Another record decline reported in U.S. cancer death rate
NEW YORK — Researchers on Tuesday reported another record one-year decline in the U.S. cancer death rate, a drop they attribute to success against lung cancer. The overall cancer death rate has been falling since 1991. From 2017 to 2018, it fell 2.4%, according to an American Cancer Society report,...
Updated Pa. vaccination plan adds new phase for more essential employees
Pennsylvania officials continue to retool the state’s vaccination plan to fall in line with recommendations from federal groups and further define who can get the vaccine and when, releasing the fourth iteration of plan on Friday afternoon. “It will take several months before there is vaccine available for everyone,” said...
Identical twins aren’t perfect clones, research shows
WASHINGTON — If you’re an identical twin who’s always resisted being called a clone of your sibling, scientists say you have a point. Identical twins are not exactly genetically the same, new research shows. Scientists in Iceland sequenced DNA from 387 pairs of identical twins — those derived from a...
How quickly do I need a 2nd covid-19 vaccine shot?
The first covid-19 vaccines in the U.S. require two doses a few weeks apart. People should get some degree of protection within two weeks of the first shot, with the second shot bringing about the vaccine’s full protection. For the vaccine by Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech, the second shot is...
UPMC employees get 2nd dose of covid vaccine, describe ‘first step’ toward ending pandemic
Fifteen UPMC employees received covid-19 vaccines Tuesday, 10 of whom became the first employees to receive a second dose and complete the full course of the vaccine. “I feel like it’s the first step in ending this,” said Alli Okonak, a certified registered nurse practitioner who has been working at...
If I’ve already had the coronavirus, can I get it again?
If I’ve already had the coronavirus, can I get it again? It’s possible, but such cases seem to be rare. Evidence is growing that people whose bodies mounted a strong defense to the virus are unlikely to test positive again for at least several months and maybe longer. It’s not...
Study: U.S. covid patients face more mental health issues; Excela Health bracing for uptickVideo
Researchers at the University of Oxford published a study reporting the first large-scale evidence that covid-19 survivors are at increased risk of anxiety or depression. The study looked at electronic health records for 69 million U.S. residents, including more than 62,000 covid-19 cases. In the three months following a positive...
For pregnant and nursing women, risks of covid-19 probably outweigh risk of vaccine, experts say
Although there’s very little data on how pregnant and nursing mothers will respond to a covid-19 vaccine, professional organizations and individual doctors say the benefits are very likely to outweigh the risks. Pregnant women appear to have the same chance of catching covid-19 as everyone else. But they might fare...
What Pittsburgh region needs to know about U.K. coronavirus strain
A new and seemingly more contagious strain of the coronavirus was diagnosed this week in a Colorado National Guardsman, bringing about a slew of questions regarding its severity and lethality. Dr. Amesh Adalja, a Pittsburgh-based infectious disease and critical care physician, offered his insights into what this new variant of...
New U.S. dietary guidelines: No candy, cake for kids under 2
Parents now have an extra reason to say no to candy, cake and ice cream for young children. The first U.S. government dietary guidelines for infants and toddlers, released Tuesday, recommend feeding only breast milk for at least six months and no added sugar for children under age 2. “It’s...
More covid-19 vaccines in the pipeline as U.S. effort ramps up
A huge U.S. study of another covid-19 vaccine candidate got underway Monday as states continue to roll out scarce supplies of the first shots to a nation anxiously awaiting relief from the catastrophic outbreak. Public health experts say more options in addition to the two vaccines now being dispensed —...
Canada records 1st cases of new coronavirus variant
TORONTO — Officials in Canada’s most populous province have confirmed the first two known Canadian cases of of a more contagious variant of covid-19 that was first identified in the United Kingdom. The province’s associate chief medical officer says that the cases are a couple from Durham Region, just east...
Q&A: Knowing when to get the coronavirus vaccine — and if pregnant women should get it
SEATTLE — Federal approval of the second coronavirus vaccine means more doses are coming to Washington and with them a growing interest about the distribution of vaccines. This week, Washington was set to receive 130,000 doses of Moderna’s vaccine, which was approved by the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup...
