Susan Scutti

Writer, CNN Health & Medical

Susan Scutti is a writer and reporter for CNN Health.
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CNN Digital Expansion 2016 Susan Scutti
CNN Digital Expansion 2016 Susan Scutti
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Under a magnification of 1125X, this Gram-stained photomicrograph depicted numerous, Gram-negative, rod-shaped, <em>Yersinia pestis</em> bacteria, formerly known as <em>Pasteurella pestis</em>.
CDC
Plague is among the deadliest bacterial infections in human history. Cases still happen today
Jul 5, 2024
Plague, one of the deadliest bacterial infections in human history, caused an estimated 50 million deaths in Europe during the Middle Ages when it was known as the Black Death.
Emergency CPR on a Man who has Heart Attack , One Part of the Process Resuscitation (First Aid)
PlatooStock/Adobe Stock
What are cardiac arrest, heart attack and heart failure?
Jul 25, 2023
Heart disease is a leading killer around the world and the top cause of death in the United States. It killed an estimated 17.9 million people in 2019, representing 32% of all deaths globally, according to the World Health Organization.
SAN FRANCISCO - AUGUST 10: A United Airlines passenger takes a sip of water before throwing away the bottle at a security checkpoint at San Francisco International Airport August 10, 2006 in San Francisco. The Department of Homeland Security raised the terrorism alert to Red, the highest level for commercial flights from Britain to the United States. The U.S. government banned all liquids and gels from flights effective immediately. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Beginning today, you won’t be able to buy plastic bottles of water at San Francisco International Airport
Aug 20, 2019
Want to hydrate at San Francisco International Airport? Forget plastic water bottles. You must use a water fountain, bring your own reusable bottle or buy an airport-approved glass or aluminum bottle.
Istanbul,Turkey - 17 December 2018 : Sema of Whirling Dervishes
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Turkey’s whirling dervish guide to coping with pain and a broken heart
May 21, 2019
The whirling dervishes may appear the most mysterious of all images of Turkey, yet the origin of this Sufi ceremony was in an experience familiar to most of us: love and loss.
01 clean 15 fruits and vegetables 2018
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MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images
Gallery 2019 ‘Clean 15’ fruits and vegetables
Mar 20, 2019
Every year, the Environmental Working Group releases a list of the “Clean 15” fruits and vegetables. For 2019, avocados top the list of produce that contain the least pesticide residue.
05 CDC graphic novel 25
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CDC
Gallery The art of disease detection
Aug 17, 2018
A graphic novel, published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, illustrates important public health lessons for teenage scientists.
PUL-E ALAM, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 29: Soldiers with the U.S. Army's 2nd Battalion 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division patrol on the edge of a village outside of Forward Operating Base (FOB) Shank on March 29, 2014 near Pul-e Alam, Afghanistan. The primary mission of soldiers with the 10th Mountain Division stationed at FOB Shank is to advise and assist Afghan National Security Forces in the region. The soldiers continue to patrol outside the FOB in an effort to decrease rocket attacks on the FOB from the nearby villages. Security is at a heightened state throughout Afghanistan as the nation prepares for the April 5th presidential election. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Scott Olson/Getty Images AsiaPac/Getty Images
One-third of US military injuries in Iraq, Afghanistan weren’t from battle
May 30, 2018
Car accidents, falls, equipment mishaps and other nonbattle incidents caused about a third of all injuries sustained by nearly 30,000 US service members in Afghanistan and Iraq.
16 clean 15 fruits and vegetables 2018
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Teri Virbickis/Shutterstock
Gallery 2018 Clean 15 fruits and vegetables
Apr 11, 2018
Every year, the Environmental Working Group releases a list of the “Clean 15” fruits and vegetables. For 2018, avocados top the list of produce that contains the least pesticide residue.
scott kelly mark kelly face off
NASA
