Topic: Health

Nearly 100,000 people are waiting for a kidney transplant in the U.S., but many will never get one. Instead they’ll stay on dialysis for the rest of their lives. A team of doctors in Philadelphia have found a possible solution to this problem, by infecting patients with a potentially fatal virus.

President Donald Trump has stood strongly behind the anti-abortion movement, and his Supreme Court picks have some questioning the future of abortion access. However, technology could be key to access, too -- for both sides of the abortion debate.  

The price of insulin has more than doubled since 2012 alone, which has put the life-saving hormone out of reach for a growing number of diabetics who rely on it to live.

Mental illness affects more than the afflicted individual – it impacts their relatives and friends, too. An education program starting this month focuses on equipping those people with the knowledge and support they need to help their loved ones.

Getting off drugs is a challenge, and what comes after detox can be just as difficult. With the state’s growing opioid epidemic, many areas don’t have enough long-term treatment centers to meet the demand, but community groups in some parts of Illinois are stepping in to fill the gaps.

Buprenorphine is one of just three federally approved medications to treat opioid addiction. It’s possible to misuse it because it’s an opioid itself — people snort or inject the medication to get high. And patients with prescriptions can sell or give it away, which is known as diversion. But addiction treatment professionals argue the problem of buprenorphine diversion is often misunderstood. The black market exists, in part, because addiction treatment can be hard to find, and the availability of the drug on the street can be helpful, they say.

The Illinois Department of Public Health announced a change this week that will enable children to get help sooner after being exposed to lead, which should mitigate the negative health effects.

Public health advocates and some state lawmakers spurned Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner’s decision to veto a bill that would have raised the legal tobacco age to 21.

State Senator Scott Bennett says he hopes lawmakers override the governor’s amendatory veto of a bill he co-sponsored to speed up the processing of Medicaid applications for long term care in Illinois.

Illinois Republican Congressman Rodney Davis gave blood Wednesday at Community Blood Services in Urbana. While there, he talked with reporters about the arrest last week of a former campaign employee, and claims made about President Trump by his former personal attorney.