Health

Opioid overdose deaths have dropped to the lowest they have been in three years, new estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest, in the wake of a record surge of fatalities from the class of drugs that includes heroin and fentanyl during the COVID-19 pandemic.  The CDC …

In addition to writing articles, songs and code in mere seconds, ChatGPT could potentially make its way into your doctor’s office — if it hasn’t already. The artificial intelligence-based chatbot, released by OpenAI in December 2022, is a natural language processing (NLP) model that draws on information from the web …

Scientists have found that climate change may lead to an increase in so-called flesh-eating bacteria in the waters along the East Coast of the U.S. The bacteria Vibrio vulnificus is usually found in warm waters with low salinity, or salt content. While the bacteria is common in subtropical regions, there …

England’s government agency responsible for responding to public health emergencies said mistakes at a testing laboratory resulted in tens of thousands of positive COVID-19 cases reported as negative may have led to the deaths of 20 people. Britain has one of the highest coronavirus death tolls in the world, with …

Commuters and thrill-seekers should stay off Onewheel electric skateboards because the products can eject riders, causing serious injury and death, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. At least four people have died from traumatic head injuries after falling from the self-balancing boards made by Santa Cruz, California-based Future …

(Eric Harkleroad/KHN illustration) Heather Meador and Anna Herber-Downey use dating apps on the job — and their boss knows it. Both are public health nurses employed by Linn County Public Health in eastern Iowa. They’ve learned that dating apps are the most efficient way to inform users that people they …

Green Sprouts is recalling thousands of stainless steel bottles and sippy cups sold nationwide because the base of the products can break off, posing a lead-poisoning risk to children. The Asheville, North Carolina, company has received seven reports of the bottles’ base breaking off, exposing a solder dot containing lead, …

The top addiction researcher in the U.S. government is calling for the broad deregulation of methadone — a medication that can reduce dependency on opioids — in a major departure from how it is currently made available.  Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), made the …

Abbott plans to build a $500 million infant formula facility and is boosting production at other plants as the health care company looks to increase supply in the U.S. amid ongoing shortages. “We’re currently in the final stages of determining the site location and will work with regulators and other …

Unilever is recalling dry shampoo aerosol products sold nationwide because they may contain elevated levels of benzene, a human carcinogen. The recall is the latest of half a dozen so far this year, with the cancer-causing chemical showing up in products including deodorant, hand sanitizer and sunscreen. People should take …