First Edition: Friday, Sept. 6, 2024

KFF Health News: Thanks To Reddit, A New Diagnosis Is Bubbling Up Across The Nation
In a video posted to Reddit this summer, Lucie Rosenthal’s face starts focused and uncertain, looking intently into the camera, before it happens. She releases a succinct, croak-like belch. Then, it’s wide-eyed surprise, followed by rollicking laughter. “I got it!” the Denver resident says after what was her second burp ever. “It’s really rocking my mind that I am fully introducing a new bodily function at 26 years old,” Rosenthal later told KFF Health News while working remotely, because, as great as the burping was, it was now happening uncontrollably. (Bichell, 9/6)

KFF Health News: As Record Heat Sweeps The US, Some People Must Choose Between Food And Energy Bills
During the heat dome that blanketed much of the Southeast in June, Stacey Freeman used window units to cool her poorly insulated mobile home in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Over the winter, the 44-year-old mom relied on space heaters. In both instances, her energy bills reached hundreds of dollars a month. “Sometimes I have to choose whether I’m going to pay the light bill,” Freeman said, “or do I pay all the rent or buy food or not let my son do a sport?” (Newsome, 9/6)

Stat: Youth Vaping Declines In 2024, A Public-Health Victory
The number of U.S. kids who are using e-cigarettes has continued to tumble, new federal data show, prompting government health officials to declare an incremental victory in their fight against youth tobacco use. (Lawrence, 9/5)

USA Today: Good News On Teen Vaping? Rates Have Dropped, But Another Product Worries Tobacco Watchdogs
The survey showed that more teens have turned to nicotine pouches in recent years, which are sold under brands such as Zyn and Rogue. The survey found that 1.8% of school-age kids used nicotine pouches in the past 30 days, slightly more than 1.5% who reported using them last year. Nearly a half million school-age kids used nicotine pouches in the past 30 days, more than double the 200,000 youth pouch users in 2021. Among nicotine pouch users, Zyn was the most popular brand followed by on!, Rogue, Velo and Juice Head ZTN. More than 85% of pouch users said they used flavored products. (Alltucker, 9/5)

The Hill: Alaska Judge Strikes Down Law Saying Only Doctors Can Provide Abortions
A state judge in Alaska struck down a law prohibiting anyone other than a licensed physician from performing abortions. Superior Court Judge Josie Garton ruled Wednesday the law imposed a substantial burden on patients’ fundamental privacy rights to make reproductive health decisions.  The Alaska Supreme Court previously found the right to privacy in the state’s constitution also applies to abortion rights. (Weixel, 9/5)

Reuters: Texas Sues To Block Biden Rule Protecting Privacy For Women Who Get Abortions 
Texas sued the Biden administration in an effort to block a new rule that seeks to protect the privacy of women living in states that ban abortion who travel out of state for the procedure. In a lawsuit filed on Wednesday in Lubbock, Texas, the state is asking a federal judge to strike down the rule, which prohibits healthcare providers and insurers from giving state law enforcement authorities information about reproductive healthcare that is legal where it was provided. (Pierson, 9/5)

Missouri Independent: Judge Calls Missouri's Characterization Of Abortion Amendment ‘Unfair’ And ‘Misleading’  
Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft has been ordered to remove his characterization of an abortion rights amendment from his government website after a judge deemed it was unfair and violated state statute. A Cole County judge on Thursday ruled that Ashcroft’s “fair ballot language” summary of the reproductive rights amendment, also known as Amendment 3, was “unfair, inaccurate, insufficient and misleading.” (Spoerre, 9/5)

The New York Times: Florida Health Agency Targets Abortion Rights Ballot Measure
The Florida agency charged with regulating health care providers, including abortion clinics, publicly opposed a proposed ballot amendment that would guarantee abortion rights, a move that critics say is unethical and also, perhaps, a violation of state law. “Florida Is Protecting Life,” reads the top of a website by the Agency for Health Care Administration. “Don’t let the fearmongers lie to you.” ... The website seems to be an aggressive move by the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis against the ballot measure. (Mazzei and Zernike, 9/5)

