- 蘑菇影院 Health News Original Stories 4
- FDA Said It Never Inspected Dental Lab That Made Controversial AGGA Device
- San Francisco Tries Tough Love by Tying Welfare to Drug Rehab
- First Responders, Veterans Hail Benefits of Psychedelic Drugs as California Debates Legalization
- Journalists Demystify Bird Flu, Brain Worms, and New Staffing Mandates for Nursing Homes
- Outbreaks and Health Threats 1
- Federal Agencies Earmark Millions To Help Combat Bird Flu On Dairy Farms
- Science And Innovations 2
- First Recipient Of A Genetically Modified Pig Kidney Dies Weeks Later
- AI Is Finding A Role In Improving Effectiveness Of Medical Visits
From 蘑菇影院 Health News - Latest Stories:
蘑菇影院 Health News Original Stories
FDA Said It Never Inspected Dental Lab That Made Controversial AGGA Device
Johns Dental Laboratories stopped making the Anterior Growth Guidance Appliance last year after a 蘑菇影院 Health News-CBS News investigation into allegations of patient harm. The company had 鈥渘ever鈥 reported any complaints about its products to the FDA, according to the agency. (Brett Kelman and Anna Werner, CBS News, )
San Francisco Tries Tough Love by Tying Welfare to Drug Rehab
Facing an overdose epidemic and public fury over conditions on the streets, famously tolerant San Francisco will start requiring welfare recipients to undergo drug screening, and treatment if necessary, to receive cash public assistance. (Ronnie Cohen, )
First Responders, Veterans Hail Benefits of Psychedelic Drugs as California Debates Legalization
California lawmakers have modified a psychedelic drug bill that was vetoed last year, narrowing it to allow only supervised use of psilocybin mushrooms, ecstasy, and other hallucinogens rather than decriminalize more broadly. The current bill would establish new state agencies to regulate the program. (Bernard J. Wolfson, )
Journalists Demystify Bird Flu, Brain Worms, and New Staffing Mandates for Nursing Homes
蘑菇影院 Health News and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media in recent weeks to discuss topical stories. Here鈥檚 a collection of their appearances. ( )
Here's today's health policy haiku:
WHAT IT TAKES
Accessible care
is necessary for all
to feel they belong.
- Emily Schettler
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Opinions expressed in haikus and cartoons are solely the author's and do not reflect the opinions of 蘑菇影院 Health News or 蘑菇影院.
Summaries Of The News:
Federal Agencies Earmark Millions To Help Combat Bird Flu On Dairy Farms
HHS and the Department of Agriculture pledged nearly $200 million to stem the spread of avian flu that has already been detected in 40 dairy cow herds across nine states. The money will be used to test, track and treat animals potentially infected by H5N1 and to incentivize farms to take containment steps.
The Biden administration said on Friday it will provide nearly $200 million to fight the spread of avian flu among dairy cows, in the government's latest bid to contain outbreaks that have fueled concerns about human infections with the H5N1 virus. The virus has been detected among dairy cattle in nine states since late March. Scientists have said they believe the outbreak is more widespread based on U.S. Food and Drug Administration findings of H5N1 particles in about 20% of retail milk samples. (Douglas, 5/10)
The new funds include $101 million to continue work to prevent, test, track and treat animals and humans potentially affected by the virus known as Type A H5N1, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said. ... In addition, dairy farmers will be compensated for the loss of milk production from infected cattle, whose supply drops dramatically when they become sick, officials said. (Aleccia and Stobbe, 5/10)
Newly announced financial incentives to farms to help stem the spread of bird flu in dairy cattle drew mixed reviews Friday, as some farmers said they were grateful for money to help buffer the economic impact but advocates for farm workers questioned whether the money paid to workers would be enough to encourage more testing for the H5N1 virus. (Goodman, 5/10)
Also 鈥
Final testing of U.S. retail dairy samples came back negative for viable H5N1 bird flu virus, the Food and Drug Administration said on Friday. The FDA said it finished its laboratory research into 297 retail dairy samples tested for bird flu, after previously reporting that preliminary results showed the commercial milk supply was safe. (5/10)
Reluctance among dairy farmers to report H5N1 bird flu outbreaks within their herds or allow testing of their workers has made it difficult to keep up with the virus鈥檚 rapid spread, prompting federal public health officials to look to wastewater to help fill in the gaps. (Molteni and Branswell, 5/13)
First Recipient Of A Genetically Modified Pig Kidney Dies Weeks Later
Rick Slayman has died after the historic operation on March 16 when the first genetically engineered pig kidney was transplanted to him. Massachusetts General Hospital, where the surgery was performed, said there was "no indication" that the death was a result of the transplant.
