Stat: A Third U.S. Farmworker Infected With Bird Flu Is The First To Experience Respiratory Symptoms
A third human case of H5 bird flu tied to the ongoing U.S. outbreak in cattle has been detected in a farmworker in Michigan, state health authorities confirmed on Thursday. The unnamed individual worked on a dairy farm and was in close contact with infected cows, the state health department said in a statement. The farm involved is different from the one where an earlier human case was detected last week. (Branswell, 5/30)

Reuters: US Allows Bulk Milk Testing For Bird Flu Before Cattle Transport 
U.S. farmers will be able to test bulk supplies of milk from their dairy cows for bird flu rather than milk from individual cows before gaining approval to ship them across state lines, the Agriculture Department said on Thursday, in a move aimed at expanding testing. The change shows how government officials are trying to contain the disease while minimizing economic damage to farmers after the bird flu virus spread to cows and three dairy workers since late March. But some veterinarians warn the bulk tests may be insufficient. (Polansek, 5/30)

Los Angeles Times: Are Our Dogs And Cats Flying Under The Bird Flu Radar? 
When researchers talk about their biggest bird flu fears, one that typically comes up involves an animal — like a pig — becoming simultaneously infected with an avian and a human flu. This creature, now a viral mixing vessel, provides the medium for a superbug to develop — one that takes the killer genes from the bird flu and combines it with the human variety’s knack for easy infection. So far, domestic poultry and dairy cows have proved to be imperfect vessels. So too have the more than 48 other mammal species that have become infected by eating infected birds and then died. But researchers say there is one population of animal floating under the radar: Pets. (Rust, 5/30)

KFF Health News: The Chicken And Egg Problem Of Fighting Another Flu Pandemic
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. “It’s almost comical to be using a 1940s technology for a 21st-century pandemic,” said Rick Bright, who led the Health and Human Services Department’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) during the Trump administration. (Allen, 5/31)

Other outbreaks and health threats —

CIDRAP: WHO Launches Dengue Dashboard As Global Threat Remains High 
The global dengue burden has increased substantially over the past 5 years, and in 2024 so far, more than 7.6 million cases have been reported, which includes 16,000 severe infections and more than 3,000 deaths, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today. To strengthen global tracking, the WHO has launched a new dashboard. So far, it has data from 103 countries. All regions except Europe have reported locally acquired cases this year. (Schnirring, 5/30)

Reuters: WHO Emergencies Team Faces Funding Crunch As Health Crises Multiply
The World Health Organization's emergencies department is facing “existential threats” as multiplying health crises have left it so short of cash that it needed emergency funds to pay staff salaries at the end of last year, an independent report said. It will likely have to ask for funding again to cover salaries up to June, the document, released ahead of the WHO’s annual meeting in Geneva this week, said. (Rigby, 5/30)

Reuters: U.S. FDA Set To Reorganize Its Food Division Starting October
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Thursday it plans to restructure its food division starting in October helping it to oversee human food supply chains and agricultural products more efficiently. The regulatory body had come under fire over its slow response to the infant formula shortage in 2022. (5/30)

Food Safety News: FDA's Reorganization Is Official 
Consumer Reports and the National Association of Food and Drug Officials applaud the approval of the FDA’s reorganization plan, saying the move will help ensure the nation’s food supply is safe. “Consumers depend on the FDA to be effectively organized and governed to ensure our food is safe,” Brian Ronholm, director of food policy at Consumer Reports, said in a news release. “Today’s announcement is a major step forward, and much credit goes to (FDA) Commissioner Robert Califf for facilitating the process to get to this point." (Beach, 5/31)

Also —

Fox Business: Infant Formula Recalled For Not Complying With FDA Regulations
Crecelac and Farmalac-branded infant formula is being recalled after being placed on shelves without proper evaluation by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA notified the company after realizing Dairy Manufacturers didn't submit the required pre-market notification. "Parents and caregivers should understand that the products have not been evaluated by FDA to determine whether they meet U.S. food safety and nutritional standards," the recall notice read. (Genovese, 5/28)

