Like the rest of the nation, Iowa is battling a high influx of influenza cases, with the peak not expected for several more weeks. According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, the number of hospitalizations and percent of patients going to clinics for flu-like symptoms is already three times higher than in typical years, [...]

More and more Iowa flu cases have been reported, and officials say the seasonal outbreak could get even worse now that children are back in school. The Des Moines Register reports that at least 151 people were hospitalized for flu complications in Iowa during the last week of December. The Iowa Department of Public Health [...]

Reports of the flu are on the rise in Iowa and the rest of the country. State epidemiologist Dr. Patricia Quinlisk said Iowa has upgraded its weekly flu activity level from “local” to “regional.” A local designation means outbreaks of influenza and lab-confirmed flu have been reported in a single region of the state, while [...]

Influenza surveillance is being heightened in Cedar County after a child there was diagnosed with a “variant” flu virus that differs from seasonal flu. The H3N2v influenza A strain was verified by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and the State Hygienic Laboratory. State epidemiologist Dr. Patricia Quinlisk said the child – who [...]

CEDAR RAPIDS — Health concerns prompted Nina Kaegbein to search for her roots. “I have COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and seizures,” said Kaegbein, 52, of Cedar Rapids. “I want to know what’s in my health background.” Because she was adopted, that quest isn’t simple, but health experts recommend everyone learn as much as they [...]

For six months, U.S. Army Spc. Joshua Casteel slept just 100 yards from an open-air burn pit that devoured everything from plastics and paint to electronics and human body parts. The Cedar Rapids native didn’t know smoke from the pit may also have been devouring his lungs. Casteel, a 32-year-old writer and converted peace activist, [...]

St. Luke’s Hospital is offering radiation therapy for the first time in its history to patients with breast cancer. Intraoperative radiation therapy was used Monday for three early-stage breast cancer patients in an international clinical trial, said Dr. Robert Brimmer, Physicians’ Clinic of Iowa general surgeon and a member of the team using the new [...]

IOWA CITY – About 50 people living with HIV/AIDS in southeast Iowa will have a new service provider after MECCA announced it will discontinue its case management and housing assistance services. The decision comes as federal funding is reduced for Iowa and as the state’s focus shifts to medical treatment to reduce the transmission of [...]

Surveillance by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and Iowa Department of Public Health indicates a larger number of horses have been infected with West Nile virus this year. Iowa has had more than 20 confirmed cases, compared to one confirmed case in horses last year, according to state data. State officials advised [...]

  The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) joins national health officials in urging all Iowans, age 6 months and older, to receive a flu vaccine. Influenza is not a ‘reportable disease’ in Iowa, which means doctors are not required to notify IDPH each time a patient tests positive for influenza; however, IDPH conducts year-round [...]