First Edition: May 29, 2024

KFF Health News: Farmworkers Face High-Risk Exposures To Bird Flu, But Testing Isn’t Reaching Them 
Farmworkers face some of the most intense exposures to the bird flu virus, but advocates say many of them would lack resources to fall back on if they became ill. So far, only two people in the United States have tested positive after being exposed to a wave of bird flu spreading among cows. Those people, dairy farm workers in Texas and Michigan, experienced eye irritation. (Leys and Maxmen, 5/29)

KFF Health News: Tennessee Gives This Hospital Monopoly An A Grade — Even When It Reports Failure 
A Tennessee agency that is supposed to hold accountable and grade the nation’s largest state-sanctioned hospital monopoly awards full credit on dozens of quality-of-care measurements as long as it reports any value — regardless of how its hospitals actually perform. Ballad Health, a 20-hospital system in northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia, has received A grades and an annual stamp of approval from the Tennessee Department of Health. This has occurred as Ballad hospitals consistently fall short of performance targets established by the state, according to health department documents. (Kelman, 5/29)

KFF Health News: Psychoactive Drugs Are Having A Moment. The FDA Will Soon Weigh In. 
Lori Tipton is among the growing number of people who say that MDMA, also known as ecstasy, saved their lives. Raised in New Orleans by a mother with untreated bipolar disorder who later killed herself and two others, Tipton said she endured layers of trauma that eventually forced her to seek treatment for crippling anxiety and hypervigilance. For 10 years nothing helped, and she began to wonder if she was “unfixable.” (Megli, 5/29)

KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest 'KFF Health News Minute'
This week on the KFF Health News Minute: A 1930s law is keeping cutting-edge sunscreen off the shelf in the United States, and survivors of gun violence often have to decide what to do with the bullets still in their bodies. (5/28)

The Washington Post: Babies Exposed To Peanuts Less Likely To Be Allergic At 12, Study Finds 
Children who consume peanut products from infancy are significantly less likely to develop peanut allergies by early adolescence, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal NEJM Evidence. The study, which followed more than 500 participants until the age of 12, confirmed what previous research has found but tracked the children for longer than most previous work. (Vinall, 5/29)

San Francisco Chronicle: Officials Investigate Unusual Surge In Northern California Flu Viruses
An increase in flu viruses detected at wastewater treatment plants in California in recent weeks has sparked concern that the H5N1 bird flu may be spreading more rapidly than anticipated, potentially putting the state’s 1.7 million dairy cows at risk for infection. Health officials have observed multiple spikes in influenza A viruses, which include the H5N1 avian flu strain that has killed millions of birds worldwide and infected dozens of dairy cow herds across nine U.S. states. (Vaziri, 5/28)

AP: Farmers Must Kill 4.2 Million Chickens After Bird Flu Hits Iowa Egg Farm 
More than 4 million chickens in Iowa will have to be killed after a case of the highly pathogenic bird flu was detected at a large egg farm, the state announced Tuesday. Crews are in the process of killing 4.2 million chickens after the disease was found at a farm in Sioux County, Iowa, making it the latest in a yearslong outbreak that now is affecting dairy cattle as well. Last week, the virus was confirmed at an egg farm west of Minneapolis, Minnesota, leading to the slaughter of nearly 1.4 million chickens. (5/28)

CIDRAP: Alpacas Infected With H5N1 Avian Flu In Idaho 
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) today announced that tests have confirmed highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in alpacas at an Idaho farm where the virus had struck a poultry flock. The detection marks the first positive findings in alpacas, which are members of the camelid family. Detection of the virus in the alpacas isn't unexpected due to the high amount of virus in the environment and the comingling of multiple livestock species on the farm, APHIS said. (Schnirring, 5/28)

Reuters: Bird Flu Vaccines For Laying Hens Prove Effective In Practice
Bird flu vaccines for laying hens are effective in practice, the Dutch government said on Tuesday, while confirming plans to vaccinate poultry against the virus that ravaged flocks around the world and is raising fears about human transmission. Research in the laboratory of Wageningen Bioveterinary Research (WBVR) early last year had already shown that two vaccines against bird flu, produced by France's Ceva Animal Health and Germany's Boehringer Ingelheim, were effective against the virus but there had been no experiment on a farm. (De La Hamaide, 5/28)

CBS News: The Bird Flu Vaccine Is Made With Eggs. That Has Scientists Worried.
Even a peep of news about a new flu pandemic is enough to set scientists clucking about eggs. They worried about them in 2005, and in 2009, and they're worrying now. That's because millions of fertilized hen eggs are still the main ingredient in making vaccines that, hopefully, will protect people against the outbreak of a new flu strain. (Allen, 5/29)