Stat: Many Docs Who Tweeted Product Endorsements Also Took Money From Manufacturers, Analysis Shows
Most physicians who endorsed a prescription drug or medical device on X — formerly known as Twitter — also received payments from the manufacturers of these products, according to a new analysis that highlights ongoing concerns about financial ties between doctors and industry. (Silverman, 5/30)

Stat: Novartis Sues Maryland Over Contract Pharmacies In Drug Discount Program
Novartis has filed a lawsuit seeking to block a Maryland law that requires the company to ship its medicines to any pharmacy working with hospitals participating in a controversial U.S. government drug discount program. (Silverman, 5/30)

Reuters: Wegovy Maker Novo Nordisk Sues Nine Spas, Clinics And Pharmacies Over Copycat Drugs 
Novo Nordisk said on Thursday it had sued nine more medical spas, wellness clinics and pharmacies in the U.S. for selling products claiming to contain semaglutide, the key ingredient in its popular weight-loss drug Wegovy. The Danish drugmaker has now filed 21 lawsuits since June over the sale of copycat versions of semaglutide. Five sellers have been barred from selling their disputed products. One lawsuit has been amended after samples it tested were found to be as much as 33% impure. (Wingrove, 5/30)

CNBC: Half Of Workers May Struggle To Get Obesity Drug Insurance Coverage
Companies are increasing access to new blockbuster weight-loss drugs for employees, but size of employer may make a big difference in early access. Small businesses and their workers are often stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to this burgeoning health insurance coverage market. (Munk, 5/30)

On seizing patents —

Reuters: US Senator Warren Pushes To Cement Pharmaceutical Patent Seizure Policy
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren and another Democratic lawmaker on Thursday said they had sent a letter urging the Department of Commerce to finalize its policy on when the government can seize patents on drugs and other products whose research it funded. The Biden administration in December announced it was setting a new policy that would allow it to seize patents for technologies developed with government funding if it believed their prices were too high. (Wingrove, 5/30)

Side Effects Public Media: Abortion Numbers Grow As Telehealth And Shield Laws Increase Access
A new analysis of national abortion estimates found the number of abortions in 2023 increased slightly compared to the year prior. Telehealth abortions coupled with a number of states passing laws to protect clinicians are likely behind that trend. Still, in some states with restrictions or bans abortions dropped from several hundred to flatlining, sometimes reaching zero, by the end of last year. (Yousry, 5/30)

New Hampshire Public Radio: As It Considers A Merger, Catholic Medical Center Faces Questions About Religious Identity And Abortion
With Catholic Medical Center moving closer to a merger with for-profit company HCA Healthcare, some members of the public pressed for assurances that the hospital would preserve its religious identity – and particularly its opposition to abortion – during a public forum in Manchester this week. (Cuno-Booth, 5/31)

The New York Times: How Republicans In Key Senate Races Are Flip-Flopping On Abortion
Republican candidates in all eight of the country’s most competitive Senate races have changed their approach on the issue of abortion, softening their rhetoric, shifting their positions and, in at least one case, embracing policies championed by Democrats. From Michigan to Maryland, Republicans are trying to repackage their views to defang an issue that has hurt their party at the ballot box since the Supreme Court overturned federal abortion rights. While the pivot is endemic across races in swing states, the most striking shifts have come from candidates who unsuccessfully ran for the Senate just two years ago in their home states, with abortion views that sounded very different. (Bidgood and Lerer, 5/30)

Los Angeles Times: The Newest Election Battlefield For Abortion: State Supreme Courts 
As presidential candidates and state legislators campaign over the future of abortion in America, elections for the third branch of government have largely escaped scrutiny on the issue. Until now. Since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, elections for state supreme court justices have become a new political frontier in the abortion fight, with interest groups pouring unusual amounts of money into typically little-known races. (Pinho, 5/30)

