With 420 cases and 240 deaths, the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the second worst on record but still less than the 2014-2016 West Africa pandemic that killed 11,000 people. Even with experimental vaccines and treatments, disease transmissions have doubled since September (WHO declared the outbreak in August). And disturbingly, […]

New numbers Thursday from CDC show that drug overdoses killed more than 70,000 Americans in 2017, which is a new record. The increase was spurred by a 45-percent jump in overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. This fentanyl crisis has contributed to reductions in the country’s life expectancy over the last three years, […]