AP: The US Hasn't Seen Syphilis Numbers This High Since 1950. Other STD Rates Are Down Or Flat 
The U.S. syphilis epidemic isn’t abating, with the rate of infectious cases rising 9% in 2022, according to a new federal government report on sexually transmitted diseases in adults. But there’s some unexpected good news: The rate of new gonorrhea cases fell for the first time in a decade. It’s not clear why infectious cases of syphilis rose 9% while gonorrhea dropped 9%, officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, adding that it’s too soon to know whether a new downward trend is emerging for the latter. (Stobbe, 1/30)

The New York Times: Syphilis Is Soaring In The U.S. 
The rates soared in every age group, including newborns. In November, the C.D.C. said more than 3,700 cases of congenital syphilis were reported in 2022, roughly 11 times the number recorded a decade ago. The disease caused 231 stillbirths and 51 infant deaths in 2022. Experts pointed to a slew of reasons for the continued increases in syphilis and other S.T.I.s. Substance use, which is tied to risky sexual behavior, has risen. With better prevention and treatment for H.I.V., condom use has fallen out of vogue — decreasing by about 8 percentage points between 2011 and 2021 among high school students, for example. (Mandavilli, 1/30)

Bloomberg: Syphilis US Cases Rose 17% Amid Pfizer Drug Shortage 
But even when patients are identified, they currently face a hurdle to treatment. The best medicine for syphilis is penicillin G benzathine, which is sold by Pfizer Inc. in the US under the brand Bicillin L-A, and it’s been in short supply since April because of high demand. Pfizer has increased production and expects supply to normalize by June. The Food and Drug Administration also greenlit the importation of a version of penicillin G benzathine that’s approved in Europe but not the US. About 50,000 doses are available, said Pavel Svintozelskiy, medical affairs manager for Provepharm, a company involved in the importation. (Swetlitz, 1/30)

Roll Call: HHS Launches Syphilis Strategy Amid Rising Cases
CDC said it is working to issue final guidance on using doxycycline, a commonly used antibiotic, for post-exposure prophylaxis to prevent bacterial STIs, which would be the first large-scale bacterial STI prevention innovation in decades. The Biden administration announced the first national multiagency plan to reduce climbing rates of STIs last year. (Raman and Hellmann, 1/30)

The Guardian: Measles Making A Comeback In US Due To Vaccine Skepticism, Says CDC
Taylor Nelson, a University of Missouri healthcare center infectious disease physician, said to the news station KRCG that measles would probably spread to the Midwest and the West Coast given the situation laid out by the CDC. If measles cases are discovered, healthcare workers are asked to isolate patients, immediately notify local and state health departments, test patients with nose or throat swabs, and ensure all patients are vaccinated against the disease, especially if traveling internationally. (Salam, 1/30)

The Baltimore Sun: The U.S. Has Had 23 Measles Cases In The Past Month
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging health care providers to be “on alert” for patients with symptoms of measles — a virus declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000 — after nearly two dozen cases have been reported across the country in the past month. (Roberts, 1/30)

CBS News: Investigation Uncovers High Measles Risk At 350 Southern California Schools With Low Vaccination Rates
Concerns are heightened across the United States as the East Coast experiences an unexpected outbreak of measles. A CBS News investigation revealed that at least 8,500 American schools are at risk of similar outbreaks as vaccination rates drop below the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommended 95% for student bodies, hundreds of which are located in California. (Palombo, 1/30)

The Hill: Can You Get Measles As An Adult? What To Know Amid Uptick In Cases
As we saw with COVID-19, there are essentially two ways to be considered “protected,” either through a vaccine or recovering from a case of the virus. More specifically, the CDC says you’re protected if at least one of the following is true: you’ve had two doses of a measles-containing vaccine, you’ve had one dose if you won’t be in a high-risk setting for measles transmission, you’ve already had measles, a laboratory has confirmed you’re immune or you were born before 1957.Measles vaccines have been available since the 1960s, and states have largely required children to have them before attending school. That means there’s a good chance you’ve already been vaccinated against measles, and because those vaccines are more than 90% effective at preventing the disease — 97% if you got two doses of an MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) vaccine, 93% if you got one, according to the CDC — you are, most likely, safe from it. (Bink, 1/30)

On the spread of TB, NTM, and Legionnaire's disease —

The Mercury News: Why TB Cases Are Rising In California After Decades Of Decline
Once known as consumption, the disease that killed Eleanor Roosevelt, Frederic Chopin and all five of the sisters Bronte, tuberculosis is often viewed as a bygone threat. But there is an uptick in new California illnesses after years of decline, with the number of cases in the Golden State increasing from 1,704 in 2020 to 1,848 in 2022. On Tuesday, Santa Clara County released new data showing a 19% jump in cases from 2022 to 2023. Increased cases also were reported in Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco counties. (Krieger, 1/30)