The Hill: Majority Of Men Of Color Support Protecting Abortion Access: Poll
A new poll shows that men of color overwhelmingly support legal abortion. Eighty-eight percent of Black men support total legal abortion, according to a new poll from All* In Action Fund and HIT Strategies. Support is slightly lower among Asian American men at 83 percent, and among Latino men, 81 percent of whom support abortion.  (Daniels, 5/30)

KFF Health News' 'What The Health?' Podcast: Waiting For SCOTUS
June means it’s time for the Supreme Court to render rulings on the biggest and most controversial cases of the term. This year, the court has two significant abortion-related cases: one involving the abortion pill mifepristone and the other regarding the conflict between a federal emergency care law and Idaho’s near-total abortion ban. (5/29)

A special report on climate change's impact on pregnancy —

The 19th, Grist and Vox: They Spent Thousands Of Dollars On IVF. Then Hurricane Ian Hit.
On their very first date, Kirsti and Justin Mahon talked about wanting kids. They met on a dating app in 2016, nine months after Kirsti moved from Texas to Florida. Almost immediately, they fell in love. A little over two years later, they got married. Six months after that, they started trying for a baby. (Teirstein and Kutz, 5/30)

Bloomberg: Covid’s Aftereffects Can Last More Than Three Years, Study Finds
Covid’s aftereffects may reverberate for more than three years, often causing lingering pulmonary and gastrointestinal symptoms, according to a large study of US veterans. Although the risks for heart attack, blood clots, muscle weakness and a slew of other health problems abate over time, many patients remain in worse shape, especially those who’ve been hospitalized, researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care system said. (Gale, 5/30)

CIDRAP: Current COVID Boosters Offer Good Protection Against Severe Outcomes But Less So Against JN.1 
The current COVID-19 boosters targeting the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant are still offering solid protection against infection, hospitalizations, and death, but are somewhat limited in efficacy against illnesses caused by the JN.1 subvariant, now the dominant strain in the United States, according to a research letter yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine. (Soucheray, 5/30)

Stat: NIH Documents Show Early Flaws Of $1.6 Billion Long Covid Program
More than three years ago, the National Institutes of Health launched a $1 billion-plus initiative to find the root causes and potential treatments for long Covid, the chronic disease that has quickly changed the lives of millions of Americans. But a lack of visible progress from the initiative, called RECOVER, has drawn months of criticism from patient advocates, researchers, and lawmakers, including at a Senate hearing last week on the NIH’s budget. (Ladyzhets, 5/31)

Dr. Anthony Fauci will testify before a congressional panel Monday —

KFF Health News: After Grilling An NIH Scientist Over Covid Emails, Congress Turns To Anthony Fauci
Former National Institutes of Health official Anthony Fauci has faced many hostile questions from members of Congress, but when he appears before a House panel on Monday, he’ll have something new to answer for: a trove of incendiary emails written by one of his closest advisers. In the emails, David Morens, a career federal scientist now on administrative leave, described deleting messages and using a personal email account to evade disclosure of correspondence under the Freedom of Information Act. (Hilzenrath, 5/31)

Becker's Hospital Review: Senator Urges Probe Of UnitedHealth 'Negligence' In Change Hack
Sen. Ron Wyden is urging regulators to investigate UnitedHealth Group for what he termed "negligent" security practices, which he believes contributed to the February cyberattack on its subsidiary Change Healthcare. On May 30, Mr. Wyden wrote a letter to the FTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission asking the agencies to probe UnitedHealth Group for "negligent cybersecurity practices." (Diaz, 5/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Healthcare Sector Maps Cyber Risk Posed By ‘Single Points Of Failure’ 
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services doesn’t want to get caught flat-footed by the next healthcare hack. The agency is leading work to create a map of the cybersecurity risks inherent in having a single technology supplier dominate a particular aspect of the market, a threat known as a single point of failure. The concern comes after a cyberattack on UnitedHealth Group’s Change Healthcare unit early this year produced cascading effects on health claims, freezing millions of dollars in payments. The repercussions took care providers, regulators and lawmakers by surprise. (Stupp, 5/30)

