Health & Safety

Diagnosed with terminal cancer, dad dies shortly after a StoryCorps visit

7:54am February 16, 2024

Sohaib Sultan, a Muslim Chaplain at Princeton University, had terminal cancer when he recorded a message, along with his wife, for his three-year-old daughter. He died shortly after the recording.

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The number of people living alone in the U.S. went from nearly 5 million to about 38 million in a decade. A new study shows those who live alone report depression more than those who live with others.

Americans who live alone report depression at higher rates, but social support helps

5:01pm February 15, 2024

by Rhitu Chatterjee

The number of people living alone in the U.S. jumped to nearly 38 million. A new study shows people who live alone are more likely to report depression if they didn't have other social supports.

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Health & Safety

A vaccine for Ebola could change the mortality rates for those infected

4:42pm February 15, 2024

by Ari Daniel

A new study shows that an Ebola vaccine can cut mortality figures of those infected in half.

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Janine Kibwana, Ebola survivor and mother of five, sits in her living room in Beni, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Researchers studying the DRC's most recent Ebola outbreak say that a new vaccine can dramatically reduce the risk of dying from the disease.

Ebola vaccine cuts death rates in half — even if it's given after infection

12:43pm February 15, 2024

by Ari Daniel

Ebola is one of the most feared infectious diseases, with more than half of those infected dying. A vaccine has now been shown to cut that mortality rate in half.

Health & Safety

Guilford County seeks 'citizen scientists' for tick study

11:19am February 15, 2024

by Neal Charnoff

Guilford County officials are inviting residents to take part in a study focusing on the region’s tick population.

Access to the abortion drug mifepristone could soon be limited by the Supreme Court for the whole country. Here, a nurse practitioner works at an Illinois clinic that offers telehealth abortion.

Abortion pills that patients got via telehealth and the mail are safe, study finds

11:01am February 15, 2024

by Selena Simmons-Duffin

The study looks at 6,000 patients who got abortion pills after an online appointment. It found that 99.7% of those abortions were not followed by any serious adverse events.

Canvassers in Philadelphia reach out to residents to warn about overdose rates

5:16am February 15, 2024

by Nicole Leonard

City workers in Philadelphia are canvassing neighborhoods with high rates of drug overdose deaths — and handing out overdose reversal medication.

A 15th century woodcut depicts a patient suffering from the bubonic plague. A pandemic of the disease, the Black Death, killed an estimated 50 million people in Europe between 1346 and 1353.

Health & Safety

So you think you know all about the plague?

8:50pm February 14, 2024

by Michaeleen Doucleff

A case in Oregon is a rarity in the United States. It is not expected to spread. But this ancient and deadly disease remains a threat around the world.

In January, a man living on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula died of Alaskapox. Pictured is Bear Glacier in the Kenai Fjords National Park on Sept. 1, 2015, in Seward, Alaska.

A man died from Alaskapox last month. Here's what we know about the virus

6:04pm February 14, 2024

by Joe Hernandez

The first known fatality was an elderly man who lived alone in a forested area and was immunocompromised. Scientists say there's no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the virus so far.

Tested positive for COVID and wondering whether you should isolate? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may soon change its guidelines.

The CDC may be reconsidering its COVID isolation guidance

2:43pm February 14, 2024

by Pien Huang

The current guidance advises five days of isolation. Unnamed health officials have indicated that this guidance may soon go away, a move that troubles public health experts.

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