First Edition: June 22, 2022

KHN: New Weight Loss Treatment Is Marked By Heavy Marketing And Modest Results 
First came the “edible billboard,” which appeared last year during the holidays in New York’s East Village loaded with cake treats. Then, in late January, came the national marketing campaign, with TV and digital media promoting the idea that trying to lose weight doesn’t mean a person can’t enjoy eating. Those advertising messages are pushing a product named Plenity as a potential liberation from dieters’ woes. It’s a $98-a-month weight loss treatment that looks like a drug: Patients take three capsules twice a day. But it isn’t a drug. And its success in racking up lost pounds, on average, is modest. (Appleby, 6/22)

KHN: Senate Deal Raises Hopes For A Reduction In Gun Suicides 
A bipartisan U.S. Senate agreement negotiated after high-profile mass shootings in Texas, New York, and Oklahoma lacks gun access restrictions that advocates say are needed to prevent such attacks. But the deal’s focus on mental health has raised hopes — and doubts — that it will help reduce gun suicides, particularly in rural Western states with wide-open gun laws. Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, and Idaho perennially rank highest among states in gun suicide rates. And despite research that concludes stringent firearm safety laws help curb gun violence, lawmakers in those states have long rejected restrictions that experts say would reverse those decades-long trends. (Graf, 6/22)

KHN: Watch: She Almost Died. The $250K Debt Took Their House
Cindy Powers needed 19 surgeries over the course of five years for abdominal problems and life-threatening infections. “I knew of at least three times where she died on the operating table and they had to restart her heart,” her husband, Jim Powers, told investigative consumer correspondent Anna Werner on the CBS Evening News. Cindy’s illnesses led to $250,000 in bills, bankruptcy, and eventually foreclosure on the couple’s house in Texas. (6/21)

The Washington Post: Biden Administration Says It Plans To Cut Nicotine In Cigarettes 
The Biden administration said Tuesday it plans to develop a rule requiring tobacco companies to reduce nicotine levels in cigarettes sold in the United States to minimally or nonaddictive levels, an effort that, if successful, could have an unprecedented effect in slashing smoking-related deaths and threaten a politically powerful industry. The initiative was included in the administration’s “unified agenda,” a compilation of planned federal regulatory actions released twice a year. The spring agenda was released Tuesday. (McGinley, 6/21)

The Wall Street Journal: Biden Administration Targets Removal Of Most Nicotine From Cigarettes 
The plan, unveiled Tuesday as part of the administration’s agenda of regulatory actions, likely wouldn’t take effect for several years. The Food and Drug Administration plans to publish a proposed rule in May 2023, though the agency cautioned that date could change. Then the agency would invite public comments before publishing a final rule. Tobacco companies could then sue, which could further delay the policy’s implementation. “Nicotine is powerfully addictive,” FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said in a statement Tuesday. “Lowering nicotine levels to minimally addictive or non-addictive levels would decrease the likelihood that future generations of young people become addicted to cigarettes and help more currently addicted smokers to quit.” (Maloney, 6/21)

The New York Times: F.D.A. Aims To Cut Down On Smoking By Slashing Nicotine Levels In Cigarettes
The headwinds are fierce. Tobacco companies have already indicated that any plan with significant reductions in nicotine would violate the law. And some conservative lawmakers might consider such a policy another example of government overreach, ammunition that could spill over into the midterm elections. (Jewett and Jacobs, 6/21)

NPR: Senators Reach Final Bipartisan Agreement On A Gun Safety Bill 
Senate negotiators have reached a final agreement on a narrow bipartisan gun safety bill that could become the first gun control measure to pass Congress in decades. The legislation resulted from negotiations among 10 Republicans and 10 Democrats, and it is expected to have more than enough votes to overcome the 60-vote threshold to clear a filibuster in the Senate, which is divided 50-50 between the parties. House leaders are expected to quickly begin consideration of the bill and President Biden has encouraged Congress to pass the bill without delay. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have both announced support for the bill and both say they will vote for it. (Snell, 6/21)