In other health industry developments —

The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer: University Hospitals Cuts Pay For 350 Higher-Paid Nurses Amid Budget Issues
More than 300 University Hospital nurses are facing pay cuts as the health system makes post-pandemic staffing adjustments and tries to fix two years of budget shortfalls. The change, announced in a recent memo, affects 350 Enterprise Staffing Services nurses working in the surgical, emergency department, intensive care and other departments, the memo said. (Washington, 5/30)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Fox Chase Nurses And Techs Approve First Union Contracts
Nurses and technical specialists at the Fox Chase Cancer Center have voted to approve their first union contracts, averting a five-day strike that was scheduled to begin next week. The contracts include wage increases, paid parental leave, and the hospital’s commitment to improve staffing levels of both nurses and techs, according to the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, which represents the workers at the Temple Health-owned cancer specialty hospital. (Gutman, 5/30)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: SSM Expands Its Wentzville ER As Hospitals Chase Westward Growth
SSM Health has doubled the capacity of its emergency room in Wentzville, a move to improve safety and ramp up medical services in a growing county. The project at SSM Health St. Joseph Hospital in Wentzville gives ER staff separate areas to care for behavioral health and general medical patients, said hospital President Jake Brooks. And it gives the hospital a much-needed boost in capacity in one of the fastest-growing parts of the state. (Merrilees, 5/30)

Chicago Tribune: Chicago's Public Health Department Declares Measles Outbreak Over
The city Department of Public Health is officially declaring the end of the measles outbreak that began in March and primarily affected migrants in a shelter on the Lower West Side, according to a report released by the department Thursday. In total, there were 64 measles cases during March and April. (Salzman, 5/30)

ABC30 Fresno: Tulare County Health Officials Confirm Measles Case From International Traveler
The Tulare County Public Health Department has confirmed its first case of measles in 2024. Officials say the case is the traveler who flew to Fresno while having the disease. The traveler flew from Germany to Los Angeles before coming to Fresno on May 19. (5/30)

More health news from across the U.S. —

Missouri Independent: U.S. House Speaker Reverses On Radiation Compensation Bill That Excluded Missouri 
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office on Wednesday scrapped a proposal to extend a compensation program for victims of radiation exposure without expanding it to thousands of Americans across nine states. In a statement that came less than four hours after Johnson’s office said a proposal to expand the program was too expensive, a spokesperson said Republican leadership had decided not to bring the bill up for a vote next week. The statement said the decision came after discussions with U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, a Republican from the St. Louis suburbs. (Kite, 5/29)

Wyoming Public Radio: Of 10 Farm States, Wyoming Is Most Reliant On Federal Government For Healthcare 
Wyoming has the third highest healthcare costs in the nation because of how far medical supplies have to travel, the high turnover rate of providers and the aging population, among other things. But Wyomingites are keeping costs down by getting advanced premium tax credits from the Affordable Care Act. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently found that enrolling in the marketplace got Wyomingites’ premiums down from $937 a month to $118. (Edwards, 5/30)

North Carolina Health News: ‘Road Map’ For Providing More Care For People With Disabilities Has Bipartisan Support
Advocates for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities have a long list of needs that they would like state lawmakers to address. This year, though, they’re focusing on two main initiatives. (Nandagiri, 5/31)

Central Florida Public Media: PACE Center To Bring ‘Gold Standard’ Of Care For Some Central Florida Seniors
The Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) has opened a facility in Orlando, where it will provide older people dual-enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid with coordinated, comprehensive health care and more. A grand opening was held Wednesday at the InnovAge PACE center in Orlando. (Byrnes, 5/30)

CNN: New Study Points To Possible Link Between Tattoos And Lymphoma, But Experts Say Much More Research Is Needed
A Swedish study has found a potential link between tattoos and a type of cancer called malignant lymphoma, but it ultimately calls for more research on the topic, and cancer experts say the possible link is overblown. (Christensen, 5/30)

