Health category, Page 103
Cold medicines for kids: What’s the risk?
Over-the-counter cough and cold medicines are the best way to help a child who has a cold feel better — right? Think again. Here’s practical advice from Dr. Jay L. Hoecker, an emeritus pediatrics specialist at Mayo Clinic. What’s the concern about cough and cold medicines for kids? Over-the-counter cough...
Reduce salt to improve heart health
Those with high blood pressure or who are at risk may want to consider simply saying no to sodium. Dr. Amy Pollak, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist, says 75% of the amount of salt you get in your day-to-day diet is from processed foods or going out to eat. A new...
Health Happenings: Week of March 9
Blood drives • American Red Cross will host these blood drives: — Noon-5 p.m. today , Westmoreland Manor, 2480 South Grande Boulevard, Hempfield — 8 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Saturday , Trinity Lutheran Church, 331 Weldon St., Latrobe Appointments: 800-733-2767 or redcrossblood.org; walk-ins welcome Classes/programs • Tour of the Family Additions Maternity...
Coronavirus is so contagious it warrants 2-week quarantine, experts say
How contagious are people? When are they spreading the virus? These are the questions scientists and public health officials are asking as the novel coronavirus outbreak spreads farther every day. Definitive answers remain unknown, but the virus appears to be easily passed and the two-week quarantine period that has become...
Florida: 2 dead who tested positive for coronavirus
MIAMI — Two people who tested positive for the new coronavirus have died in Florida, marking the first deaths on the East Coast attributed to the outbreak in the U.S., health officials said Friday. Helen Aguirre Ferre, a spokeswoman for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, confirmed the deaths on Twitter, writing...
What’s Happening: Cruise ship tests, Prisons sanitized
As cases of the new coronavirus surpassed 100,000 worldwide, people on a cruise ship tested positive, Tokyo Olympics organizers are adjusting for the torch’s arrival in Japan, migrants headed to Europe are facing added hardships and shoppers around the globe continue stocking up. These are some of the latest developments...
Why shutting down schools to prevent coronavirus spread could actually make it worse
SEATTLE — The University of Washington announced Friday it was moving all instruction online for the next two weeks, keeping more than 50,000 students out of classrooms as the death toll from COVID-19 continued to rise. At least 16 public elementary and secondary schools in the state have also closed,...
Trump defends administration’s coronavirus approach in CDC visit
ATLANTA — President Donald Trump almost didn’t make the trip to Atlanta to address his administration’s response to the coronavirus. But when he arrived at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s main Atlanta campus, he didn’t seem to want to leave. After initially scrapping the trip, the president...
21 positive for coronavirus on cruise ship off California
SAN FRANCISCO — Twenty-one people aboard a mammoth cruise ship off the California coast tested positive for the new coronavirus and 19 of them are crew members, Vice President Mike Pence announced Friday, amid evidence the vessel was the breeding ground for a deadly cluster of more than 10 cases...
Pittsburgh airport ramps up sanitizing efforts as coronavirus spreads
As travelers worldwide place their plans on hold because of the growing threat of the coronavirus, officials at Pittsburgh International Airport said Friday that things there are business as usual. Bob Kerlik, a spokesman for the Allegheny County Airport Authority, said the airport has not received notice of flight reductions....
Allegheny County DA urges weekend medicine cabinet cleanup
Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. is encouraging residents to clean out their medicine cabinets this weekend to coincide with changing their clocks. “The beginning of daylight saving time is the perfect time for people to identify unused or expired prescription and over-the-counter medications in their homes, medications...
Move the clocks forward and spring into longer daysVideo
Losing an hour of sleep is the price to pay for gaining a later period of daylight. Daylight savings time begins at 2 a.m. March 8. Move the clocks forward and enjoy driving home after work without headlights. Send the kids out to play before — and after — dinner....