CIDRAP: China Reports Fatal H5N6 Avian Flu Case 
China has reported a fatal H5N6 avian flu infection in a 52-year-old woman from Fujian province in the southeastern part of the country. Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said the woman's symptoms began on April 13, and she was hospitalized on April 20, where she died on April 30. An investigation found that she had been exposed to backyard poultry before she became ill.  Highly pathogenic H5N6 is known to circulate in poultry from China and other Asian countries, but so far, China and Laos are the only nations that have reported human cases. Human cases are rare and mostly occur in people who have contact with poultry or poultry environments. The infections are often severe or fatal. (Schnirring, 5/28)

AP: Authorities Urge Proper Cooking Of Wild Game After 6 Relatives Fall Ill From Parasite In Bear Meat 
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reaffirmed the importance of properly cooking wild game after six people became sick from a parasite traced to undercooked bear meat that was served at a family reunion in South Dakota. The six — one in South Dakota, four in Minnesota and one in Arizona — became infected when bear meat that was served rare turned out to be contaminated with roundworms that cause trichinellosis, also known as trichinosis. Two of the people ate only the vegetables that were grilled with the meat. While the meat had been frozen for 45 days, the trichinella worms were from a freeze-resistant species. (5/28)

NBC News: Dengue Fever Threatens The U.S. Due To Climate Change, Among Other Factors
Meg Norris was traveling in Argentina in April when the first signs of dengue fever hit her. The weather in Salta, just south of the Bolivian border, was warm, but Norris, a 33-year-old from Boulder, Colorado, zipped a fleece sweatshirt around her body to stop herself from shivering. “I thought it was sun poisoning,” she said. (Sullivan, Thompson, and Martin, 5/28)

The New York Times: Health Officials Tried To Evade Public Records Laws, Lawmakers Say 
House Republicans on Tuesday accused officials at the National Institutes of Health of orchestrating “a conspiracy at the highest levels” of the agency to hide public records related to the origins of the Covid pandemic. And the lawmakers promised to expand an investigation that has turned up emails in which senior health officials talked openly about trying to evade federal records laws. The latest accusations — coming days before a House panel publicly questions Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, a former top N.I.H. official — represent one front of an intensifying push by lawmakers to link American research groups and the country’s premier medical research agency with the beginnings of the Covid pandemic. (Mueller, 5/28)

Reuters: Western States Push For Deal On Pandemic Response Rules At WHO Meeting 
Western countries led by the United States, France and Germany pushed for a deal to bolster pandemic response rules at a major World Health Organization meeting on Tuesday after states failed to finalize a pandemic treaty. (Farge, 5/28)

CIDRAP: Pregnant Women With COVID-19 May Be At Lower Risk For Long COVID
New data from the RECOVERY trial show that women who contracted COVID-19 during pregnancy had a lower risk of developing long COVID, or post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC), than other women, according to a study in eClinicalMedicine. The authors said this was the first study to compare long-COVID outcomes through the lens of pregnancy. (Soucheray, 5/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Exclusive: Democrats Plan $100 Million Push On Abortion Rights To Win House
The super PAC supporting Democrats’ effort to win back the House majority is launching a $100 million fund focused on abortion rights, the latest sign that the party is leaning heavily on the issue this fall to help counter concerns about the economy and immigration policy. In a memo to donors, the House Majority PAC outlined the Reproductive Freedom Accountability Fund, which it said will be spent in swing districts across the country for advertising and voter mobilization. The fund will also focus on voter outreach in House districts where there aren’t competitive presidential or Senate races, such as in New York, California, Oregon, Washington and Virginia. (Andrews, 5/29)

AP: Melinda French Gates To Donate $1B Over Next 2 Years In Support Of Women's Rights
Melinda French Gates says she will be donating $1 billion over the next two years to individuals and organizations working on behalf of women and families globally, including on reproductive rights in the United States. French Gates earlier this month announced she would step down from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and vowed to focus on women and families. (Chapman, 5/28)

AP: Planned Parenthood Asks Judge To Expand Health Exception To Indiana Abortion Ban 
Abortion providers are asking an Indiana trial judge this week to broaden access to abortions under the state’s near-total ban. Indiana law allows for abortion in rare circumstances, including when the health or life of the woman is at risk, but only at a hospital. Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers are asking a Monroe County judge for a preliminary injunction expanding the medical exemptions and blocking the hospital-only requirement. The bench trial before special Judge Kelsey Blake Hanlon is scheduled for Wednesday through Friday. (Volmert, 5/29)

