From political battles over public health issues to blockbuster weight-loss drugs and new viral threats, 2024 has been a headline-making year.
The biggest buzz was and still is about GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic/Wegovy and Mounjaro/Zepbound.
Their impact on type 2 diabetes and obesity has been called life-changing by many. For the first time in a decade, the country’s obesity rate dropped 17%, according to the latest government data.
Evidence is also mounting that the drugs may reduce the odds for heart disease, kidney problems, fatty liver disease, arthritis and asthma and more.
Also making news in 2024 was the spread of bird flu from poultry to dairy cows to humans and other animal species.
As of December, the CDC had confirmed 61 human cases, but, importantly, some of them included people who had no known contact with infected animals.
To date, experts have stressed that bird flu does not spread easily from person to person, but there are signs the virus is beginning to mutate in humans. Along with avoiding suspect animals, they recommended no raw milk, which can contain live virus.
Scientists are working on an mRNA vaccine for bird flu, but for now health officials recommend Americans get their seasonal flu shot, which may offer some cross-protection.
Finally, on the social and political front, the battle over access to the abortion pill took center stage.
Since the overturning of Roe versus Wade, online orders for the medication have jumped 10-fold, according to one recent study.
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a legal challenge that would have curbed access, but the state of Texas just filed suit against a New York doctor for prescribing abortion pills to a woman near Dallas.
Legal experts say the lawsuit sets the stage for a battle over interstate abortion laws in 2025.
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