CIDRAP: Nontuberculosis Mycobacteria Outbreak Linked To Florida Cosmetic Surgery Clinic 
A cluster of nontuberculosis mycobacteria (NTM) skin infections across nine states has been linked to cosmetic surgery procedures and gaps in infection control at a clinic in Florida, researchers with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Florida Department of Health (FDOH) reported last week in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. (Dall, 1/30)

CBS News: 2 Legionnaires' Disease Cases Identified In Brooklyn
New York City's Health Department is alerting tenants of a public housing building in Brooklyn about Legionnaires' disease. Two residents in the building on Sutter Avenue in Brownsville have been diagnosed with the disease within the past 12 months. People get Legionnaire's disease by breathing in the vapor of contaminated water. Health officials say residents should not take showers since they can create mist. However, tenants can still use and drink the water. (Zanger, 1/30)

CIDRAP: US Government Failure To Protect Frontline Workers From COVID Led To Thousands Of Deaths, Scientists Say 
Thousands of frontline workers may have survived the COVID-19 pandemic if the US regulatory system had better protected them, report the authors of an analysis published yesterday in BMJ. The study is the first in a series that discusses the lessons learned from COVID-19 and the steps needed to avert deaths in the next pandemic and improve public health. Frontline workers are those who couldn't work from home and thus were at higher risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2. Black and Hispanic workers and immigrants make up high proportions of "essential" workers, or those in healthcare, meatpacking plants, agricultural production, and public transportation. (Van Beusekom, 1/30)

CIDRAP: Three Fourths Of Adults Have Hidden Infectious Illness To Work, Travel, Or Socialize, Surveys Suggest 
Up to 75% of adults have concealed an infectious disease from others in order not to miss work, travel, or social events, according to a new study in Psychological Science. The article, by researchers at the University of Michigan, is based on four studies and surveys given to 4,110 survey participants. All surveys were given after March 2020, when the COVID-10 pandemic began, and initial survey participants included 399 university healthcare employees. Only 5% of participants across all studies said they had concealed a COVID-19 infection. (Soucheray, 1/30)

More on flu, covid, and RSV —

News9.com: Oklahoma State Department Of Health Confirms First Child Flu Death Of 2024
The Oklahoma State Department of Health confirmed in a statement on Tuesday the state's first death of a child by influenza in 2024.OSDH said this is the latest in a wave of infections that has resulted in over 900 hospitalizations and 16 other deaths. (1/31)

Axios: COVID, RSV Continue Post-Holiday Drop, But Respiratory Illnesses Still High
Cases of COVID-19 and RSV continue to decline since peaking around the holidays, though the amount of respiratory illness across most of the country remains high, updated Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows. (Reed, 1/29)

The Chronicle: Duke Researchers Make Significant Progress In Search For More Effective, Longer Lasting Flu Vaccine 
On the heels of a state-wide flu outbreak, a team of Duke and Harvard researchers are making promising developments in the search for a longer-lasting and more versatile influenza vaccine. A December study published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences highlighted the researchers’ newest discovery: a site, or epitope, on the influenza virus molecule that could potentially allow scientists to target multiple strains of influenza with the same antibodies. (Haver, 1/29)

In other pandemic news —

Modern Healthcare: MedStar Health Agrees To ADA Violation Settlement
MedStar Health has agreed to resolve accusations it discriminated against patients with disabilities and will take corrective actions, the Justice Department announced Tuesday. The Columbia, Maryland-based nonprofit health system allegedly barred family members, health aides and other support people from its facilities as a COVID-19 mitigation measure from 2020 through 2022, the Justice Department asserts in a complaint and a consent decree filed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland on Tuesday. (Bennett, 1/30)

Stat: CMS Will Use Outcomes-Based Agreements In Bid To Help Medicaid Pay For Sickle Cell Gene Therapies
In response to concerns over multimillion-dollar price tags for new gene therapies for sickle cell disease, the U.S. government on Tuesday announced a long-awaited “access model” designed to blunt the cost that state Medicaid programs would pay for these curative treatments. (Silverman, 1/30)