AP: New Mexico Starts Building Abortion Clinic To Serve Neighboring States 
Construction is getting underway on a state-funded reproductive health and abortion clinic in southern New Mexico that will cater to local residents and people who travel from neighboring states such as Texas and Oklahoma with major restrictions on abortion, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Thursday. Construction of the clinic will draw upon $10 million in state funding that was set aside by the governor under a 2022 executive order. New Mexico has one of the country’s most liberal abortion-access laws. (Lee, 9/5)

Politico: One Doctor's Odyssey To Obtain Abortion Training — At Any Cost 
The doctor is one of many residents across the country who have gone out of state for training in abortion since Dobbs. Most of them are OBGYN residents who are required to have that experience but are unable to get it in their home states. A smaller group are those, like the doctor, who have opted to do so in addition to their required medical training. Her experience is just one glimpse into the challenges these residents encounter as they try to cover as much as ground as possible on an expedited timeline out of state — and supports medical experts’ fears that shortcomings in post-Dobbs training alternatives could affect the skills of many doctors. (Ollstein, 9/6)

The Boston Globe: Attleboro Women’s Clinic Sues Crisis Pregnancy Center Next Door
A women’s health care center in Attleboro is accusing an unlicensed crisis pregnancy center that opened next door of trying to mislead its patients and persuade them not to have abortions, even stealing contact information and giving women false information about appointments. A lawsuit filed Thursday ... alleges that Attleboro Women’s Health Center, ... broke computer fraud, consumer protection, and wiretapping laws in its efforts to block abortions, court records show. (Fox, 9/5)

NPR: Lawmakers Ask FDA To Address Tampon Safety After Heavy Metal Study
Lawmakers are calling on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to do more to address concerns about the ingredients in tampons after a study released earlier this summer found toxic metals in products from over a dozen popular brands. Members of the Democratic Women’s Caucus called on the FDA to “review and improve the current safety standards for tampons” in a letter sent to Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf on Thursday. (Treisman, 9/5)

WCVB: New Cases Of EEE, West Nile Reported In Mass.; Risk Levels Raised
Massachusetts health officials raised the risk levels on Thursday for mosquito-borne illnesses Eastern equine encephalitis and West Nile Virus in several communities after announcing one new case of each virus. Both cases are men in their 70s in Middlesex County, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. (Tenser, 9/6)

WMUR: Mosquito Batches In NH Testing Positive For EEE At Highest Rate Since 2019
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, mosquito testing in New Hampshire is a voluntary initiative in each community. Twenty-nine cities and towns, mostly in the southeastern part of the state, have trapping programs. So far this year, more than 2,500 mosquito batches have been trapped and tested. The 10 positive EEE batches were the most found since 2019. (O'Brien, 9/4)

USA Today: The 25-Year Fight To Defeat West Nile Virus, One Convoy At A Time.
Late summer is peak mosquito season. Exactly 25 years ago, West Nile first appeared in the Western Hemisphere in New York City before it spread across North America. Public health officials have adapted by spraying pesticides to kill off Culex mosquitoes before they can infect people with the virus. But warming temperatures in recent years have made it easier for mosquitoes to multiply and spread diseases. Health departments face new challenges in protecting people from illness and death. (Cuevas, 9/5)

Time: Why Mosquitoes Are So Dangerous Right Now 
The species primarily responsible for spreading eastern equine encephalitis, Culiseta melanura, have drawn the most attention lately because of how deadly the disease is. But fewer than six cases have been reported so far this year in the U.S., and that's pretty on par with what's reported in New England every year, says Dr. James Shepherd, an infectious disease expert at Yale University School of Medicine. Despite the recent drastic actions of local authorities in closing down public areas, the number of infections so far this year don’t seem to be any greater than other years. (Park, 9/4)

Roll Call: Health Agencies Scramble To Prepare For New Mpox Strain 
State and federal health agencies are gearing up to respond to a new strain of mpox — the virus formerly known as monkeypox — if the new strain spreads to the United States. But this time, they are doing so with fewer resources. (Cohen, 9/5)

