Health

More than 1,000 current and former Health and Human Services employees penned an open letter Wednesday calling for HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to either resign or be fired.  The letter — whose signatories were not publicly named — was released at a tense time for the health agency. Last week, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez was fired, and several other top CDC officials resigned from their jobs in protest. Staff are also reeling from layoffs, changes to the vaccine approval system — led by Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic — and a shooting outside the CDC headquarters last month.Wednesday's letter accused Kennedy of "endangering the nation's health." It cited last week's upheaval at the CDC, the Food and Drug Administration's decision to ...

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! There are three active cases of tuberculosis in Maine as of this week as TB continues to increase across the country, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported, according to the Portland Press Herald.Lindsay Hammes, spokesperson for the agency, said it is "aware of three active TB cases with links to the Greater Portland area and is in the midst of conducting our typical response." She said the Maine CDC was working to reach anyone who might have come into contact with any of the infected patients so they can be tested.Hammes added that each case appears to be contracted from a separate source. FIVE DEATHS REPORTED AMID BACTERIAL INFECTION OUTBREAK IN MAJOR CITY The x-ray of a TB patient in New York in 2002.  (Spencer Pl...

Washington — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday denied that he pressured the ousted director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to preapprove vaccination recommendations from a panel he overhauled before her firing. Susan Monarez was fired from the position less than a month after her Senate confirmation. In an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, Monarez said that Kennedy "pressured me to resign or face termination" in an Aug. 25 meeting. "One of the troubling directives from that meeting more than a week ago: I was told to preapprove the recommendations of a vaccine advisory panel newly filled with people who have publicly expressed antivaccine rhetoric," she wrote. The piece was published shortly before Kennedy t...

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Knee pain is often associated with aging, but more young people seem to be experiencing this issue.With a greater tendency to play high-intensity sports and a higher overall BMI (body mass index), more younger individuals in their 30s and 40s are having knee problems – and some are even seeking out surgery.Between 2000 and 2017, there was a 240% increase in inpatient knee replacements for patients between 45 and 64 years old, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).AGING HITS A DRAMATIC TURNING POINT AT ONE SPECIFIC NUMBER, SCIENTISTS DISCOVERA recent study published in the journal Osteoarthritis and Cartilage found that early structural changes in the knees are common by age 30. This often occurs without symptoms.Res...

In the wake of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr's firing of top CDC officials and cuts in mRNA vaccine research, Dr. Timothy Johnson (longtime network TV medical editor and founding editor of the Harvard Medical School Health Letter) has a message for a fellow doctor, Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, who'd promised oversight of Kennedy when he voted to confirm him.

Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, a Republican and a physician, said he was "deeply concerned" about how Kennedy and the CDC's vaccine panel are approaching recommendations."Secretary Kennedy, in your confirmation hearing, you promised to uphold the highest standards for vaccines. Since then, I've grown deeply concerned," Barrasso said. "The public has seen measles outbreaks, leadership at the National Institute of Health questioning the use of mRNA vaccines, the recently confirmed director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention fired. Americans don't know who to rely on."Barrasso cited polling showing that a large majority of voters, including Trump voters, believe vaccine recommendations should come from "trained physicians, scientists, public health experts." He ...

At the end of summer, Congress is often sleepy, and slowly gets back to work. But this past week was an exception. On Capitol Hill, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. arrived, and the controversial Health and Human Services Secretary sparked a reckoning over public health in America. At a hearing before the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday, Kennedy defended the Trump administration's policies: "We at HHS are enacting a once-in-a-generation shift from a sick-care system, to a true health care system that tackles the root causes of chronic disease," he said. Tempers ran hot at the hearing. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) said, "This is not a podcast. It is the American people's health that is on the line here."Democrats rebuked Kennedy, perhaps the most high-profile member of President Donald T...

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Helen Mirren, 80, remains a glowing testament to the power of consistency — and not just in her acting. The celebrated Oscar-winning actress recently revealed that she still engages in a 12‑minute daily military workout that she claims to have followed faithfully for over 60 years.Developed in the late 1950s by Dr. Bill Orban for the Royal Canadian Air Force, the XBX (Ten Basic Exercises) plan was originally created to help female air force personnel boost their overall fitness without gyms or fancy equipment.TIKTOK'S VIRAL '6-6-6' WALKING ROUTINE BURNS FAT WITHOUT GRUELING WORKOUTSMirren recently told Women’s Health that she is a "big believer" in the system and praised its accessibility.The XBX regimen consists of four progressive charts,...

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! A new study suggests that bringing your smartphone into the bathroom could raise your risk of hemorrhoids by nearly 50%.Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston found that adults who use their phones while sitting on the toilet face a 46% higher risk of developing the painful condition, according to findings published this week in the journal PLOS One.The study surveyed 125 adults undergoing colonoscopies and compared their bathroom habits. Of the participants, 66% admitted to using their phones on the toilet. HOW TO AVOID GETTING 'OFFICE CHAIR BUTT' FROM PROLONGED SITTING AT WORKPeople who said they took their phone into the bathroom were 46% more likely to have hemorrhoids compared to the others, regardless of...

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Specific eating behaviors have been linked to a surprising medical condition.In addition to conventional risk factors, like lower body mass index and older age, skipping breakfast and eating dinner late are independently associated with osteoporosis, according to a new study.Researchers at Nara Medical University in Japan examined the lifestyle habits of 927,130 people from an insurance claims database.5 EVERYDAY FOODS AND DRINKS SILENTLY DAMAGING YOUR LONG-TERM HEALTH, SAY NUTRITION EXPERTSParticipants included adults 20 years or older (55% female and 45% male) who had a health checkup between April 1, 2014, and February 28, 2022.The researchers followed the patients, who had a median age of approximately 67, for approximately 2.6 years to...