New Drug May Beat Older One at Preventing MS Relapse

A new injection drug can prevent multiple sclerosis flare-ups better than an existing medication, a clinical trial has found.

The drug, called ofatumumab, beat a standard MS medication in reducing patients' symptom relapses. It also slowed down the progression of their disability over six months.

The researchers said the find...

More Education May Slow Start of Early-Onset Alzheimer's

Among people who have the gene that carries a heightened risk for early-onset Alzheimer's disease, a new study suggests that more education might slow the development of beta-amyloid plaques in the brain.

About 1% to 6% of people with Alzheimer's disease have genes that put them at risk for early development of the disease, w...

People Are Dying, Going Blind After Drinking Hand Sanitizer, CDC Warns

Federal health officials have been warning for weeks that illegal forms of hand sanitizer containing toxic methanol are being sold across the United States.

Now, new data from Arizona and New Mexico illustrate the danger: During the months of May and June, 15 people were rushed to hospital after drinking hand sanitizer containing metha...

Two Common Nutrients Might Keep Vertigo at Bay

Taking in extra vitamin D plus calcium might cut your odds of getting a debilitating form of vertigo, new research shows.

The Korean study focused on benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), a sudden spinning sensation that's commonly triggered by changing your head position. According to the study authors, about 86% of people ...

Marijuana Is Not Heart-Healthy, Experts Say

As marijuana use becomes more common, could heart troubles follow?

Yes, warns a new statement from the American Heart Association (AHA).

A full understanding of how marijuana affects the heart and blood vessels remains limited by a lack of adequate research, but some chemicals in cannabis -- particularly THC, the chemical beh...

Fauci, Cuomo Top Trump as Reliable Sources on COVID-19: Survey

Despite facing continued criticism from the Trump administration, Dr. Anthony Fauci is still the considered best source for COVID-19 information, an online poll finds.

A growing number of Americans say federal, state and local governments are doing a poor job of responding to the coronavirus pandemic -- and a shrinking number see Pres...

AHA News: High-Speed Internet Offers Key Connection to Health, But Millions Lack It

If you live in the right neighborhood and can afford it, you might think of high-speed internet as a convenient way to connect to bingeworthy TV shows or the conference calls that let you work from home. You might take for granted that everyone has internet access.

But increasingly, it's a vital way to deliver health care that million...

Seven States Join Pact to Speed Coronavirus Testing

As the daily U.S. coronavirus death toll averaged more than 1,000 for the ninth straight day on Tuesday, governors from seven states banded together to shorten turnaround time for COVID-19 test results.

Three Republican governors and three Democratic governors signed an interstate testing agreement on Tuesday, The New York Times...

Obesity Ups Odds for Severe COVID-19, But Age Matters

If you're younger than 65 years old and obese, COVID-19 poses a special danger to you.

A new study reports that the more obese you are, the more likely you are to either die from infection with the new coronavirus or require lifesaving mechanical ventilation to survive.

Morbidly obese COVID-19 patients are 60% more likely...

Skip the 'Maskne,' Not the Mask

For most people, wearing a face mask is a harmless inconvenience, but wearing the coverings may cause skin problems for some, one dermatologist explains.

It's been called mask-acne, or "maskne."

Dermatologist Dr. Allison Truong, from Cedars-Sinai Medical Group in Los Angeles, said that she is seeing many patients with this pr...

More Social Media Use, More Fake COVID News

People getting their COVID-19 information from social media are more likely to receive misinformation, Canadian researchers report.

But those who trust traditional media are less likely to have misperceptions. And they're more likely to stick to public health recommendations such as social distancing, the research team found.

Mysterious Paralyzing Illness in Kids Is Set to Return, CDC Warns

A new outbreak of a mysterious, potentially fatal polio-like illness could strike hundreds of American children within the next few months, U.S. health officials warned Tuesday.

Acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) outbreaks have occurred every two years in the United States since 2014, peaking between August and November, the U.S. Centers for...

Say What? Like Animals, People Perk Up Their Ears to Hear

Like many other animals, people can move their ears to focus on a specific sound, researchers say.

However, this movement of ears is subtle and the ability to do it hasn't been known until now.

By measuring electrical signals in ear muscles as volunteers tried to detect sounds, researchers found that people make tiny, unconsc...

Cancer Diagnoses Plunge as Americans Avoid Screening During Pandemic

As COVID-19 continues to impact nearly all aspects of American health care, researchers warn that the United States has seen a troubling drop in cancer diagnoses since the pandemic began.

The drop is not being attributed to a downturn in cancer incidence, but rather a COVID-driven reluctance to get screened.

"Our research fou...

Many COVID-19 Patients Given Useless Antibiotics: Study

Early in the U.S. coronavirus pandemic, many people landing in the hospital may have been given unnecessary antibiotics, a new study suggests.

The findings come from one of the hard-hit hospitals in New York City, the initial epicenter of the U.S. pandemic. Researchers there found that of COVID-19 patients admitted between March and Ma...

Brush With Common Cold Might Help Protect Against COVID-19

Since the pandemic began, it's been known that the severity of coronavirus illness varies widely between people. Could the common cold be the reason why?

It's still just a theory, but researchers in California suspect that if you've recently had a cold -- many of which are also caused by coronaviruses -- your immune system's T-cells mi...

COVID-19 Fears Had Sick, Injured Americans Avoiding ERs

Visits to hospital emergency rooms fell off sharply in March when the COVID-19 pandemic started keeping people at home -- and a new study reports they never returned to normal.

"This is a case where public messaging appears to have worked too well," said researcher Dr. Edward Melnick, associate professor of emergency medicine at Yale ...

Study Casts Doubt on Value of Cholesterol Drugs

Hundreds of millions of people worldwide take cholesterol-lowering drugs, like statins, but now a new review suggests that many folks don't benefit from these medications.

The researchers said the review of 35 randomized controlled trials failed to show a consistent benefit in lowering the risk of heart attack or stroke, or for preven...

U.S. Grandparents Are Raising Millions of Kids, and It's Tough

Nearly 3 million children in the United States are being raised by grandparents, and life has placed these kids on a rocky road toward adulthood, a new study reports.

These children are much more likely to have experienced traumatic events that will influence their development, according to the report published online Aug. 3 in the jou...

Vitamin D Won't Reduce Risk of Depression

For those battling debilitating depression, a new study delivers some bad news: Vitamin D supplements won't make a dent in improving mood.

While the "sunshine vitamin" is often touted as an alternative way to protect against depression, vitamin D's efficacy has remained unknown, the researchers said.

But "there was no signif...