Health News
Stay informed with accessible health news, preventive care updates, and community health information.
Stay informed with accessible health news, preventive care updates, and community health information.
May 20, 2026
Special Olympics MOM 2026
Richmond: June 6, 2026
Address: Robins Center 365 College Rd Richmond, VA 23173
The clinic will run from 9 am to 5 pm. Free dental services will be provided.
Check-in will be located inside the Robins Center on the top floor mezzanine - across from the roundabout. Click this interactive map to help you find the building and where to park
May 19, 2026
Updated 4:53 PM EDT, May 19, 2026
OMAHA, Neb. (Associated Press) — U.S. health officials said Tuesday they have issued quarantine orders for two passengers from the cruise ship at the center of a hantavirus outbreak who are now at a hospital in Nebraska.
The orders were signed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s acting director, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the CDC said in a statement.
Quarantine orders, which can be enforced with fines and prison time, are a rare legal step that can be taken if someone objects to a public health request. All 18 passengers at the Nebraska hospital had been asked to stay at the facility through May 31, part of their monitoring period, according to the CDC.
On a call with reporters, the CDC’s Dr. David Fitter said there were no hantavirus cases among the returned U.S. passengers.
But symptoms of hantavirus have taken as long as 42 days to appear in previous outbreaks, said Jodie Guest, senior vice chair of epidemiology at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.
“I’m certain that 42 days is starting to feel very long for those who are in quarantine, but the incubation period is what is setting that time period,” she said.
Cruise ship passenger making best of quarantine in US after hantavirus outbreak. Experts wonder ‘Where is the CDC?’ as a hantavirus outbreak unfolds on a cruise ship. One evacuated passenger tests positive for hantavirus and another develops symptoms on flight home
The CDC statement said three additional cases of hantavirus have been identified — one each in France, Spain and Canada — since the passengers left the ship.
The World Health Organization said last Wednesday that a total of 11 hantavirus cases linked to the cruise have been reported, including three deaths. Eight cases have been confirmed by laboratory tests.
Hantaviruses usually spread when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings. But the hantavirus that has caused the current outbreak, called the Andes virus, may be able to spread between people in rare cases. The risk to the general public from the cruise ship outbreak is low, according to public health officials.
April 29, 2026
Hope for Tomorrow will be hosting a free dental services day at for low-income families in the Sterling and surrounding areas. Hundreds of healthcare professionals (physicians, oral surgeons, pediatric dentists, endodontists, general dentists, hygienists, dental students, EMTs, will be there to provide dental services at no cost.
Sterling Community Center
120 Enterprise St.,
Sterling, VA 20164
Saturday, May 2, 2026
8:00am - 4:00pm
On January 5, 2026, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a revised childhood immunization schedule that reduces the number of recommended vaccinations. These changes were issued outside of the established, evidence-based scientific processes traditionally used to develop national immunization guidelines.
Given these developments, the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) reaffirms its strong support for childhood vaccines. Vaccines are safe and effective in preventing disease. We share the deep concern expressed by our physician colleagues at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and American Medical Association (AMA) regarding the recent changes to the childhood vaccine schedule.
AAPD remains committed to providing clinical best practices and evidence-based guidance through our annually published Reference Manual. The 2025-26 Reference Manual continues to rely on the immunization schedule based on the 2024 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (CDC–ACIP) recommendations, which is currently maintained by the AAP (see page 658 of the print edition recently mailed to members).
Additionally, AAPD will continue to advocate for the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine during this time of heightened vaccine scrutiny. This vaccine prevents HPV infections that are associated with a variety of cancers including oral and oropharyngeal cancers. Since its introduction in 2006, the HPV vaccine has been shown to prevent persistent HPV infection and significantly reduce future cancer risk. 1,2
National Cancer Institute. HPV and cancer. Last revision October 18, 2023. Available at: “https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/infectious-agents/hpv-and-cancer”. Accessed February 8, 2024.
Cogliano V, Baan R, Straif K, Grosse Y, Secretan B, El Ghissassi F. Carcinogenicity of human papillomaviruses. World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer. Lancet Oncol 2005;6:204.
(Sources cited from the AAPD Research & Policy Center).