Mt. Lebanon couple donates $1 million to UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital Research Institute
Terri Bone remembered calling the neonatal intensive care unit from her hospital room to check on her newborn daughter. “The nurse told me, ‘she stopped breathing last night, but she is OK,’ ” said Bone. “ ‘Premature babies do that sometimes.’ ” After 10 days in the NICU at what...
‘Historic milestone’: 1 million Americans have received a covid vaccine, CDC saysVideo
More than 1 million Americans have received their first doses of a covid-19 shot across the country since federal officials authorized two vaccines for emergency use, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. CDC Director Robert Redfield called it an “early but important milestone” in a media statement. “With...
U.S. hospitals facing worrisome shortage of nurses, doctors
SAN FRANCISCO — With so many states seeing a flood of coronavirus patients, U.S. hospitals are again worried about finding enough medical workers to meet demand just as infections from the holiday season threaten to add to the burden on American health care. California, which is enduring by far its...
Feds sue Walmart over role in opioid crisis
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is suing Walmart, alleging the company unlawfully dispensed controlled substances through its pharmacies, helping to fuel the opioid crisis in America. The civil complaint being filed Tuesday points to the role Walmart’s pharmacies may have played in the crisis by filling opioid prescriptions and by...
Congress takes steps to curb unexpected medical bills
Most Americans tell pollsters they’re worried about being able to afford an unexpected medical bill. Late Monday, Congress passed a bill to allay some of those fears. The measure is included in a nearly 5,600-page package providing coronavirus economic relief and government funding for the rest of the fiscal year....
U.S. clears Moderna vaccine for covid-19, 2nd shot in arsenal
WASHINGTON —The U.S. added a second covid-19 vaccine to its arsenal Friday, boosting efforts to beat back an outbreak so dire that the nation is regularly recording more than 3,000 deaths a day. Much-needed doses are set to arrive Monday after the Food and Drug Administration authorized an emergency rollout...
Taming the pandemic: Pitt virologists forge ahead with coronavirus vaccineVideo
Millions of doses of the covid-19 vaccine have shipped around the nation, but virologist Sham Nambulli’s work is far from done. He rises daily in his South Fayette home, hops into his Toyota Camry and heads north on I-79 toward the Parkway West. His destination is the University of Pittsburgh’s...
1,200 Pa. health care workers vaccinated so far for covid-19Video
About 1,200 Pennsylvania health care workers received covid-19 vaccinations over the past three days as more shipments continue to arrive at dozens of hospitals statewide, Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Rachel Levine said Thursday. No adverse effects have been reported in the 1,205 vaccinations, Levine said. Sixteen of the initial 87...
Excela recognized for efforts focusing on workplace wellness
For the ninth consecutive year, Excela Health has been recognized among the Healthiest Employers in Western Pennsylvania, and for the fifth year in a row named a Healthiest 100 Workplace in America, in an awards program presented by Healthiest Employer. The Healthiest Employer awards program, powered by Springbuk, was created...
Where do you fit in line for the coronavirus vaccine?
Health care workers on the frontlines battling the coronavirus are getting the covid-19 vaccine first. So will first responders, teachers, other “essential” workers and adults with covid health risks. But, if you aren’t one of those, where do you fit in line? The New York Times developed a tool in...
Excela plans to begin vaccine distribution to staff on Friday
Excela Health officials plan to administer their first doses of Pfizer’s covid-19 vaccine to staff in Westmoreland County on Friday, officials said. “We have requested 6,000 doses,” Excela spokesperson Robin Jennings said. Excela officials have conducted an internal survey among staff about the vaccine. Employees will not be required to...
Dr. Rachel Levine: ‘Today is a great day,’ but vaccine’s arrival doesn’t end pandemic
As Pennsylvania officials on Monday celebrated the first vaccinations of health care workers against covid-19 , Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine reiterated warnings this is the first step in a long road to the end of the pandemic. “Today is just a great day, when we start immunizing people,”...
