It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Saturday, May 23, 2026
Buying your way to better health comes at the expense of others
People with private health insurance can jump the public healthcare queue by using private health services instead. Is there really anything wrong with that?
There are two main theories:
If the wealthiest people use private health services more, the public healthcare system will have more capacity for the rest of us.
Private health services divert resources away from the public healthcare system, which consequently becomes worse.
But which one of these theories is most correct? Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) have been investigating this, and the results are now in.
Public health is deteriorating
“Our findings suggest that an increase in private health insurance uptake leads to poorer health in the population over time,” said Professor Pål Erling Martinussen from the Department of Sociology and Political Science at NTNU.
Private health insurance has become much more common in several European countries over the past few decades. In collaboration with PhD research fellow Oda Nordheim, Martinussen has studied developments in 20 countries during the period 2002–2022. They have used data from over 300,000 people.
Worse for people with the lowest levels of education
“People with a low level of education are more likely to report poor health if they live in a country where uptake of private health insurance has increased,” explained Nordheim.
A lower level of education is often associated with lower income, at least on average. Of course, some people have private health insurance through their jobs. However, the figures show that it is often people with the least financial resilience who are most affected.
Paying for private health services may be beneficial for those who can afford to do so, but it comes at the expense of others.
“The negative health effects on the population as a whole outweigh the benefits that private health insurance provides to individuals,” concluded Martinussen.
The researchers are therefore of the opinion that European policymakers must implement strategies to counteract the potential negative side effects of private health insurance.
PULLMAN, Wash. — The Sin Nombre virus – a hantavirus that can cause a deadly respiratory disease in humans – may be more widespread among rodent populations in parts of the Pacific Northwest than previously recognized.
A recent study conducted in the Palouse region of Washington and Idaho found that nearly 30% of rodents showed evidence of past infection with the virus. About 10% were actively infected, meaning they were carrying and could potentially shed the virus. The study, which was led by researchers in Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, was published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Emerging Infectious Diseases journal.
“We were surprised both by how common the virus was locally and by how little data existed for the Northwest,” said Stephanie Seifert, the study’s corresponding author and principal investigator of the Molecular Ecology of Zoonotic and Animal Pathogens lab in the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Paul G. Allen School for Global Health. “We’re really just beginning to understand how widespread and complex this virus is in rodent populations here.”
Sin Nombre virus (SNV), which causes hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, was first identified during a 1993 outbreak in the Four Corners region of the United States. From 1993–2022, 864 cases were reported in the U.S., with a 36% case-fatality rate. A total of 109 of those cases occurred in Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
Hantavirus has been in the headlines because of an outbreak of Andes virus on a cruise ship. While rare, Andes virus, which is found in South America and is a different species than SNV, is the only hantavirus known to spread between people.
SNV is primarily maintained in deer mice, which are common around farms, homes and outbuildings. Rodents can spread the virus among themselves through saliva and direct contact, but human infections typically occur when people inhale airborne particles from contaminated rodent droppings, urine or nesting materials.
Activities that disturb rodent droppings or nests can increase the risk of exposure by sending virus particles into the air. Sweeping or using equipment like leaf blowers in enclosed areas can be particularly hazardous. Instead, health officials recommend ventilating spaces and using wet-cleaning methods to reduce the risk of inhalation.
Field work for the study was done in the summer of 2023 when researchers trapped rodents across farms and natural areas in Whitman County, Washington, and Latah and Benewah counties in Idaho. In total, samples were collected from 189 animals, including deer mice, voles and chipmunks.
Once in the lab, the researchers identified active infections and antibodies, indicating a past infection, in both deer mice and voles, suggesting the virus may move between species.
The researchers also used the samples to produce the first full genome sequences of SNV strains from the Northwest. The sequences revealed high levels of genetic diversity and evidence of viral reassortment, or mixing of genetic material. The information can help public health officials and scientists track how the virus evolves in the future, in addition to assisting in identifying sources of infection and improving surveillance and testing.
Despite the relatively high prevalence of the virus in rodents, reports of human infections remain rare, which could indicate some infections are going unnoticed. The researchers hope to expand their work in the future if additional funding becomes available, including studying how often people are exposed and how human behavior influences risk.
“"People may be exposed more often than we realize, but severe cases are more likely to be tested for hantavirus,” said Pilar Fernandez, a co-author on the study and a disease ecologist in the Allen School whose research focuses on the eco-epidemiology of zoonotic diseases. “Understanding that gap – how exposure translates into disease – is the next big step.”
