Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA
Four people hurt when an explosion ripped through a Pennsylvania nursing home two weeks ago sued the facility and a natural gas utility on Monday, claiming their negligence was to blame.Two workers at Bristol Health & Rehab Center LLC, a resident of the suburban Philadelphia facility and a contractor who happened to be there when the blast occurred on Dec. 23 filed the lawsuit. The defendants include PECO Energy Company, which provided natural gas to the complex, its parent company Exelon Corp., and Saber Healthcare Holdings LLC of Beachwood, Ohio.The lawsuit filed in Philadelphia court claims the defendants “were aware…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. took the unprecedented step Monday of dropping the number of vaccines it recommends for every child — leaving other immunizations, such as flu shots, open to families to choose but without clear guidance.Officials said the overhaul to the federal vaccine schedule won’t result in any families losing access or insurance coverage for vaccines, but medical experts slammed the move, saying it could lead to reduced uptake of important vaccinations and increase disease.The change, which officials acknowledged was made without input from an advisory committee that typically consults on the vaccine schedule, came after President Donald…
A major update to federal women’s health preventive guidance will make it easier for women to get screened for cervical cancer, including a self-collection option that allows some women to test themselves at home instead of going to a doctor for a pelvic exam.The new option will be covered by private insurance beginning in January 2027.The updated Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) guidance now advises that people receive a high-risk HPV test – which checks for the virus types most likely to cause cervical cancer – every five years for average-risk women ages 30 to 65 as the preferred screening…
Jan 5 (Reuters) – Seasonal influenza activity remained elevated and rose in the final week of December, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data showed on Monday, as the agency for the first time classified the 2025-26 season as “moderately severe.”CDC estimates the season’s toll so far at least 11 million illnesses, 120,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths. In the 2024–25 season, CDC estimated at least 5.3 million illnesses, 63,000 hospitalizations and 2,700 deaths in the week ended December 28, 2024.Public health experts told Reuters last week that holiday travel, low vaccination rates and misinformation contributed to the surge in…
A new star has emerged on Twitch: a video game-playing peanut with eyes and lips.Men across America spent their holiday time off tuning into the hourslong livestreams of TheBurntPeanut. The foul-mouthed legume plays the video game “Arc Raiders” while cracking jokes and loving “goop,” his term for the virtual loot found in the popular game.TheBurntPeanut is a VTuber, a type of streamer who conceals their identity using a virtual avatar. There’s a long history of these animated gamers, including Twitch giants like Ironmouse.But the small animated peanut has grown large in viewership, touting 1.4 million followers on Twitch, 1.1 million…
DENVER (AP) — A former school bus aide pleaded guilty Monday to assaulting three nonverbal students with autism who were unable to report the abuse.Kiarra Jones, 30, entered guilty pleas to 12 charges under a plea agreement as she was about to go on trial in suburban Denver for abuse that was revealed in 2024 by bus surveillance video, according to prosecutors and court documents.Jones is represented by lawyers from the public defender’s office, which does not comment to the media on its cases.The abuse was discovered after Jessica Vestal, the mother of one of the nonverbal students, asked school…
A pill form of weight-loss drug Wegovy, manufactured by Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk, is now available in the U.S., giving Americans access to an oral medication to treat obesity.The starting dose of the daily Wegovy pill, at 1.5 milligrams, is now available for $149 per month for self-paying patients, Novo Nordisk announced on Monday. A 4 mg dose of the medication is available for the same price through April 15, after which the cost will rise to $199.Ed Cinca, senior vice president of marketing and patient solutions at Novo Nordisk, said in a statement that the new drug represents a…
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. flu infections surged over the holidays, and health officials are calling it a severe season that is likely to get worse.New government data posted Monday — for flu activity through the week of Christmas — showed that by some measures this season is already surpassing the flu epidemic of last winter, one of the harshest in recent history.The data was released the same day that the Trump administration said it will no longer recommend flu shots and some other types of vaccines for all children.Forty-five states were reporting high or very high flu activity during…
Flu activity is continuing to climb across the U.S. as hospitalizations rise, according to newly released data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The percent of outpatient visits for respiratory illnesses are now at the highest rate on record.About 8% of visits to a health care provider were labeled as flu-like illness, surpassing any levels seen since 1997, the earliest for which data is available. Flu-like illness accounts for patients that have a fever as well as a cough and/or sore throat.These visits are largely among children and young adults. About 35% of outpatient visits for a respiratory illness were…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is telling Head Start providers to avoid dozens of terms in federal grant applications, including “race,” “belonging” and “pregnant people” — a directive that could reshape the early education program.A coalition of organizations representing Head Start providers and parents said in court filings last month that the Department of Health and Human Services told a Head Start director in Wisconsin to cut those and over a dozen other terms from her application. She later received a list with nearly 200 words the department discouraged her from using in her application, including “Black,” “Native American,”…