Seraphina Harrell, a little girl who received national attention because the surrogate who gave birth to her had refused to have an abortion, has died. Seraphina passed away July 15, a few weeks after her eighth birthday. In 2012, when Crystal Kelley, Seraphina’s surrogate mother, was halfway through her pregnancy, an ultrasound showed she had…

Vitamin D is known as the “sunshine vitamin” because your body absorbs the nutrient primarily through exposure to the sun. Some researchers had thought insufficient levels of vitamin D may play a role in depression but the findings of a large study of more than 18,000 US adults ages 50 years or older published Tuesday…

What if someone told you there was a magic potion by which you could prevent disease, improve your intellect, reduce your stress and be nicer to your family while you’re all cooped up together during the pandemic? It sounds too good to be true, as if solving those problems would really require dietary supplements, workout…

Ever heard of bacterial vaginosis? It’s caused when the normal bacterial flora in the vagina go haywire, allowing “bad” bacteria to proliferate. If the answer is no, you’re not alone. Even though bacterial vaginosis, otherwise known as BV, is the most common vaginal infection in women between the ages 15 and 44, many have never…

The US Food and Drug Administration has expanded its warning about hand sanitizers to avoid, with the list now topping 100. The agency first warned consumers in June about hand sanitizers containing methanol, which can be toxic when absorbed through the skin and potentially deadly if ingested. Since then, several such products have been recalled…

Perhaps it’s a creamy white comfort drink that’s reminiscent of childhood, or just another alternative to water, tea, soda and coffee. Whatever the reason, more and more Americans appear to be turning to cow’s milk during the pandemic. Sales of cow’s milk totaled $4.5 billion for the 20-week period that ended on July 18, an…

Experiencing adversity early in life is likely to make children reach puberty more quickly, increase cellular aging and alter brain development. That’s according to a new meta-review of dozens of studies published in Psychological Bulletin, a journal of the American Psychological Association. And as the nation confronts a legacy of systemic racism and inequality, there…

Remember the progress made in suppressing Covid-19 during the painful economic shutdowns? In some states, much of those gains have been erased after an abysmal July that shattered records for new cases, hospitalizations or deaths. “I want to be very clear: What we are seeing today is different from March and April,” Dr. Deborah Birx,…

Schools and college campuses across the country should be OK to reopen, but officials need to proceed with caution and make safety a priority, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday. The default position with K-12 schools should be to reopen them, said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. There are two…

We’re now more than seven months into the coronavirus pandemic that has upended the lives of most of Earth’s inhabitants. And while it is true that the scientific community has learned many things about the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the disease it causes, Covid-19, there are also many gaps in our understanding. One big mystery: Why…

A multistate outbreak of salmonella poisoning that has sickened almost 400 people in 31 states has been traced back to red onions, federal health officials said. And a company based in Bakersfield, California is the likely source of the potentially contaminated onions, according to the Food and Drug Administration. “Although the investigation has determined that…

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was watching late-night television when he saw a hospital boss criticizing him and Ethiopia’s Health Ministry, which he was leading at the time, for doing a terrible job. Instead of responding with a furious diatribe, as some political leaders might when watching their detractors on TV, he contacted the man, Dr. Kesete…

We know that the coronavirus can enter the body through the nose and mouth — hence the constant recommendations from doctors to wear face coverings and practice social distancing. But what about the eyes? Should we all be wearing goggles or face shields as well? It’s certainly possible that a person could get Covid-19 through…