While data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that the total number of U.S. cases of three sexually transmitted infections (STIs) declined from 2022-24, infection rates remain 13% higher than a decade ago. CDC provisional data show more than 2.2 million U.S. cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis were reported in 2024.
Now, a nationally representative survey of empaneled adults from the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania finds that while most Americans understand how STIs spread, there are significant gaps in public knowledge about which infections can be prevented through vaccination.
In the Annenberg survey, conducted April 14-28, 2026, among 1,639 U.S. adults, nearly half of the respondents (47%) say that they or someone they know has ever been diagnosed with an STI. Most of those (72%) who know someone with an STI report knowing two or more people with it. (Download the topline.)
CDC data show how common these infections are. The CDC says the most common STI is human papillomavirus or HPV, and about 85% of people will get an HPV infection in their lifetime. The CDC also has estimated that on any given day in 2018, about 20% of the U.S. population – 1 in 5 people – had an STI.
Gaps in identifying what is sexually transmitted
A sexually transmitted infection, the CDC says, is “a virus, bacteria, fungus or parasite people can get through sexual contact.” There are dozens of STIs. Some are spread mainly by sexual contact (such as genital herpes, gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia, and HPV). Some are sometimes spread by sexual transmission (HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), mpox). And some can be spread sexually but are more often spread in other ways (Zika).
The survey finds that a large majority of respondents know that infections which spread mainly by sexual contact are sexually transmitted. In most cases, there has been no significant change in public knowledge from 2024 to 2026. The percentages who know that these diseases are sexually transmitted are:
95% Genital herpes
94% Gonorrhea
91% Syphilis
89% Chlamydia
75% HPV, a six-point increase from 2024
Although sexual transmission is just one of several ways that HIV can be spread, Americans are much more aware that it can be sexually transmitted than they are about mpox or Zika:
92% know that HIV can be sexually transmitted.
35% know that mpox, also called monkeypox, can be sexually transmitted.
13% know that Zika or ZIKV, which is primarily mosquito-borne, can also be sexually transmitted.
“Public understanding improves when accurate health information reaches people clearly and consistently,” said Ken Winneg, APPC’s managing director of survey research. “But these findings show continuing gaps in awareness about diseases which can be sexually transmitted such as HPV, mpox, and Zika.”
Broad awareness of STI transmission but misconceptions persist
The survey shows strong awareness of common ways that STIs are transmitted:
97% identify vaginal sex as a transmission route
94% anal sex
91% genital-to-genital contact
89% oral sex
In addition, 49% selected kissing, which is not a common route for STI transmission but may be a form of transmission of syphilis when a sore is present and may be a risk factor for oral gonorrhea. And 1 in 5 (20%) chose sitting on a toilet after someone with an STI sat on it. CDC guidance for a number of STIs (HIV, syphilis, and genital herpes, for instance) says that sitting on a toilet seat is not a form of transmission.
Public understanding is uneven around less common transmission pathways for HIV, in particular. While 92% recognize HIV as sexually transmitted, only 33% know it also can be transmitted by breastfeeding. According to the CDC, HIV can be transmitted during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding.
Limited understanding of which diseases are vaccine-preventable
The public’s awareness of which diseases can be prevented with vaccines varies widely. For most of the diseases in our survey, a substantial part of the population says it does not know whether there is a vaccine for them. For the two diseases which may be prevented by vaccines:
HPV: HPV vaccine awareness is highest, with 68% correctly identifying that a vaccine exists. The CDC reports that HPV vaccination can prevent more than 90% of HPV-related cancers.
Mpox: Only 42% know a vaccine exists for mpox, despite CDC recommendations that at-risk groups be vaccinated. The vaccine can help prevent an mpox infection if given in advance and can mitigate it if given shortly after exposure.
For some other infections, most Americans are unaware that no vaccine exists:
Genital herpes: 54% are unsure or incorrectly think a vaccine exists
Gonorrhea: 58% unsure or incorrect
Syphilis: 61% unsure or incorrect
Chlamydia: 60% unsure or incorrect
HIV: 52% are unsure or incorrect
Zika: 81% unsure or incorrect
Encouraging areas of public knowledge – and some misconceptions
The survey highlights the public’s strong knowledge of some basic facts about STIs:
93% know STIs can spread even without symptoms;
87% reject the myth that only people with many sexual partners get STIs;
83% know that HIV medications can control disease progression, a decline from 2024, when 87% knew this.
But only 45% know that most people in the United States who have HIV do not develop AIDS.
80% know STIs can be passed from a pregnant person to their baby
70% know that HPV can lead to cancer in women
But 14% also incorrectly think the vaccine leads teens to engage in risky sexual behavior, an increase from 10% who said they believed this in 2024. It does not.