Pittsburgh events to carry on, with precautions, despite coronavirus spreadVideo
Events across the country are being canceled because of the growing threat of the coronavirus, but it’s business as usual in Western Pennsylvania. While precautions are being taken at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh and at the Monroeville Convention Center, event leaders are monitoring the spread of...
HHS removed images of condoms from HIV/AIDS education material
The Department of Health and Human Services stripped from a government website HIV/AIDS educational material that featured condoms, calling the images “unapproved,” according to official correspondence obtained by Kaiser Health News. The images had been included in a 2017 fact sheet posted by HHS’ Office on Women’s Health to mark...
FDA says pacemakers, glucose monitors and other devices could be vulnerable to hackers
Federal agencies warned patients and manufacturers this past week that a recently discovered problem with Bluetooth Low Energy communications may allow computer hackers to remotely disable or access pacemakers, glucose monitors, ultrasound devices and other medical systems. The FDA and Homeland Security Department said that while there have been no...
AGs for crackdown on chemical used to sterilize medical devices
Half of all medical devices used in the United States — from bandages to implantable computers — are sterilized with a toxic gas that has come under critical scrutiny over concerns about air pollution that could cause cancer. Now Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has joined a coalition of 11...
Pittsburgh group provides cleaning equipment for coronavirus protection
With the anticipated arrival of the coronavirus in Western Pennsylvania, businesses and families are looking for ways to keep employees and loved ones safe. A group called Women for a Healthy Environment wants to help. The group, based in Pittsburgh, addresses environmental concerns that impact public health. It has developed...
Doctors try 1st CRISPR editing in the body for blindness
Scientists say they have used the gene editing tool CRISPR inside someone’s body for the first time, a new frontier for efforts to operate on DNA, the chemical code of life, to treat diseases. A patient recently had it done at the Casey Eye Institute at Oregon Health & Science...
Feds investigate nursing home as U.S. death toll hits 11
SEATTLE — The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus climbed to 11 on Wednesday with a patient succumbing in California — the first reported fatality outside Washington state — as federal authorities announced an investigation of the Seattle-area nursing home where most of the victims were stricken. Officials in California’s...
Looking for hand sanitizer? Good luck finding it
NEW YORK — The hand sanitizers on Amazon were overpriced. A Walmart this weekend was completely sold out. Only on his third try was Ken Smith able to find the clear gel — at a Walgreens, where three bottles of Purell were left. He bought two. “I didn’t want to...
Allegheny County Health Department names new director
A search committee made up of members of the Allegheny County Board of Health and the community has selected Dr. Debra Bogen as its nominee to lead the county Health Department. Bogen, the vice chair for education in the UPMC Children’s Hospital pediatric department, will replace Dr. Karen Hacker, who...
Experts recommend approaches to discussing coronavirus with kids
It’s not easy for parents to talk to children about many things, and coronavirus is quickly becoming an unavoidable topic. The challenge is finding the middle ground between giving kids good information and giving them reason to be concerned, according to several child psychologists who spoke to the Tribune-Review. So,...
Flu season may be peaking in Pennsylvania, Health Department says
The flu season may have peaked in Pennsylvania, a spokeswoman for the state Health Department said Tuesday. “While cases are increasing, the number of new cases each week is decreasing,” spokeswoman Brittany Lauffer said. The news comes as state health officials are bracing for potential coronavirus cases to surface in...
Tensions rise as U.S. death toll from coronavirus reaches 9
SEATTLE — Tensions over how to contain the fast-spreading coronavirus escalated Tuesday in the United States as the death toll climbed to nine and lawmakers expressed doubts about the government’s ability to ramp up testing fast enough to deal with the crisis. All of the deaths have occurred in Washington...
VA sued over veteran’s death from wrongful insulin injection
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A woman is suing the federal government over the 2018 death of her father from a wrongful insulin injection at a West Virginia veterans hospital. Melanie Proctor filed the lawsuit Monday against Veteran Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie. It details a “widespread system of failures” at the Louis...
