January is National Blood Donor Month, and this month is seeing a critical need for blood donations.
OneBlood has issued a call to action for those in the community, who are able to donate blood, to donate blood.
All blood types are needed, especially O negative and O positive as well as platelet donations. Platelets are “tiny cells in your blood that form clots and stop bleeding,” according to OneBlood’s website. OneBlood says that 60% of the population can donate, but only 5% do.
“If you think it’s not profound, it is. It is a very profound thing to do because within a few days, your blood donation’s going to help somebody and it has saved lives over and over again,” said Pat Michaels with OneBlood.
So what do you need to know to start donating?
Where to donate
OneDrive has donor centers and mobile drives all throughout the community.
You can find the closest one to you by searching with your zip code here.
Can you donate?
Anyone at least 16 years old and weighing at least 110 pounds can donate blood.
You can donate every 56 days.
For platelet donation, you must be at least 17 years old and weigh at least 110 pounds. These donations can happen every seven days, but OneBlood recommends donations every 14 days.
“You must be in good health at the time you donate, and can’t donate if you have a cold, flu, sore throat, cold sore, stomach bug, or any other infection,” their website reads.
For other eligibility questions, click here to see their FAQ breakdown.
What to do to prepare for donating blood
There are three things you should do, according to OneBlood, before donating:
Drink plenty of water beforehandEat a light, healthy meal (avoid fatty foods). Make sure to eat. Donating on an empty stomach is not recommended.Eat iron-rich foods for a few days before donating. “Your iron count must be at a certain level in order to donate blood. We will check your iron count prior to your blood donation, and if it is too low you will not be able to donate blood that day.”
Iron is important because it helps “your body make new red blood cells and can help replace those lost after blood donations,” according to OneBlood’s site.
Make sure to bring a photo ID and a list of any medications you are taking.
What the donation process is like
OneBlood says the whole blood donation process lasts 8-10 minutes and typically one pint of blood is taken.
When you first arrive, you will have to register for donation.
Then, you will undergo a health screening, where your temperature, pulse, blood pressure and other items are checked to see if you’re eligible for donation.
What should you do after donating?
You should drink plenty of water, avoid lifting heavy items or intensive exercise for the rest of the day and do not drink alcohol for 24 hours.
Where does your blood go?
If you end up donating with OneBlood, you can enroll in a program that gives you updates on where your donation is going.
“My OneBlood Journey is a program that will notify you when your donation is on its way to a hospital, and will even let you know which hospital your donation is going to,” the website says.
Pat Michaels said each donation can go to several people.
“We divide the components of it, red blood cells, platelets and plasma. It’ll go to three different people, at least. So, you’re impacting three people. You can possibly save lives doing that,” he said.
For more information or to learn more, click here.
A Missouri lawsuit accusing China of hoarding masks and other protective gear during the COVID-19 pandemic can move forward, federal judges ruled Wednesday.
A panel of the U.S. Eighth District Court of Appeals panel, however, otherwise agreed with a lower court’s 2022 ruling that tossed out Missouri’s case entirely, finding that federal rules prohibit a sovereign foreign entity from being sued in American courts. The state alleged that China’s officials were to blame for the pandemic because they didn’t do enough to slow its spread.
The appeals panel found that only one claim may proceed: an allegation that China hoarded personal protective equipment.
“Missouri’s overarching theory is that China leveraged the world’s ignorance about COVID-19,” Judge David Stras wrote in the ruling. “One way it did so was by manipulating the worldwide personal-protective-equipment market. Missouri must still prove it, but it has alleged enough to allow the claim to proceed beyond a jurisdictional dismissal on the pleadings.”
Chief Judge Lavenski Smith dissented, writing that the whole lawsuit should be dismissed.
“Immunity for foreign states under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, while not impenetrable, is quite stout and stronger than the claim alleged in this case,” Smith wrote. “It is certainly not strong enough to justify judicial intervention into an arena well populated with substantial political and diplomatic concerns.”
