<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=192888919167017&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Menu
The Columbian logo tagline
Login
Thursday,  November 28 , 2024
Current weather Vancouver, WA

Linkedin Pinterest
Healthright chevron arrow icon

Health Wire

FILE - This photo provided by the U.S. Attorneys Office for Utah and introduced as evidence in a 2019 trial shows fentanyl-laced fake oxycodone pills collected during an investigation. In a resumption of a brutal trend, nearly 71,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2019 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a new record high that predates the COVID-19 crisis. The numbers were driven by fentanyl and similar synthetic opioids, which accounted for 36,500 overdose deaths. (U.S.

Teen drug use is down in Washington, but overdose deaths are skyrocketing

FILE - This photo provided by the U.S. Attorneys Office for Utah and introduced as evidence in a 2019 trial shows fentanyl-laced fake oxycodone pills collected during an investigation. In a resumption of a brutal trend, nearly 71,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2019 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a new record high that predates the COVID-19 crisis. The numbers were driven by fentanyl and similar synthetic opioids, which accounted for 36,500 overdose deaths. (U.S.

April 18, 2022, 6:02am Health

Within 30 blocks of his home in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood, substance use disorder counselor Johnny Ohta knows at least 25 teens and young adults addicted to little blue pills. Read story

Emily Brooke Holth (middle) and her daughter Kaia, 24, watch a DVR movie with Kaia's twin brother Ry who has Down's Syndrome, on March 31, 2022, in Monrovia, California.

Back to normal? For this family, the COVID-19 threat hasn’t gone away

Emily Brooke Holth (middle) and her daughter Kaia, 24, watch a DVR movie with Kaia's twin brother Ry who has Down's Syndrome, on March 31, 2022, in Monrovia, California.

April 18, 2022, 6:02am Health

For Kaia Brooke, little has changed this spring, even as others declare that California and the country are finally getting back to normal. Read story

Courtney Martin, left, a nurse at the University of Washington Medical Center, gives the first shot of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to Ani Hahn, 7, Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021, in Seattle. Last week, U.S. health officials gave the final signoff to Pfizer's kid-size COVID-19 shot, a milestone that opened a major expansion of the nation's vaccination campaign to children as young as 5. (AP Photo/Ted S.

The push to get children vaccinated is stalling. It poses new COVID-19 dangers

Courtney Martin, left, a nurse at the University of Washington Medical Center, gives the first shot of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to Ani Hahn, 7, Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021, in Seattle. Last week, U.S. health officials gave the final signoff to Pfizer's kid-size COVID-19 shot, a milestone that opened a major expansion of the nation's vaccination campaign to children as young as 5. (AP Photo/Ted S.

April 17, 2022, 6:02am Health

Despite months of outreach and on-the-ground efforts, the COVID-19 vaccination campaign for young children remains stuck in neutral — prompting experts to say more needs to be done to inform parents about the benefits of inoculation. Read story

Insurers have been accused of overstating how sick their members are in order to bring in millions of extra dollars from Medicare.

Whistleblowers say health insurers are scamming Medicare to make billions

Insurers have been accused of overstating how sick their members are in order to bring in millions of extra dollars from Medicare.

April 17, 2022, 6:02am Health

Teresa Ross had been raising objections at work for months when her bosses brought in a psychologist hoping to make her question her own sanity. Read story

Who doesn’t text in 2022? Most state Medicaid programs

April 17, 2022, 6:00am Health

West Virginia will use the U.S. Postal Service and an online account this summer to connect with Medicaid enrollees about the expected end of the COVID-19 public health emergency, which will put many recipients at risk of losing their coverage. Read story

Deadly overdoses have spiked among teens, even as drug use dropped, UCLA researchers find

April 17, 2022, 6:00am Health

Deadly drug overdoses among U.S. teenagers have more than doubled in frequency in recent years, even as those in the age group became less likely to use illegal drugs, researchers from UCLA and elsewhere found in a newly published analysis. Read story

Mysterious liver illness seen in kids in U.S., Europe

April 16, 2022, 4:55pm Health

Health officials in several countries are investigating mysterious cases of severe liver disease in children, and they think it may be related to a kind of virus usually associated with colds. Read story

FILE - A sign advising visitors to don face coverings stands outside the main entrance to UCHealth University of Colorado hospital Friday, April 1, 2022, in Aurora, Colo. COVID cases are starting to rise again in the United States, with numbers up in most states and up steeply in several. One expert says he expects more of a "bump" than the monstrous surge of the first omicron wave, but another says it's unclear how high the curve will rise and it may be more like a hill.

It’s not over: COVID-19 cases are on the rise again in U.S.

FILE - A sign advising visitors to don face coverings stands outside the main entrance to UCHealth University of Colorado hospital Friday, April 1, 2022, in Aurora, Colo. COVID cases are starting to rise again in the United States, with numbers up in most states and up steeply in several. One expert says he expects more of a "bump" than the monstrous surge of the first omicron wave, but another says it's unclear how high the curve will rise and it may be more like a hill.

April 15, 2022, 8:24am Health

Yet again, the U.S. is trudging into what could be another COVID-19 surge, with cases rising nationally and in most states after a two-month decline. Read story

FILE - In this Jan. 31, 2020 photo a woman holds a Puff Bar flavored disposable vape device in New York. The Food and Drug Administration says it will soon begin cracking down on vaping companies that have used a now-closed loophole to escape federal oversight, including the company behind a line of fruit-flavored e-cigarettes that have become the top choice among teenagers. Under a new law taking effect Thursday, April 14, 2022, the FDA can regulate e-cigarettes and similar products that use synthetic nicotine.

E-cigs using synthetic nicotine come under FDA oversight

FILE - In this Jan. 31, 2020 photo a woman holds a Puff Bar flavored disposable vape device in New York. The Food and Drug Administration says it will soon begin cracking down on vaping companies that have used a now-closed loophole to escape federal oversight, including the company behind a line of fruit-flavored e-cigarettes that have become the top choice among teenagers. Under a new law taking effect Thursday, April 14, 2022, the FDA can regulate e-cigarettes and similar products that use synthetic nicotine.

April 14, 2022, 8:18am Health

U.S. regulators will soon begin cracking down on vaping companies using a now-closed loophole, including a line of fruit-flavored e-cigarettes that have become teenagers' top choice. Read story

FILE - A Maasai woman receives the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine at a clinic in Kimana, southern Kenya on Aug. 28, 2021. The World Health Organization said Thursday, April 14, 2022 that the number of coronavirus cases and deaths in Africa have dropped to their lowest levels since the pandemic began, marking the longest decline yet seen in the disease.

WHO: COVID cases, deaths in Africa drop to lowest levels yet

FILE - A Maasai woman receives the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine at a clinic in Kimana, southern Kenya on Aug. 28, 2021. The World Health Organization said Thursday, April 14, 2022 that the number of coronavirus cases and deaths in Africa have dropped to their lowest levels since the pandemic began, marking the longest decline yet seen in the disease.

April 14, 2022, 7:53am Health

The number of coronavirus cases and deaths in Africa have dropped to their lowest levels since the pandemic began, marking the longest decline yet seen in the disease, according to the World Health Organization. Read story