Rick Slayman,聽the first man to receive a kidney transplant from a genetically engineered pig, has died, according to a statement from his family and Massachusetts General Hospital, where he underwent the historic operation in March. (Stoico, 5/12)
Massachusetts General Hospital, where Mr. Slayman had the operation, said in a statement on Saturday that its transplant team was 鈥渄eeply saddened鈥 at his death. The hospital said it had 鈥渘o indication that it was the result of his recent transplant.鈥 Mr. Slayman, who was Black, had end-stage kidney disease, a condition that affects more than 800,000 people in the United States, according to the federal government, with disproportionately higher rates among Black people. (Hughes, 5/12)
Slayman鈥檚 family said in a statement to media outlets that they were 鈥渄eeply saddened about the sudden passing of our beloved Rick but take great comfort knowing he inspired so many鈥 and thanked his doctors, saying medical staff 鈥渢ruly did everything they could to help give Rick a second chance.鈥 鈥淭heir enormous efforts leading the xenotransplant gave our family seven more weeks with Rick, and our memories made during that time will remain in our minds and hearts,鈥 the statement said. (Hassan, 5/12)
Xenotransplantation refers to healing human patients with cells, tissues or organs from animals. Such efforts long failed because the human immune system immediately destroyed foreign animal tissue. Recent attempts have involved pigs that have been modified so their organs are more humanlike. More than 100,000 people are on the national waiting list for a transplant, most of them kidney patients, and thousands die every year before their turn comes.. (5/12)
AI Is Finding A Role In Improving Effectiveness Of Medical Visits
Artificial intelligence is also helping physicians save time by streamlining some tasks like updating a patient's file after a visit. Separately, union leaders say that nurses are concerned about the use of AI in health care and that they should be kept more in the loop, including educating them about the tools.
Dr. Rebecca Mishuris remembers her mother, also a doctor, bringing home her patients' medical charts every night and working on them long after she'd gone to bed. ... But no more. Since last summer, she's been piloting two competing software applications that use large-language models and generative artificial intelligence to listen in on, transcribe and summarize her conversations with patients. At the end of a patient visit it takes her just two to three minutes to review the summary for accuracy, cut and paste a few things into the patient's health record and hit save. (Weintraub, 5/11)
Union leaders and technology experts say health systems should be open with nurses about how they plan to use artificial intelligence and educate them on such聽tools in light of staffing and other concerns. Hundreds of nurses at Kaiser Permanente and HCA Healthcare protested last month, worried聽about聽the systems鈥 use of AI to measure the severity of patients' illnesses and perform other clinical tasks. The nurses cited concerns about the technology鈥檚 potential to put patient safety at risk and cause job losses. (Devereaux, 5/10)
Two years ago, Yiwei Shi was searching desperately for someone to build a drug for her newborn son, Leo. Leo was born with a very small head, a symptom of many severe diseases. After a seizure at two months, doctors sequenced his genome and found a single misspelling in a gene called TNPO2.聽(Mast, 5/13)
About 10 years ago, a small piece of human brain arrived in the lab of Dr. Jeffrey Lichtman at Harvard. It came directly from an operating room of a nearby hospital, where it was excised from an epilepsy patient undergoing a procedure to reduce聽her seizures. In the years that followed, Lichtman鈥檚 team methodically reconstructed the byzantine wiring patterns of the brain by feeding the 1-cubic-millimeter sample into a聽$6 million device聽that sliced it into impossibly-thin slivers. Then, using images of those slivers taken by electron microscopy, they painstakingly recreated the intricate latticework connecting individual cells to one another. (Piore, 5/10)
Questions about the technology 鈥
Interest in mental-health chatbots is rising, fueled by advances in AI鈥檚 ability to conduct sophisticated conversations. But how much therapy can they really provide? Chatbots are still no substitute for a human therapist, researchers say. Not only do some of these tools have trouble helping patients in crisis, they don鈥檛 always offer a sufficient level of personalization or provide advice that is guaranteed to be accurate. (Wang, 5/12)
States Given Extra Year To Sort Medicaid, CHIP Eligibility Waivers
Meanwhile, the home care industry is facing possible consolidation efforts in the wake of the Medicaid 80/20 rule changes. In other news, WHO member states will continue efforts to draw up a global pact should we face another pandemic in the future.
