Deb Balzer (@DebBalzer)
Deb Balzer is a Senior Communications Specialist at Mayo Clinic. She began her career as a TV news producer in Rochester, NY, before joining CONUS Communications, a pioneering national news satellite organization. She also field produced for ABC, CNN, the Rachael Ray Show and Farmers’ Almanac TV. Joining Mayo Clinic in 2015, Deb writes, produces and collaborates on medical stories with Mayo Clinic’s leading experts, providing trusted health and medical information to help patients.
A new study shows an estimated 30 percent of outpatient oral antibiotic prescriptions are unnecessary. Penicillin and other antibiotics have played a leading role in treating[...]
A recent study found that bedbugs, like some other insects, have distinct color preferences. Researchers discovered bedbugs are drawn to red and black and repelled by[...]
A growing number of law and health care agencies are working to make naloxone (Narcan), available without a prescription. The drug is used to treat an opioid emergency,[...]
The opioid epidemic in the U.S. has lawmakers working on legislation to tackle the growing problem — one the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says has quadrupled,[...]
Zika virus has been reported in Belize, adding to the number of countries where Zika-infected mosquitoes have been found to be spreading the disease. In[...]
The Zika virus pandemic has grown to a global health concern. As world health leaders learn more about the mosquito-borne virus that causes birth defects[...]
An outbreak of infections caused by a bacterium called Elizabethkingia (Eleeza-beeth-kin-gea) anophelis (a-na-fa-leez), first reported in Wisconsin, has now spread to Illinois and Michigan. The Centers for[...]
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed that Zika virus causes a severe birth defect called, microcephaly. The CDC report, published in the New[...]
Mosquitoes are more than a menace. The World Health Organization says these tiny insects spread many diseases, including Zika virus, malaria, dengue and yellow fever, which,[...]
More than 422 million adults live with diabetes — nearly four times as many since 1980, according to the first global report on diabetes by the World[...]
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently updated its guidelines to help couples who are thinking about pregnancy after exposure to Zika virus. The[...]
The spread of yellow fever, which kills an estimated 60,000 people a year, has global health officials concerned. The World Health Organization says the first imported case[...]