Health

The USDA issued a federal order requiring states to begin testing their milk supply for the virus that causes bird flu.

Planned Parenthood of Northern New England says following the presidential election, its health centers across Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine are hearing from more patients wanting appointments.

Vermont adult-use retail cannabis shops will be able to apply for a medical license next year. The state wants to develop training for retail dispensary employees, to prepare for situations where medical patients may seek product recommendations and advice.

The right to abortion, as well as gender-affirming care, are very much in flux on a national scale. Vermont’s politics and policies lean toward protecting these medical services.

Vermont’s largest city has tasked its board of health, a five-member citizen advisory group, with examining ways to improve the local needle exchange program. The public health measure is meant to prevent the spread of disease and infection among people who use injection drugs.

State regulators tasked with overseeing residential care homes and assisted living facilities now carry out annual inspections, have closed all unfinished reports, and made other improvements in the past year, according to the state auditor’s office.

A Chittenden County man in his 70s died in September from eastern equine encephalitis. He was first hospitalized in August.

The survey — focused on farms not covered by a grassroots farmworker labor and housing rights program — shows a vast majority of Spanish-speaking immigrant dairy farmworkers in Vermont make below minimum wage, work six to seven days a week and are hurt on the job.

Removing the residency requirement has brought an influx of out-of-state interest to Vermont's program.

Mosquitos love heat. And as summers get warmer, mosquito-borne illnesses are rising, in the U.S., Europe, and South and Central America. Here are some tips to protect yourself.