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Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center. The fourth vaccination against COVID-19 is the subject of intense discussion. Immunity against new Omicron variants (currently BA.4 and BA.5) is getting weaker and weaker. Is another vaccination with the available vaccines worth it? For Leif Erik Sander, MD, director of

Internet searches on abortion medication spiked to “record national highs” following the leak of the draft Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade, researchers reported. In the 72 hours following the leaked draft on May 2, searches related to abortion medications were 162% (95% CI 149-175) higher than expected, with approximately 350,000 searches for abortion

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is activating its Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in response to the ongoing monkeypox outbreak. The Biden-Harris Administration has also announced plans to offer more vaccines. The CDC has activated the EOC as a part of its “aggressive” response to the monkeypox outbreak, it noted in a news release Tuesday. According

HIV care suffered setbacks during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Black patients may have been disproportionately affected, according to an analysis by tech company Komodo Health. The company analyzed insurance claims and reported drops in HIV screening, new diagnoses, and new preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) prescriptions, as well as changes in PrEP adherence.

The novel coronavirus could be playing hide and seek in the body, causing people to suffer long-term symptoms. This is what scientists are eager to validate in an effort to understand long COVID and come up with ways to deal with the condition.  There appears to be mounting evidence to support the idea that virus

As states ban or limit abortion in the wake of the demise of Roe v. Wade, physicians are turning their attention to widely used drugs that can cause birth defects. At issue: Should these drugs still be prescribed to women of childbearing age if they don’t have the option of terminating their pregnancies? “Doctors are

Since writing a cathartic post about being burned out, I’ve received supportive messages as well as concerned calls from friends and former colleagues. Some were worried about my well-being. Others agreed with the sentiments. One note in particular resonated. It named cognitive dissonance as part of the problem. This dissonance is pervasive in society. The

Some people put their phones in silent mode thinking it can help them avoid distractions. But for those who have FOMO (fear of missing out), it can actually increase their stress, researchers have found. Smartphones have undeniably become a constant presence in many people’s lives, but many tend to get bothered by the non-stop notifications. As a

As Americans plan to make the best of the heat and humidity, high gas prices, and unstable airline schedules to head off on summer vacation, a Medscape poll on physicians’ vacations, including whether time off helps alleviate workplace burnout, showed that a significant number of the 778 physicians surveyed feel that vacation helps relieve their

Humans only have a few basic needs to survive. Although one can stay alive for days without water, food, and shelter; it only takes a few minutes to expire without air. That is how vital air is to our lives, and yet we tend to take it for granted just because we cannot see it.

Hydroxychloroquine should be initiated with caution in older patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who also have heart failure or are at risk for it, say the authors of a study suggesting that the drug could increase their risk for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) compared with methotrexate. A cohort study published online June 27 in

Since last week’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe, MedPage Today has updated its interactive map to show where abortion bans have gone into effect. The map still details the penalties providers face in each state. Below are additional details on abortion bans that have gone into effect

Research has found that the fourth dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for people aged 60 and above was effective in countering the virus and preventing severe illness.  For the study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, the team examined the medical records of 24,088 elderly patients staying at geriatric facilities who received the fourth dose and

The more years a person drinks alcohol, the kind of alcohol consumed, and the amount consumed can help to predict gout tophi, researchers say in a newly published paper in Arthritis Care and Research. The study, led by Lin Han, PhD, of the gout laboratory, Shandong provincial clinical research center for immune diseases and gout, Affiliated

Omicron’s BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants “substantially” escaped antibody responses in people previously infected with COVID-19 and the fully vaccinated and boosted, new research showed. The median neutralizing antibody response against the two subvariants among 27 previously infected people was lower than omicron’s original strain by a factor of 2.9, according to a study published in the New

Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center. In March 2021, three members of Congress sent a long letter to the director of the National Institutes of Health, the country’s premier funder of biomedical research. The lawmakers help lead a House subcommittee overseeing public health, and they wanted details

“Many doctors are involved in these schemes. …Oh my god. I mean, I’ve seen it over and over and over again.” — Robert FitzPatrick, a multilevel marketing (MLM) expert, on doctors peddling products to patients as part of an MLM program. “Reinfections are expected, not a failure of vaccines.” — Sarah Long, MD, of St.

The monkeypox virus is mutating at a far faster rate than previously expected amid the global outbreak, according to a new study.  The rare disease that naturally circulates in monkeys and rodents is catching more attention in the medical community as scientists are eager to contain the situation before it could get worse.  Since its

The country’s top medical organizations condemned the overturning of Roe v. Wade today, saying the removal of federal protections for women to access abortion services marks a “dark day.” “It is unfathomable. It is unfair. It is wrong,” said President of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Iffath Abbasi Hoskins, MD. “Today is

The American Gastroenterological Association has issued new guidelines for the medical treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The guidelines, which are separated into one publication for IBS with constipation (IBS-C) and another for IBS with diarrhea (IBS-D), are the first to advise clinicians in the usage of new, old, and over-the-counter drugs for IBS, according

Liver cirrhosis was linked to a greater risk for stroke in a large retrospective study, and the association was independent of established cardiovascular risk factors, a research reported. In the study of nearly 1.3 million individuals in Germany, multivariable analysis showed a 21% higher risk for any cardiovascular event — stroke or myocardial infarction (MI)

On the 50th anniversary of Title IX’s inception, the Biden administration has proposed changes to the law that would protect transgender students and assault survivors on college and university campuses. With these changes, the protections provided by Title IX — a civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools that receive federal funding —

Typhoid-causing bacteria from Asia are reportedly spreading across the globe, and they bring a threat to the public since they are also becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics.  New research published in The Lancet has shed light on how Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi or S. Typhi appeared to have spread internationally in the last three decades.  Scientists found that the

A new analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides further details on mysterious cases of pediatric hepatitis identified across the United States. While 45% percent of patients have tested positive for adenovirus infection, it is likely that these children “represent a heterogenous group of hepatitis etiologies,” the CDC authors write. Of

A growing — and aging — population, combined with advances in early detection and treatment, pushed the number of cancer survivors to new heights this year. More than 18 million Americans with a history of cancer, two-thirds of them over the age of 65 years, were living in the U.S. as of January 1 of

Covid vaccines prevented nearly 20 million deaths in the first year after they were introduced, according to the first large modelling study on the topic released Friday. The study, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, is based on data from 185 countries and territories collected from December 8, 2020 to December 8, 2021. It is

The number of children in the United States who unintentionally ingested melatonin supplements over the past 10 years has skyrocketed to the point where, as of 2021, melatonin ingestions by children accounted for almost 5% of all poisonings reported to poison control centers in the United States, data from the National Poison Data System (NPDS)

New York City — Authorities began offering monkeypox vaccinations this week, but the demand was so high that walk-in appointments had to be cut off. Thirty people have tested positive for orthopoxvirus in New York City as of Thursday, according to NYC Health, adding that “all cases are likely monkeypox.” To curb the outbreak, authorities started