USA Today: Senate Gun Bill Text Includes More Background Checks
The bill would also close the "boyfriend loophole," a legislative gray space that leaves some women vulnerable to gun-related domestic violence. People convicted of domestic violence, or who are subject to a domestic violence restraining order, can't purchase firearms under the current law. But that law only applies if the abuser is a spouse, ex-spouse, co-parent or someone with whom the victim has lived. Women who don't live with their partners aren't protected from them under existing law. (Lee, 6/21)

The Hill: Here Are The 14 GOP Senators Who Voted To Advance Gun Safety Bill 
Every Senate Democrat was expected to support the bill, even though it didn’t include more far-reaching reforms that many of them support, such as bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and universal background checks.  The vote shakes up the politics of the gun violence debate in Congress as many of the Republicans who voted to proceed to the bill have A or A-plus NRA ratings.  Here are the 14 Republicans who voted yes. (Bolton, 6/21)

Roll Call: Senators Release Bill Targeting Insulin Prices
Two key senators on Wednesday released a widely anticipated bill aimed at lowering insulin prices and capping monthly copays under commercial and Medicare insurance plans. The move is the next step in advancing one of Democrats’ most popular provisions from a stalled reconciliation bill ahead of a tough midterm election. In March, the House passed its own standalone version sponsored by Democrats to cap insulin copays. (Clason, 6/22)

Stat: Senate Lawmakers Introduce A Bill To Help FDA And Patent Office Coordinate
Amid concerns that patent reviewers disregard competitive effects on prescription drugs, a bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill to require the Food and Drug Administration and the Patent & Trademark Office to create a task force to boost coordination. The goal is for the agencies to share information about their respective review procedures, improve communication about scientific trends, make it possible to swap confidential information, and determine whether pharmaceutical companies are providing accurate representations about their products. (Silverman, 6/21)

AP: Supreme Court Rejects Bayer's Bid To Stop Roundup Lawsuits 
The Supreme Court has rejected Bayer’s appeal to shut down thousands of lawsuits claiming that its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer. The justices on Tuesday left in place a $25 million judgment in favor of Edwin Hardeman, a California man who says he developed cancer from using Roundup for decades to treat poison oak, overgrowth and weeds on his San Francisco Bay Area property. Hardeman’s lawsuit had served as a test case for thousands of similar lawsuits. (Sherman, 6/21)

Roll Call: Supreme Court Sides With Insurer In Dialysis Coverage Case
The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 Tuesday that a group health plan in Ohio didn’t violate federal law by offering limited coverage for outpatient dialysis in a case brought by DaVita, one of the largest dialysis providers in the United States. The court sided with Marietta Memorial Hospital’s employee health plan, with Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh writing in the majority opinion that while the plan pays lower reimbursement rates for dialysis than for other treatments, it does not discriminate against patients with end-stage renal disease because it offers the same level of coverage for all patients with kidney disease in keeping with federal law. (Hellmann, 6/21)

AP: Biden Picks First Woman, Person Of Color As Science Adviser 
President Joe Biden nominated the former head of two federal science and engineering agencies to be his science adviser, who if confirmed by the Senate, will be the first woman, person of color and immigrant to hold that Cabinet-level position. Biden nominated engineer and physicist Arati Prabhakar, who during the Obama administration directed the James Bond-like Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) which came up with the Internet and stealth aircraft, to the science adviser job, which also includes running the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Prabhakar helped kick-start work in DARPA that eventually led to the type of RNA vaccine used to develop shots for COVID-19. In the 1990s, starting at the age of 34, she was the first woman and youngest person to run the National Institute of Standards and Technology. (Borenstein, 6/21)

Bloomberg: Biden Taps Prabhakar For Science Post, Eyeing Health Leaps
Prabhakar, 63, also will play an essential role in Cancer Moonshot 2.0 -- an initiative personally important to Biden that aims to cut the cancer death rate in half over the next 25 years. Prabhakar will draw on her experience leading the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency -- a Pentagon entity that develops cutting-edge national security technologies, including precision-guided weapons and stealth technology -- particularly as the administration stands up a new biomedical research accelerator. (Baumann and Jacobs, 6/21)

Reuters: Moderna CEO: COVID Variant Vaccine To Be Ready For Shipping In August
Moderna's COVID-19 variant vaccine will be ready to ship in August as the company has been making shots ahead of approval, Chief Executive Stephane Bancel told Reuters on Wednesday, adding that the only bottleneck to supply was a regulatory one. "Our goal is as early as August given we're going to file all the data in June, by the end of June... hopefully in the August timeframe, the vaccine is authorised," Bancel said in an interview. (6/22)