Side Effects Public Media: Push For Embryo Rights Worries Midwest IVF Patients, Doctors
For seven years, Jacqueline Brock endured grueling fertility treatments – and all of the emotion that came with it. “I had to stop going to outings with our friends because they’d bring their kids or talk about their kids, and I would just cry,” she said. “I didn't go to a lot of baby showers and things because I couldn't physically handle it.” Last year, Brock, who lives in West Des Moines, Iowa, with her husband, James, underwent a third round of in vitro fertilization, or IVF. (Krebs, 5/28)

The Hill: Widespread Disrespect, Abuse In Maternity Care Leave Mothers With Lasting Trauma
Mothers’ mistreatment at the hands of the very health care workers meant to help them through pregnancy and childbirth is a rampant — and dangerous — problem in maternity care. One in 5 mothers in the United States report being ignored, threatened, forced to accept treatment they didn’t consent to, physically abused or otherwise mistreated by their providers during pregnancy and delivery, according to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Among Black, Hispanic or multiracial mothers and those who have public insurance or no insurance, the rates are higher still: closer to 1 in 3. (Neklason, 5/28)

Stat: Heat Waves Linked To Early Deliveries, Preterm Births In New Study 
Heat waves are becoming more frequent and more intense, posing more of a health risk around the world. High temperatures can be deadly, and are especially dangerous for those with cardiovascular and chronic disease — but they begin affecting human lives even before birth. (Merelli, 5/28)

CNN: Pregnancy Takes 50,000 More Calories Over 9 Months, Study Shows. That’s 164 Snickers Bars 
Having a baby is energetically much more expensive than commonly thought, according to new research. In fact, over the course of a pregnancy, creating and carrying a little one takes 49,753 dietary calories — the equivalent of 164 Snickers candy bars, said Dr. Dustin Marshall, a coauthor of the study published May 16 in the journal Science. (Holcombe, 5/27)

Modern Healthcare: Ascension Cyberattack Spurs Investment In Cybersecurity Strategies
Healthcare’s cybersecurity challenges have shined a light on how the industry has failed to protect patient data by not dedicating enough resources to address the problem. Health systems and insurers are dealing with the aftermath of the industry’s latest large-scale ransomware attacks on St. Louis-based Ascension, UnitedHealth Group's Change Healthcare and Chicago-based Lurie Children's Hospital, among others. Conversations are happening over whether organizations should be bringing in outside consultants or hiring more employees, executives say. (Perna, 5/28)

Axios: Warnings Grow About Unlicensed Cosmetic Treatment Providers
The increasing demand for cosmetic procedures like Botox injections, dermal fillers and fat-dissolving treatments at popular medical spas has raised growing alarm about risky care from unlicensed providers. (Reed, 5/29)

Stat: Merus Drug And Keytruda Shrank Tumors In Patients With Head And Neck Cancer
Merus said Tuesday that the combination of its experimental drug petosemtamab with the checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda shrank tumors in 62% of patients with head and neck cancer, according to an interim analysis of an ongoing mid-stage clinical trial. (Feuerstein, 5/28)

Stat: Insmed Lung Disease Drug Hits Target In Key Phase 3 Trial
An experimental drug from Insmed Incorporated successfully reduced lung problems among patients with an airway disease in a closely watched Phase 3 trial, sending the company’s share price soaring early Tuesday. (Joseph, 5/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Merck Nears $1.3 Billion Deal For Eye-Drug Company EyeBio 
Merck is close to a $1.3 billion deal to buy Eyebiotech, a move that would push the big drugmaker into the large and growing market for eye-care. Under the terms, Merck would pay the $1.3 billion in cash upfront to acquire the closely held biotech, according to people familiar with the matter. Merck could make an additional $1.7 billion in milestone payments for the company, which goes by the name EyeBio. (Hopkins and Cooper, 5/28)

Reuters: J&J Acquires Experimental Skin Disorder Drug For $1.25 Billion
Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday agreed to acquire the rights to an experimental skin disorder treatment from privately held Numab Therapeutics for about $1.25 billion, its second deal for an eczema-focused company this month. J&J will acquire a unit of Numab, backed by the parent of Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk to gain rights to the experimental treatment for eczema, also known as atopic dermatitis. (5/28)

CNBC: Why Walmart, Walgreens, CVS Health Clinic Experiment Is Struggling
Bobbi Radford showed up at the CVS MinuteClinic in Batavia, Ohio, last Thanksgiving because she had pain in her arm. “I waited an hour and then was told to go to the [emergency room].,” Radford said. Filling the staffer in on her history of congestive heart failure, she was directed to go to the ER. But Radford says after she did that, it was determined at the ER that she had a case of tennis elbow. (Williams, 5/28)