Astronaut’s gene expression no longer same as his identical twin, NASA finds
Mar 15, 2018
Preliminary findings from NASA indicate that 7% of Scott Kelly’s genetic expression did not return to normal once he was back on Earth.
hm fish oils heart_00011205
Health effects of fish oil: Where do we stand?
Mar 1, 2018
Science suggests that fish oil supplements may not do justice to our physical need for omega-3 fatty acid. And, over the years, opinion on its benefits has gone back and forth.
Diabetes
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Cogan Collection, NEI/NIH
Gallery Eye health conditions
Feb 28, 2018
Many common eye conditions affect the blood vessels in the retina, a layer of tissue at the back of the eyes that helps us see.
A de-horned rhino slowly wakes up after his horn was trimmed at John Hume's Rhino Ranch in Klerksdorp, in the North Western Province of South Africa, on February 3, 2016. Millionaire, John Hume is a private rhino owner/breeder in South Africa, who strongly advocates for legalising trade. His private game ranch, started in 1992, has approximately 1000 rhinos, all of whom have been dehorned. South Africa has by far the largest population of rhinos in the world and is an incredibly important country for rhino conservation. However, rhino poaching has reached a crisis point, and if the killing continues at this rate, we could see rhino deaths overtaking births in 2016-2018, meaning rhinos could go extinct in the very near future. Figures compiled by the South African Department of Environmental affairs show the dramatic escalation in poaching over recent years. / AFP / MUJAHID SAFODIEN (Photo credit should read MUJAHID SAFODIEN/AFP/Getty Images)
MUJAHID SAFODIEN/AFP/Getty Images
Rhinoceros DNA database helps nail poachers and traffickers
Jan 10, 2018
The Rhino DNA Index System, based on the FBI system, is providing evidence to help link international rhinoceros horn traffickers to the scene of a poaching crime.
The Hastings River mouse (Pseudomys oralis) is a species of Australian rodent. It is found only in Australia.
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Photo by Doug Beckers
Gallery Australia’s rodents
Dec 1, 2017
These native Australian rats and mice descended from rodents that journeyed to the continent from Southeast Asia millions of years ago.
Eastern Coral Snake.
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Shutterstock
Gallery Venomous snakes in the United States
Jun 29, 2017
Venomous snakes in the US include cottonmouths, coral snakes, yellow belly sea snakes, copperheads and a variety of rattlesnakes.
VANCOUVER, BC - FEBRUARY 26: Amelie Kober of Germany competes during the Snowboard Ladies' Parallel Giant Slalom on day 15 of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics at Cypress Mountain Resort on February 26, 2010 in Vancouver, Canada. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
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Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
Gallery Pregnant Olympic athletes
Apr 20, 2017
All 10 of these Olympic athletes competed in the Games while pregnant.
Miami Children's Hospital pediatrician Dr. Amanda Porro, M.D administers a measles vaccination to Sophie Barquin,4, as her mother Gabrielle Barquin and Miami Children's Hospital R.N. Diane Lichtman, right, hold her during a visit to the Miami Children's Hospital on January 28, 2015 in Miami, Florida. A recent outbreak of measles has some doctors encouraging vaccination as the best way to prevent measles and its spread.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
First in the world, the Americans are free of measles, WHO says
Apr 12, 2017
An effort spanning two decades has resulted in a global first: The region of the Americas has eliminated measles, the World Health Organization said this week.

About

Susan Scutti is an Atlanta-based writer who covers daily medical and science news for CNN Health. She has also reported more extensively on privacy, genetics and mental health.

Yet, infectious disease (beware mosquitoes and ticks!) and environmental catastrophe don’t occupy all the neurons in her brain. Her poetry has been anthologized in Aloud: Voices from Nuyorican Poets Cafe and The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry. Journals and reviews publishing her poems and short stories include New York Quarterly, Tin House blog, 2 Bridges Review, Oxford Quarterly and The Christian Science Monitor. Her most recent novel is “Fence Sickness.”