On Medicaid expansion —

Politico: ‘The Politics Have Changed’: South Warms To Expanded Health Benefits
Southern conservatives have for years privately flirted with extending public health benefits to more low-income people. Those talks are now moving out of the shadows. House speakers in three Republican-controlled states — Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi — have said in recent weeks that they need to consider covering more people through their state-run health insurance programs. Their comments represent a stark departure from more than a decade of lawmakers in conservative statehouses arguing vehemently against expanding Medicaid or similar benefits — many of them because of a reflexive revulsion to Obamacare. (Messerly, 1/31)

The Mercury News: Following Expansion Of MediCal, Officials Call On Santa Clara County Residents To Apply And Renew Coverage
With the state expanding full MediCal coverage this month to include all Californians regardless of immigration status, Santa Clara county officials and health providers are urging county residents to enroll in and renew their MediCal coverage. ... Officials met at the Social Services Agency in Gilroy to push the coverage at a news conference on Tuesday. ... “Healthcare is a human right,” said Arenas. “If we can help everyone now eligible for Medi-Cal coverage take action, this can be a huge step forward towards our goal of health coverage for all in Santa Clara County.” (Melecio-Zambrano, 1/30)

On the 'unwinding' of Medicaid and other cuts —

Louisiana Illuminator: Louisiana Has Removed 275,000 People From Medicaid Over Six Months 
Louisiana took 275,000 people off Medicaid from the end of June through December, as it complies with renewed federal standards for the government-backed health insurance program. Almost a quarter of the people dropped, 66,500, are children. (O'Donoghue, 1/30)

Maryland Matters: Only Four Months Left In Medicaid ‘Unwinding.’ Who Is Losing Coverage? 
Since May, over 245,000 Marylanders have lost health care coverage from Medicaid, an insurance plan aimed at low-income residents, during a eligibility review period often referred to as “Medicaid unwinding.” Eight months into the unwinding period, a new report from Maryland Department of Health shows that some areas in Maryland are retaining Medicaid coverage while some populations are losing it. The department says it will use the data to target harder to reach populations in the remaining four months of the unwinding period. (Brown, 1/31)

Indiana Capital Chronicle: Lt. Gov, Lawmakers Call On FSSA To Pause Medicaid Cuts For Parents Of Disabled Children 
Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and three sitting lawmakers publicly called on the Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) to pause proposed program cuts for parents of medically complex children during an Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Task Force meeting Monday. FSSA announced the decision to curb its use of Attendant Care pay for Legally Responsible Individuals (LRIs), usually parents, in response to a $1 billion shortfall in the Medicaid budget. During the COVID-19 pandemic, FSSA allowed parents to be paid for care normally covered by home health nurses — a field with a shortage of workers then and now. (Downard, 1/29)

The Texas Tribune and Propublica: Texas’ Civil Medicaid Fraud Unit Is Falling Apart
For years, an elite team of lawyers at the Texas attorney general’s office went toe-to-toe with some of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world, on a mission to weed out fraud and abuse in the Medicaid system. And the team was wildly successful, securing positive press for the attorney general’s office and bringing in money for the state — lots of it. In a little more than two decades, the Civil Medicaid Fraud Division has helped recover a whopping $2.6 billion. Of that, $1 billion went to the state’s general fund, which pays for critical services like education and health care. (Davila, 1/31)

Modern Healthcare: SAVE Act Aims To Prevent Violence Against Healthcare Workers
Congress could actually pass a bill to crack down on violence against healthcare workers this year, lawmakers and advocates said at a Capitol Hill briefing Tuesday. The Safety from Violence for Healthcare Employees Act of 2023, or SAVE Act, would make it a federal crime to attack healthcare workers in the process of doing their jobs and authorize penalties up to 10 or 20 years in jail, on a par with laws protecting airline workers. The American Hospital Association-endorsed measure also would supply $25 million in grants for hospital safety initiatives. (McAuliff, 1/30)

In other news from Capitol Hill —

Modern Healthcare: Medicare Pay Cuts Take Effect As Congress Weighs Options
If anyone were to ask members of Congress if doctors should be contending with Medicare pay cuts after a pandemic and a period of extraordinary inflation, and amid a chronic physician shortage, nearly all would say no. Yet, that is what happened on Jan. 1, and even powerful lawmakers who would like to ease or reverse that cut can't promise it will happen, even after recent actions to forestall hospital cuts and to extend expiring healthcare programs such as federally qualified health centers. (McAuliff, 1/30)

NBC News: Medicare Drug Price Negotiations To Start On Heart, Diabetes, Arthritis Drugs
The government is set to begin negotiating prices on the 10 costliest prescription drugs covered by Medicare this week, setting the stage for a fierce tug of war between U.S. officials and drugmakers as the Biden administration attempts to lower soaring prescription drug costs for older adults. Medicare provides health insurance coverage to more than 65 million people in the U.S., according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS. (Lovelace Jr., 1/30)