Missouri Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey, whose office filed the lawsuit, lauded the ruling Wednesday on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“We are headed back to court to pursue remedies,” he posted.
The lawsuit, filed in April 2020, alleged that Chinese officials were “responsible for the enormous death, suffering, and economic losses they inflicted on the world, including Missourians.”
Neither the Chinese government nor any other Chinese defendant named in the case has responded to the lawsuit in court.
The Lawyers for Upholding International Law and The China Society of Private International Law filed briefs defending China against the lawsuit. Associated Press emails and voice messages left with lawyers for the groups were not immediately returned Wednesday.
China has criticized the lawsuit as “very absurd” and said it has no factual and legal basis. Legal experts have mostly panned it as a stunt aimed at shifting blame to China for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prescriptions for ADHD treatments surged among adults during the COVID-19 pandemic, helping to fuel lingering shortages that frustrate parents and doctors.
New prescriptions for stimulants used to treat the condition jumped for young adults and women during a two-year window after the pandemic hit in March 2020, according to a study published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry.
Prescriptions also soared for nonstimulant treatments for adults of all ages, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration researchers found.
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is one of the most common developmental disorders in children, particularly boys. The use of drugs like Adderall to treat it climbed in general during the pandemic.
Telemedicine made it easier to get help, and regulators started allowing doctors to prescribe the drug without first seeing a patient in person.
But Dr. Ann Childress says more adults also started coming to her for help after COVID-19 hit. The Las Vegas psychiatrist sees several reasons behind the shift.
Working from home made some people realize how easily they get distracted. Childress says she diagnosed a lot of parents, especially moms, who saw it in their children and realized they may have it as well.
Plus, social media made people more aware of adult ADHD.
“People are more open to talking about mental health issues now,” said Childress, who was not involved in the study.
Rising use of ADHD treatments compounded with manufacturing problems triggered an Adderall shortage that started more than a year ago. Doctors and patients say supply problems for several treatments haven’t let up.
“Each week there about 10 things that are in shortage,” Childress said.
Wendy Terry called nearly 20 pharmacies last month looking for the drug Focalin for her third-grade son, who has ADHD. Some were a 45-minute drive from her home in Diboll, Texas, a town about 100 miles northeast of Houston.
“They all told me the same thing: We can’t get it from the manufacturer. We don’t know when we’re going to get it or if we’re going to get it,” said the 42-year-old insurance agent.
Desperate, she briefly switched her son to another ADHD medication. But that went so badly that he had to miss school.
Terry eventually found a drugstore, thanks to a tip from a friend who works at another pharmacy. She says she dreads going through the ordeal again for a refill, but her son needs the help.
“When he’s not medicated, he literally can’t sit down at school,” Terry said. “He can’t quit moving. He is constantly moving. His mind is all over the place.”
Federal regulators limit the production of some ADHD treatments because they are controlled substances. Regulators and drugmakers try to anticipate how much of a drug will be needed based in part on how it has been used in the past, said Mike Ganio, who studies drug shortages at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.
But he noted that predicting demand is difficult, and spikes in use can contribute to shortages.
“It’s a business. Nobody wants to produce more, or hold on their shelves more, inventory than will be needed,” he said.
Ganio noted that the latest shortage total is close to a 10-year high of 320 set in late 2014.
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Murphy reported from Indianapolis. Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
According to the FDOH, Central Florida’s reported numbers for STD transmission that year were as follows:
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To avoid contracting an STD, state health officials offer the following tips:
Mutual monogamy: Only have sex with one other person whom you trust.Use condoms: Condoms can protect you and your partner during intercourse.Have fewer partners: The more sexual partners you have, the more you increase your risk of transmission.Get vaccinated: Some STDs have vaccines available to prevent infection.Get tested: Testing for an STD is the only way to know for sure whether you’ve contracted one.Practice abstinence: Avoiding sex means avoiding STDs.
For more information on STDs or testing, visit the FDOH’s website here.
A petition initiative that would enshrine abortion rights in the Florida constitution on Friday reached the necessary number of verified signatures to qualify for the 2024 ballot, officials said.