Reuters: Musk's Neuralink Seeks To Enroll Three Patients In Brain Implant Study
Neuralink, Elon Musk's brain-chip company, aims to enroll three patients to evaluate its device in a study expected to take several years to complete, according to details on the U.S. government's clinical trials database. The company had sought to enroll 10 patients when it applied to U.S. regulators to begin clinical trials, Reuters reported last year. Neuralink is testing its implant designed to give paralyzed patients the ability to use digital devices by thinking alone, a prospect that could help people with spinal cord injuries. (Levy and Taylor, 5/28)

NBC News: Bilingual AI Brain Implant Helps Stroke Survivor Communicate In Spanish And English
Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco have developed a bilingual brain implant that uses artificial intelligence to help a stroke survivor communicate in Spanish and English for the first time. Nearly a dozen scientists from the university’s Center for Neural Engineering and Prostheses have worked for several years to design a decoding system that could turn the man's brain activity into sentences in both languages and display them on a screen. (Acevedo, 5/28)

KQED: Animal Sedative Linked To US Overdoses Spurs Call For More SF Drug Monitoring
As reports of overdoses involving a sedative often used by veterinarians rise on the East Coast, one San Francisco leader is urging the city to more closely monitor the local drug supply for its presence. Medetomidine, a synthetic depressant, is showing up more often in recreational drug markets around the U.S., according to an advisory this month from the Center for Forensic Science Research & Education and its early warning program, NPS Discovery. Among street drugs, it is most commonly detected as an adulterant in fentanyl. (Johnson, 5/28)

San Francisco Chronicle: What Does New Drug Emerging In Overdoses Through US Mean For SF?
Just as San Francisco is seeing a slight dip in fatal drug overdoses, a new powerful animal sedative has made its way into America’s illicit drug supply and is causing waves of overdoses across the country. Medetomidine is the latest street drug to appear alongside fentanyl. A synthetic drug used for veterinary anesthesia, medetomidine reportedly causes “heightened sedation” and “profound bradycardia,” or slowed heart rate, according to researchers. (Angst, 5/28)

The Washington Post: Fentanyl Users Get Free Smoking Gear In Some Cities. Now There’s Pushback.
For years at this downtown public health clinic, staffers have given drug users small glass pipes along with sterile needles and other supplies. The strategy: Users might choose to smoke street drugs — limiting infected wounds and the spread of diseases that come with injecting. Some public health advocates and drug users believe smoking fentanyl — the street opioid fueling thousands of deaths — may also lessen chances of a fatal overdose compared with injecting the drug. Scott, a user picking up supplies on a recent weeknight, now smokes fentanyl more than he uses needles because injections caused his hands to swell and damaged his veins. He said he overdosed twice when injecting fentanyl but never while smoking. (Ovalle, 5/29)

Missouri Independent: Advocates Push For Compensation For St. Louis-Area Radioactive Waste Victims As Deadline Looms 
Over the course of half a dozen trips to Washington, D.C., Dawn Chapman has become accustomed to long days of congressional meetings and questions about St. Louis’ decades-long struggle with radioactive contamination. Chapman, co-founder of Just Moms STL, wraps her feet with duct tape to keep her shoes from giving her blisters, and she and fellow advocates pack their schedules with meetings to ask lawmakers to expand compensation for those exposed to the U.S. nuclear weapons program. (Kite, 5/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Cancer Is Capsizing Americans’ Finances. ‘I Was Losing Everything.’ 
Gwendolyn Jackson was financially sound before her cervical cancer diagnosis—she was gainfully employed, insured and secure in a home of her own. But now, the 53-year-old has tens of thousands of dollars of medical debt. Chemotherapy drained her energy and she suffered other health problems, including a stroke. She lost her housing-coordinator job because of the physical toll. An eviction notice showed up on Jackson’s door, and her truck was repossessed. “One morning, I woke up and I was a top case manager,” said Jackson, who lives in Houston. “Then I was losing everything.” (Abbott and Loftus, 5/28)

The Baltimore Sun: Double Lung Transplants Weren’t Typically Recommended For Lung Cancer Patients. But A New Technique Has Been Successful 
For decades, double lung transplants were not considered a viable option for treating lung cancer. “It had been done, but it had always failed,” said Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery at Northwestern Medicine. “When you took out the lungs, the cancer cells would spread to the rest of the body, and it would come back a matter of months after the transplant.” (Kalra, 5/28)