“HPV vaccination is important for preventing cancers caused by HPV,” said Laura A. Gibson, an APPC research analyst. “The increase in awareness that HPV is sexually transmitted is a positive development, but it is concerning to see a similar increase in the incorrect belief that the HPV vaccine leads teens to engage in risky sexual behavior.”
Syphilis: Rising rates underscore importance of public understanding
The survey findings come as syphilis continues to pose a major public health challenge in the United States. According to the CDC’s latest provisional surveillance data, there were more than 190,000 reported syphilis cases in 2024, and the national syphilis rate reached 55.9 cases per 100,000 people. While overall syphilis cases declined about 9% from 2023 levels, congenital syphilis — when the infection is passed from a pregnant person to a baby — increased for the 12th consecutive year, with nearly 4,000 reported cases in 2024. The CDC reports congenital syphilis rates are now nearly 700% higher than a decade ago.
The current survey suggests that many Americans remain uncertain about how syphilis can be prevented and treated. Over 9 out of 10 people (91%) correctly identify syphilis as sexually transmitted but more than half of U.S. adults (61%) are either unsure whether there is a vaccine against syphilis (44%) or say a vaccine exists (17%). It does not, according to the Mayo Clinic.
“Too many Americans remain uncertain about basic facts surrounding syphilis, including how it is prevented and treated,” said Patrick E. Jamieson, director of the policy center’s Annenberg Health and Risk Communication Institute, which oversees the survey. “Those knowledge gaps can have serious public health consequences.”
About 4 in 5 respondents know how to protect against getting syphilis: 80% correctly identify abstinence and 78% correctly identify condom use as ways to protect against syphilis.
The CDC recommends regular STI screening, condom use, prompt antibiotic treatment, and prenatal testing during pregnancy to reduce transmission and prevent congenital syphilis.
Additional context on STI curability
Three bacterial infections – gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis – can be cured with appropriate antibiotics, according to the CDC, but you can be re-infected. Three viral STIs – HPV, genital herpes, and HIV – cannot be cured. Although HPV cannot be cured, in 9 out of 10 cases, “HPV goes away on its own within two years without health problems,” the CDC says. When HPV does not resolve, it can cause cervical and other cancers. Genital herpes is a lifelong infection and has no cure, according to the CDC, but there are medicines that can “prevent or shorten outbreaks.” HIV has no cure but can be managed with medication.
Most patients with mpox who are not severely immunocompromised “will recover with supportive care and pain control only,” the CDC says. Zika has no specific cure but typically resolves on its own, although in rare cases it can cause severe disease affecting the brain.
APPC’s ASAPH survey
The findings come from Wave 29 of the Annenberg Science and Public Health survey (ASAPH), conducted April 14-28, 2026, among 1,639 U.S. adults. It was conducted for the policy center by SSRS, an independent research company. The nationally representative probability-based panel, which was first empaneled in April 2021, has a margin of sampling error of ± 3.5 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All figures are rounded to the nearest whole number and may not add to 100%. Combined subcategories may not add to totals in the topline and text due to rounding.
The policy center has been tracking the American public’s knowledge, beliefs, and behaviors regarding vaccination, Covid-19, flu, RSV, and other consequential health issues through the Annenberg Science and Public Health (ASAPH) survey and separate national samples since April 2021. The ASAPH survey is conducted under the auspices of APPC’s Annenberg Health and Risk Communication Institute (AHRCI) by a team that includes Ken Winneg, managing director of survey research; research analysts Laura A. Gibson and Shawn Patterson Jr.; and Patrick E. Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Health and Risk Communication Institute.
See other recent Annenberg health survey news releases:
The Annenberg Public Policy Center was established in 1993 to educate the public and policy makers about communication’s role in advancing public understanding of political, science, and health issues at the local, state, and federal levels.
Method of Research
Survey
Source: The Annenberg Public Policy Center's Annenberg Science and Public Health (ASAPH) survey, April 2026.
"I wanted to develop tests for social skills and vocabulary aimed at preschool children," says Professor Hermundur Sigmundsson at the Department of Psychology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
The reason is that social skills and vocabulary are so important, especially for children and adolescents. Early screening is very important for early intervention if the child needs extra help.
The vocabulary test for18 to 24 month old children is still under development in Iceland, but the social skills test is well on its way to completion. Sigmundsson has a new article in Fronters in Education where he presents this test.
"Our new test measures social skills in children aged 3-5. The preschool teacher uses 9 questions to evaluate the child's social skills.
