What Experts Use to Repel Ticks and Mosquitoes

If you want to protect yourself from mosquitoes and ticks—which seem to be everywhere this year—you might need to enlist a heavy-hitter. Insect experts reach for one thing: permethrin.

Here’s what to know about the synthetic insecticide, plus how and when to use it.

How permethrin works

Permethrin, which is derived from the chrysanthemum flower, has been used in some form since around 400 B.C. During the wars of the early 1800s, Napoleon dusted his soldiers with a permethrin-like powder to control fleas and body lice, which protected them from anemia and gave them a physical edge over their enemies.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

Permethrin is a neurotoxin that targets an insect’s nervous system, triggering muscle spasms, paralysis, and eventually death. It functions as a contact insecticide, which means it kills via direct contact when a bug lands on a treated surface. That distinguishes it from DEET-based repellents, which work in a different way. DEET “blocks the sensors for ..

Hepatitis A outbreak infects thousands of travelers at popular destinations

A spike in viral infections has sickened thousands of travelers and caused several deaths at some popular European destinations.
Four countries — Austria, Czechia, Hungary and Slovakia — have reported a spike in hepatitis A cases between January and May 2025, according to a rapid risk assessment issued by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
In total, 2,097 cases have been reported across the four countries.
WHAT IS HEPATITIS?
Slovakia, which has been dealing with an active outbreak since 2022, represents 880 of those cases. Czechia is the next most affected country, reporting 600 cases and six deaths, the ECDC stated. Hungary has reported 530 cases in 2025, and Austria has reported 87.
Hepatitis A is an «acute viral liver disease» caused by the hepatitis A virus (HAV), according to the agency.
The disease is mainly spread through contaminated food or water, or through close contact with infected people.
Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst, sai..

‘An Exodus of OB-GYNs’: How the Dobbs Decision Has Shaken the Reproductive Health Landscape

The Brief June 24, 2025Updates on Iran, Trump, immigration, and morePodcast ID – Short Length: b55c1aa3-900c-4a9f-8d1a-dfe63efccd9c
Podcast ID – Long Length: a9194dab-f0b9-461b-b3c2-df9a06f21fc2

In the months after Texas banned abortion in nearly all situations, Dr. Lou Rubino stayed and continued treating patients in Austin.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

“I just had in mind I could still do something—I would be able to do some good, help some people,” says Rubino, who had lived and worked in the state for years.

But one day, Rubino was treating a patient. She was 16. Pregnant. And she was telling Rubino that she needed an abortion.

“I knew that she really needed that abortion, just like all my patients need their abortions,” Rubino says. “I knew inside of my soul, in some very deep place, this is wrong. For me to not do her abortion, for me to refer her out of state, for me to tell a pregnant person to get in their car and drive hours—putting them at risk for blood clot—to go ..

Single dose of ‘magic mushrooms’ provides 5 years of depression relief, researchers find

Psilocybin, the main psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms, could alleviate depression for at least five years after just one dose, according to a new study.
The research, presented June 18 at the Psychedelic Science 2025 conference in Denver, followed up with patients who had been diagnosed with clinical depression — also known as major depressive disorder (MDD) — and had participated in a previous psilocybin treatment study in 2020.
«Most people who participated in our trial reported improvements in depression symptom intensity or in the ways in which they experienced depression in their life, lasting up to five years after the trial,» study co-author Alan Davis, director of the Center for Psychedelic Drug Research and Education at The Ohio State University, told Fox News Digital.
PSYCHEDELICS AS POTENTIAL MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT ARE EXPLORED BY TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
Doug Drysdale, CEO of the Canadian pharmaceutical company Cybin in Toronto, Ontario, told Fox News Digital that th..

Yes, Your Dog Can Get Sunburned. Here’s What to Know

If you want your good boy to have a good summer, make sure he catches balls instead of rays. Dogs can get just as sunburned as people, veterinarians warn, and sometimes, it becomes an emergency.

“Especially during the really hot summer months, we see an uptick of pets coming in with sunburns,” says Veronica Villanueva, medical director at VEG Anaheim Hills, which provides emergency veterinary care. “We think of humans with skin getting sunburn, and then with our pets, we think, ‘Oh, they have fur, they like to be outside.’” Most pet owners “aren’t aware of the potential risks of sunburns and the severity with which they can experience them.”

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

We asked vets exactly how to tell if your dog is sunburned, what to do about it, and how to prevent future sun damage.

Signs of sunburn in dogs

A dog’s fur provides some built-in protection against UV rays. But all breeds are susceptible to sunburn—and the lighter or thinner the fur, the greater the risk. Short..