The Hill: Democratic Senators Call On DEA To Deschedule Marijuana Entirely 
A group of Democratic senators called on the Biden administration Tuesday to completely deschedule marijuana, arguing the White House’s recommendations to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to reschedule the drug do not go far enough to address the harm that has occurred from the current system. In a letter addressed to Attorney General Merrick Garland and DEA Administrator Anne Milgram, 11 Democratic senators, along with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), argued the administration “should deschedule marijuana altogether.” (Choi, 1/30)

San Francisco Chronicle: Big Tech CEOs To Face Senate Grilling Over Child Safety Issues
Members of the Senate will interrogate CEOs of five social media giants Wednesday about their efforts to address child sexual exploitation. ... The grilling will take place amid growing concerns about social media’s impact on young users’ mental health. And as a recent episode involving AI-generated, sexually explicit images of pop star Taylor Swift — distributed without her knowledge or consent — drives home, artificial intelligence is amplifying the dangers of online platforms. (Stein, 1/30)

The Guardian: Rate Of US Babies Born Prematurely Has Grown 12%, Analysis Says 
The rate of babies born prematurely in the US grew 12% from 2014 to 2022 to nearly 8.7%, with pronounced racial and age disparities among the mothers, a new analysis from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) found. Black mothers were almost twice as likely as white mothers to give birth before babies reached full term, 12.5% versus 7.6% respectively. Similarly, women older than 40 had a greater risk of preterm birth compared to women aged 20-29, 12.5% versus 8.23%. (Glenza, 1/31)

In other reproductive health news —

Military.com: VA Set To Expand Fertility Treatment To Single Veterans And Same-Sex Couples Following Defense Department Shift 
The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to give more veterans who use the VA for medical care broader access to advanced fertility treatments, including those who require in vitro fertilization to conceive and who need egg or sperm donations as part of their efforts to start a family. The revised policy, based on a change required at the Defense Department by ongoing litigation, is expected to expand availability of the benefit to single veterans, same-sex couples and married couples unable to use their own gametes. (Kime, 1/30)

In abortion updates —

CBS News: ACLU Warns Supreme Court That Lower Court Abortion Pill Decisions Relied On "Patently Unreliable Witnesses"
The American Civil Liberties Union is warning the Supreme Court that lower court decisions in a closely watched battle over a widely used abortion pill relied on "patently unreliable witnesses" and "ideologically tainted junk science." In a friend-of-the-court brief the ACLU filed with the Center for Reproductive Rights and The Lawyering Project, the groups argued the lower courts that have ruled in the case involving the drug mifepristone supplanted the Food and Drug Administration's scientific judgment with unproven assertions from anti-abortion rights medical associations and doctors about the alleged harms of medication abortion. (Quinn, 1/30)

The Hill: Sotomayor Says She Feels ‘Frustration’ Daily As Conservative Justices Move US To Right
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said Monday she feels daily “frustration” as conservative justices move the country to the ideological right. In an appearance at the University of California, Berkely School of Law, Sotomayor was asked how she copes with the consistently conservative rulings from the court. “Every loss truly traumatizes me,” but “I get up the next morning,” she said in response to the question, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. The crowd — about 1,300 students — applauded. (Fortinsky, 1/30)

San Francisco Chronicle: Newsom Joins Governors Urging SCOTUS To Preserve Abortion Pill Access
Governors of California and other Democratic-led states urged the Supreme Court on Tuesday to maintain women’s access to the pills used in more than half of all U.S. abortions, saying a ban or restrictions on mifepristone would harm women and their states and would protect no one. “Significantly reducing access to mifepristone will not make patients safer — it will only add extreme burdens to healthcare providers, patients, state medical systems, and those responsible for safeguarding public health and safety,” the governors of 21 states and the territory of Guam said in a filing with the court. (Egelko, 1/30)

The 19th: What A Second Trump Term Could Mean For Abortion Restrictions
Donald Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, has cast abortion to the background of his campaign and declined calls to champion a national abortion ban. But, if reelected, Trump’s tune could change: Without the aid of Congress, the former president would have tools to quickly curtail access to the procedure — and the pressure on him to wield them has already started. (Luthra and Barclay, 1/30)

