First Edition: June 24, 2022

KHN: Seniors With Prediabetes Should Eat Better, Get Moving, But Not Fret Too Much About Diabetes 
Almost half of older adults — more than 26 million people 65 and older — have prediabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. How concerned should they be? Not very, say some experts. Prediabetes — a term that refers to above-normal but not extremely high blood sugar levels — isn’t a disease, and it doesn’t imply that older adults who have it will inevitably develop Type 2 diabetes, they note. (Graham, 6/24)

KHN: Health Care Startups Turn To ‘Coaches’ To Help Patients Cope And Monitor Treatment 
In 2011, Sean Duffy and Adrian James were sitting in San Francisco’s Dolores Park debating what to call some workers at the company they founded, Omada Health. Omada, which launched that year, provides virtual treatment for chronic conditions. The company addresses the conditions through a team of employees — some traditional clinicians and others meant to give encouragement to patients as they manage the day to day of hypertension, prediabetes, and other conditions. This second group was crucial, they thought. The founders ended up asking patients what title to use. (Tahir, 6/24)

KHN: Readers And Tweeters Weigh In On America’s Medical Debt, Obesity Epidemic, And Opioid Battles
KHN gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories. (6/24)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: The FDA Goes After Nicotine 
The FDA this week launched a crackdown on smoking and vaping — ordering the vaping device Juul to be taken off the market and announcing its intention to require makers of cigarettes and other tobacco products to reduce the amount of nicotine in them. (6/23)

The Washington Post: Senate Passes Bipartisan Gun Violence Bill, Marking Breakthrough
The Senate on Thursday passed legislation aimed at stanching acts of mass gun violence, with 15 Republicans joining Democrats to advance a bill combining modest new firearms restrictions with $15 billion in mental health and school security funding. The 65-to-33 vote represented an unlikely breakthrough on the emotional and polarizing question of U.S. gun laws, which have gone largely unchanged for more than 25 years, even as the nation has been repeatedly scarred by mass shootings whose names have become etched in history — from Columbine and Virginia Tech to Sandy Hook and Parkland. (DeBonis, 6/23)

NPR: Senate Passes Gun Control Bill, Sends It To The House
"This bill is a compromise," said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who led the negotiations, right before the vote began. "It doesn't do everything I want. But what we are doing will save thousands of lives without violating anyone's Second Amendment rights." The legislation would incentivize states to pass red flag laws and expand background checks for 18- to 21-year-olds, among other measures. House leaders are expected to quickly begin consideration of the bill. In a statement shortly after the Senate vote, President Biden urged the House to act quickly on the bill. The House and Senate begin their two-week July 4 recess after Friday. (6/23)

The Hill: Pelosi Says House Will Take Up Gun Safety Bill ‘First Thing’ Friday Morning
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced on Thursday that the House will take up the Senate-passed gun safety bill “first thing” Friday morning, after the legislation cleared the upper chamber in a bipartisan vote. “First thing tomorrow morning, the Rules Committee will meet to advance this life-saving legislation to the Floor. When the Rules Committee finishes its business, we will head immediately to the Floor,” Pelosi wrote in a statement minutes after the Senate approved the measure. (Schnell, 6/23)

The New York Times: Here’s What Is In The Senate’s Gun Bill — And What Was Left Out 
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, written by a small group of Republicans and Democrats in the aftermath of back-to-back mass shootings, would enhance background checks for gun buyers between 18 and 21 years old, incentivize states to enact “red flag” laws that enable firearms to be temporarily confiscated from people deemed dangerous, and provide hundreds of millions of dollars for mental health and school safety. It would also extend to dating partners a federal law that prohibits domestic abusers from purchasing guns. (Lai and Cochrane, 6/23)

The New York Times: Supreme Court Strikes Down New York Law Limiting Guns In Public 
The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that Americans have a broad right to arm themselves in public, striking down a New York law that placed strict limits on carrying guns outside the home and setting off a scramble in other states that have similar restrictions. The decision is expected to spur a wave of lawsuits seeking to loosen existing state and federal restrictions and will force five states — California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts and New Jersey, home to a quarter of all Americans — to rewrite their laws. (Liptak, 6/23)

Politico: California Moves To Fortify Concealed Carry Limits After High Court Invalidates 'Good Cause' Rule
Within hours of the court’s decision to strike down New York’s rules, California Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta and state lawmakers announced legislation that would bar concealed firearms in places like courthouses and schools and require applicants to undergo assessments for whether they are dangerous to others, which could include checking for criminal records and restraining orders. Lawmakers said they hoped to move the bill through the Legislature and to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk as quickly as possible. (White, 6/23)

The Boston Globe: ‘We’re Talking Days.’ Supreme Court Decision Will Put Mass. Gun Laws At Risk, Experts Say
“It will not take long at all” until the gun licensing law is challenged here, said Kent Greenfield, a Boston College law professor. “The next person denied a permit under the Massachusetts law can go immediately into federal court and get an injunction requiring their permit be issued based on this ruling. We’re not talking months, we’re talking days.” Currently, Massachusetts law gives local police chiefs, who serve as the state’s licensing authority, the discretion to determine whether someone is suitable to have a license. Policymakers say that provision is a key part of the gun safety system in Massachusetts, which had the second-lowest firearm mortality rate in the country in 2020, trailing only Hawaii. (Stout, 6/23)