States have more time to make accurate and timely redeterminations of Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program eligibility as they continue unwinding the continuous coverage provisions derived from expired COVID-19 relief programs. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a memo to state officials Thursday that extends federal regulatory waivers and flexibilities to June 2025, one year after they were slated to be discontinued. (Tepper, 5/10)
Private equity firms and large home care companies could soon be going head to head to buy smaller personal care operators expected to exit the industry because of a new regulation. The potential for industry consolidation stems from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services鈥 Ensuring Access to Medicaid Services rule that will require home care companies to spend 80% of Medicaid reimbursements on caregiver wages. (Eastabrook, 5/10)
Also 鈥
When it comes to a crucial controversy over pharmaceutical patents, the FDA has been MIA. For nearly 20 years, drug companies have asked the Food and Drug Administration for guidance on listing patents for drug-and-device combination products, such as asthma inhalers and auto-injectors for diabetes treatments, in an obscure, but highly important agency registry. Known as the Orange Book, it holds a key, behind-the-scenes role in shaping the competitive landscape of the pharmaceutical industry. (Silverman, 5/13)
A new version of a congressional bill that would restrict U.S. business with certain Chinese biotechnology companies including WuXi AppTec and BGI would give U.S. companies until 2032 to end work with the firms, extending the amount of time to find new partners. The latest Biosecure Act also adds WuXi Biologics (2269.HK) to a list of biotech companies of concern, according to a copy seen by Reuters. (Freifeld, 5/10)
An emerging legal battle over workplace health insurance could empower employees to fight back against high costs and put new pressure on their employers. (Reed, 5/13)
鈥淒oes it trouble you to answer that question?鈥 one of New York鈥檚 highest paid attorneys asked Cliff Douglas, then a 36-year-old activist who had found himself at the center of a $10 billion libel lawsuit brought by the cigarette giant Philip Morris. Philip Morris鈥 lawyer Herbert Wachtell demanded to know: Were cigarette companies intentionally killing people? (Florko, 5/13)
In other news 鈥
Talks to draw up a global pact to help fight future pandemics have ended without a draft agreement by the expected deadline, but progress has been made, the World Health Organization said on Friday. Negotiators from the World Health Organization's (WHO) 194 member states were hoping to have a final draft agreement by the end of Friday, with a view toward adopting the legally-binding text at the World Health Assembly later this month. (Rigby, 5/10)
Private Insurers Pay Hospitals Wildly Different Rates, More Than Medicare
Typically, Rand researchers found, insurers paid 254% more than what Medicare pays for the same services, based on 2022 data. Separately, as at-home care rises, reports say hospital executives are telling patients to visit their facilities less often.
