Health Rewind: Ebola Death Toll Reaches 4,500 in West Africa
Plus, are teachers more biased against Black LGBT students?
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Ebola Death Toll Reaches 4,500 in West Africa - As of this week, almost 4,500 people have died due to Ebola with most of these deaths occurring in West Africa, Reuters reported. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) there are currently almost 9,000 confirmed cases of Ebola in seven countries around the world. This is the worst outbreak in the history of the virus, which was discovered in the 1970s. (Photo: John Moore/Getty Images)
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Rutgers University Awarded $5.7 Million Grant for Obesity and Breast Cancer Research - The National Institutes of Health has awarded Rutgers School of Public Health and Rutgers Cancer Institute a whopping $5.7 million dollars to do work around how to expand the lives of Black women living with breast cancer. Researchers will explore how higher rates of obesity and diabetes intersect with mortality rates among African-American breast cancer survivors.(Photo: Brownie Harris/Corbis)
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Are Teens Really Obsessed With Sexting? - While it seems like everyone is doing it, a recent study found that only 20 percent of high schoolers sent naked pics of themselves to others. Yet, researchers found that 38 percent had gotten a nude pic from someone else, but that 1 in 5 of those people forwarded that image to someone else, writes Health Day. Talk about the gift that keeps giving.(Photo: kali9/GettyImages)
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Medicaid Expansion Has Reduced ER Visits - Despite seeing a spike in ER visits, increasing people’s access to health eventually cut down on ER visits, says a new study. Looking at Medicaid patients in California, researchers found that Medicaid expansion slashed ER visits by 70 percent between the years 2011-2013, writes the Atlantic. Why? Initial ER visits emphasized on prevention and the use of traditional primary care in doctor’s offices for the future.(Photo:/Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters/Landov)
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Teen Girls Have Higher Depression Risk - A recent report found that teenage girls tend to have higher rates of depression than boys. Researchers also found that when they followed up with boys who reported depression, their symptoms had decreased, but not among girls. The study’s authors stress for more gender-specific interventions that address how teenage girls cope with relationship-related stress and anxiety, writes Health Day.(Photo: Photodisc/Getty Images)
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Study: Health Disparities Factor in Black Foreclosure Rates - A study conducted at Yale University found that racial health disparities might play a major role in the housing crisis among African-Americans. Study participants cited illness, medical bills and lack of health insurance as reasons that stopped them from paying their mortgages, says a Yale press release. —Kellee Terrell (Photo: John Wilkes Studio/Corbis)
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LGBT Kids of Color More Likely to Be Unfairly Disciplined in School - Two briefs released this week cite that LGBT and gender non-conforming students of color face extreme bias not just from their peers, but also from adults in the school system. LGBTQ students of color are more likely to be suspended from school, harassed by staff, blamed for their own victimization and are given harsher punishments than their heterosexual counterparts, the Huffington Post reported. (Photo: PhotoAlto/Sigrid Olsson/Getty Images)
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Blacks Are Living Longer, But Not as Long as Whites - The good news: African-Americans are living longer! The bad news: We don’t live as long as whites. A recent CDC report found that Black men and Black women have the highest death rates. Also, in terms of homicide, for every 100,000 5.2 African-Americans will be killed, compared to 2.5 for whites, writes USA Today. (Photo: Zack Seckler/Corbis)
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Rachel Maddow: Why Wasn’t Thomas Eric Duncan Given a Blood Transfusion? - With the recent passing of Thomas Eric Duncan, the first American to contract Ebola in the U.S., MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow called out the doctors who treated him. Maddow demanded to know why Duncan wasn’t given the blood transfusions the same way that other white Ebola patients in the U.S. were given, writes the Huffington Post. (Photo: MSNBC)
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Morehouse to Receive $4.5 Million From the CDC - Morehouse School of Medicine will receive a whopping $4.5 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to carry on public health work in Atlanta, says a college press release. This money will continue the school’s efforts to reduce HIV and STD transmission among Black gay and bisexual teens ages 14-18. Congrats!(Photo: Courtesy of Morehouse College)
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Texas Patient With Ebola Dies - Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person in the U.S. to be diagnosed with Ebola, died on Oct. 8. Duncan carried the disease with him from his home in Liberia. (Photo: AP Photo/LM Otero)
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BB King Falls Ill, Cancels Shows Due to Exhaustion - Blues legend BB King has canceled eight shows in his recent national tour, citing exhaustion and dehydration, the Associated Press writes. Recently, King fell sick in Chicago during a performance at the House of Blues. Get well, BB! (Photo: Larry Busacca/Getty Images)
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Teen Pregnancies, Abortions Way Down With Free Birth Control - One way to lower unplanned pregnancies and abortion rates among teens is to provide them with free birth control, says researchers from Washington University. During the five-year study, the birth rate among teens with free birth control was 19.5 per 1,000 compared to 94 to 1,000 compared to sexually active U.S. teens not in the study. (Photo: BSIP/UIG via Getty Images)
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Heroin Deaths Double in the US - Deaths from heroin have doubled in most of the country, says a recent report. Looking at data from 2010-2012, researchers also found that these rates were up among every demographic from men, women, Blacks, Latinos and whites. New York ranked the highest in heroin deaths occurring in 6.2 of every 100,000 deaths, the Associated Press reported.(Photo: Mike Kemp/Getty Images)
