Delayed air quality permits from state, Allegheny County raise concerns about pollution
A new analysis by the Group Against Smog and Pollution found the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is late to issue at least 15 air quality permits, raising concerns that some of the state’s most prolific polluters may be operating without adequate oversight. Facilities that create significant air pollution must...
Minimum payments for filling prescriptions would aid pharmacies, Pa. insurance department says
A report released Thursday by the Pennsylvania Insurance Department shows setting a minimum payment to pharmacies for dispensing drugs would help stabilize small drugstores without substantially raising medication prices. Pharmacies are primarily paid for their work by pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, which are hired by insurers to oversee prescription...
FDA staff blindsided by move allowing more e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches onto U.S. market
WASHINGTON — Senior officials in the Food and Drug Administration’s tobacco center were blindsided by a recent decision that opens the door to allowing more unauthorized electronic cigarettes and nicotine pouches onto the U.S. market, The Associated Press has learned. The guidelines, posted online earlier this month before former FDA...
WHO chief says Ebola outbreak in Congo is ‘spreading rapidly’ and upgrades risk assessment
GENEVA — The head of the World Health Organization said Friday that the Ebola outbreak in Congo is “spreading rapidly” and now poses a “very high” risk at the national level. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the U.N. health agency was revising upward to “very high” its assessment of...
A proposed additive ban could change New York’s pizza and bagels, some say for the better
NEW YORK — After more than a decade of mixing and kneading dough in his family’s Brooklyn pizzeria, Salvatore Lo Duca recently made a distressing discovery: A key component of their thin-crust pies, bromated flour, contained a suspected carcinogen already banned in much of the world. So, in the back...
Surgeon General’s Office tells young people to put down the phones and ‘live real life’Video
The Surgeon General’s Office is telling young people to touch grass, in internet lingo, as part of a new warning linking excessive screen time to developmental delays, poor academic outcomes and mental health issues. Released Wednesday, the 43-page advisory calls on Americans of all ages to cut back on scrolling...
Air France flight to U.S. diverted to Montreal due to Ebola travel restrictions
TORONTO — An Air France flight bound for Detroit was diverted to Montreal after a passenger from the Congo boarded a flight in Paris “in error” amid flight restrictions tied to the Ebola outbreak, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Thursday. A spokesperson for the agency says the passenger “should...
McCandless-based Glimmer of Hope funds Mind, Body, Care program for breast cancer patients
Breast cancer patients treated at Allegheny Health Network will have expanded access to therapy, enhanced mammography and comfort-focused resources thanks to a donation from McCandless-based Glimmer of Hope Foundation. The $140,000 gift will help launch the Mind, Body, Care initiative designed to improve the quality of life for breast cancer...
RFK Jr. fires leaders of group that sets guidelines for preventive health screenings
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has fired the two leaders of an influential health group that determines when insurance must provide free preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies, for millions of Americans. In letters dated May 11, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. notified the two doctors who chaired the...
Pa. joins lawsuit to block looming federal loan caps for some healthcare degreesVideo
Pennsylvania is one of 25 states suing to block limits on federal loans for students pursuing certain advanced degrees in healthcare. President Donald Trump’s July megabill capped annual loans at $20,500 for graduate students and $50,000 for professional students. Total limits were set at $100,000 and $200,000, respectively. The exact...
Ebola fears surge on the ground in Congo over rapid spread of a rare type
BUNIA, Congo — Anxious healthcare workers in eastern Congo said Wednesday they are underprotected and undertrained in a rapidly spreading Ebola outbreak of a rare type of the virus in one of the world’s most remote and vulnerable places. The region has long been threatened by armed groups that control...
What to know about the outbreak of a rare kind of Ebola as cases and deaths rise
ABUJA, Nigeria — The World Health Organization has declared the Ebola disease outbreak in Congo and Uganda a public health emergency of international concern. Africa’s top public health body confirmed the outbreak in Congo’s Ituri province on Friday. By the following day, authorities said 336 suspected cases and 88 deaths...
