Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen on Acast. You can also listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Covid-19 cases are on the rise again, but you couldn’t tell from the behavior of the public (rushing back to normal), as well as public health and […]

Fact checked on April 20 by Rich Scherr, a journalist and fact-checker with more than three decades of experience. An Omicron subvariant, BA.2, is now the dominant strain of COVID-19 in the U.S., making up 74% of new infections as of April 16, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports. Though research is […]

Recognizing excellence and dedication in medical education during a time of unprecedented challenges, students at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis recently honored faculty, residents and staff with Distinguished Service Teaching Awards for the 2020-21 academic year. Every year since 1991, students completing their first, second and third year of studies select the […]

South Carolina children who need immediate, around-the-clock psychiatric care risk being stranded for days — even weeks — waiting for help, only to be sent hundreds of miles away from home for treatment. When no psychiatric residential treatment beds are open in South Carolina, some children must travel across the Southeast to facilities in Florida, […]

Contact tracing—the public health tool meant to manage the spread of COVID-19—is no longer universally recommended to track and contain the coronavirus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said earlier this week. Now, the agency plans to only recommend the tool in high-risk settings and groups. The CDC quietly made the recommendation on […]

If you listen to the nation’s largest Alzheimer’s disease advocacy organizations, you might think everyone living with Alzheimer’s wants unfettered access to Aduhelm, a controversial new treatment. But you’d be wrong. Opinions about Aduhelm (also known as aducanumab) in the dementia community are diverse, ranging from “we want the government to cover this drug” to […]

Frail older adults are finding it harder than ever to get paid help amid acute staff shortages at home health agencies. Several trends are fueling the shortages: Hospitals and other employers are hiring away home health workers with better pay and benefits. Many aides have fallen ill or been exposed to covid-19 during the recent […]

Hrishikesh S. Kulkarni, MD, an assistant professor of medicine and of molecular microbiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has received the Early Career Award from the International Complement Society. He is being honored for his research into the complement system, an important component of immunity. The complement system helps the immune […]

Letters to the Editor is a periodic feature. We welcome all comments and will publish a selection. We edit for length and clarity and require full names. — Rachel Patterson, Washington, D.C. In Respect to Nurse Practitioners My dispute with this story (“Bill of the Month: The Doctor Didn’t Show Up, but the Hospital ER Still Charged $1,012,” […]

Soon after the COVID-19 vaccine became available to the general public, people who menstruate began reporting an unexpected side effect: changes to their cycle. Now, research based on those anecdotal claims confirms at least one post-vaccine change to menstruation. According to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), individuals who received one […]