Reuters: Congo Receives Long-Awaited Mpox Vaccine Doses 
Democratic Republic of Congo received its first batch of mpox vaccines on Thursday, which health authorities hope will help curb an outbreak that has prompted the U.N. to declare a global public health emergency. Congo is the epicentre of the outbreak, which has spread to neighbouring countries and elsewhere, but a lack of vaccines in Africa has hampered efforts to stop the spread of the sometimes deadly disease. (Kasongo and Makangara, 9/6)

NBC News: New Covid Vaccine: Independent Pharmacies Report Delays As Pfizer And Moderna Doses Roll Out
As major pharmacy chains like CVS and Walgreens roll out the new Covid vaccine, independent pharmacies say they’re facing delays in getting their shipments, leading to longer wait times for their patients to get vaccinated. Neal Smoller, the owner of Village Apothecary, an independent pharmacy in Woodstock, New York, said he received doses of Moderna’s vaccine over the weekend, but Pfizer’s didn’t arrive until Wednesday. (Lovelace Jr., 9/5)

News-Medical.net: Arthritis Medications Could Reverse COVID Lung Damage
Arthritis drugs already available for prescription have the potential to halt lingering lung problems that can last months or years after COVID-19 infections, new research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine and Cedars-Sinai suggests. By examining damaged human lungs and developing an innovative new lab model, the scientists identified faulty immune processes responsible for the ongoing lung issues that plague an increasing number of people after they've otherwise recovered from COVID-19. These lasting harms of COVID infection, known as "post-infection lung fibrosis," have no good treatments. The new research, however, suggests that existing drugs such as baricitinib and anakinra can disrupt the malfunctioning immune response and finally allow damaged lungs to heal. (9/6)

The Washington Post: In Historic Case, Father Of 14-Year-Old School Shooting Suspect Charged With Murder
Georgia officials charged the father of the suspected Apalachee High gunman with two counts of second-degree murder Thursday — the most severe ever filed against the parent of an alleged school shooter. The arrest came less than 36 hours after two students and a pair of teachers were gunned down with an AR-15-style rifle that, investigators allege, the man allowed his 14-year-old son to possess. Along with murder, Colin Gray, 54, was charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter and eight counts of cruelty to children. His son, Colt Gray, has been charged with four felony counts of murder. (Cox, Rich and Blaskey, 9/5)

The Washington Post: Georgia School-Shooting Suspect Struggled With Mental Health, Aunt Says 
Colt Gray, 14, had been “begging for months” for mental health help before he allegedly carried out the attack Wednesday that left four people dead and nine others injured, according to an aunt of his. He “was begging for help from everybody around him,” Annie Brown, the aunt, told The Washington Post. “The adults around him failed him.” Brown, who lives in Central Florida, declined to elaborate on the teen’s mental health challenges but said she tried from afar to get him help. (Blaskey and Bailey, 9/5)

AP: Amish Woman Dies 18 Years After Being Injured In Deadly Schoolhouse Shooting 
A woman who was severely injured when a gunman killed five girls and wounded her and four other girls during an attack on their one-room Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania has died 18 years later, a funeral director said Thursday. ... Rosanna S. King, 23, was 6 years old at the time and had been considered the most severely injured survivor. She had been shot in the head and the attack left her unable to talk and needing a tube to be fed. She was dependent on others for personal care and mobility. (Scolforo, 9/5)

ABC News: Self-Swab HPV Test Set To Arrive In Doctors' Offices This Month 
One of the first tests that allows patients to self-collect samples to screen for human papillomavirus (HPV) will soon be available in doctors' offices. ... BD told ABC News that it started shipping its self-swab kits, called the BD Onclarity HPV Assay, to doctors' offices on Thursday and that kits will begin arriving at health care facilities later this month. (Salzman and Kekatos, 9/5)

Reuters: Abbott Follows Rival Dexcom With OTC Glucose Monitor Launch In US 
Abbott has launched its over-the-counter continuous glucose monitoring system in the U.S., the company said on Thursday, making it the second such device on the market to help people track their blood sugar levels. The device, called Lingo, will compete with a rival from DexCom, launched last week, and will be available for adults who are not on insulin. (S K, 9/5)

