THURSDAY, Feb. 27, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- In a sign that suggests America's obesity epidemic is far from under control, a new government report shows that more than 40% of people in the United States are obese. And almost 1 in 10 is severely obese, the researchers added. "Over the time period from 1999 to 2018, the obesity prevalence increased about 12% -- from 30.5% of Americans to 42.4% of Americans. Severe obesity almost doubled," said study author Dr. Craig Hales. He's a medical epidemiologist with the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Much more than just a cosmetic issue, obesity is associated with type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, fatty liver disease, sleep apnea, arthritis,...

THURSDAY, Feb. 27, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Vice President Mike Pence will lead the U.S. response to a potential global pandemic of the coronavirus COVID-19, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday evening. The move came amid growing political pressure on his administration to take a more energized response to the coronavirus, which has infected more than 82,000 people in 37 countries and killed nearly 3,000. The situation within the United States may have gained new urgency as well: Shortly after the news briefing, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the first case of COVID-19 within the United States in a person who "did not have relevant travel history or exposure to another known patient with COVID-19." The case, occurring in California, "could be an...

THURSDAY, Feb. 27, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Given a choice, seagulls prefer food that's been handled by humans, a new British study finds. This suggests that the birds may watch you when deciding what to scavenge, according to the researchers. "We wanted to find out if gulls are simply attracted by the sight of food, or if people's actions can draw gulls' attention towards an item," said study lead author Madeleine Goumas. She's with the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter in Cornwall. "Our study shows that cues from humans may play an important part in the way gulls find food, and could partly explain why gulls have been successful in colonizing urban areas," Goumas said in a university news release. In the study, researchers placed two wrapped oat...