The Guardian: Patients In England To Be Offered Trials For World-First Cancer Vaccine 
Thousands of patients in England are to be fast-tracked into groundbreaking trials of personalized cancer vaccines in a revolutionary world-first NHS “matchmaking” scheme to save lives. The gamechanging jabs, which aim to provide a permanent cure, are custom-built for each patient in just a few weeks. They are tailored to the individual’s tumors and work by telling their body to hunt and kill any cancer cells and prevent the disease from coming back. (Gregory, 5/30)

FiercePharma: Gilead's Trodelvy Suffers Double Whammy As Failed Bladder Cancer Trial Raises Flag Over Early Deaths
In the span of half a year, Gilead Sciences' Trodelvy has flopped a second phase 3 trial. Following a high-profile setback in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in January, Gilead said Thursday that Trodelvy also failed to move the needle in a bladder cancer study. The TROP2-directed antibody-drug conjugate couldn’t outperform single-agent chemotherapy at extending the lives of urothelial cancer patients who had tried prior treatment with a chemotherapy and a PD-1/L1 therapy. (Liu, 5/30)

In mental health news —

The New York Times: PTSD Has Surged Among College Students
Post-traumatic stress disorder diagnoses among college students more than doubled between 2017 and 2022, climbing most sharply as the coronavirus pandemic shut down campuses and upended young adults’ lives, according to new research published on Thursday. The prevalence of PTSD rose to 7.5 percent from 3.4 percent during that period, according to the findings. Researchers analyzed responses from more than 390,000 participants in the Healthy Minds Study, an annual web-based survey. (Barry, 5/30)

Military.com: Watchdog Investigation Of Pentagon Traumatic Brain Injury Efforts Requested By 22 Lawmakers 
A large, bipartisan group of lawmakers say they have concerns over how the Pentagon is tracking traumatic brain injuries among troops and whether it's taking the issue seriously -- and they want a government watchdog to look into it. In a letter shared exclusively with Military.com, 22 members of Congress, led by Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, are asking the Government Accountability Office to review the Pentagon's efforts to identify, prevent and treat traumatic brain injuries related to service members' exposure to blast overpressure, the term used to describe the concussive effect of munitions. (Toropin, 5/30)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Atlanta Club Wants Black Men To ‘Kill Their Pride’ To Save Their Mental Health
Terrence Smith was angry during happy occasions – birthdays, Christmastime, parties. “Typically, I’m a very even-keeled person. I don’t really get too high or low,” says Smith, 40. “But I started getting mad. It felt very random, and I couldn’t understand it.” (Parker, 5/29)

On the opioid crisis —

Stat: Opioid Addiction Treatment Policy Shifts Away From Drug Abstinence
For as long as the federal government has worked to support substance use treatment, it has operated on a simple premise: Addiction medicine’s objective is to help people using drugs stop — completely and forever. But with over 100,000 Americans dying of drug overdose each year, the Biden administration appears to be changing its tack. (Facher, 5/31)

Axios: U.S. Drug Addiction Crisis Affects Tens Of Millions Of Lives
Everyone knows the country's addiction crisis is bad, but even the direst headlines just barely scratch the surface. We spend a lot of time talking about drug overdose deaths, which each year are nearly double the number of Americans killed in the Vietnam War. But overdose deaths are only one measure of the drug epidemic's severity — and even the formal toll doesn't capture the true extent of drugs' lethal power, experts say. (Owens, 5/31)

Stateline: States Need To Keep PFAS ’Forever Chemicals’ Out Of The Water. It Won’t Be Cheap. 
In recent years, Michigan has spent tens of millions of dollars to limit residents’ exposure to the harmful “forever chemicals” called PFAS. And some cities there have spent millions of their own to filter contaminated drinking water or connect to new, less-polluted sources. “We’ve made significant investments to get up to speed,” said Abigail Hendershott, executive director of the Michigan PFAS Action Response Team, which serves as a coordinating group for the state’s testing, cleanup and public education efforts. (Brown, 5/21)