Reuters: Purdue Pharma Gets Extension For Sackler Settlement Talks 
Purdue Pharma on Thursday received an 18-day extension of a years-long pause on litigation against its owners, members of the wealthy Sackler family, after convincing a U.S. bankruptcy judge that the additional time will aid settlement negotiations. (Knauth, 9/5)

Axios: Court Tells Johnson & Johnson To Pay $1 Billion More For 2019 Robotics Deal
Johnson & Johnson broke its promises to investors in Auris Health, a surgical robotics startup it bought five years ago for $3.4 billion. Now it must shell out another $1 billion, based on a ruling yesterday from Delaware Chancery Court. This appears to be the largest legal reward ever granted in an investor earnout dispute, and could change the way that such provisions are written. (Primack, 9/5)

The Hill: Do Ozempic And Wegovy Have Hidden Side Effects? Lawsuit Alleges Bowel Obstruction, Stomach Paralysis
A woman who used the semaglutide drugs Wegovy and Ozempic to lose weight and treat diabetes says the drugmaker didn’t adequately warn her, or other patients, of the serious side effects she ended up experiencing. Juanita Gantt told CBS News she was found unconscious on the floor last October. When taken to the hospital, doctors realized “parts of her large intestine had died and needed to be removed,” CBS reports. She now has an ileostomy bag in place because her colon was removed. (Martichoux, 9/5)

Reuters: Fake Ozempic: How Batch Numbers Help Criminal Groups Spread Dangerous Weight Loss Drugs
In December, Drew, a 36-year-old man from San Antonio, Texas, drove more than 250 miles (400 km) to Mexico to buy cheap Ozempic to help him lose weight. Going home, he checked the pens. They looked unusual, so he shared photos on social media. The verdict: They were fakes. Three people on Reddit said Drew's product looked like insulin. "If so, it would be dangerous to use," said one. A surge of insulin can cause a sharp drop in blood sugar that can lead to dizziness, seizures and death. The incident sheds light on a wider problem in the manufacturing of highly sought-after drugs, one that lets criminal organizations circulate potentially lethal fakes: forged drug batch numbers. (Wingrove, 9/5)

CIDRAP: Study Suggests Unnecessary Antibiotics Contribute To Greenhouse Gas Emissions 
A new study by researchers at the University of Utah School of Medicine highlights the environmental impact of unnecessary antibiotic prescribing. In the study, which was published yesterday in Antimicrobial Stewardship & Hospital Epidemiology, the researchers used the weight of sample waste from an outpatient antibiotic prescription (a paper bag, paper leaflet insert, and plastic prescription bottle), US Environmental Protection Agency greenhouse gas emission factors, and the estimated percentage of unnecessary outpatient antibiotic prescriptions in 2014 and 2015 (28%) multiplied by the total number of antibiotic prescriptions in 2022 to calculate the amount of waste emissions produced by unnecessary outpatient antibiotic prescriptions. (Dall, 9/5)

CBS News: Whistleblower Tells Congress Steward Health Care CEO Ralph De La Torre Bragged He Could Sway Foreign Officials With "Brown Bags" Of Cash
A whistleblower has come forward to Congress alleging Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre and other Steward executives illegally conspired with foreign officials to secure a hospital contract abroad, CBS News has learned. "In touting Steward's supposed competitive advantage in Malta… de la Torre boasted that he could issue 'brown bags' to government officials if necessary to close transactions," Ram Tumuluri, a health care executive who worked with the Maltese government, wrote in a complaint to Congress, shared with CBS News. (Kaplan, Samu and Milton, 9/5)

AP: Physician Sentenced To 9 Months For Punching Officer During Jan. 6 Riot 
A Massachusetts medical doctor who punched a police officer during a mob’s attack on the U.S. Capitol was sentenced Thursday to nine months of imprisonment followed by nine months of home confinement. Jacquelyn Starer was in a crowd of rioters inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when she struck the officer with a closed fist and shouted a profane insult. ... Online licensing records indicate that Starer agreed in January 2023 not to practice medicine in Massachusetts. The state issued her a medical license in 1983. (Kunzelman, 9/5)