The New York Times: Vertex Experimental Drug Cuts Off Pain At The Source, Company Says 
Vertex Pharmaceuticals of Boston announced Tuesday that it had developed an experimental drug that relieves moderate to severe pain, blocking pain signals before they can get to the brain. It works only on peripheral nerves — those outside the brain and the spinal cord — making it unlike opioids. Vertex says its new drug is expected to avoid opioids’ potential to lead to addiction. The company reported that it had completed two randomized studies, the first in 1,118 people who had abdominoplasties and the other in 1,073 people who had bunion surgery. The two procedures are commonly used in studies of people with acute pain, the temporary kind that is brought on by something like a surgical procedure and is likely to ease with time. (Kolata, 1/30)

Stat: Vertex Non-Opioid Pain Medication Trial Results Get A Mixed Reaction
Late-stage trial results for a pain medication developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals reinforced experts’ sense that the drug was both safe and offered modest pain relief. But the findings also prompted fresh debate on Tuesday about how widely used the therapy would be should it win regulatory approval. (Wosen, 1/30)

More pharmaceutical industry updates —

Crain's Chicago Business: Walgreens Layoffs Hit More Workers In Third Round Of Cuts
As Walgreens Boots Alliance continues to cut costs, the Deerfield, Illinois-based company is laying off more workers, marking its third round of corporate layoffs in less than a year. The pharmacy, retail and healthcare giant cut 145 workers across the company, primarily from its corporate workforce, according to an internal memo written by Chief Customer Officer Tracey Brown and obtained by Crain’s. (Davis, 1/30)

Stat: Novo Nordisk To Expand Supply Of Wegovy For U.S. Patients
Novo Nordisk said Wednesday that it had started to increase the availability of its blockbuster obesity drug Wegovy for new patients in the United States, after massive demand and a supply crunch had led it to limit such doses last May. (Joseph, 1/31)

Stat: FDA Drug Safety: Singulair Case Shows Systemic Surveillance Flaws
After a drug enters the market, it’s up to Food and Drug Administration regulators to ensure its continued safety and efficacy. A recent New York Times story suggests that, in the case of the popular asthma drug Singulair, the FDA fell short — both because the agency delayed action for years on reports from patient advocates and independent groups that the drug could cause suicidal thoughts, and because when it did add a warning label about its potential side effects in 2020, clinicians and patients still weren’t always aware of the risks. (Gaffney, 1/31)

KFF Health News: The FTC Is Attacking Drugmakers’ ‘Patent Thickets’
The Federal Trade Commission has challenged the validity of over 100 drug product patents, focusing on devices used to deliver medicines, like inhalers and autoinjectors, in an effort to increase competition and potentially lower some prices. The FTC says drugmakers illegitimately use the patents to prevent competitors from offering cheaper generic alternatives. It’s the first time the FTC has tried the tactic, said Hannah Garden-Monheit, director of the FTC’s Office of Policy Planning. (Rosenthal, 1/31)

Axios: Good Vibes For Hospitals On Wall Street
The stepped-up demand for medical care that's left health insurers nervous is bringing good vibes to the hospital industry, whose outlook was buoyed Tuesday by HCA Healthcare's better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings. (Reed, 1/31)

Modern Healthcare: Humana’s CenterWell Senior Primary Care Expands Into New Markets
Humana’s CenterWell Senior Primary Care will expand into three new markets this spring and add locations in five existing markets later in the year, the company announced Tuesday. The Louisville, Kentucky-based company said clinics opening in Asheville, North Carolina, Baton Rouge, Louisiana and New Orleans will begin seeing patients in late spring or early summer. Humana has not yet set a timeline for opening additional clinics in Charlotte, North Carolina, Indianapolis, Jackson, Mississippi, Orlando, Florida and Richmond, Virginia. However, the company said it hoped to have those locations operating by the end of 2024. (Eastabrook, 1/30)

Modern Healthcare: Accompany Health Launches With $56M In Funding From Venrock, ARCH
Dr. Rahul Rajkumar founded Accompany Health in 2022 because he said low-income Americans with complex medical needs deserve better than what the healthcare system has given them. On Tuesday, the company launched publicly with a $56 million Series A funding round. Accompany provides primary, behavioral and social care to low-income patients through at-home providers and virtual platforms. (Perna, 1/30)

CBS News: Mayor Says He Supports Washington Health System Merging With UPMC
The mayor of Washington is offering his support for the potential merger between Washington Health System and UPMC. The hospital CEO painted a dire picture, saying the merger is critical or they'll be forced to shut down, and Mayor JoJo Burgess agrees. He says the hospital found a willing participant in UPMC to help and no one should stand in the way. "We have to support this type of merger because if we don't, I do believe that Washington Health System will not be here in the coming years," Burgess said. (Bortz, 1/30)