Private health insurance on average pays hospitals 2.5 times what Medicare does for the same services, with some states seeing relative prices of more than 3 times greater, according to a new RAND report. (Reed, 5/13)
Hospital-negotiated prices rose from 2020 to 2022, especially among dominant facilities in their respective markets, a new report shows. Commercial insurers' payments to hospitals amounted to, on average, 254% of Medicare rates in 2022, up from 243% in 2021 and 241% in 2020, according to data from Rand, a nonprofit research firm. Rand researchers used claims data from more than 4,000 hospitals in 49 states and Washington, D.C. (Kacik, 5/12)
More from hospital and health systems 鈥
A cyberattack on the Ascension health system operating in 19 states across the U.S. forced some of its 140 hospitals to divert ambulances, caused patients to postpone medical tests and blocked online access to patient records. ... The attack had the hallmarks of a ransomware, and Ascension said it had called in Mandiant, the Google cybersecurity unit that is a leading responder to such attacks. (Hanna, Murphy and Foody, 5/11)
Hospitals want you to visit them less often. ... Hospital executives think they can more than make up the revenue by shifting their exam and recovery rooms to patients鈥 homes. And Congress is urging them on, with legislation in the works to help hospitals expand their at-home offerings and to allow Medicare to continue paying for telehealth after lawmakers first granted temporary permission after Covid struck. (Payne, 5/11)
For the decade-ish that I've been reporting on health care, insurance coverage has dominated conversations about who has access to care. But in the post-pandemic era, it's become clear that having insurance is only the first step toward receiving quality care. (Owens, 5/12)
From SouthPark to Steele Creek, Mountain Island Lake to Waxhaw, sleek and efficient freestanding emergency rooms are springing up across the Charlotte region to serve patients, no hospital required. Since 2010, Atrium Health has opened eight standalone emergency rooms in the Charlotte metro area, part of a nationwide building boom. (Crouch, 5/13)
In other industry news 鈥
Harnessing the body鈥檚 own cells to fight disease, long a medical dream, is finally a reality. Now comes the bill. Last month, Stanford became the first hospital in the nation to use a new $515,000 cell therapy to treat a patient with advanced melanoma. A related approach, costing $420,000 to $475,000, is offering hope to patients with lethal blood cancers. (Krieger, 5/12)
The future of two operating and two shuttered hospitals in the Philadelphia region owned by Prospect Medical Holdings has been uncertain for months. Here鈥檚 an update on where things stand: More than three months after Prospect Medical Holdings started trying to sell Crozer Health under a timeline set by the Pennsylvania Attorney General, neither Crozer nor state officials will say whether any prospective buyers have emerged. (Brubaker, 5/13)
Obituaries 鈥
Nancy Neveloff Dubler, a medical ethicist who pioneered using mediation at hospital bedsides to navigate the complex dynamics among headstrong doctors, anguished family members and patients in their last days, died on April 14 at her home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. She was 82. The cause was heart and lung disease, her family said. (Rosenwald, 5/10)
FDA Issues Serious Recall For App The Controls Smart Insulin Pump
The Class 1 recall was issued for an app that crashed, draining the pump's batteries and injuring over 200 people. Also in the news: a Washington-based company is recalling goat milk-based formula due to concerns over its insufficient nutritional worth.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a recall correction for an app that connects with an insulin pump due to a software issue that causes the app to crash, which can drain the battery of the insulin pump and has led to over 200 injuries. This is a Class 1 recall, which the FDA says is the most serious type of recall, and use of the device can lead to serious injury or death. (DeLetter, 5/10)
A Washington-based company is recalling a goat milk product and urging consumers to immediately stop using the product as baby formula. Healthwest Minerals Inc, doing business as Mt. Capra Products, of Chehalis, announced on Friday that it is recalling 1,506 boxes of Goat Milk Formula Recipe Kit on the advice of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) because the product does not provide sufficient nutrition when used as infant formula. (Rahman, 5/12)
Also 鈥
First came public pleas for millennials and Gen Zers to be aware of the signs聽 of colon cancer, which has seen such a rise in young adults that it鈥檚 now the No. 1 cause of cancer deaths in men under 50 and No. 2 in women under 50. This week, that plea expanded to adolescents, with news that colorectal cancer rates among kids between 10 and 14 and teens from 15 to 19 have risen by 500% and 333% percent, respectively, over two decades.聽(Greenfield, 5/10)
At 16, before his first psychotic episode, Charles Osugo was driven to become a nurse. He sped through high school, graduating a year early. He took enough college-credit classes to leave with an associate鈥檚 degree, in addition to his diploma. Right away, he enrolled in nursing school. Then, all of a sudden, things started slipping. (Timar-Wilcox, 5/13)
Spending at least two hours outside each day is one of the most important things your kids can do to protect their eyesight. "We think that outdoor time is the best form of prevention for nearsightedness," says Dr. Noha Ekdawi, a pediatric ophthalmologist in Wheaton, Ill. And that's important, because the number of kids with nearsightedness 鈥 or myopia 鈥 has been growing rapidly in the U.S., and in many other parts of the world. (Godoy, 5/13)
Survey Finds 79% Of Parents Have Used Substances To Get Their Kids To Sleep
Melatonin is substance most commonly used, according to a poll. In other news, high stress levels in late pregnancy are linked to later impaired IQ scores in young boys; scientists investigate brain benefits from handwriting; a breakthrough is made in understanding childhood autism development; and more.
