Medical Treatments

NPR's 'Short Wave': Doctor Finds Hope In Helping Inform And Vaccinate Her Community

5:01pm January 11, 2022

NPR's podcast Short Wave talks with Dr. Jasmine Marcelin, an infectious diseases physician in Nebraska, about getting involved in her community to make a difference in the fight against COVID-19.

Nabiha Saklayen speaks at TEDMonterey on August 2, 2021. TEDMonterey: The Case for Optimism. August 1-4, 2021, Monterey, California. Photo: Bret Hartman / TED

Nabiha Saklayen: Could lasers make stem cell therapy available to everyone?

9:26am January 07, 2022

Stem cells have long been heralded as a potential tool to treat illnesses. Nabiha Saklayen explains how it's still early, but scientists are getting closer to turning this vision into a reality.

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Jennifer Doudna: What does CRISPR mean for the future of human evolution?

9:25am January 07, 2022

In 2011, biochemist Jennifer Doudna helped discover the genetic editing tool CRISPR. Today CRISPR is actively deployed in clinical trials with the potential to cure disease—and alter human evolution.

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Sports leagues are scrambling during omicron

6:09pm January 06, 2022

NPR's Mary Louise talks with Christine Brennan from USA Today about sports and vaccines, as sports leagues everywhere are scrambling to find enough healthy athletes to fill out rosters during omicron.

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Licensed practical nurse Yokasta Castro, of Warwick, R.I., draws a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine into a syringe. The vaccines have now been linked to minor changes in menstruation, but are still considered safe.

COVID vaccines may briefly change your menstrual cycle, but you should still get one

5:00pm January 06, 2022

by Geoff Brumfiel

The new research affirms what many individuals had reported. But it also shows the changes to the menstrual cycle are mostly minor and brief, more akin to a sore arm than a dangerous reaction.

This new, low-cost COVID-19 vaccine could be a game changer for low-income countries

5:04pm January 04, 2022

by Joe Palca

A low cost vaccine called Corbevax may help solve the problem of getting safe and effective COVID vaccines to poor and middle-income countries.

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Caregivers working with COVID-19 patients in a Barnes-Jewish Hospital intensive care unit write a message of love and support on the glass door facing a patient's room.

ICU teams report fatigue and frustration as they brace for omicron surge

4:41pm December 31, 2021

by Jon Hamilton

A resurgence in COVID-19 cases is testing the endurance of health care workers who care for the sickest patients, most of whom are unvaccinated.

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Pfizer PR photo: Freiburg_dissolution tester_ COVID oral PI tablets

Health & Safety

The COVID antiviral drugs are here but they're scarce. Here's what to know

5:17am December 31, 2021

by Sydney Lupkin

Paxlovid and molnupiravir have been authorized for emergency use to keep COVID-19 patients out of the hospital, but don't expect to be able to go to your usual pharmacy and get them.

Pandemic rules that allowed virtual prescribing of controlled medications very controversial. It's allowed many to seek treatment opioid addiction, but some worry about the potential for abuse.

Health & Safety

Limits on virtual addiction treatment may soon return, making care harder to access

5:01am December 30, 2021

by Yuki Noguchi

A ban on using telemedicine to prescribe controlled medications was suspended in the pandemic. That's allowed many to seek opioid addiction treatment, but some worry about potential for abuse.

People form a large crowd as they attempt to receive COVID-19 testing kits from city workers distributing the kits along Flatbush Avenue on December 24, 2021 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. The city is handing out thousands of the kits, which in

Health & Safety

New CDC isolation guidelines raise concerns among health experts

7:52pm December 28, 2021

by Pien Huang

Cutting the isolation for positive cases to five days could lead to more infections if people don't take masking seriously. A testing requirement, would have made the policy safer, experts say.