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Screenings for a variety of common cancers have not returned to pre-pandemic levels, potentially leading to diagnoses later in the course of the disease when it may be more difficult to treat successfully, U.S. data published on Thursday suggest. In 2020 - the first year of the pandemic - average rates of screening for breast cancer fell by 40%, for cervical cancer by 36%, and for colorectal cancer by 45%, compared to the three previous years, according to an analysis of medical claims data from 306 million adults. (Alleyne-Morris, 11/17)

Although the prevalence of e-cigarette use among teens has declined in recent years, those who do vape are starting younger and they’re using e-cigarettes more intensely, a new study suggests. Among adolescents who only use e-cigarettes, the percentage who used the products within the first five minutes of waking up in a day was less than 1% between the years 2014 and 2017, but that shifted to 10.3% from 2017 through 2021, according to the study published Monday in the medical journal JAMA Network Open. (Howard, 11/17)

Nearly half of the world's population, or 3.5 billion people, suffer from oral diseases, the majority of them in low- and middle-income countries, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. The most common oral illnesses are tooth decay, severe gum disease, tooth loss and oral cancers, with untreated tooth decay affecting nearly 2.5 billion people, the United Nations agency said. (11/17)

Thousands of pounds of ground beef sold at H-E-B and Central Market were recalled because the meat may be contaminated with a hard, mirror-like material. Tyson Foods, an H-E-B supplier, recalled nearly 94,000 pounds of ground beef after receiving complaints from consumers who found reflective material in the meat, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service announced Wednesday. (Bahari, 11/17)

“This is not a drug to experiment with,” said Eduardo Chávez, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement and Administration (DEA) in Dallas. “Just two milligrams of fentanyl… can cause fatal poisoning.” (Garcia, 11/17)