AP: Biden Visits Clinic, Celebrates COVID Shots For Kids Under 5
President Joe Biden visited a vaccination clinic Tuesday to celebrate that virtually all Americans can now get a COVID-19 shot Tuesday after the authorization of vaccines for kids under 5 over the weekend. Biden visited a vaccination clinic in Washington, where some of the first shots were given to young children in the last major age group ineligible for vaccines, hailing it as an important pandemic milestone that will support the country’s recovery. While anyone aged six months and up is now eligible for vaccines, the administration is cautioning that it expects the pace of shots for the youngest kids to be slower than older ones, as parents are more likely to rely on their children’s pediatricians to administer them. (Miller and Boak, 6/21)

The New York Times: Covid Vaccines Slowly Roll Out For Children Under 5
Health workers across the United States began to give Covid-19 vaccinations to children 6 months to 5 years old on Tuesday, another milestone in the coronavirus pandemic that came 18 long months after adults first began to receive injections against the virus. But the response from parents was notably muted, with little indication of the excitement and long lines that greeted earlier vaccine rollouts. (Goldstein, 6/21)

USA Today: COVID-19 Vaccines For Kids Under 5 Are Finally Here, But Most Parents Aren't Jumping In Line
Some parents say the vaccine trials conducted among young children were too small to satisfy their safety concerns, said Grant Paulsen, an infectious disease pediatrician and lead researcher for the children under 5 vaccine trials at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Though adult trials included more than 70,000 people for both vaccines, 5,000 children received at least one dose of the Moderna vaccine and 3,000 received Pfizer. Although health experts saw no signs of safety concerns in the clinical trials, they said rare side effects could turn up as more children are vaccinated, just as with other pediatric vaccines. (Rodriguez and Stanton, 6/21)

CIDRAP: Study: Hospitalized Omicron Patients Benefited From Fourth Vaccine Dose
When the Omicron variant surge hit at the end of 2021, which came with breakthrough COVID-19 infections in vaccinated people, Israel was one of the first countries to offer fourth vaccine doses for those age 60 and older. Yesterday, Israeli researchers reported that a fourth dose was linked to significant protection against severe outcomes in hospitalized patients. (6/21)

Fox News: COVID-19 Rebound After Paxlovid Treatment Likely Due To Insufficient Exposure To The Drug
"COVID-19 rebound," the relapse of symptoms that occurred in some patients treated with Paxlovid, may actually be caused by insufficient drug exposure, according to a recent study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had issued a health advisory warning individuals about "COVID-19 rebound" where symptoms of COVID infection returned in some patients after a course of treatment with the medication Paxlovid. Paxlovid is currently the leading oral medication used to prevent severe cases of COVID-19 in high-risk patients, according to the researchers. (McGorry, 6/21)

CIDRAP: Women More Likely To Have Long COVID, Different Symptom Profile 
Women are significantly more likely than men to experience long COVID, with symptoms that follow a distinct clinical pattern, researchers reported today. They said more efforts are needed to explore sex differences in outcomes, including greater risks of exposure for some jobs. The researchers from the Johnson & Johnson Office of the Chief Medical Officer reported their findings yesterday in Current Medical Research and Opinion, a peer-reviewed journal. (Schnirring, 6/21)

AP: Broadway Theaters Drop Their Mask Mandate Starting In July
In another sign that the world of entertainment is returning to pre-pandemic normal, Broadway theaters will no longer demand audiences wear masks starting in July. The Broadway League announced Tuesday that mask-wearing will be optional next month onward, a further loosening of restrictions. In May, most Broadway theaters lifted the requirement that audience members provide proof of vaccination to enter venues. (Kennedy, 6/21)

Des Moines Register: Iowa Abortion Law: 24-Hour Waiting Period Has Not Taken Effect Yet
Iowa abortion providers are not required to impose a 24-hour waiting period before performing an abortion — yet. The Iowa Attorney General's office said Tuesday that the waiting period at the center of a state Supreme Court decision last week did not immediately take effect. Instead, the law will take effect on July 8, three weeks after the Supreme Court ruling. The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday ruled in the case of a 2020 law that required a 24-hour waiting period between a first appointment and an abortion procedure. (Akin, 6/21)