Climate report says world won’t get as hot as feared but will pass warming limit
WASHINGTON — Scientists are jettisoning their worst and best case scenarios for a warming world as no longer plausible. That shows how modest gains in the fight to curb climate change have dialed back the most catastrophic of future heating but also confirmed that there’s no chance to limit warming...
Affordable Care Act enrollment projected to plunge by 5 million as costs spike, analysis shows
NEW YORK — Nationwide enrollment in the Affordable Care Act health insurance marketplace could plummet by nearly 5 million people this year, shrinking the number of participants in the program by more than 20%, according to a new analysis from the healthcare research nonprofit KFF. Those who remain covered are...
Allegheny County residents warned of increased risk for ticks and Lyme disease
As Allegheny County residents step outside to enjoy near-record heat this week, local health experts are warning about the dangers of Lyme disease after an unusually high number of tick bites reported across the country. In April, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an early advisory urging the...
Hantavirus-stricken cruise ship docks in the Netherlands for disinfection
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands — The cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak has docked at the Dutch port of Rotterdam for disinfection, wrapping up a troubled journey that put international health authorities on alert. The MV Hondius was still carrying 25 crew members and two medical personnel as it reached...
Patients who need kidney transplants share their stories in hope of finding living donors
Dave Lackner remembered being on vacation in Stone Harbor, N.J., in 2007 when the phone call came in. “They had found a kidney for my dad,” Lackner, of Mt. Lebanon, said of that call nearly 20 years ago. The family scrambled to get the patriarch on a flight home for...
Canadian national health agency confirms 1 positive hantavirus test
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Canada’s national health agency confirmed on Sunday that one of four Canadians who returned home from a cruise ship hit with a hantavirus outbreak has tested positive for the virus. The Public Health Agency of Canada confirmed the positive test a day after the public health...
WHO declares global health emergency over Ebola outbreak in Congo and Uganda
ABUJA, Nigeria — The World Health Organization declared the Ebola disease outbreak caused by a rare virus in Congo and neighboring Uganda a public health emergency of international concern on Sunday, after more than 300 suspected cases and 88 deaths. WHO said the outbreak doesn’t meet the criteria of a...
Jewish Association on Aging partners with RubyWell to assist family caregivers
Caregivers need comforting, too. Being the person who takes care of a family member is a noble calling. These people are compassionate and often make sacrifices and go above and beyond for their loved ones. The Jewish Association on Aging and RubyWell launched a grant-funded family caregiver support program in...
Butler Memorial Hospital, union techs reach contract 3 days before planned strike
Butler Memorial Hospital and its technical professionals union have reached a contract that calls for a minimum 3% wage increase over the next three years. The three-year contract was announced Friday night by both Independence Health and the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals. The union represents 235...
Congolese report constant burials as deaths in new Ebola outbreak reach 80
BUNIA, Congo — At least 80 deaths have been reported in Congo’s new Ebola disease outbreak in the eastern Ituri province, authorities said, as health workers raced Saturday to intensify screening and contact tracing to contain the disease. Officials first announced the outbreak on Friday, with 65 deaths and 246...
In a heartbeat: What’s the draw of blood donation?
The issue According to Vitalant Pittsburgh communications director Maya Santana, the need for blood has remained steady due to everyday emergencies and ongoing medical treatments. Every two seconds, someone in the United States needs a blood transfusion, and patients rely on a constant and ready supply already available on hospital...
Pitt graduate’s experiment on Artemis II may improve medicine on Earth
Technology developed for NASA’s Artemis II moon mission may one day help improve medical treatments for people on Earth. Researchers are studying tiny “organ chips” — devices that mimic how human organs function — to learn how the body responds to stress, disease and new medicines. The chips recently traveled...
Continued antidepressant use during pregnancy can benefit moms, newborns, experts say
Maternity leave has been blissful for Jess Young. It’s a feeling the veterinarian radiologist from Bridgeville missed out on following her first two pregnancies. The difference: remaining on the regimen of anti-anxiety medications prescribed years ago during her residency at the University of Pennsylvania. “With my first pregnancies, I had...
