diseases

Tens of thousands of veterans and service members stationed at military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan say exposure to trash fires or “burn pits” has left them with breathing problems and other chronic illnesses, including cancer. They are fighting for health benefits, but say the United States Department of Veterans Affairs is turning its back on them. Veterans say everything...

Dogs can get ALS, too, and a veterinary program at Tufts University is looking for a cure to help furry friends and, possibly, their humans.

Nearly 40 years ago, a respected doctor wrote a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine with some very good news: Out of nearly 40,000 patients given powerful pain drugs in a Boston hospital, only four addictions were documented. Doctors had been wary of opioids, fearing patients would get hooked. Reassured by the letter, which called this “rare” in...

A smoke-filled stench fills a refugee camp just a short walk from the U.S.-Mexico border, rising from ever-burning fires and piles of human waste. Parents and children live in a sea of tents and tarps, some patched together with garbage bags. Others sleep outside in temperatures that recently dropped to freezing. Justina, an asylum seeker who fled political persecution in...

One man’s case illustrates troubling uncertainty in a transplant system run by government contractors that are under fire for letting potentially usable organs go to waste. The Associated Press took a close look at that system and calculated that some of those agencies are securing deceased donors at half the rate of others — even as 113,000 people linger on...

Major legislation to reduce prescription drug costs for millions of people may get sidelined now that House Democrats have begun an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump. Proposals had been moving in Congress, but there are more ways for the process to break down than to succeed. Still, nobody says they’re giving up.

Cutting-edge research is revealing new ways to potentially prevent violent acts, including mass shootings, years before the thought of violence ever crosses the minds of murderers. A study of roughly 1,000 prisoners revealed across-the-board brain abnormalities in those who committed homicide, leading researchers to believe such behavior, if identified early enough, can be quashed with therapy and medication.

When New York lawmakers revoked a religious exemption for mandatory school vaccinations, the change sent thousands of the state’s parents scrambling to get their kids shots — or get them out of the classroom entirely.

Call it the diplomacy of coercion. The Trump administration is aggressively pursuing economic sanctions as a primary foreign policy tool to an extent unseen in decades, or perhaps ever. Many are questioning the results even as officials insist the penalties are achieving their aims. Since taking office in January 2017, President Donald Trump has used an array of new and...

New York students who haven’t been vaccinated against measles and other diseases are waiting to hear if they can go back to school.

Louisiana is becoming the first Deep South state to dispense medical marijuana on Tuesday, four years after state lawmakers agreed to give patients access to therapeutic cannabis. Nine pharmacies are licensed to dispense medical marijuana across Louisiana and most are expected to open this week. Louisiana joins more than 30 other states that allow medical marijuana in some form. And...

A healthy lifestyle can cut your risk of developing Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia even if you have genes that raise your risk for these mind-destroying diseases, a large study has found.

Dozens more measles cases have been reported across the nation since last week, marking a 5 percent increase in total cases as the worst outbreak in decades spread to its 24th state, federal officials said Monday.

Call them zombie cells — they refuse to die. As they build up in your body, studies suggest, they promote aging and the conditions that come with it like osteoporosis and Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers are studying drugs that can kill zombie cells and possibly treat the problems they bring. Basically the goal is to fight aging itself, which hopefully will...

Nearly 100 more measles cases have been reported across the nation since last week, marking a 10 percent increase in total cases as the number in the U.S.’ worst outbreak in decades eclipses the 800 mark, officials said Monday.

Five dozen more measles cases have been reported across the nation, an 8 percent increase over the prior week as the case total in the U.S.’ worst outbreak in decades edges closer to a stunning 800, officials said Monday.

The number of measles cases in the U.S. has now risen to 704 — the largest number of cases reported in America in decades. Ida Siegal reports.

People with rare cancers have been out of luck — not only do most lack good treatments but drug companies also don’t pursue them because of small potential sales. Now, a federal study that pools these folks gives them strength in numbers and new options. The first results from this novel effort were revealed at an American Association for Cancer...

Measles continues to spread across the U.S. with outbreaks in four states infecting more people in the first three months of 2019 than all of last year, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC has confirmed 387 cases across 15 states from Jan. 1 through March 28, compared with 372 cases all last...

Until recently, trying to study key traits of cells from people and other animals often meant analyzing bulk samples of tissue, producing a mushed-up average of results from many cell types. It was like trying to learn about a banana by studying a strawberry-blueberry-orange-banana smoothie. In recent years, however, scientists have developed techniques that let them directly study the DNA...