Health Headlines
Former NICU patient graduates medical school, aims to return to NICU as doctor
Marcus Mosely(NEW YORK) -- A New York man who was born prematurely 27 years ago and spent 40 days in a neonatal intensive care unit says he plans to go back to the NICU, this time as a doctor specializing in infant care. It's a full-circle moment for Marcus Mosley, who graduated from the CUNY School of Medicine at City College of New York Thursday. Mosley's mother, Pauline Mosley said she remembers what it was like right after her oldest son was born at 26 weeks in December 1995. "It was very frightening when he was born and they told me that he was in the NICU," the 57-year-old mom of two recalled to "Good Morning America." "The doctors told ... Read More
Grief counselors from Columbine, Parkland, Sandy Hook describe what happens after a school shooting
Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Sandy Austin was in her second year working as a school counselor in Colorado in 1999 when two students opened fire at Columbine High School in Littleton, killing 12 of their fellow students and a teacher before turning their guns on themselves. Responding to a district-wide call for counselors, Austin drove to a nearby elementary school where parents and caregivers were gathered to hear whether their children were alive. She spent the next nearly 10 months counseling students, teachers, school staff, parents and community members in the wake of the shooting. On Tuesday, when a gunman burst into Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and killed at least 19 children as well ... Read More
The difference in treating child victims of gun violence versus adults
Portra/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- The mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, Tuesday left 21 people dead -- including 19 students and two teachers -- and 17 additional people injured. As of Thursday, at least six people remain hospitalized including three children and one adult at University Hospital in San Antonio and two adults at Brooke Army Medical Center in Fort Sam Houston. And while all gunshot victims receive the same core care, there are differences when it comes to treating pediatric patients compared to adults. Dr. Michael Rodriguez, a family physician and a professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, said child patients may require different types of medication, ... Read More
How to use books to help kids cope and talk after a school shooting
Courtesy Andrea Burns(NEW YORK) -- Nearly a decade since a mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012, cut the lives of 20 children and six adults short, American families, parents, caregivers, teachers, and school staffers are grappling with yet another mass shooting. This week, it happened at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and at least 19 children and two adults died in the aftermath. It's a subject Andrea Burns has talked about with her fourth grade classes for the last eight years at an elementary school in Kansas City, Kansas. Burns stepped aside from teaching this year, but she recalls how she and other teachers at her former school would conduct intruder drills with ... Read More
How to help victims’ families, first-responders and Uvalde community after school shooting
Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images(UVALDE, Texas) -- Americans have turned their attention to Uvalde, Texas, after the devastating shooting at Robb Elementary School that left 19 children and two adults dead on Tuesday. The mass shooting marked the second-deadliest school shooting in recent U.S. history behind the 2012 attack at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut that left 26 victims dead. As onlookers search for ways to get involved and help those affected, local and national efforts are in place to support the victims, families and others coping with the trauma of yet another mass shooting in this country.Blood Drives Even for people not in the immediate local area, organizations like the South Texas Blood and Tissue Center are able ... Read More
Comfort dogs sent to Texas to offer support following elementary school shooting
Lutheran Church Charities(UVALDE, Texas) -- Several dogs are among the responders traveling to Texas Wednesday, one day after a gunman opened fire at an elementary school in the city of Uvalde, killing at least 19 children and two teachers. The trained animals are all part of Lutheran Church Charities (LCC) K-9 Ministries, a K-9 unit that travels across the U.S. to provide comfort and support to people impacted by disasters such as mass shootings. Eight of the group's canines, all golden retrievers, will be dedicated to the Uvalde community. They range in age from 3 to 9, according to Lutheran Church Charities' K-9 crisis response coordinator Bonnie Fear. Canine responders Cubby and Devorah are traveling from Fort Collins, Colorado, while ... Read More
Nation’s latest COVID-19 wave largely hidden from view, health experts say
SONGPHOL THESAKIT/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Current COVID-19 cases are just a fraction of what they were at the peak of the omicron wave. But many people in the country may be noticing what seems to be a flood of cases in their social circles. Health experts say this anecdotal evidence may not be simply coincidence, as the U.S. may be in a “hidden” wave -- one much larger than reported data would suggest. “There's a lot of COVID out there. I see it in my social circles, in my kids' schools and in the hospital employee infection numbers,” Dr. Shira Doron, an infectious disease physician and hospital epidemiologist at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, told ABC News. “We are clearly ... Read More
How to talk to kids after 19 children, two adults killed in Texas school shooting
ALLISON DINNER/AFP via Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- At least 19 children and two adults are dead after a shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. The 18-year-old suspect, who is also dead, was a student at Uvalde High School, according to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. The governor said the suspect also allegedly shot his grandmother before entering school premises, but did not give any details about her condition. In the wake of the deadly mass shooting, many parents are left grappling with how to explain the horrific act of gun violence -- at a setting where most kids spend a majority of their days -- to their children and teens. "For ... Read More
FDA warns against storing avocados in water as seen in viral social media hack