More than 911,000 signatures have been verified, according to the Florida Division of Elections, surpassing the more than 891,500 petition signatures required by the state to put a ballot initiative before voters.
If the measure ultimately makes it on the fall ballot, voters in the third-most populous U.S. state could join citizens of other states in deciding what, if any, abortion protections or restrictions there should be following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022.
Since that landmark 1973 case giving constitutional protections for abortion across the United States was overturned in the Dobbs decision, voters in at least seven states have supported ballot measures protecting abortion rights or rejected measures aimed at limiting access. Constitutional amendments to protect access are already on the ballots for 2024 in Maryland and New York.
“We know what will happen if reproductive rights make it onto the ballot in 2024 — just like in every other state since Dobbs, Florida voters will choose to keep the government out of their health care decisions,” said Nikki Fried, chair of the Florida Democratic Party.
The proposed amendment would allow abortions in Florida to remain legal until the fetus is viable, as determined by the patient’s health care provider. If the amendment makes the ballot, it will need at least 60% voter approval to take effect.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody says that abortion rights proponents and opponents have differing interpretations as to what viability means. Those differences along with the failure to define “health” and “health-care provider,” she said, are enough to deceive voters and potentially open a box of legal questions in the future.
Because of that, the Republican attorney general has asked the state Supreme Court to keep the proposed measure off the ballot, saying proponents are waging “a war” to protect the procedure and ultimately will seek to expand those rights in future years.
The court will hear arguments Feb. 7 on whether the ballot language should be approved.
A law Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis approved last year banning abortion after 15 weeks is being challenged in court.
If the courts uphold the law — DeSantis appointed five of the Supreme Court’s seven justices — a bill DeSantis signed this year will ban abortion after six weeks, which is before many women know they are pregnant. DeSantis, who is running for president, has said he would support a federal abortion ban after 15 weeks.
Any change in abortion access in Florida will be felt out of state as well because the Sunshine State traditionally has been a haven for women in the southeastern U.S. seeking abortions. There are bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy in nearby Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi and a ban on terminating pregnancies in Georgia after cardiac activity can be detected.
The flu season in the U.S. is getting worse but it’s too soon to tell how much holiday gatherings contributed to a likely spike in illnesses.
New government data posted Friday for last week — the holiday week between Christmas and New Year’s — show 38 states with high or very high levels for respiratory illnesses with fever, cough and other symptoms. That’s up from 31 states the week before.
The measure likely includes people with COVID-19, RSV and other winter viruses, and not just flu. But flu seems to be increasing most dramatically, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We expect it to be elevated for several more weeks,” said the CDC’s Alicia Budd. So far, though, this is a moderate flu season, she said.
Interpreting flu reports during and after the holidays can be tricky, she noted. Schools are closed. More people are traveling. Some people may be less likely to go see a doctor, deciding to just suffer at home. Others may be more likely to go.
The flu season generally peaks between December and February; CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen said she expects it to peak by the end of this month. Officials say this season’s flu shots are well-matched to the strain that is spreading the most.
According to CDC estimates, since the beginning of October, there have been at least 10 million illnesses, 110,000 hospitalizations, and 6,500 deaths from flu so far this season. The agency said 27 children have died of flu.
COVID-19 illnesses may not be as escalating as quickly as flu this winter. CDC data indicates coronavirus-caused hospitalizations haven’t hit the same levels they did at the same point during the last three winters. Still, COVID-19 is putting more people in the hospital than flu, CDC data shows.
Lauren Ancel Meyers of the University of Texas, said the nation is seeing a second rise in COVID-19 after a smaller peak in September.
“There is a lot of uncertainty about when and how high this current surge will peak,” said Meyers, who runs a team that forecasts COVID-19, flu and RSV trends
A new version of the coronavirus, called JN.1, is accounting for nearly two-thirds of U.S. cases, according to a CDC estimate. But health officials say there’s no evidence that that it causes more severe disease than other recent variants,
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