In other health industry news —

Wyoming Public Radio: UW Removes Dean Of Health Sciences College Amid Controversy
The University of Wyoming (UW) has removed the College of Health Sciences dean following several months of sustained public scrutiny. Jacob Warren served as dean of Health Sciences for less than two years. During his tenure, Warren sought to reorganize the college. He wanted to move some community outreach programs, like the Wyoming Telehealth Network, from WIND to a new division. WIND is the Wyoming Institute for Disabilities and serves a statewide community. (Victor, 1/30)

Modern Healthcare: How Digital Therapeutics Can Treat Patients Through Smartphones
Digital therapeutics hold promise but companies within the industry are searching for a viable business model. Digital therapeutics companies develop software applications that can deliver wellness products or therapies to patients, primarily through smartphones. Companies operating in the space are taking vastly different approaches to increase adoption from patients and providers while potentially receiving reimbursement from payers. (Turner, 1/30)

KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest 'KFF Health News Minute' 
This week on the KFF Health News Minute: The federal government will force some insurers to review prior authorization requests more quickly, and it’s still worth it to get vaccinated for the flu, covid, and RSV in the middle of respiratory virus season. (1/30)

Axios: Utah Governor Signs Anti-Trans Bathroom Bill
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed a bill on Tuesday that would ban transgender people's access to public restrooms and locker rooms. "We want public facilities that are safe and accommodating for everyone and this bill increases privacy protections for all," said Cox, who is running for re-election this year, in a statement. (Bojorquez, 1/30)

The 19th: Trans People In Florida Can No Longer Update Their Driver’s Licenses
The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles will no longer update a transgender person’s driver’s license with their correct gender identity, according to an internal agency memo sent last week — a move that was not prompted by any new law. The new policy “pertains solely to replacement license requests,” the agency’s director of communications said in an emailed statement. This would affect transgender adults across the state, since people typically update their documentation after, or while, undergoing medical treatments or socially transitioning. (Rummler, 1/30)

More health news from across the U.S. —

NBC News: Ohio Reverses Local Menthol Tobacco Bans, Infuriating Doctors
On New Year's Day, the city of Columbus, Ohio, did what the federal government has not been able to: ban the sale of menthol cigarettes. Three weeks later, the state Legislature voted to reinstate menthol and other flavored tobacco products. ... The move has frustrated public health officials in Ohio who say residents are already at greater risk of dying early from smoking-related diseases. The state has one of the highest smoking rates among adults in the country: 17.1%, compared to the national rate of 11.5%, according to the American Cancer Society. (Edwards, 1/30)

AP: Fentanyl State Of Emergency Declared In Downtown Portland, Oregon
Several elected leaders in Oregon declared a state of emergency on Tuesday for downtown Portland over the public health and public safety crisis fueled by fentanyl. Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson made the declaration for a 90-day period during which collaboration and response will come from a command center downtown. The three governments are directing their agencies to work with first responders in connecting people addicted to the synthetic opioid with resources including drug treatment programs and to crack down on drug sales. (1/30)

Missouri Independent: Psychedelic Therapy Debate To Missouri General Assembly
Republican lawmakers are once again pushing legislation that would require Missouri to conduct a clinical study on using psilocybin, more commonly referred to as “magic mushrooms,” to treat depression, substance use or as part end-of-life care. Last year, the House overwhelmingly approved the measure. But it never made it to a final House vote. (Rivas, 1/30)

Minnesota Public Radio: Two Rural Minnesota Labor Wards Are On The Brink Of Closure
There’s a public hearing Tuesday evening in Fosston, in northwest Minnesota, on a decision to stop delivering babies at the hospital in town. It is the second hospital this month to announce a closure of its delivery ward. Mayo Clinic in New Prague also said it intends to close its ward. That means pregnant people in Fosston and New Prague will have to travel longer distances to find an obstetric unit that delivers babies. (Wurzer and Finn, 1/30)

Los Angeles Times: Fire Within Castaic Landfill Raises Worry Over Toxic Air
As operators struggle to contain a smoldering fire and pressure buildup deep within Chiquita Canyon Landfill, air quality regulators are raising alarms over the potential health risks posed by the toxic fumes escaping the Castaic facility. Environmental regulators say that the local air and water samples have contained elevated levels of benzene, a cancer-causing chemical that evaporates easily. They also have reprimanded Waste Connections, the landfill’s owner, for failing to report the leaks when they first occurred and for not providing area residents with air quality data. (Briscoe,, 1/30)

