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What the Health? from KFF Health News: New Year, same health fight

Congress returned from its holiday break to the same question it faced in December: whether to extend covid-era premium subsidies for health plans sold under the Affordable Care Act.

8 Jan 2026

Study investigates the extent of flu transmission by airborne inhalation

This year's flu season is turning out to be brutal. As a new variant known as subclade K spreads rapidly, a study out today offers clues as to how to avoid the annual sickness.

8 Jan 2026

A high-protein diet shows strong anti-cholera effects

Cholera, a severe bacterial infection that causes diarrhea and kills if untreated, can be defeated with a diet high in protein, according to a new study from UC Riverside.

8 Jan 2026

Sub-lethal water disinfection can unintentionally boost the spread of antibiotic resistance

The study reveals that environmental stressors do not merely kill bacteria; they can also prime surviving cells to take up resistance genes more efficiently, raising concerns about how antibiotic-resistant bacteria may spread in aquatic environments.

8 Jan 2026

In Lodge Grass, Montana, a Crow community works to rebuild from meth’s destruction

Brothers Lonny and Teyon Fritzler walked amid the tall grass and cottonwood trees surrounding their boarded-up childhood home near the Little Bighorn River and daydreamed about ways to rebuild.

8 Jan 2026

New federal guidelines shift cervical cancer screening to HPV testing

New cervical cancer screening guidelines emphasize self-collection and hrHPV testing, aiming to increase screening rates and improve women's health outcomes.

8 Jan 2026

Partners, family, and culture impact postpartum body dissatisfaction

Up to 75 % of Australian women report concerns about their body image after giving birth, with many feeling intense pressure to "bounce back" to their pre-pregnancy shape, a pressure that can even trigger eating disorders for the first time, warn Flinders University researchers.

7 Jan 2026

Expanded HIV treatment dramatically reduced orphanhood rates in Uganda

The scale-up of HIV treatment and prevention programs has led to remarkable declines in orphanhood rates in Rakai, Uganda, according to a new study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

7 Jan 2026

Cardiovascular risk scores predict future development of serious eye diseases

A new study from UCLA Health shows that a cardiovascular risk score already used routinely in primary care can predict who will develop serious eye diseases years later.

7 Jan 2026

Dietary exposure to food preservatives associated with higher cancer incidence

Higher intake of food preservatives, widely used in industrially processed foods and beverages to extend shelf-life, is associated with a modestly increased risk of cancer, finds a study from France published by The BMJ today.

7 Jan 2026

Strengthening primary health care to reduce NCD burden in the Americas

The Pan American Journal of Public Health, the scientific publication of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), recently published a special issue dedicated to strengthening primary health care to address noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in the Americas.

7 Jan 2026

Brazilian study shows liquid biopsies can expedite lung cancer care

In Brazil, the early detection of genetic alterations in lung cancer through liquid biopsies could be a valuable tool for expediting diagnoses and guiding patient treatment.

7 Jan 2026

Pitavastatin shows pomise in overcoming chemotherapy resistance in triple-negative breast cancer

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is among the most aggressive types of breast cancer, lacking estrogen, progesterone, and HER2 receptors and thus relying primarily on cytotoxic chemotherapy.

7 Jan 2026

New $8.5 million renewal grant fuels research on children's heart health

The National Institutes of Health has awarded the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai an $8.5 million renewal grant to continue groundbreaking work aimed at understanding and improving long-term outcomes for children with congenital heart disease-the most common type of birth defect in the United States.

7 Jan 2026

Light daily movement linked to lower mortality risk in people with CKM syndrome

Light intensity activities, like walking or household chores, were linked to a lower risk of death for people with cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) syndrome, according to new research published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open access, peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association.

7 Jan 2026