USA Today: Louisiana Governor Signs Abortion Ban Without Rape, Incest Exceptions
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has signed a bill to criminalize abortion in Louisiana, with no exceptions for rape or incest, if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns its historic Roe v. Wade decision. Senate Bill 342 by Democratic Monroe Sen. Katrina Jackson built on Louisiana's 2006 "trigger law" to outlaw abortion if the Supreme Court ever reverses Roe, which seems possible after a draft decision doing so was leaked in May. Jackson's bill specifically exempts pregnant women from prosecution but doubles the 2006 penalties for doctors or others who terminate pregnancies to a maximum $100,000 fine and 10 years in jail. (Hilburn, 6/21)

AP: GOP Lawmakers Poised To End Special Session On Abortion Ban 
Republican legislators in Wisconsin were poised Wednesday to meet in a special session Democratic Gov. Tony Evers called to repeal the battleground state’s dormant abortion ban and quickly adjourn without taking any action. Wisconsin adopted a ban on abortion except to save the mother’s life in 1849, year after the territory became a state. The U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade ruling that essentially legalized abortion nationwide in 1973 nullified the ban. (Richmond, 6/21)

Politico: Inside Dems' Plan If Roe Falls: A Voter Turnout Blitz 
In every poll running in every targeted House district around the country, House Democrats’ campaign arm is testing how voters feel about the Supreme Court likely overturning Roe v. Wade. The group’s strategists have drafted fundraising emails that will blast out to millions of supporters in the hours after the decision comes out. They’ve cut video clips of what GOP candidates say about abortion. They’re developing analytics models to find and target voters who back abortion rights. (Schneider, 6/21)

The Washington Post: Henry Cuellar Defeats Jessica Cisneros In Contentious Texas Primary Race
Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar will narrowly get to claim the Democratic nomination for Texas’s 28th Congressional District after a contentious reelection battle against attorney Jessica Cisneros. ... Cuellar, the lone antiabortion Democrat in the U.S. House, had the support of top-ranking House Democrats such as Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), while Cisneros was endorsed by a new generation of more liberal Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.). (Alfaro, 6/21)

CBS News: More Than A Quarter Of Abortion Clinics Could Close If Roe V. Wade Is Struck Down, Study Finds 
More than a quarter of the nearly 800 abortion clinics in the U.S. would quickly shut down if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, according to newly released research. The nation's highest court is expected to issue a decision by the end of the month on whether to upend 50 years of legal precedent guaranteeing the right to abortion in the U.S. A draft opinion signaling that the top court intends to overrule federal protections for the procedure was leaked by Politico in early May. (Gibson, 6/21)

USA Today: Abortion Poll: 31% Say They're Less Likely To Live In States With Bans
In the category of unintended consequences, consider this: Nearly a third of Americans say they would find a state less desirable as a place to live if it banned abortions. In a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll, 31% say a ban would make a state less desirable; just 5% say it would make it more desirable. The negative reaction is particularly strong among young people – 42% of those 18 to 25 years old – and those with more education. Thirty-two percent of those with a college degree and 45% of those with a post-graduate degree say an abortion ban would make a state less desirable. (Page and Tran, 6/22)

AP: CA Governor's Mental Health Court Plan Advances Amid Worries 
A controversial proposal by California Gov. Gavin Newsom to prod more homeless people into mental health treatment is making its way through the Legislature, despite deep misgivings from lawmakers struggling to address a problem that reaches every corner of the state. Legislators are worried that there isn’t enough guaranteed staffing or housing for the program to succeed while forcing vulnerable individuals into court-ordered services against their will. Even so, the bill unanimously cleared the Senate last month, and passed out of the Assembly judiciary committee Tuesday, one of several stops before being voted on by the full chamber. (Har, 6/21)

