Health and Medical Issues that Matter

The joy of brightening other lives, bearing each others’ burdens, easing others’ loads and supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of the holidays – W. C. Jones

Gatherings & Covid-19

Holidays help us maintain our sense of rituals and ‘normalcy’ during a not-so normal time. Whatever we can do to keep holiday celebrations and traditions at least partially intact — while remaining safe — serves as a guidepost or compass during these turbulent times - Robert Glatter

Public Health

Holidays...the “most wonderful time of the year," we all know that's a joke because it's actually the most stressful time of the year - Stacy Matson

Bugs & Infections

You’re going to be really annoyed, if after spending 12 hours waiting in the ER, we just say “you have the flu, go home.” But that’s all we’ll be able to say to you. Because we cannot cure the flu - Dara Kass & Brian Thomas Fletcher

Respiratory

Respiratory syncytial virus is the culprit in up to 90% of cases of bronchiolitis. The reason RSV is so nasty is the immune response to the virus: it binds to epithelial cells, replicates, and the submucosa becomes edematous and hypersecretes mucus. RSV causes the host epithelia and lymphocytes to go into a frenzy – viral fusion proteins turn the membranes into a sticky goop – cells fuse into other cells, and you have a pile-on of multinucleated dysfunction - Tim Horeczko MD

Harm Reduction

Critics say supervised injection sites encourage drug use and bring crime to surrounding communities. Proponents argue that they save lives and can help people in addiction reconnect with society and get health services - Elana Gordon

Radiation

The catastrophic, persistent effects of nuclear weapons on our health, societies and the environment must be at the centre of all public and diplomatic discussions about nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation - ICAN

The joy of brightening other lives, bearing each others’ burdens, easing others’ loads and supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of the holidays – W. C. Jones

Any kind of boost really reduces your chances of getting very sick from COVID - Kathryn Stephenson MD

Dissecting the evolving world of Covid-19 one day at a time

What's normal with COVID-19... Nothing ― Anthony T Hincks

If you have a drug that wasn’t legitimately prescribed and supplied to you by medical professionals, use a test strip prior to ingestion to check whether it contains fentanyl - Karen Garcia

Next time you take a sip, stop and think: What's in my water? Mike Del Ponte

What I have learned above all else is that abortion is a blood issue. It is about who has power and who does not. If you want the right to abortion, you are going to have to fight for it. There is no compromise - Susan Matthews

In this dangerous world that we live in, where hatred and violence and natural disasters sometimes collide to almost overwhelm us, we each can help in some way - Marsha Blackburn

This isn’t a virus that, as far as we’re aware, would really take off in a population like COVID. It really requires close contact for human-to-human transmission - Andrea McCollum

The suicide rate among veterans is about twice that of the general population, and has been rising among younger veterans who served during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - Dave Philipps

In a sense, climate change is an opportunity for us to step up—to grow up—as a species.- Emma Marris

I bought them online. They’re easy to get, and they’ll change everything - Farhad Manjoo

Gun violence in particular acts very much like a social contagion. It spreads like a virus - Daniel Webster