Health Wire

A sign equates fentanyl poisoning as murder during an Association of People Against Lethal Drugs rally outside the old Tarrant County Courthouse on May 6, 2023, in Fort Worth, Texas.

Cut off fentanyl supply or reduce demand? President Biden says he’s working to do both

September 30, 2023, 6:00am Health

So many pills sold online contain potentially fatal amounts of fentanyl that buyers would face better odds playing Russian roulette, National Drug Control Policy Director Dr. Rahul Gupta said during an Aug. 31 White House event with families who have lost loved ones to overdoses. Read story

A pharmacist administers a Moderna Spikevax COVID-19 vaccine at a drug store, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023, in Cypress, Texas. Fall 2023 vaccination season is in full swing, with health officials in the U.S. urging both an updated COVID-19 shot and flu vaccine for most everyone. New this year are vaccines for older adults and women in late pregnancy to guard against another virus named RSV.

What to know as fall vaccinations against COVID, flu and RSV get underway

September 29, 2023, 7:43am Health

Updated COVID-19 vaccines may be getting a little easier for adults to find but they’re still frustratingly scarce for young children. Health officials said Thursday the kid shots have started shipping — and reminded most everyone to get a fall flu shot too. Read story

FILE - A vial containing 2mg of fentanyl, which will kill a human if ingested into the body, is displayed at the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Testing and Research Laboratory in Sterling, Va., on Aug. 9, 2016. Nearly a dozen children, including a 1 year old, have overdosed on fentanyl since June in Portland, Oregon, its police bureau said Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023, intensifying alarm in a city like so many others that has struggled to address its drug crisis.

Police in Portland are investigating nearly a dozen fentanyl poisonings involving children

September 28, 2023, 4:06pm Health

Nearly a dozen children, including a 1-year-old, have been poisoned by fentanyl since June in Portland, its police bureau said Thursday, intensifying alarm in a city like so many others that has struggled to address the deadliest overdose crisis in U.S. history. Read story

A box of Narcan sits in the Savage Sisters' community outreach storefront in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, Wednesday, May 24, 2023. Generically known as Naloxone, the medication used revive people who have stopped breathing, doesn't reverse the effects of xylazine. Philadelphia officials stress that naloxone should still be administered in all cases of suspected overdose, since xylazine is almost always found in combination with fentanyl.

New study suggests looser WA drug laws do not mean more overdose deaths

September 28, 2023, 7:38am Health

As drug overdoses continue to claim lives and policymakers at all levels try to address the problem, new research examining Washington and Oregon suggests there isn’t a link between decriminalizing drug possession and a rise in fatal overdoses. Read story

FDA advisers vote against experimental ALS treatment pushed by patients

September 27, 2023, 4:23pm Health

Federal health advisers voted overwhelmingly against an experimental treatment for Lou Gehrig’s disease at a Wednesday meeting prompted by years of patient efforts seeking access to the unproven therapy. Read story

Families of those killed by fentanyl gather at DEA as U.S. undergoes deadliest overdose crisis

September 26, 2023, 3:27pm Health

Andrea Thomas had never heard of fentanyl when her daughter died after taking half of a pill she thought was prescription medication. Five years later, she's among hundreds of thousands of families who have lost a loved one as the U.S. undergoes the deadliest overdose crisis in its history. Read story

As mental health worsens among Afghanistan’s women, the UN is asked to declare ‘gender apartheid’

FILE - Afghan women wait to receive food rations distributed by a humanitarian aid group, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, May 23, 2023. The mental health of Afghan women, who have suffered under harsh measures imposed by the Taliban since taking power two years ago, has deteriorated across the country, according to a joint report from three U.N. agencies released Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023.

September 26, 2023, 12:45pm Health

The U.N.’s most powerful body must support governments seeking to legally declare the intensifying crackdown by Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers on women and girls “gender apartheid,” the head of the U.N. agency promoting gender equality said Tuesday. Read story