Latest Medication News

What do weight loss drugs mean for a diet industry built on eating less and exercising more?

Apr. 25, 2024 05:54 AM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Ever since college, Brad Jobling struggled with his weight, fluctuating between a low of 155 pounds when he was in his 30s to as high as 220. He spent a decade tracking calories on WeightWatchers, but the pounds he dropped always crept back onto his 5-foot-5-inch frame. ...

Venezuela broke its HPV vaccine promises, and there's barely any sex ed. Experts say it's a problem

Apr. 25, 2024 04:38 AM EDT

PUTUCUAL, Venezuela (AP) — Some of the 10 women and teenage girls who recently came to a medical clinic in eastern Venezuela for free contraceptives fidgeted a bit when a community health worker taught them how to use an IUD, condoms and birth control pills correctly. The health...

Malaria is still killing people in Kenya, but a vaccine and local drug production may help

Apr. 25, 2024 03:13 AM EDT

MIGORI, Kenya (AP) — As the coffin bearing the body of Rosebella Awuor was lowered into the grave, heart-wrenching sobs from mourners filled the air. Her sister Winnie Akinyi, the guardian to Awuor’s orphaned son, fell to the ground, wailing. It was the latest of five deaths in...

Climate change is bringing malaria to new areas. In Africa, it never left

Apr. 25, 2024 01:13 AM EDT

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — When a small number of cases of locally transmitted malaria were found in the United States last year, it was a reminder that climate change is reviving or migrating the threat of some diseases. But across the African continent malaria has never left, killing or sickening...

More doctors can prescribe a leading addiction treatment. Why aren't more people getting help?

Apr. 24, 2024 17:06 PM EDT

It’s easier than ever for doctors to prescribe a key medicine for opioid addiction since the U.S. government lifted an obstacle last year. But despite the looser restrictions and the ongoing overdose crisis, a new study finds little change in the number of people taking the medication. ...

Allergies can make you miserable. Here's how to track pollen levels near you

Apr. 24, 2024 11:58 AM EDT

Allergy season can bring misery to tens of millions of Americans each year. Tree, grass, and other pollens can cause runny noses, itchy eyes, coughing and sneezing. Where you live and what you're allergic to can make a big difference in how bad your allergies are, but...

Haiti health system nears collapse as medicine dwindles, gangs attack hospitals and ports stay shut

Apr. 23, 2024 07:34 AM EDT

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — On a recent morning at a hospital in the heart of gang territory in Haiti’s capital, a woman began convulsing before her body went limp as a doctor and two nurses raced to save her. They stuck electrodes to her chest and flipped on an oxygen machine...

West Virginia confirms first measles case since 2009

Apr. 22, 2024 16:31 PM EDT

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia hospital has confirmed the first known case of measles in the state since 2009, health officials said Monday. The Monongalia County Health Department said WVU Medicine alerted officials Sunday that an adult patient living in the county...

WADA confirms it cleared Chinese swimmers to compete at Tokyo Games citing contaminated samples

Apr. 20, 2024 11:34 AM EDT

SYDNEY (AP) — The world's top anti-doping regulator says 23 Chinese swimmers were cleared to compete at the Tokyo Olympics despite testing positive for a banned heart medication because it agreed with Chinese authorities and ruled that their samples had been contaminated. The World...

UN approves an updated cholera vaccine that could help fight a surge in cases

Apr. 18, 2024 23:59 PM EDT

The World Health Organization has approved a version of a widely used cholera vaccine that could help address a surge in cases that has depleted the global vaccine stockpile and left poorer countries scrambling to contain epidemics. WHO authorized the vaccine, made by EuBiologics,...