KFF Health News: Montana Vows Changes To Avoid Delayed Contracts. Some Health Providers Still Await Back Pay
The head of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services said the agency has nearly cleared its backlog of incomplete contracts that risked people’s access to health services. Even so, some organizations say the state still owes them tens of thousands of dollars for services already provided. (Houghton, 1/31)

Fox News: Americans Trust Nurses The Most Out Of 23 Major Professions, New Poll Finds
In nurses, Americans trust — even more so than doctors. That’s according to Gallup’s 2023 Honesty and Ethics poll, which ranked 23 major professions by the level of trust U.S. adults place in them. Nurses hold the top spot as the most trusted profession, with 78% of Americans who took part stating that they adhere to "very high" or "high" standards for honesty and ethics, according to a press release from Gallup. This is the 22nd consecutive year that nurses have been ranked as the most trustworthy. Overall, nurses’ trust ranking has dipped by 7 percentage points since 2019, but is still higher than dentists (59% trust rating in 2023) and medical doctors (56% trust ranking). (Rudy, 1/31)

More health and wellness news —

CBS News: Harvard, MIT Students Develop Female Manikins To Make CPR Training More Inclusive To Women
There's a group of students at MIT and Harvard banding together to save lives by improving CPR training. "There is very little female representation in the curriculum and so we thought we should fix that," MIT student Charles Sloane, a member of LifeSaveHer, told WBZ-TV. LifeSaveHer is a company developed by MIT and Harvard undergraduate students, who are also EMTs and CPR instructors, to create female manikin covers that address gender disparities in CPR training. Research from the National Institute of Health shows that women are less likely than men to receive bystander CPR. (Kincade, 1/30)

NBC News: Improving Fitness Linked To 35% Lower Risk Of Prostate Cancer: Study
A new study suggests that getting into better shape could reduce the risk of prostate cancer in particular, a diagnosis that around 113 out of every 100,000 men get every year in the U.S. The research, published Tuesday in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, showed that men whose cardiorespiratory fitness improved by 3% or more annually over three years, on average, were 35% less likely to develop prostate cancer than men whose cardiorespiratory fitness declined by 3% annually. (Bendix, 1/30)

CNN: More People Need Transplants Than There Are Organ Donors. Pigs Might Offer A Solution
Last summer, after more than a decade of illness, Lawrence Faucette and his wife, Ann, faced the hard reality that the end of his life was near. He was 58 and had end-stage heart failure. Peripheral artery disease made him ineligible for a heart transplant. (Christensen, 1/30)

The Washington Post: Elmo Asked How Everyone’s Doing And, Um, They’re Not Great!
It was a Monday morning at the end of a long January — a double whammy of devastation — and Elmo had a question. “Elmo is just checking in!” the beloved Sesame Street character wrote on social media. “How is everybody doing?” Not well, apparently, and maybe really bad. Celebrities, news outlets, Sesame Street characters’ accounts and everyday people replied — many with existential dread, despair and exhaustion. By Tuesday morning, Elmo’s post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, had received over 110 million views. While there was plenty of banter among the responses, the overall tone also reflected a sense of hopelessness that appears to be common. (Rosenzweig-Ziff, 1/30)

KFF Health News: Ketamine Therapy For Mental Health A ‘Wild West’ For Doctors And Patients 
In late 2022, Sarah Gutilla’s treatment-resistant depression had grown so severe, she was actively contemplating suicide. Raised in foster care, the 34-year-old’s childhood was marked by physical violence, sexual abuse, and drug use, leaving her with life-threatening mental scars. Out of desperation, her husband scraped together $600 for the first of six rounds of intravenous ketamine therapy at Ketamine Clinics Los Angeles, which administers the generic anesthetic for off-label uses such as treating depression. When Gutilla got into an Uber for the 75-mile drive to Los Angeles, it was the first time she had left her home in Llano, California, in two years. The results, she said, were instant. (Megli, 1/31)

Axios: Genetic Test Could Help Decide Who Should Get Obesity Drugs
As everyone in health care is trying to figure out which patients should get pricey new weight-loss drugs, a biotech company spun out of the Mayo Clinic is betting the genetics-based approach it's pioneering may hold the answer. (Reed, 1/31)

Stat: New Ultima Genomics DNA Sequencer Can Read Genome For $100
Ultima Genomics, an upstart some observers have called a “dark horse” in the world of DNA sequencing, will soon launch a line of high-power instruments that can read a human genome for as little as $100, the company’s leadership told STAT. (Wosen, 1/30)

Reuters: 2seventy Bio To Sell Experimental Cell Therapies, Names New CEO 
Cancer treatment maker 2seventy bio said it will sell all its experimental cell therapies to Regeneron Pharmaceuticals to focus on its only approved product Abecma, sending 2seventy's shares up more than 14% in premarket trade. (1/30)