The Washington Post: How Morgan Spurlock’s ‘Super Size Me’ Recast McDonald’s 
“Super Size Me” is yet one more example of how storytelling — even imperfect storytelling — has the ability to move mountains, at least a little. Mountains like McDonald’s. The now-20-year-old documentary was a cautionary tale about obesity in America. Written, produced and directed by filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, who died of cancer Thursday at 53, “Super Size Me” was a controversial experiment in human endurance: Spurlock put himself on a restricted diet of all McDonald’s, all the time: three meals a day from Feb. 1 to March 2, 2003. He would “super size” his order whenever asked if he wanted the larger portion. He would also limit his exercise to walking about 1.5 miles a day. (Carman, 5/24)

The Washington Post: How A Girl With Cerebral Palsy Found A New Way To Play Lacrosse 
Stella Stakolosa loves playing lacrosse but needed help shooting the ball from her wheelchair. Engineering high school students in Maryland stepped in to help. (Heim, 5/29)

The New York Times: Inside The Factory Supplying Half Of Africa’s Syringes
On the stunning Kenyan coast, about halfway between 15th-century ruins and the vibrant city of Mombasa, a small factory is helping to achieve one of Africa’s biggest health care goals: self-reliance. With fewer than 700 employees, Revital Healthcare makes 300 million syringes a year, enough to meet more than half of Africa’s routine immunization needs. (Mandavilli, 5/27)

AP: A Synthetic Drug Ravages Youth In Sierra Leone. There’s Little Help, And Some People Are Chained
In Sierra Leone, a cheap, synthetic drug is ravaging youth. Trash-strewn alleys are lined with boys and young men slumped in addiction. Healthcare services are severely limited. One frustrated community has set up what it calls a treatment center, run by volunteers. But harsh measures can be used. The project in the Bombay suburb of the capital, Freetown, started in the past year when a group of people tried to help a colleague’s younger brother off the drug called kush. After persuasion and threats failed, they locked him in his room for two months. It worked. He has returned to university and thanked them for setting him free. (Cham, 5/27)

Newsweek: Unveiling Perimenopause—A Call To Action For Millennial Women 
In women's health, there's a phase often glossed over, hidden away in quiet conversations and veiled discomfort: perimenopause. It's a phase that catches many women unprepared and ill-equipped. But it's time to cast off the shroud of silence and ignite a revolution in women's health, especially among the trailblazing millennials—to forge a path of informed autonomy and empowerment. (Sadhvi Siddhali Shree and Alyssa Milano, 5/30)

The Boston Globe: Getting A Grip On Health Care Costs 
The health care bill passed by the Massachusetts House earlier this month provides a strong foundation for policy makers to address important questions: How can we help financially struggling community hospitals? How can we enhance state oversight of health care transactions to avoid another debacle like Steward’s bankruptcy? And perhaps most importantly, how can we ensure health care is affordable? (5/30)

Stat: The Pandemic Treaty Must Support Building Strong Health Systems 
As the 77th World Health Assembly takes place this week, negotiations around the Pandemic Treaty are front and center of conversations. The treaty has been beset by delay and misinformation. The vested interests of pharmaceutical companies, lobbying groups, and conservative British broadcaster Nigel Farage bleating about “defending sovereignty” are threatening to derail the treaty process entirely. (Vanessa Kerry, 5/31)

Modern Healthcare: What’s Ailing Primary Care? An Ongoing Lack Of Investment
Access to primary care in the U.S. has worsened over the past decade, and a lack of investment is to blame. This drop in access impacts all Americans, in communities large and small, urban and rural. Wait times to see a primary care clinician take up to one month on average and are likely much longer for those trying to establish care for the first time. More than 25% of American adults and more than 10% of children have no regular source of care, another statistic that has worsened over the last decade, despite expanded insurance access from the Affordable Care Act and other federal programs. (Dr. Yalda Jabbarpour, 5/31)

Stat: Protect Mothers Being Treated For Opioid Addiction 
Pregnant people and new mothers who are being treated for opioid addiction often have to fight to keep their children out of the hands of child protective services. But it’s a fight they shouldn’t have to face. (Arthur Robin Williams and Judith Cole, 5/31)