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All U.S. adults younger than 60 should be vaccinated against hepatitis B, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended Wednesday.

Until now, the shots were recommended only for certain groups of adults, including prisoners, health care workers, international travelers, people with diabetes and certain other conditions, and those who inject drugs or who have multiple sexual...

Liver disease is usually associated with alcoholism or hepatitis, but obesity and diabetes are becoming an even more dire threat for potentially fatal liver damage, a new study reveals.

In fact, advanced fatty liver disease increases a person's risk of death by nearly sevenfold, according to a new report.

But it's a silent killer -- by the time you develop symptoms related to fatty...

Black American liver transplant recipients have a lower survival rate than Hispanic or white patients, and a new study suggests that alcohol-related liver disease and insurance coverage are key reasons.

"Our findings are a huge wake-up call that physicians and other health care professionals need to do better in delivering equitable care," said study leader Dr. Brian Lee, a liver transpla...

Black Americans with cirrhosis -- late-stage liver disease -- are much less likely to receive a liver transplant and more likely to die than white patients, new research reveals.

For the study, researchers at Northwestern Medicine analyzed data from all cirrhosis patients, regardless of transplant eligibility, at seven large liver centers in Chicago.

Compared to white patients...

Want to be good to your liver? Pour yourself another cup o' joe.

British researchers report that coffee of all kinds may reduce your risk for chronic liver disease.

Whether your java jolt is caffeinated or decaffeinated, ground or instant, makes no difference in its apparent power to ward off all sorts of liver disease -- as long as you have three to four cups a day, researchers say...

Methamphetamine users are at increased risk for physical and mental health problems as well as other substance use disorders, new research shows.

Meth is an illegal and highly addictive stimulant drug that can harm organs such as the heart, lungs, liver and neurological system, and injecting it can increase the risk of infectious diseases, the researchers noted.

Their analysis of da...

Many people drank more to cope with the stress of the coronavirus pandemic and the restrictions it placed on daily life, and now a new study suggests that all of this drinking is causing a serious spike in alcohol-related diseases.

"Incidence of hospitalizations for alcohol-related gastrointestinal (GI) and liver disease increased quite dramatically since the beginning of the COVID-19 loc...

Long-term organ damage appears to be common in hospitalized COVID-19 patients after they've recovered and been discharged, British researchers report.

One U.S. expert who read over the report said she's seen the same in her practice.

"This study proves that the damage done is not just to the lungs, but can affect the heart, the brain and the kidneys, as well," said Dr. Mangala Naras...

About one in five Americans waiting for a liver transplant dies before getting the organ. Their odds might be better if more people knew they could donate a portion of their liver in a process called living liver donation.

Doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., want to raise awareness of these living liver transplants.

"About 12,000 to 13,000 people are on the liver transp...

A small study suggests that a new procedure that treats part of the intestine just beyond the stomach may allow people with type 2 diabetes to safely stop taking insulin.

The procedure -- which resurfaces the duodenum -- was combined with a popular kind of diabetes medication called GLP-1 receptor agonists (such as Victoza, Trulicity, Ozempic) and counseling on lifestyle factors, such a...

Every summer seems to bring fresh warnings of toxic algae blooming in local ponds, lakes and waterways.

These toxic blooms are known to be dangerous to human and animal health, but a new study suggests they might be even more harmful than previously thought.

A single massive blue-green algae bloom in Florida's Lake Okeechobee and the Caloosahatchee River flowed into the Gulf...

The coronavirus pandemic has affected all areas of medical care, and a new study finds it has delayed potentially life-saving organ transplants.

Across the United States, transplants from deceased donors dropped 51% from early March to early April, amid the COVID-19 outbreak, the researchers found. In France, meanwhile, those procedures plummeted 91%.

Experts said th...

Doctors thought they had a fairly common scenario in front of them: A patient with advanced liver disease who needed help for her alcohol abuse. Then they discovered her own bladder was making the alcohol.

The doctors, at the University of Pittsburgh, say it's a previously unrecognized variant of so-called auto-brewery syndrome. ABS, which has been reported sporadically over the years...

