Vitals

Masks and social distancing made the common cold nearly disappear, but now these viruses are back with a vengeance. RSV is filling up emergency rooms, and flu season is off to a roaring start, too. It’s the worst season of respiratory illness in recent memory. Why is this happening? Alok and Sheena explain the leading theory behind the “tripledemic.”

U.S. abortion bans have had an intense ripple effect for patients, providers, and medicine at large. We talk with OB-GYN @DrJenniferLincoln about everything from emergency care being denied, to medical residents forced to leave their home institutions for abortion training. Our Vitals hosts are also joined by Amanda and Josh Zurawski, a coupled denied a medically necessary abortion in Texas.

Studies indicate that 1 in 5 Americans always or often feel lonely or socially isolated. The overall impact of loneliness on mental wellness is still being determined, however researchers suggest the risk effects of loneliness, isolation and weak social networks is the same as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. We discuss the effects of prolonged loneliness on your health and what to do about it.

Antibiotic overuse and misuse is driving resistance in bacteria. Without new therapeutic tools, we could by 2050 see 10 million deaths annually from “superbug” infections. Co-hosts Alok and Sheena explore how phage therapy and other scientific advancements might help humanity win the battle against our microbial foes.

Some studies have found that supercomputers can diagnose illnesses more accurately than human doctors - from heart disease to cancer to asthma to early detection of sepsis (infection spreading through the blood). The use of AI is growing, but patients are leery – are they right to be? Alok and Sheena will look at the pros and cons of AI in medicine – where it can be most effective, and where the h