Attorneys General Ask Congress To Allow CDC Gun Deaths Study
Arguing that gun violence is a public health issue, attorneys general from nearly a dozen states urge federal lawmakers to lift a restriction that keeps the health agency from studying gun violence. Meanwhile, news outlets report on death rate disparities for black patients with liver cancer and the search for a better antibiotic.
The Boston Globe:
Healey, Other AGs Demand CDC Study On Gun Violence
About a dozen attorneys general, led by Maura Healey, are asking Congress to allow the nation’s top public health agency to study gun deaths, just as it studies deaths caused by auto accidents. (Levenson, 5/24)
NBC News:
Study Finds Blacks More Likely To Die From Liver Cancer
Black patients diagnosed with liver cancer were more likely to die and less likely to receive lifesaving transplants than white patients, researchers reported Monday. The disparities are so great that race alone is the biggest predictor of who is likely to die from liver cancer, the researchers told a big conference in San Diego called Digestive Disease Week. (Jarrett, 5/23)
NPR:
Building An Antibiotic To Kill Bad Microbes While Sparing Good Ones
Antibiotics can save lives, but sometimes they can work too well. Most antibiotics can't tell the difference between good and bad bacteria. That means the medicines kill helpful bacteria in your gut while they're obliterating the bacteria making you sick. The helpful bacteria make up what's known as your microbiome. Damaging the microbiome can cause a number of health problems, including making people more vulnerable to infections from other bacteria such as Clostridium difficile, which can cause debilitating diarrhea and be difficult to treat. (Sofia, 5/23)