Americans are drinking themselves to death at ever-increasing rates, with women in particular hitting the bottle hard, a new study shows.

The rate of alcohol-induced deaths among women increased between 3.1% and 3.6% a year from 2000 to 2016, while deaths among men increased 1.4% to 1.8% each year, according to the findings.

What's worse, the rates have accel...

Researchers report they have developed a machine that can repair injured livers and keep them alive outside the body for up to a week.

They said the machine could one day increase the number of livers available for transplant and save the lives of many people with severe liver diseases or cancer.

Until now, it was only possible to store livers safely outside the body for a f...

The popular herbal supplement kratom may cause liver damage, researchers warn.

Kratom is widely available in smoke shops and online. It's a botanical product made from Mitragyna speciosa, a tropical evergreen tree found in Southeast Asia. At low doses, it's a stimulant. At high doses, it has an opioid-like effect.

Use of kratom has risen sharply since the start of...

A new "supercooling" technique can triple the length of time a donor liver can be preserved before transplantation, researchers say.

The new method -- which cools the liver to 21.2 degrees Fahrenheit without freezing it -- could make significantly more livers available for transplant.

Currently, a donor liver is stored on ice in a preservative solution at temperatures betwee...

Taking the hepatitis C drugs Mavyret, Zepatier or Vosevi can trigger rare cases of severe liver problems or liver failure in patients who already have moderate-to-severe liver impairment, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned Wednesday.

The agency has identified 63 cases of worsening liver function, some resulting in liver failure or death, among patients taking the drugs.

No matter how tired you get during your pregnancy, a new animal study suggests that countering your fatigue with too much coffee might harm your baby.

Female rats that were given caffeine during pregnancy had offspring with lower birth weights, altered growth and stress hormone levels, and impaired liver development.

How much coffee is too much?

The findings sugges...

The popular weed killer Roundup might be linked to liver disease, a new study suggests.

A group of patients suffering from liver disease had elevated urine levels of glyphosate, the primary weed-killing ingredient in Roundup, according to researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD).

"We found those patients who had more severe disease had higher levels of [...

In a North American first, an anonymous living liver donation led to a rare paired living liver donor exchange in Canada last summer that saved the lives of two people with failing livers.

Kelly Bryan, 38, donated 70% of her liver to an adult stranger, Muhammad Khan, who needed a liver transplant. Then that recipient's wife, Hina Khan, donated more than half her liver to another s...

She thought red yeast supplements would be a natural way to lower her cholesterol. What could be easier?

Instead, the 64-year-old woman landed in the hospital with acute liver damage that her doctors say was likely caused by taking the over-the-counter product.

"Many people are cautious to use [prescription] medications because of potential side effects, and rightly so," but...

Millions of hepatitis C cases and related deaths could be prevented, but it will require a significant investment, researchers say.

In the first study to model such measures worldwide, the authors concluded that sweeping prevention, screening and treatment efforts could prevent 15.1 million new hepatitis C infections and 1.5 million cirrhosis and liver cancer deaths by 2030.

A large number of U.S. cancer patients with hepatitis B and C don't know they have the virus, which can cause life-threatening complications during some cancer treatments, researchers say.

The findings suggest screening for hepatitis B and C may be appropriate in community cancer clinics, according to investigators from the SWOG Cancer Research Network, an international group funded b...

The percentage of U.S. liver transplant recipients with alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) doubled over 15 years, but significant regional variations remain, a new study finds.

ALD has replaced hepatitis C as the most common reason for U.S. liver transplants. One reason is that hepatitis C rates have decreased due to antiviral therapy. But a more likely cause for the change is the...

Infection with the hepatitis C virus can cause liver disease and even liver cancer. But once found, the virus can be cured, so screening is vital for those at risk, health experts say.

For hepatitis A and B, preventive vaccines exist, but there is none for hepatitis C.

"We can eliminate the virus and keep people from developing liver disease," said Dr. James Spicher, an inte...