The researchers tested this on 127 children in Iceland aged 3 to 5 years. The average was 3.8 years. Kindergarten teachers filled in the assessments.
Using emoji faces for the children's test
The test is designed to be easy to use. The researchers used an emoji-based so-called "Likert scale" from 1 to 5, where 1 is a very sad face, 3 is a neutral face and 5 is a very happy face. The goal was to see if the test works, if it is stable and if it gives reliable results. The results are encouraging.
"We see that the test is well suited for children in this age group. All the questions relate to the overall result, and the correlations were good," says Sigmundsson.
Appears to be reliable
To check whether different teachers arrive at approximately the same results, 10 children were assessed by two different early childhood educators. The comparison showed good agreement between the results from the two educators who assessed the children. The scale gives a score of 0.89 on the Cronbach scale, which indicates that it is reliable.
All in all, this looks promising, and it suggests that the test can be further developed.
"The next step is to try it on more children, and to check that it works just as well in larger and more representative groups," says Sigmundsson.
Scientists have reported it for decades: Overpopulation can impair reproduction.
Crowded chickens lay fewer eggs. Crowded mice have smaller broods. In humans, several studies have associated increased population density with reduced fertility.
External factors, such as resource scarcity and social influences, undoubtedly play a role. But researchers have long suspected that intrinsic, biological mechanisms may also be at play as an evolutionary tool to keep populations in check.
New University of Colorado Boulder research, published this month in the journal Nature Communications, identifies one key mechanism.
It found that overcrowded animals secrete a chemical messenger that can damage eggs, impair embryos and cause genetic mutations in offspring for generations to come.
“It has been well documented that population density has a direct and negative impact on human and animal fertility, but the underlying mechanisms have been elusive,” said senior author Ding Xue, professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology at CU Boulder. “Our study provides novel insights into how overpopulation can cause various developmental defects, including reduced fertility and increased mortality.”
The study comes as the world population nears 8.3 billion— three times what it was in 1950. Meanwhile, the authors note, birth rates are on the decline. Worldwide, the fertility rate has gone from five births per woman in 1950 to 2.3 births in 2021. According to the World Health Organization, one in six people experience infertility (defined as the inability to achieve a pregnancy after 12 months of trying).
“Overpopulation and crowding stress have emerged as major challenges in contemporary societies, especially in urban cities, where two-thirds of the world population live,” said Xue. “Our study may provide important molecular insights into the underlying health problems that can come with it.”
What radiation stress and overcrowding have in common
Xue’s team stumbled upon the findings serendipitously, while studying a phenomenon known as Radiation Induced Bystander Effect (RIBE).
RIBE occurs in cancer patients receiving radiation therapy when untreated, healthy cells outside a radiated site are also affected and damaged, leading to side effects like hair loss, fatigue and reproductive issues. Due in part to concerns about RIBE, pregnant women are advised to avoid radiation exposure.
In a 2017 study, published in Nature, Xue discovered what drives this bystander effect in the C. elegans worm: Cells stressed by radiation release a protein called cysteine protease related 4 (CPR-4), which travels to other healthy cells around the body and damages their DNA.
Other species across the animal kingdom, including humans and mice, have a similar chemical messenger called Cathepsin B cysteine protease.
Years later, in a follow-up study, Xue’s team noticed that, even in the absence of radiation, if worms lived in extremely crowded conditions, they emitted the protein.
At the molecular level, Xue said, the crowded animals looked a lot like they had been exposed to radiation.
Mutations over generations
For the new study, the team compared worms living in various-sized colonies. They found the worms typically didn’t secrete CPR-4, but once their colony exceeded 3,000 individuals, they did. The more overcrowded they were, the more of the enzyme they secreted, and the enzyme damaged their DNA. Experiments in mice showed similar results.
On average, those living in crowded conditions had 87% more genetic mutations in germ cells (reproductive cells). The animals had significantly fewer offspring. Also, the surviving offspring often had visible defects.
Genome sequencing showed some of those genetic mutations were passed on through generations, suggesting that overcrowding may drive genome evolution.
When the researchers silenced the protein in animals, it prevented the adverse effects of crowding. This suggests the enzyme could play a critical role in reproductive problems.
More research is necessary to determine whether the findings have implications for humans and other animals.
Xue has already developed and patented a compound that can inhibit the Cathepsin B cysteine protease enzyme in animals and has a good safety profile.
He believes such inhibitors could someday be used in agriculture, for example, to increase egg or fish production. The findings could also inform new approaches to helping humans struggling to have a family.
