Health/Science/Tech

The idea of counties expanding Medicaid with the Affordable Care Act is getting some traction in North Texas. Governor Perry has said the state won’t do it.

It appears aerial mosquito spraying over Dallas worked. City officials say there were no West Nile infected mosquitoes in a small sample of traps retrieved afterwards. That’s good preliminary news, but Dallas City Council members want better planning for next year’s West Nile virus season.

As student athletes begin a new school year, players, staff and parents need to be mindful of staph infections.  They’re the result of bacteria we all have on our skin and in nasal passages. But the director of primary care sports medicine at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center says contact sports raise the potential for an infection. Dr. Robert Dimeff explains in this KERA Health Checkup.

Scientists from the Centers for Disease Control are in Texas this week trying to figure out why West Nile Virus is so prevalent in the Lone Star State.

The Centers for Disease Control put North Texas at the center of a national conference call on West Nile Virus. While Dallas, Fort Worth is clearly the most infected area in the country… the reason why, is not so clear.

Parkland Hospital is ready to put another new name on the top office door. Parkland’s Board is expected to name a hospital turnaround expert as the new Interim CEO.

Some Dallas County cities are getting ready to launch aerial mosquito spraying, to combat West Nile virus. School districts are also faced with protecting students from the disease-carrying mosquitoes.

Too much time in the sun can be dangerous if you’re not careful – and well beyond a sunburn. The National Cancer Institute says more than a million Americans are diagnosed with skin cancer every year. But dermatologist Dornechia Carter says skin cancer is often curable if it’s caught early. She talked with Sam Baker about skin cancer in this KERA Health Checkup.

A five-year old North Texas child with leukemia recently visited Capitol Hill. His family and Children’s Medical Center in Dallas wanted to put a face on healthcare funding for kids.

Many in the medical community favor breastfeeding for the physical benefits it offers both mother and child. But not every woman can do so. In this KERA Health Checkup, Kathy Chaney, a nurse and lactation consultant at Baylor University Medical Center, talks about alternatives for women who can’t or should not breastfeed.

Over the past 8 years, there’s been an almost 40 percent increase in people living with HIV in Dallas County. That’s according to a new study by the Texas Department of State Health Services. 

With Type-2 diabetes, the body’s ability to produce needed insulin declines. Doctors often recommend lifestyle changes and the drug metformin after an early diagnosis. But an eight year study by U.T. Southwestern Medical Center has found early intensive treatment of insulin and a drug regimen may be a better strategy. In a KERA Health Checkup, the author of the study, Dr. Ildiko Lingvay, talks about the results.

A Dallas man who lived near downtown is this year’s first West Nile virus fatality in Texas, and most likely in the country.  

More than five million Americans have Alzheimer’s, a mind-robbing disease without a cure. And that number is expected to triple as baby boomers age.

Immunizations are required for all Texas public school students. District leaders say now’s the time to get the required shots, or your child could be turned away from class.