Westend61/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- A recent viral TikTok food hack has been dubbed unsafe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Videos of halved avocados submerged in bowls or containers of water have bubbled up on TikTok and other social media platforms over the past few months. Creators and commenters alike were stunned to see the vibrant green flesh of the popular fruit still seemingly perfect after removing it from the water to use it without scraping off its usual oxidized brown layer. But an FDA official told ABC News' Good Morning America the agency "does not recommend this practice." "The main concern is with the possibility that any residual human pathogens (i.e. Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., etc.) that may ... Read More
Billie Eilish opens up about having Tourette’s syndrome: ‘I have made friends with it’
Lionel Hahn/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Billie Eilish is opening up about living with Tourette's syndrome. In a new episode of David Letterman's series My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, the singer, who was diagnosed at the age of 11, spoke about her tics and living with the disorder. During the interview, Eilish appeared to start "ticcing." When Letterman asked about it, she said, "It's really weird; I haven't talked about it at all." She added, "I'm very happy to talk about it. I actually really like answering questions about it because it's really interesting, and I am incredibly confused by it. I don't get it." The "Happier Than Ever" singer then detailed her various tics, including wiggling her ear, raising ... Read More
Pediatrician answers parents’ questions about COVID-19 vaccine for kids under 5
Images By Tang Ming Tung/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Pfizer's release of data showing its three-shot COVID-19 vaccine is 80% effective among children under the age of 5 is welcome news for parents anxious to get their young children vaccinated more than two years into the COVID-19 pandemic. With the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) set to meet in June to review data from both Pfizer and Moderna, a COVID-19 vaccine could be widely available to everyone in the United States ages 6 months and older by July. The news comes as the U.S. is experiencing another COVID-19 wave, with cases rising in nearly every state and official infection numbers up to more than 100,000 per day, according to the Centers ... Read More
Moms search for solutions after daughters die by suicide
Caroline Long(NEW YORK) -- Eva Long was a funny, bright and goofy child who became a talented singer, piano player and songwriter in her teen years, according to her mom, Caroline Long. She was also someone who battled depression, an increasingly common mental health struggle among teenagers, but one that Long said Eva worked hard to keep a secret. "She was so worried about people finding out," said Long, adding that the shame kept Eva from wanting to see a therapist. "She didn’t want anyone to know. She wanted to keep it so secretive." The changes in Eva's mental health started in eighth grade, according to Long, who said she thought at the time that Eva was experiencing typical teenage ... Read More
First increase in births reported in seven years, CDC finds
Jupiterimages/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- The number of births increased in the United States for the first time in seven years, according to a new federal report. Provisional data published Tuesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics found there were 3,659,289 babies born in 2021, a 1% increase from 2020. It also marks the first rise in births since 2014. Prior to this report, the number of births had been decreasing by an average of 2% per year. The report did not explain why the number of births increased, but Pew Research Center polls have suggested Americans delayed having babies during the first year of the pandemic due to public health and economic uncertainty, ... Read More
1 confirmed, 6 presumptive monkeypox cases in US, government releasing vaccines for exposed
Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- With seven people in the U.S. now confirmed or presumed to have monkeypox, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say the risk remains low and there's no evidence the virus has evolved to be more transmissible. "This is not COVID," Jennifer McQuiston, deputy director of the Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology at the CDC, said during a media briefing Monday. There is one confirmed positive case in Massachusetts. There is one presumptive positive case in New York, one in Washington state, two in Utah and two in Florida. The CDC said Monday that the government is in the process of releasing some vaccines from its national stockpile. There ... Read More
FDA advisers to meet to discuss COVID-19 shots for kids, vaccines for fall
Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- In the wake of Pfizer's new pediatric COVID-19 vaccine data for children under the age of 5, which was released on Monday, the Food and Drug Administration has set new, tentative dates for when its advisers will meet to discuss the COVID-19 vaccine applications for children. The FDA said it expects its independent Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee to convene in mid-June to discuss both Pfizer and Moderna's pediatric COVID-19 vaccines. "As we continue to address the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there are a number of anticipated submissions and scientific questions that will benefit from discussion with our advisory committee members," Dr. Peter Marks, director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in ... Read More
FDA investigating Lucky Charms after reports of illness
By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Business Writer The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating Lucky Charms cereal after dozens of customers complained of illness after eating it. The FDA said Saturday it has received more than 100 complaints related to Lucky Charms so far this year. “The FDA takes seriously any reports of possible adulteration of a food that may also cause illnesses or injury,” the agency said in a statement. Several hundred people have also posted on a food safety website, iwaspoisoned.com, complaining of nausea, diarrhea and vomiting after eating Lucky Charms. General Mills Inc., the Minneapolis-based company that makes Lucky Charms, Cheerios and other cereals, said it’s aware of those reports and takes them seriously. But the company ... Read More
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