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Natural CMV immunity isn’t fully protective against reinfection

DR. ROACH WRITES: A recent column on congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV, a herpes virus that is similar to EBV — the virus that causes classic mononucleosis) stated that pregnant women who’ve had CMV are protected from further infections. But an expert on CMV — Dr. Sallie Permar, MD, PhD — wrote in to say that it’s possible to reacquire CMV because natural immunity isn’t fully protective against reinfection. This is why it’s so important for pregnant women to be careful not to get exposed (or reexposed) to CMV. Since the major route of exposure is through young ...

Mother’s milk gone sour

“Money is the mother’s milk of politics,” said Jesse M. Unruh, who in the ‘60s was a powerful Democratic politician and speaker of the California State Assembly. It is a disgrace, if much is disgraceful these days, that we spend so much on getting people elected to Congress, who do little or nothing to solve real problems once they get there. AdImpact, the leading advertising intelligence and market analytics company, estimates more than $3.4 billion will be spent on this year’s midterms across all races. In Texas, alone, an estimated $446 million will be spent by ...

What’s in the price of a gallon of gas?

The U.S. Energy Information Administration expects nationwide retail gasoline prices to average near US$4.30 a gallon for April 2026 — the highest monthly average of the year. The political response has been familiar. Georgia has suspended its state gas tax, other states are weighing their own tax holidays, and the White House has issued a temporary waiver of a law known as the Jones Act in hopes of moving more domestic fuel to East Coast ports. As an energy economist, I am often asked about what contributes to gas prices and what different policies can do to affect them. The ...

Dear Annie: My children’s stepmom may be overstepping

Dear Annie: I have been divorced for three years and share custody of my two children, ages 10 and 13. My ex-husband remarried about a year ago, and his wife is kind, involved and genuinely seems to care about my children. I know that is something to be grateful for. The problem is that lately I feel as though she is trying to become their mother rather than simply being a loving stepmother. She buys them clothes without mentioning it to me, attends school events, sets rules and consequences and has started referring to them as “our kids.” Recently, she posted a family photo on ...

Loss of taste and smell persist in man after a car accident

DEAR DR. ROACH: My 82-year-old husband is unable to smell or taste. This has been the case since 2024, when he was hit by a car while out for a walk. He sustained a compression fracture to his spine. While he wasn’t knocked out, he did get thrown backward and sustained some trauma to his head. Since then, he’s had no sense of smell or taste. I see him drifting further and further into depression, and I believe it’s primarily because he no longer has the pleasure that is associated with taste. He has seen our general physician and an ear, nose and throat doctor. He’s been ...

Are jury trial problems unfixable?

This is not another opinion article about Lindsay Clancy. Well, not really. I’m not qualified to discuss the woman’s actions or the validity of her insanity defense in a murder trial for several million reasons at least. I’ve learned over the last few weeks that I’m one of the 10 people in the world who aren’t interested in learning much about the terrible events in January 2023. I guess there’s just something about hearing the details of a mother killing her three small kids that repels me. I also didn’t sit on the jury, and I’m not of the opinion that I can ...