New survey results from Sleep Doctor reveal that 79% of parents have given their child a substance to get them to sleep鈥攚ith 66% using melatonin, 35% using Benadryl, and 20% turning to prescription sleep aids. Others reported using everything from herbal and over-the-counter aids to CBD, THC, and even alcohol. Millennial and Gen Z parents were most likely to have drugged kids for slumber, with 84% and 83%, respectively, saying they had done so. (Greenfield, 5/12)
High levels of stress during the late stages of pregnancy may impair IQ scores in young boys, a new study suggests. Researchers at Odense University Hospital in Denmark found that increased cortisol, a stress hormone, in the third trimester may have a lasting impact on boys aged seven, but not girls. The findings highlight the important role cortisol plays in the in utero development of boys and girls independently. (Smith, 5/10)
In kids, studies show that tracing out ABCs, as opposed to typing them, leads to better and longer-lasting recognition and understanding of letters. Writing by hand also improves memory and recall of words, laying down the foundations of literacy and learning. In adults, taking notes by hand during a lecture, instead of typing, can lead to better conceptual understanding of material. (Lambert, 5/11)
Scientists have made a breakthrough in our understanding of the development of childhood autism. The discovery, which sheds light on a small number of biochemical pathways involved in autism development, may help inform early detection and prevention strategies in the future, researchers say. (Dewan, 5/10)
Before Sara Smythe began to disappear, she was thriving. The youngest of four sisters, Sara was born with Down syndrome and lived the life of an active teen. ... But in 2011, everything changed in a matter of weeks. Sara morphed from a sociable teen to a person who stopped talking and engaging with other people, and, at her worst, had full-blown catatonia. Sara鈥檚 doctors were at a loss, but her mother, Eileen Quinn, wasn鈥檛 giving up. (Sima, 5/12)
In other research news 鈥
People who stop menstruating earlier in life may have a higher risk of dying young, new research has found. Specifically, those who hit menopause before the age of 40鈥攌nown as premature menopause or premature ovarian insufficiency (POI)鈥攁re twice as likely to die of any cause. People with POI are also more than four times more likely to die from cancer, according to the study, which is due to be presented by the researchers ... in Stockholm, Sweden from May 11 to 14. (Thomson, 5/11)
Working night shifts for just a couple of days is enough to have serious impacts on our health, a new study has warned. Numerous studies have highlighted the impact of shift work on human health, with effects on our heart, fertility and certain types of cancer. Now, research from Washington State University and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has found that night shifts may also throw off the natural rhythms that regulate our blood sugar, metabolism and inflammation, increasing our risk of various metabolic disorders. (Dewan, 5/10)
A poll from the health policy nonprofit 蘑菇影院 found that 1 in 8 adults say they鈥檝e taken a GLP-1 agonist, the obesity and diabetes medications that include Ozempic, Mounjaro and Zepbound. Among those surveyed, 12 percent said they had used a GLP-1 agonist, with 6 percent saying they鈥檙e currently using one. The majority 鈥 62 percent 鈥 of them said they were using the drugs to treat a chronic condition such as diabetes or heart disease, while the remaining 38 percent they took the medications just to lose weight. (Choi, 5/10)
A study of newly admitted patients at two hospitals in Michigan found that patients with severe functional dependence were more likely to harbor multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) on their hands and less likely to be able to clean them independently, researchers reported today in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. (Dall, 5/10)
A recent analysis found poor survival rates after bone fractures in older adults, with fewer than a third of men and half of women surviving five years after a fracture. Published in JBMR Plus, the study looked at a cohort of 98,474 Ontario residents age 66 and older who suffered fractures to parts of the body associated with osteoporosis between January 2011 and March 2015. The patients were grouped into sets based on the fracture site and matched to patients with a similar demographic profile but no bone breaks during the study period. (Blakemore, 5/12)
On pharma research news 鈥
