The Columbian

Health Wire

FILE - COVID-19 antigen home tests indicating a positive result are photographed in New York, April 5, 2023. The Biden administration has announced that it is providing $600 million in funding to produce new at-home COVID-19 tests and is restarting a website allowing Americans to again order up to four free tests per household.

Free at-home COVID tests are back. Here’s how to order

September 26, 2023, 7:47am Health Free

Starting Monday, Washingtonians can once again order free at-home COVID-19 tests to be delivered straight to their homes. Read story

Many states are expanding their Medicaid programs to provide dental care to their poorest residents

September 25, 2023, 9:08am Health

For months, Carlton Clemons endured crippling pain from a rotting wisdom tooth. He couldn’t sleep, barely ate and relied on painkillers to get by. Read story

In this photo provided by I AM ALS, Dan Tate, right, delivers a printed petition from ALS patients and advocates to Dr. Peter Marks, left, director of the Food and Drug Administration's center for biologics at the FDA campus in Silver Spring, Md., on Dec. 14, 2022. The FDA meets this week to consider approval of an experimental treatment for Lou Gehrig's disease, the culmination of a yearslong lobbying effort by patients with the fatal, neurodegenerative disease. Those advocates still face one giant hurdle: FDA regulators say the treatment hasn't been shown to work. In documents posted Monday, Sept. 25, 2023 the FDA reiterated its longstanding position: drugmaker Brainstorm's lone study doesn't provide clear evidence that its stem cell-based therapy helps patients with ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

FDA skeptical of experimental ALS treatment pushed by patient advocates

September 25, 2023, 9:06am Business

The Food and Drug Administration meets this week to consider approval of an experimental treatment for Lou Gehrig’s disease, the culmination of a yearslong lobbying effort by patients with the fatal neurodegenerative disease. Read story

Washington State University’s Kariuki Njenga, center, and Tom Kawula, right, consult with colleagues Arithi Mutembei, left, and Boru Wato, right, as they do field work in Marsabit County in 2018.

Under pressure for Risch and others, Biden administration terminates WSU-led virus research program over risk concerns

September 25, 2023, 9:05am Health

The Biden administration has ended a program led by Washington State University intended to track down viruses that could pose a threat to humans, after an influential Idaho senator and other critics raised concerns that the work could increase the risk of an accidental disease outbreak. Read story

When child abuse is a misdiagnosis: WA doctor pushes back on questionable cases

September 24, 2023, 6:05am Health

The infant’s doctor visit was supposed to be a routine wellness check. Mother Emily Massaro had a list of questions, one of them about bluish gray marks that looked to her, and then the pediatrician, like bruises. Massaro explained the 2-month-old boy recently fell off a bed, something she had… Read story

Benton County Mosquito Control District surveillance technician Kylie Morgan inserts dead mosquitoes into vials so that they can be tested for West Nile virus, among other diseases, Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023, in Richland, Washington.

WA’s mosquito trackers are seeing a spike of West Nile virus

September 23, 2023, 6:03am Health

The traps dangle from shepherd’s hooks or tree branches and Kylie Morgan keeps an eye out for them as she drives her truck carefully over the rough, pitted back roads in south central Washington. Read story

A sign announcing a face mask requirement is displayed at a hospital in Buffalo Grove, Ill., Friday, Jan. 13, 2023. COVID-19 hospital admissions are inching upward in the United States since early July 2023. It's a small-scale echo of the three previous summers. (AP Photo/Nam Y.

Health workers warn loosening mask advice in hospitals would harm patients and providers

September 23, 2023, 6:00am Health

Nurses, researchers, and workplace safety officers worry new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention might reduce protection against the coronavirus and other airborne pathogens in hospitals. Read story

FILE - A Moderna Spikevax COVID-19 vaccine is seen at a drugstore in Cypress, Texas on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023. Since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed off on them for ages 6 months and up in September 2023, people seeking the newest COVID-19 vaccine are running into high demand, insurance headaches and supply delays coast to coast.

A new COVID booster is here. Will those at greatest risk get it?

September 23, 2023, 6:00am Health

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends new COVID-19 booster vaccines for all — but many who need them most won’t get them. About 75% of people in the United States appear to have skipped last year’s bivalent booster, and nothing suggests uptake will be better this time around. Read story

Doctors perform 2nd pig heart transplant

September 22, 2023, 4:58pm Health

Surgeons have transplanted a pig’s heart into a dying man in a bid to prolong his life – only the second patient to ever undergo such an experimental feat. Two days later, the man was cracking jokes and able to sit in a chair, Maryland doctors said Friday. Read story

Appeals court takes up transgender health coverage case likely headed to Supreme Court

September 21, 2023, 1:06pm Health

A federal appeals court is considering cases out of North Carolina and West Virginia that could have significant implications on whether individual states are required to cover health care for transgender people with government-sponsored insurance. Read story