Crain's Chicago Business: UChicago Medicine Consolidates Cybersecurity After Data Breach
At a time when cybersecurity threats pose a growing risk to hospitals and patient privacy, UChicago Medicine is combining the roles of chief of information security and chief privacy officer, and promoting one of its own into the role. The academic health system's chief privacy officer, Karen Habercoss, on Sept. 1 was named chief information security and privacy officer and promoted to vice president, according to Yeman Collier, UChicago Medicine's chief information officer and senior vice president. (Asplund, 9/5)

Modern Healthcare: How HRSA, CMS Could Help Grow The Geriatrician Workforce
The future of the U.S. healthcare system is already being shaped by the growing population of older adults. But providers with expertise caring for them are dwindling — and the federal government’s work to grow the field is hitting a wall. Older adults tend to have more complex health conditions, are disproportionately impacted by chronic disease and disabilities, and are more likely to be affected by problems such as injuries from falls, according to the National Council on Aging. Those complexities result in billions of dollars in care each year, largely financed by Medicare and Medicaid. (Early, 9/5)

The Wall Street Journal: A Nurse Practitioner’s $25,000 In Student-Loan Debt Relief Turned Into A $217,500 Bill From The Government 
Haley Clements was working as a nurse practitioner at a rural Alabama clinic when she enrolled in a federal program that would pay off her remaining $25,000 in student debt in exchange for staying in her job for three more years. But when one of her supervising doctors died and the other retired, she struggled to find another qualifying position in the area. The penalty for breaching her contract with the National Health Service Corps would be at least $217,500, the program told her. Instead, Clements is suing the government. (Ballhaus, 9/5)

The Washington Post: Parkinson’s May Begin In The Gut, Study Adds To Growing Evidence
A new study adds to a growing body of evidence that Parkinson’s disease, long believed to have its origins in the brain, may begin in the gut. Gastrointestinal problems are common in patients with neurodegenerative disorders, to the point where a condition known as “institutional colon” was once thought to afflict those who lived in mental health institutions. In Parkinson’s disease, the entire gastrointestinal tract is affected, causing complications such as constipation, drooling, trouble swallowing and delayed emptying of the stomach. These symptoms often appear up to two decades before motor symptoms such as rigidity or tremor. (Kim, 9/5)

The Hill: Nearly 1 In 5 Dementia Cases Could Be Related To Vision Impairment: Study
Nearly 1 in 5 dementia cases could be associated with vision impairment, according to a study published Thursday, suggesting better eye health could help to lower the diagnosis rate. Dementia does not refer to a specific disease but is a general term for the impaired ability to recall, think or make decisions that inhibit daily tasks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The most common type of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease. (Nazzaro, 9/5)

Houston Chronicle: Houston Researchers Discover New Type Of Cells In Brain Tumor Patients
Houston researchers have discovered a “hybrid” type of brain cell that is capable of firing electrical impulses and may help doctors predict how long certain brain tumor patients will survive, according to a new study. Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine, the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital and UTHealth Houston said the cells are a hybrid of neurons and glia, the two main types of brain cells. ... Seventeen Houston researchers are credited in the study, which was published Thursday in the journal Cancer Cell. (MacDonald, 9/5)

Stat: See-Through Mice? Scientists See Potential In 'Tissue Clearing'
When a dye called tartrazine is added to food, it creates a bright yellow hue often associated with lemon-flavored candy. But when mixed with a little water and daubed on the skin of mice, the dye makes their skin nearly transparent. (Oza, 9/5)

The Washington Post: This Summer Was The Hottest In Recorded History Around The World
As floodwaters coursed through Texas and Taiwan, as mosquito-borne viruses spread across the Americas, as lethal heat struck down children on hikes and grandparents on pilgrimage, the world’s average temperature this summer soared to the highest level in record history, according to new data from Europe’s top climate agency. (Kaplan, 9/5)