The Superbug Era: Big-Gun Antibiotics Being Used To Treat Gonorrhea Which Used To Be Taken Out By Single Pill
A case study of a man who traveled to Thailand and picked up a strain paints a grim picture of what lays ahead in terms of treatment. The only drugs that worked were expensive and intensive to administer. In other public health news: egg freezing, relationships and health, nutrition, aphasia, Zika, retirement communities, and more.
Stat:
A Case Study In The Fast-Rising Threat Of Antibiotic Resistance
In the good old days — way back in early 2012 — people who contracted gonorrhea were given a single pill to cure the infection. A newly published paper shows that a time is fast approaching when a far more onerous course of medical care may be required to get rid of a bacterium that seems hell-bent on becoming untreatable. Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the bug that causes gonorrhea, has relentlessly vanquished every antibiotic medical practice has used against it. The current recommended cure — an injection of a drug called ceftriaxone, given in combination with a second antibiotic, azithromycin — is the last good option to treat this infection, and there are already signs that its days may be numbered. (Branswell, 7/6)
The Washington Post:
Do ‘Social’ Egg Freezers Use Their Eggs? Here Are New Numbers From A Large Fertility Center.
Social egg freezing is a big topic of conversation in our office these days. My colleague Nicole Ellis has launched a video docuseries about her journey to figure out whether she should use the technology to save eggs that she could potentially use to fertilize later, when she feels the time is right. ("Social" differentiates this reason for egg storage from, say, freezing eggs before cancer treatment or for other medical reasons.) A number of other 20- and 30-something reporters, editors, producers and others are thinking about the procedure, too. (Cha, 7/6)
The Washington Post:
Relationships Protect Your Health, Even Casual Ones
Close relationships with family and friends, we know, are important for our health and well-being. But what about the people who make up our broader social networks: the parents at school drop-off, the neighbor down the street or that colleague in another department who always makes you laugh? While research on the benefits of social connections has generally focused on the importance of “strong ties,” or the intimate relationships we have with family and close friends, a growing body of research is shedding light on the hidden benefits of casual acquaintances, too. Surprisingly, these “weak ties” (that funny colleague, for example) can serve important functions such as boosting physical and psychological health and buffering against stress and loneliness, researchers have found. (Wallace, 7/7)
Kaiser Health News:
Feel Like The Last Friend Standing? Here’s How To Cultivate New Buds As You Age.
Donn Trenner, 91, estimates that two-thirds of his friends are dead.“That’s a hard one for me,” he said. “I’ve lost a lot of people.” As baby boomers age, more and more folks will reach their 80s, 90s — and beyond. They will not only lose friends but face the daunting task of making new friends at an advanced age.Friendship in old age plays a critical role in health and well-being, according to recent findings from the Stanford Center on Longevity’s Sightlines Project. Socially isolated individuals face health risks comparable to those of smokers, and their mortality risk is twice that of obese individuals, the study notes. (Horovitz, 7/9)
The Washington Post:
Nutrition And Diet Advice Often Are Small Part Of Medical Education
When Americans hear about a health craze, they may turn to their physician for advice: Will that superfood really boost brain function? Is that supplement okay for me to take? Or they may be interested in food choices because of obesity, malnutrition or the role of diet in chronic disease. But a doctor may not be a reliable source. Experts say that while most physicians may recognize that diet is influential in health, they don’t learn enough about nutrition in medical school or the training programs that follow. (Cernansky, 7/8)
The Washington Post:
Aphasia Makes You Lose Your Words After Brain Damage
What if you wanted to speak but couldn’t string together recognizable words? What if someone spoke to you but you couldn’t understand what they were saying? These situations aren’t hypothetical for the more than 1 million Americans with aphasia, which affects the ability to understand and speak with others. Aphasia occurs in people who have had strokes, traumatic brain injuries or other brain damage. Some victims have a scrambled vocabulary or are unable to express themselves; others find it hard to make sense of the words they read or hear. (Blakemore, 7/7)
The Washington Post:
When Searching For Happiness, Try Eating Popcorn With Chopsticks
It happens fast: You crack open a bottle of your favorite drink and put it to your lips. The delicious flavor is nearly overwhelming. But a minute later, you’re barely noticing the taste as you drink it. Or you buy a new car and think it will make you smile every time you drive it for years. But a month later, that sensation is gone. Now it’s just a car. (Smith and O'Brien, 7/7)
PBS NewsHour:
What Happened To Zika?
Now that the weather is warm and mosquitoes are out, how much do we need to worry about Zika? Should we factor it into our summer travels? Here’s a guide to help you out. (Grennell, 7/6)
NPR:
Essential Tremor Treatment Uses Focused Ultrasound
Alan Dambach was in his late 50s when he noticed how unsteady his hands had become. Over the next decade, his tremor got so bad he had difficulty eating with a spoon or fixing equipment at his family's tree farm in western Pennsylvania. "I couldn't get nuts and bolts to work," he says. (Hamilton, 7/9)
The Washington Post:
Retirement Communities Turn Their Sights On A Once-Invisible Group: LGBT Seniors
In 2016, as Kenneth MacLean was about to turn 90 and was looking to move to a retirement community, he had a question for Asbury Methodist Village in Gaithersburg, Md. “I asked, ‘Would there be many gays here? Would gays be welcomed?’ ” MacLean, a retired Unitarian minister, wanted to be sure his partner of 22 years, a man who lives in England and spends several months a year visiting him, would be welcomed by staff and other residents. (Bahrampour, 7/8)
NPR:
To Repel Ticks, Try Spraying Your Clothes With A Pesticide Called Permethrin
There's new evidence to support a decades-old strategy for preventing the tick bites that lead to all sorts of nasty diseases, including Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. The remedy involves spraying your clothing with permethrin — a pesticide that's chemically similar to extracts of the flowering chrysanthemum plant. (Aubrey, 7/9)
The Washington Post:
Kalea And Noah Avery: Brother And Sister Were Diagnosed With The Same Brain Tumor Less Than Two Weeks Apart
Just weeks after their 6-year-old daughter started complaining about severe headaches, after numerous doctors' appointments and desperate trips to the emergency room — and after doctors discovered a brain tumor and took it out — it was happening all over again. Duncan and Nohea Avery had been tending to their daughter, Kalea, who was recovering last month from surgery to remove a medulloblastoma when they learned their 4-year-old son had one, too. (Bever, 7/7)
