health, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now investigating a pair of salmonella outbreaks among people who cuddled pet hedgehogs and bearded dragon lizards. No deaths have been reported in either outbreak but a dozen people have been hospitalized, the CDC said. In both cases, health officials have not identified a common supplier. The outbreak connected with bearded dragons has sickened 13 people in eight states and seven have been hospitalized. Ten of the sick people said they'd had contact with a bearded dragon before becoming ill. Patients reported buying bearded dragons from various pet stores in several states, the CDC said. The outbreak linked to pet...

FRIDAY, Oct. 2, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Chrissy Teigen's public disclosure of her pregnancy loss is shining new light on a trauma for couples that's too often left in the shadows. The 34-year-old model, cookbook author and social media star announced the loss of her baby boy via Twitter Thursday. She was thought to be halfway through a pregnancy with a baby she and her husband, singer John Legend, had already named Jack. Earlier this week, Teigen posted on Instagram the news that she'd been hospitalized on Sunday due to excessive bleeding of her placenta. On Thursday, she tweeted, "Driving home from the hospital with no baby. How can this be real." She posted a black and white photo on Twitter showing herself in a praying position on a hospital bed, seemingly in tears. Teigen's...

FRIDAY, Oct. 2, 2020 (American Heart Association News) -- Belinda Zuniga was searching the classified ads for job notices 14 years ago when a single word caught her attention: stroke. Her grandmother had just had one. "We had so many questions. Her stroke really disabled her," said Zuniga, a certified nursing assistant. She jumped at the chance to work for BASIC, the Brain Attack Surveillance in Corpus Christi research project. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, BASIC is the only major study of stroke in Mexican Americans, the largest segment of the nation's Hispanic population. Two decades ago, when Zuniga joined the project, Mexican Americans in her Texas town were more than twice as likely to suffer strokes as their non-Hispanic white neighbors – one of the first major...