WASHINGTON — A powerful animal sedative in the illicit drug supply is complicating the U.S. response to the opioid crisis, scrambling longstanding methods for reversing overdoses and treating addiction. Xylazine can cause severe skin wounds, but whether it is leading to more deaths — as suggested by officials in Washington — is not yet clear, according to health and law […]

A Wyoming judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the first state law specifically banning the use of pills for abortion, the most common method in the country. Just over a week before the ban was scheduled to take effect, Judge Melissa Owens of Teton County District Court granted a temporary restraining order, putting the law on hold pending further court proceedings. […]

A century ago, a well-ventilated building was considered good medicine. But by the time Covid-19 arrived, our buildings could barely breathe. How did that happen? And how do we let the fresh air back in? Tuberculosis patients recovering in open air along the River Thames in London in 1936.Credit…Fox Photos/Getty Images Supported by By Emily Anthes In January 1912, in […]

Colorado has seen a year’s worth of infections by an intestinal parasite in less than two months following an outbreak on the Western Slope. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reported 62 cases of cyclosporiasis since May 1. In a typical year, the state averages 63 cases. No hospitalizations or deaths have been linked to the outbreak. Most […]

Most health insurance companies say they can’t lower monthly premiums to the level required by the state-designed Colorado Option next year, but advocates think insurers could strike deals to get closer to cost-saving targets as key public hearings near. If they don’t reach agreements, the state could force some hospitals to accept lower rates to bring premiums down for the […]

Dr. Harald zur Hausen, a German virologist who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2008 for his discovery that the seemingly benign human papillomavirus, known for causing warts, also caused cervical cancer, died on May 29 at his home in Heidelberg, Germany. He was 87. His death was announced by the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, which Dr. […]

Lizzy Earhart didn’t know much about Eating Recovery Center when she agreed to get treatment there in October 2020. She’d already received treatment for anorexia at another treatment provider in Denver, but she’d relapsed immediately after. But Eating Recovery Center was big, well-known. It seemed her best option. But the months she spent there reinforced her illness, the 21-year-old said, […]

It was a glorious day for field work on the shores of the Delaware Bay. The late afternoon sun cast a warm glow over the gently sloping beach. The receding tide revealed a smattering of shells. The dune grasses rustled in the breeze. The beach vines were in bloom. And the bird droppings were fresh and plentiful. “Here’s one,” said […]

The News Cash grants made directly to poor families or individuals have led to fewer deaths among women and young children, according to a new analysis of more than 7 million people in 37 countries. In countries that began making such payments, deaths among women fell by 20 percent, and deaths among children younger than 5 declined by 8 percent, […]

For as long as emergency medicine has existed, being physically assaulted has been part of the job. Talking about feelings that come after an assault, though? Not so much. That’s something that paramedics and others working in emergency medicine are trying to change, said Crystal Eastman, a paramedic instructor and “peer responder” at Denver Health. The sheer amount of violence […]