CDC | WYPR

FILE - Chickens stand in their cages at a farm, in Iowa, Nov. 16, 2009. Four more people, all Colorado poultry workers, have been diagnosed with bird flu infections, health officials said late Sunday, June 14, 2024. The new cases are the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth in the United States diagnosed with the bird flu, which so far has caused mild illness in humans. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

WYPR News

Bird flu concerns rise in Maryland and across the nation

Scott Maucione

A new study says the disease is nearing human-to-human transmission.

Jessi Stout, owner of the Table Rock Pharmacy fills a prescription on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023, in Morganton, N.C. Drugstore chains are still trying to find enough employees to put a stop to temporary pharmacy closures. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

WYPR News

DEA warns Maryland residents of illegal online pharmacies

Scott Maucione

The online shops are selling drugs laced with fentanyl.

FILE - This undated image provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases shows a colorized transmission electron micrograph of mpox particles (red) found within an infected cell (blue), cultured in the laboratory that was captured and color-enhanced at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility in Fort Detrick, Md. (NIAID via AP, File)

WYPR News

What Marylanders should know about the recent mpox outbreak

Scott Maucione

People in the U.S. have a low risk of contracting the disease at this point.

Electron micrograph of negatively stained Parvovirus B19 in blood. Each virus particle is about 25 to 30nM in diameter. Graham Beards at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

WYPR News

CDC warns about spike in Parvovirus cases in Maryland

Scott Maucione

The common disease is known for causing a rash on the cheeks.

FILE - Siblings Amechi, 7, left, Chizara, 5, center and Kenechi Acholonu, 9, enjoy gifts from the hospital as they wait in the observation area after being inoculated with the first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children 5 to 11 years at The Children's Hospital at Montefiore, Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021, in the Bronx borough of New York. First shots are averaging about 300,000 per day. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

WYPR News

Maryland sees small improvement in student mental health

Scott Maucione

Tobacco use at an all time low.

Mike Weber stands in an empty hen house at Sunrise Farms, which had to euthanize 550,000 chickens after avian flu was detected among the flock in Petaluma, Calif. Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024. A year after the bird flu led to record egg prices and widespread shortages, the disease known as highly pathogenic avian influenza is wreaking havoc in California, which escaped the earlier wave of outbreaks that that devastated poultry farms in the Midwest. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)

WYPR News

Bird flu isn’t a threat to Marylanders now, but warrants close monitoring, health experts say

Scott Maucione

The flu has transmitted from birds into some mammals like cows and seals.

FILE - Cows are seen at a dairy in California, Nov. 23, 2016. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday, April 23, 2024, that samples of pasteurized milk had tested positive for remnants of the bird flu virus that has infected dairy cows. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

WYPR News

Maryland Department of Agriculture takes preventative steps as bird flu spreads

Scott Maucione

The disease has jumped to mammals, but humans are largely in the clear.

Courtney Martin, left, a nurse at the University of Washington Medical Center, gives the first shot of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to Ani Hahn, 7, Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021, in Seattle. Last week, U.S. health officials gave the final signoff to Pfizer's kid-size COVID-19 shot, a milestone that opened a major expansion of the nation's vaccination campaign to children as young as 5. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

WYPR News

Child vaccination rates in Maryland rebound after pandemic

Scott Maucione

About 97% of kids are getting their required vaccinations.

Dr. Leana Wen, emergency physician and public health advocate, teaches at GWUniversity's Milken Institute School of Public Health. (GWU)

Programs

Healthwatch with Dr. Leana Wen: Heat hazards, Paxlovid, CDC chief

Tom Hall

The veteran public health advocate discusses the latest news, including the imminent availability of a new RSV vaccine and why older adults, especially, should get it; the FDA's approval of a new pill to treat post-partum depression; and how AI could play a useful role in medicine.

Programs

Healthwatch: Dr. Leana Wen on winter viruses, mask & vax issues

Tom Hall

The emergency physician and public health advocate discusses the latest on continuing RSV, flu and COVID-19 threats, and answers your health questions.