San Francisco Chronicle: San Francisco To Open Drug Sobering Center To Address Meth And Fentanyl Epidemic And Street Crisis
San Francisco will open a drug sobering center on Monday where people on the streets can temporarily ride out highs and get connected to treatment, the latest initiative to address the overdose crisis and complaints about drug use on city streets. The center, called SOMA RISE, will operate out of a former office building the city is leasing at 1076 Howard St. in the South of Market Neighborhood, one of the epicenters of the drug crisis, along with the Tenderloin. (Moench, 6/21)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. City Council Backs $25 Minimum Wage For Some Health Workers
The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to boost the minimum wage for workers at privately owned hospitals to $25 an hour, rather than sending the question to the November ballot for voters to decide. The wage requirement will cover a wide range of workers, including nurses, aides, housekeepers, guards, janitors and other employees who are not supervisors or managers. “Burned out and traumatized from the pandemic, many feel disrespected and undervalued and have left the profession, and more are considering leaving soon,” SEIU-UHW, a union that represents California healthcare workers, said in a statement. “Raising the minimum wage helps acknowledge their vital, life-saving work and retain workers for Los Angeles’ future healthcare needs.” (Alpert Reyes, 6/21)

AP: NC Appeals Court Won't Strike Down Medical Certificate Law
A state appeals court on Tuesday rejected a request by an eastern North Carolina eye doctor to strike down a state law that requires regulators to agree new operating rooms are needed in his region before they could be built. A three-judge panel of the intermediate-level state Court of Appeals court ruled the state’s certificate of need law doesn’t violate the constitutional rights of Dr. Jay Singleton and the Singleton Vision Center when it comes to the situation the ophthalmologist wants to change. (Robertson, 6/21)

NPR: S.C. Law Lets Health Care Providers Refuse Nonemergency Care Based On Beliefs
Amberlyn Boiter worries that doctors in South Carolina now have a legal excuse to deny her health care. "I haven't felt comfortable going to a doctor in well over a year," says Boiter. That's when Boiter, who is 35 years old, began transitioning into the woman she believes she's meant to be and doctors would not give her the hormones she needed. Boiter bought them online and found an out-of-state doctor she sees via telehealth — care that she says most of her transgender friends cannot afford. "The truth is, it's dangerous for a lot of trans people out there who don't have access to mainstream health care," says Boiter. She fears the situation will only get worse now that the Medical Ethics and Diversity Act has been signed into law by Gov. Henry McMaster. (Hansen, 6/21)

WLRN 91.3 FM: Purple Alert, For Adults With Disabilities, Added To Florida System For Finding The Missing
Floridians may notice a new color of alert flashing across highway message boards soon. After several years of development between disability advocates, law enforcement and transportation officials, the Purple Alert will be rolling out July 1. The alert will be “used to assist in the location of missing adults suffering from mental, cognitive, intellectual or developmental disabilities,” according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The Purple Alert will join Florida’s Silver (senior), Blue (law enforcement) and Amber (children) alerts. (Lloyd, 6/21)

The Washington Post: Trial Of Former Theranos Exec Sunny Balwani Draws To A Close
Sunny Balwani, the former business and romantic partner of disgraced biotech entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes, faced closing arguments in his fraud trial here Tuesday. The former chief operating officer of blood-testing start-up Theranos is charged with 10 counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one more count than Holmes ultimately faced last year. (Lerman, 6/21)

The New York Times: Two Florida Men Charged With Profiting Off Fake Prescriptions
Two Florida men were charged last week in widespread prescription fraud cases that could have left unsuspecting patients across the country without the proper medication to treat cancer, H.I.V. and psychiatric conditions, according to federal officials. The indictments of Lazaro Hernandez, 51, who is also known as Fat Laz or Godfather, and Eladio Vega, 37, also known as Spanky or simply E, brought the total number of defendants to 15 people in a third superseding indictment over the alleged fraud scheme, announced Friday by federal prosecutors in Florida and Washington. So far, eight people have entered guilty pleas, prosecutors said. (Oxenden, 6/21)

AP: Business Groups Sue Over Heat And Smoke Worker Protections
Some Oregon business groups are suing over the state’s new job site rules mandating that employers take steps to protect workers from extreme heat and wildfire smoke. Regulations adopted by the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division mandate that employers act once the temperature or air quality reaches a certain threshold. The heat rules took effect June 15, while the wildfire smoke rules start July 1. (6/21)

