After a suspected outbreak of hantavirus aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship left three people dead and several others ill, a global contact tracing effort is under way. The public-health hunt for Hondius passengers and anyone they came into close contact with is critical to limit the contagion impact. Authorities also need to figure out where and how the rare Andean strain of the virus emerged.
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Young Men Are Going to Extremes to Feel Like They Measure Up
NATHANIEL ROBINSON
Men and boys of all ages are increasingly focusing on appearance and body image, a domain long associated with women. But doctors worry that the “looksmaxxing” trend on social media is leading to body-image issues, eating disorders and sometimes extreme and dangerous measures, such as bone smashing, writes Sumathi Reddy.
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Drug companies including Eli Lilly and Roche are investing billions in AI partnerships to accelerate drug development. Though the industry has been talking about the potential for AI to supercharge this process for years, a big shift hasn’t materialized yet.
In the News
The process has long been detested by physicians and patients. Now UnitedHealth Group plans to stop requiring doctors to get approvals for an array of procedures, tests and services.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. aims to help wean some Americans off psychiatric medications, including antidepressants. These drugs can be critical—even lifesaving— interventions, but concern has grown about the difficulty of coming off them.
The Number
41%
The share of health and wellness influencers who described themselves as some sort of healthcare professional in their profiles, compared with 31% who said they were coaches and 28% who said they were entrepreneurs, according to new data from the Pew Research Center. Concern about health misinformation has been growing, with vaccination rates falling and extreme diets increasing in popularity—and social media has amplified this problem.
Quoteworthy
“My movement is certainly not normal, but it’s more normal than it would be otherwise. My hands, my arms, my motor skills…I think I trip less because of the movement on a pickleball court.”
• Her self-experiment with drug detox almost broke her. (The New York Times)
• Automation, AI and screening technologies are transforming reproductive medicine. (MIT Technology Review)
• Can vaping cause cancer? The evidence suggests it might. (The Washington Post)
About Us
The Health newsletter is your weekly guide to all the news that affects your health and well-being. This edition was curated and edited by Conor Grant—send him feedback or questions at conor.grant@wsj.com (if you’re reading this in your inbox, you can just hit reply). Got a tip for us? Here’s how to submit.
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