Bristol Myers Squibb said on Friday that its trial evaluating a combination of cancer treatments failed to meet its primary endpoint. The company鈥檚 trial was evaluating the cancer-drug Opdivo and concurrent chemoradiotherapy, followed by Opdivo plus Yervoy, the brand name for a monoclonal antibody, in treating unresectable, locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer. The trial鈥檚 primary endpoint was progression-free survival. (Glickman, 5/10)
Japan's Shionogi & Co (4507.T) said on Monday its pill-based treatment for COVID-19 did not meet the primary endpoint of showing a statistically significant reduction of 15 common symptoms of the illness in a global, late-stage trial. The company's pivotal Phase 3 study (SCORPIO-HR) of ensitrelvir did however demonstrate a potent antiviral effect compared to placebo, the company said. Shionogi said previously it expected the pill, known commercially as Xocova, to deliver $2 billion in annual sales if it secured U.S. approval. (5/13)
Raccoon dogs may carry and transmit COVID-19鈥揷ausing SARS-CoV-2 to humans, although critical differences in the enzyme that facilitates viral entry into the cell may make the jump unlikely, a聽study in PLOS Pathogens finds. "The key to a coronavirus moving from one species to another is its spike protein's ability to bind to receptors on the cells of the new host," the authors noted. (Van Beusekom, 5/10)
California Governor Redirects Funds Intended For Health Care Priorities
The change in plans comes amid a state budget crisis. Elsewhere, in New Jersey, a task force says the state should aim for more home- and community-based care instead of nursing homes. And, thanks to New York, a paid parental leave initiative could go national.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is walking back promised pay raises for some health care workers and other health care investments generated from a tax agreed last year, instead using those funds to help balance the state budget amid a major deficit. In his new budget blueprint unveiled Friday, Newsom proposed using nearly $7 billion from the managed care organization tax 鈥 aka MCO 鈥 to balance the budget instead of using it to help hospitals. (Bluth, 5/10)
A highly anticipated state report said Friday that New Jersey is overly reliant on nursing homes and should change its policies to incentivize home- and community-based care. The report released by the New Jersey Task Force on Long-Term Care Quality and Safety recommends policies that would drastically reshape long-term care as well as reimbursement models. (Han, 5/10)
In other news from around the country 鈥
Paid leave for prenatal care is poised to become a national women鈥檚 health initiative. That鈥檚 now that New York has become the first state to mandate a standalone entitlement to paid prenatal leave. (Munk, 5/12)
Requests for help to a Colorado fund that pays for abortions and associated travel expenses have climbed to an estimated $2.5 million this year, up from $212,000 before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the constitutional right to abortion. (Brown and Ingold, 5/10)
A New Jersey mom had just given birth when she received a life-changing cancer diagnosis 鈥 and her biggest fear was she wouldn鈥檛 be able to have more children. When Kelly Spill first started experiencing bleeding, her doctors chalked it up to pregnancy and childbirth, especially given her young age of 28. But then came the weight loss, fatigue and loss of appetite. "I knew deep down that it was cancer," she told Fox News Digital. (Rudy, 5/12)
Texas' highest court on Friday limited women's ability to obtain monetary damages from medical providers whose alleged negligence led them to have unwanted pregnancies, ruling that state law does not treat the birth of a healthy child as an injury for which a parent must be compensated. The Texas Supreme Court ruled, opens new tab that a mother in El Paso who alleged her doctor negligently failed to perform a sterilization procedure known as a tubal ligation was not entitled to recover any damages from him. (Raymond, 5/10)
The City Council of Clarendon, a rural Panhandle town, rejected a proposed ordinance seeking to prohibit traveling through city limits to get an abortion in another state. Their 3-0 decision on Thursday makes Clarendon one of the first cities in Texas to reject an abortion travel ban as more conservative cities are approving similar measures. (Carver, 5/10)
Two bills aimed at expanding fertility access for those on Medicaid, LGBTQ+ families and would-be single parents stalled during a legislative session with little room in its budget for new expenses. (LeMaster, 5/10)
Also 鈥