NPR: Extreme Heat Is Taking A Toll On Health And Finances, Survey Finds
From higher electricity bills to worsened health, more than half of Americans have felt the impacts of extreme heat, according to a new survey released by NPR, Harvard University and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. That percentage is even higher in California, where heat was the top climate impact, reported by 71% of those surveyed. "California does have low rates of air conditioning in homes, maybe because it's blessed with cool breezes in a lot of parts of the state, but when an extreme heat event comes and there's no cool air available, you're in trouble," says David Eisenman, a doctor who directs the UCLA Center for Public Health and Disasters. "That's why you're seeing this higher number." (Peterson, 6/22)

CNN: Sleeping With Any Light Raises Risk Of Obesity, Diabetes And More, Study Finds 
Even dim light can disrupt sleep, raising the risk of serious health issues in older adults, a new study found. "Exposure to any amount of light during the sleep period was correlated with the higher prevalence of diabetes, obesity and hypertension in both older men and women," senior author Phyllis Zee, chief of sleep medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, told CNN. "People should do their best to avoid or minimize the amount of light they are exposed to during sleep," she added. (LaMotte, 6/22)

NPR: Daily Harvest Recalls Lentil Dish Amid Food Poisoning Claims On Social Media
Daily Harvest, a food home delivery service, has issued a recall on its lentil and leek crumbles dish, after multiple customers complained on social media of stomach issues after consuming them. Users on Reddit, Twitter and Instagram reported experiences of nausea, vomiting and liver damage after consuming the dish. One Reddit user said their wife had symptoms, such as "extreme fatigue, dark urine, low-grade fever and whole-body itching with no rash." Another user said their mom "was as sick as a dog and puking a lot" a day after eating the beans. (Archie, 6/22)

The New York Times: Biden Bans Most Antipersonnel Land Mine Use, Reversing Trump-Era Policy
The United States on Tuesday limited its military’s use of land mines worldwide, except for on the Korean Peninsula, meeting President Biden’s campaign pledge to undo a Trump-era policy that he had called “reckless.” The move effectively returns to a 2014 policy established by the Obama administration that forbade the use of antipersonnel land mines except in defense of South Korea. The Trump administration loosened those restrictions in 2020, citing a new focus on strategic competition with major powers with large armies. (Crowley and Ismay, 6/21)

Reuters: COVID-19 Vaccine Scheme For World's Poorest Pushes For Delivery Slowdown 
Leaders of the global scheme aiming to get COVID-19 vaccines to the world's poorest are pushing manufacturers including Pfizer (PFE.N) and Moderna (MRNA.O) to cut or slow deliveries of about half a billion shots so doses are not wasted. COVAX, the World Health Organization-led scheme, wants between 400 and 600 million fewer vaccines doses than initially contracted from six pharmaceutical companies, according to internal documents seen by Reuters. (Rigby and Guarascio, 6/22)

AP: UK To Offer Vaccines To Some Gay, Bisexual Men For Monkeypox 
British health officials will start offering vaccines to some men who have sex with men and are at the highest risk of catching monkeypox, in an effort to curb the biggest outbreak of the disease beyond Africa. Doctors can consider vaccination for some men at the highest risk of exposure, Britain’s Health Security agency said in a statement Tuesday. The agency identified those at highest risk as men who have sex with men and who have multiple partners, participate in group sex or attend venues where sex occurs on the premises. (6/21)

The Atlantic: Squirrels Could Make Monkeypox A Forever Problem
In the summer of 2003, just weeks after an outbreak of monkeypox sickened about 70 people across the Midwest, Mark Slifka visited “the super-spreader,” he told me, “who infected half of Wisconsin’s cases.” Chewy, a prairie dog, had by that point succumbed to the disease, which he’d almost certainly caught in an exotic-animal facility that he’d shared with infected pouched rats from Ghana. But his owners’ other prairie dog, Monkey—named for the way he clambered about his cage—had contracted the pathogen and survived. “I was a little worried,” said Slifka, an immunologist at Oregon Health & Science University. All the traits that made Monkey a charismatic pet also made him an infectious threat. He cuddled and nibbled his owners; when they left the house, he’d swaddle himself in their clothing until they returned. “It was sweet,” Slifka told me. “But I was like, ‘Can Monkey be in his cage when we come over?’” (Wu, 6/21)