Experimental drug helps patients lose nearly a quarter of body weight in early trials

An experimental weight-loss medication was shown to help people lose nearly 25% of their body weight in early-stage 1a/2b trials.
The drug, amycretin — developed by Novo Nordisk — works by replicating two hunger hormones — amylin, which regulates appetite and creates a feeling of fullness, and glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), the same hormone that is used in Ozempic and Wegovy to suppress appetite and boost insulin secretion.
«Amycretin is the first treatment to harness the two distinct biological pathways stimulated by amylin and GLP-1 in a single molecule,» Martin Holst Lange, executive vice president and head of development at Novo Nordisk, previously said in a statement sent to Fox News Digital.
GRANDFATHER'S SIMPLE CHANGES REVERSED PRE-DIABETES DIAGNOSIS THAT LEFT HIM 'PETRIFIED'
In the study, which included 125 overweight or obese adults, participants who received weekly injections of amycretin lost more weight than those who took a placebo, according to a press re..

The Worst Thing to Say When Someone Says They’re Bisexual

More people identify as bisexual than as lesbian or gay. Yet bisexuality tends to be largely misunderstood, and people who are bi are exposed to “so many negative messages, both from heterosexual people and from lesbian and gay people,” says Tania Israel, a professor emerit of counseling psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who gave a TEDx Talk on bisexuality. “A lot of bisexual people don’t actually openly identify as bisexual, to a large extent because of the concern about exclusion and the negativity that they get.”

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

The worst—and most common—reaction Israel hears is that bisexuality doesn’t exist. When someone says they’re bi, other people often scoff, challenging what the other person told them or retorting that they must simply be confused. “Some people will say, ‘Well, I think it’s just a phase—you’re on your way to coming out as lesbian or gay,’” Israel says. “Interestingly, people often think that bisexual women are reall..

Simple daily activity could reduce risk of lower back pain, study finds

Taking longer walks could actually improve back pain, according to a new study.
Researchers in Norway investigated how chronic low back pain, a «prevalent and costly condition,» could be reduced by regular physical activity, including accessible walking.
The study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, measured daily walking volume and walking intensity among more than 11,000 participants over the age of 20.
‘I’M A SPINAL SURGEON – HERE'S HOW YOUR POSTURE IS KILLING YOUR BACK'
The participants then reported any incidences of lower back pain lasting three months or longer in the past year.
Walking for more than 100 minutes per day resulted in a 23% lower risk of pain compared to walking less than 78 minutes per day, according to the results.
For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews.com/health
Walking intensity was also associated with chronic lower back pain risk, but to a «lesser degree» than walking volume, researchers noted.
«In this cohort study, daily walking vol..

Diabetic patients taking GLP-1s may face increased risk of eye disease, study suggests

Diabetes is the leading cause of vision loss in people between 18 and 64 years old, according to the American Diabetes Association — and the best way to prevent this is to control blood sugar levels.
Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1s), such as Ozempic and Mounjaro, have become popular medications for controlling diabetes and treating obesity — but new Canadian research suggests they can also lead to a paradoxical side effect in the form of eye problems.
YOUNG POLICE OFFICER DIES BY SUICIDE AFTER 'DEBILITATING' LASER EYE SURGERY COMPLICATIONS
A retrospective study conducted from January 2020 to November 2023 included more than 139,000 diabetic patients, some of whom were taking GLP-1s for at least six months and some who were not taking the medications over a three-year period.
The average age of the participants was 66 years old, and approximately 47% were women.
Researchers found that the participants taking the weight-loss medications had twice the risk of d..

Dental experts reveal 6 essential tips to prevent tooth loss in aging adults

Some may assume that losing teeth is just part of growing older.
Around 11% of adults between the ages of 65 and 74 have lost all of their teeth, according to 2020 data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — and that number rises to one in five at age 75 and older.
But according to experts, this isn’t inevitable. Dental professionals shared the following tips to prevent tooth loss and boost overall health.
About two in three adults over age 65 are dealing with some form of gum disease, according to a recently published AARP report.
6 SIMPLE WAYS TO PROTECT YOUR HEARING NOW BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE, ACCORDING TO EXPERTS
Clinical experts cited in the report, including Dr. Uchenna Akosa, assistant professor and director at Rutgers Health University Dental Associates in New Jersey, warn that bleeding gums can signal a much deeper problem.
«Even if you have not lost any teeth, gum disease impairs your ability to chew hard food,» Akosa told AARP. «That will affec..