CIDRAP: Quad High-Dose Flu Vaccine Tied To Fewer Hospitalizations In Seniors 
Danish seniors who received the quadrivalent (four-strain) high-dose influenza vaccine (QIV-HD) had fewer hospitalizations for flu and other conditions compared to their peers who received the standard quadrivalent flu vaccine (QIV-SD), according to a post-hoc analysis published late last week in Clinical Microbiology and Infection. (Schnirring, 1/29)

New England Journal of Medicine: Hospital Prices For Physician-Administered Drugs For Patients With Private Insurance 
Hospitals can leverage their position between the ultimate buyers and sellers of drugs to retain a substantial share of insurer pharmaceutical expenditures. (James C. Robinson, Ph.D., Christopher Whaley, Ph.D., and Sanket S. Dhruva, M.D., 1/25)

USA Today: Supreme Court Mifepristone Abortion Ruling Can't Rely On Junk Science
Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. Food and Drug Administration, targets access to mifepristone, a safe and effective medication used in most abortions in this country and for miscarriage management. Since its FDA approval a quarter century ago, mifepristone has been safely used by more than 5 million people. (Julia Kaye, 1/31)

The Washington Post: The Fentanyl Crisis Is Being Driven By Supply — Not Demand 
Opioids transform our brain chemistry, creating dependency and squelching our basic instincts for survival. But it is relentless supply that perpetuates this demand by making opioids readily available — and getting sober an agony. (Sam Quinones, 1/31)

Newsweek: India Could Help Break China's Hold On U.S. Drug Supply Chains 
n recent years, increasing geopolitical tensions, trade decoupling, and the coronavirus pandemic have revealed the vulnerability of America's pharmaceutical supply chains. It is increasingly evident that the United States' dependence on China is a significant risk, especially for obtaining vital medications. Addressing this risky dependency is of utmost importance. (Rahul Tiwari, 1/30)

Scientific American: Disinformation Is The Real Threat To Democracy And Public Health 
Disinformation is the coin of the modern realm. Vaccine denial, climate denial, election denial and war-crime denial have joined the grotesque denial of the Holocaust in the ranks of dishonesties now regularly foisted on the public. We can, however, do something about this crisis of the information age. (Stephan Lewankowsky, Sander Van Der Linden and Andy Norman, 1/30)

The New York Times: Why America Can’t Recover From That First Awful Covid Year 
Covid numbers recently climbed again. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention once again reported monthly death tolls in the thousands. Mask mandates are back in New York City’s public medical facilities and nursing homes. The presidential race has kicked into gear and, just as in 2020, the stakes seem existential. It all makes me feel like I’m revisiting a past I never actually left. (Eric Klinenberg, 1/31)

Stat: Eliminate Covid-19 Treatment Patent Protections At America's Peril
The Biden administration may soon double down on one of its gravest mistakes. In 2022, it supported a petition before the World Trade Organization to gut intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines. Now, with the WTO planning to take up the issue again in late February, the administration must decide whether to support a similar proposal that would strip protections from Covid-19 treatments and diagnostics as well. (David Kappos and Andrei Iancu, 1/31)

The New York Times: Who Gets Left Behind When Gene Therapy Cures A Disease? 
Gene therapy has seen remarkable and highly publicized success in recent months, from the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of what amounts to cures for sickle cell disease to the news that a boy with congenital deafness could hear for the first time in his life following gene therapy. (Daniela J. Lamas, 1/31)

The Tennessean: Health Care Worker Shortage Led To This Novel Approach To Training
Headlines about the high cost of college and the staggering shortage of health care workers are almost unavoidable. Yet, there is good news on both fronts and it's developing right here in Nashville. (Peggy Valentine, 1/30)

The Star Tribune: Mental Health, And Caregivers, Are In Crisis
We remain in an ongoing mental health crisis. Persisting for years, it's a crisis marked by increasingly complex health needs and exacerbated by inadequate funding to an already fragmented and fragile system. (Todd Archbold, 1/30)

Stat: Commercial Surrogacy Can Be Ethical, Despite Pope’s Claims
Over the past few years, I have watched a wonderful young boy I’ll call Chad grow up smart and full of life. His parents, a gay couple with whom I am friends, used a gestational surrogate, Mary (also a pseudonym), a kind, down-to-earth woman whom I have also met. I have been thinking of him recently when I read Pope Francis’ recent comments about surrogacy. (Robert Klitzman, 1/31)