A former owner of a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy whose mold-tainted drugs sparked a deadly U.S. fungal meningitis outbreak in 2012 was sentenced on Friday to at least 10 years in prison for his role in the deaths of 11 Michigan residents. (Raymond, 5/10)
A 2023 outbreak of Shiga toxin鈥損roducing Escherichia coli聽O157:H7聽in Utah that sickened at least 13 children was traced to contaminated irrigation water the children used for drinking and playing, according to a聽report from scientists from Utah and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The account, published yesterday in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, points to the need to educate residents of communities that have untreated, pressurized municipal irrigation water (UPMIW) about the risks. (Van Beusekom, 5/10)
Paramedic Leonard Brown knew the patient 鈥 a pale, Berks County man who could barely speak after days of internal bleeding 鈥 needed a blood transfusion fast. But Brown did not have blood on his ambulance. On that day in April, the TowerDIRECT paramedic had to wait for dispatchers to send to the scene a critical care transport, a specialty truck staffed with a nurse and equipped with blood units. (Gutman, 5/13)
A decade after Alaska voters legalized recreational marijuana, the Alaska Legislature is advancing the first major change to the law that opened commercial sales here. On Friday, the Alaska House of Representatives voted to change the state鈥檚 $50 per ounce marijuana tax to a 7% sales tax. (Brooks and Beacon, 5/12)
蘑菇影院 Health News:
San Francisco Tries Tough Love By Tying Welfare To Drug Rehab
Raymond Llano carries a plastic bag with everything he owns in one hand, a cup of coffee in the other, and the flattened cardboard box he uses as a bed under his arm as he waits in line for lunch at Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco. At 55, he hasn鈥檛 had a home for 15 years, since he lost a job at Target. Llano once tried to get on public assistance but couldn鈥檛 鈥 something, he said, looking perplexed, about owing the state money 鈥 and he鈥檇 like to apply again. (Cohen, 5/13)
蘑菇影院 Health News:
First Responders, Veterans Hail Benefits Of Psychedelic Drugs As California Debates Legalization
Wade Trammell recalls the time he and his fellow firefighters responded to a highway crash in which a beer truck rammed into a pole, propelling the truck鈥檚 engine through the cab and into the driver鈥檚 abdomen. 鈥淭he guy was up there screaming and squirming. Then the cab caught on fire,鈥 Trammell says. 鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 move him. He burned to death right there in my arms.鈥 (Wolfson, 5/13)
Editorial writers delve into climate change and allergies, doctors decision-making, mental healthcare, and more.
Seasonal allergies are nothing new, but they鈥檝e been worsening as the climate grows warmer. The growing season starts earlier now 鈥 in North America an average of 20 days earlier 鈥 and lasts longer, too, extending the length of time when plants are pumping pollen into the air. And the resulting misery arises not just because there鈥檚 more pollen to breathe in or because it鈥檚 around for increasingly longer seasons. At least one study has indicated that the more carbon there is in the air, the more potent the pollen itself is. (Margaret Renkl, 5/13)
Doctors don鈥檛 always have to resort to the courts to treat patients without their consent. There are some notable exceptions, such as during a life-threatening emergency (if a competent patient has not previously refused such treatment) or when there is a pressing societal interest (such as requiring patients with communicable tuberculosis to take antibiotics). (Sandeep Jauhar, 5/13)
Many Floridians struggle to access the care they need due to a lack of resources and support. That鈥檚 why policymakers, healthcare professionals, and the broader community must keep their foot on the gas pedal when addressing mental health in the Sunshine State. (Constance Garner, 5/10)
The number of children who received their routine vaccinations declined during the pandemic, so public health officials have been focusing on getting kids back up to date. They should also be paying attention to adults as a new, first-of-its-kind report quantifying the economic impact of adult immunizations makes clear. (Phyllis Arthur, 5/13)
While many people immediately picture young adults when thinking about the current addiction and overdose epidemic, this crisis is affecting all generations. In fact, more than 7 million older Americans struggle with substance use disorders. Opioid use disorder, in particular, has skyrocketed among Medicare beneficiaries, with opioid overdose death rates rising higher among people 65 and older than in any other age group. (Brian Hurley and Paul N. Samuels, 5/13)