AP: American Medical Association Weighs In
The American Medical Association has called the ruling a “harmful and deeply disturbing decision.” “Firearm violence is a public health crisis, and easier access to weapons and fewer restrictions on who can carry them — and where they can be carried — are dangerous steps in the wrong direction,” Dr. Jack Resneck, the AMA’s president, said in a written statement. “Overturning decades of reasonable firearm regulations will cost more lives.” (6/23)

Louisville Courier Journal: University Of Louisville Hospital Staff Deal With Record Gun Violence
The sudden voice from the intercom in the University of Louisville Hospital's emergency department is brief. "Room 9." The message may not mean much to visitors, but the surgeons, nurses and hospital staff for the Louisville region's main trauma center know exactly what it portends. Another person seriously wounded or dying — very possibly from a bullet, or two or three, ripping through their body. Last year, more than 800 people were shot in Louisville, or roughly two shootings per day. This year, nearly 200 people have been injured in nonfatal shootings in addition to over 80 killed in homicides through mid-June. (Kobin, 6/24)

Roll Call: FDA Orders JUUL To Remove All Vaping Products From The Market
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday ordered vaping giant JUUL to remove its remaining products from the market, after roughly two years of reviewing the company’s applications. The agency cited “insufficient and conflicting data” about the potential for leaking chemicals from JUUL e-liquid pods, which it said precluded its ability to complete a proper risk assessment. (Clason, 6/23)

Axios: What The FDA Ban On Juul Means For Big Tobacco
The FDA's decision to order Juul e-cigarette products off the U.S. market opens a new and grinding battle in the push to revamp the government’s rules for smoking and vaping. With parallel efforts to cap nicotine in cigarettes and ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, the Biden administration is pursuing a broad tobacco agenda not seen since the Clinton administration. It could be a drawn-out and costly fight. Hours after the FDA issued its marketing denial order on Thursday, Juul said it would seek a stay and was exploring a possible appeal. (Bettelheim, 6/24)

Axios: Americans Can't Stop Searching "How To Stop Vaping"
Online search interest in "How to stop vaping" is up amid news that impacts people who use vaping products nationwide, Google Trends data indicates. The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday announced it will order Juul to remove its e-cigarettes out of the U.S. market, taking away an e-cigarette option for millions of smokers. The FDA has been working to cap nicotine in cigarettes, while the Biden administration has been working to limit tobacco in the U.S. (Scribner, 6/23)

The New York Times: Origin Of The Monkeypox Outbreak Becomes Clearer To Scientists
Genetic analysis suggests that although the monkeypox virus is rapidly spreading in the open, it has been silently circulating in people for years. Health officials have already identified two versions of monkeypox among American patients, suggesting at least two separate chains of transmission. Researchers in several countries have found cases with no known source of infection, indicating undetected community spread. And one research team argued last month that monkeypox had already crossed a threshold into sustainable person-to-person transmission. (Mandavilli, 6/23)

The Washington Post: U.S. Monkeypox Response Mirrors Early Coronavirus Missteps, Experts Say
Public health experts, including within the Biden administration, are increasingly concerned that the federal government’s handling of the largest-ever U.S. monkeypox outbreak is mirroring its cumbersome response to the coronavirus pandemic 2½ years ago, with potentially dire consequences. As a result, they said, community transmission is occurring largely undetected, and the critical window in which to control the outbreak is closing quickly. (Sun, Diamond and Nirappil, 6/23)

The New York Times: A Monkeypox Vaccine Is Available For At-Risk New Yorkers
Facing a growing outbreak of the monkeypox virus, New York City health officials expanded access to a monkeypox vaccine on Thursday, offering it to a new group of people who may be at higher risk: men who have had multiple or anonymous male sexual partners over the last two weeks. New York City is the first American jurisdiction to broaden access to the vaccine beyond close contacts of people infected, following similar moves in the United Kingdom and Canada. (Otterman, 6/23)

Bloomberg: Monkeypox Outbreak: CDC Eyes Vaccine Access For Kids
US health officials are looking to expand use of the monkeypox vaccine for children as the outbreak continues to spread across the US and in countries around the world, with more than 3,300 cases reported globally. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is developing a protocol aimed at allowing use of Bavarian Nordic A/S’s Jynneos vaccine in children, if needed, according to documents prepared for a meeting of agency advisers that took place this week. The vaccine is currently cleared for use in adults and is considered safer than Emergent BioSolutions Inc.’s ACAM2000 smallpox vaccine, which can also be used against monkeypox. (Muller and Griffin, 6/23)

Reuters: U.S. CDC Confirms Evidence Of Local Monkeypox Transmission 
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said there was evidence of local transmission of monkeypox, in addition to reports of cases where people had traveled abroad. The cases are mainly occurring in men who have sex with men, but women are also getting infected, CDC staff member Dr. Agam Rao said at a panel meeting on Thursday. (6/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Latest Report Of Baby’s Death After Consuming Formula Mentions Cronobacter Bacteria
The latest report notifying federal health regulators that a baby died after it had consumed Abbott Laboratories’ baby formula mentions the cronobacter bacteria, the Food and Drug Administration said. Cronobacter is the same bacteria that previously sickened at least four other infants, including two who died, between September 2021 and February after they had consumed Abbott formula. The bacteria occurs naturally in the environment and can live in dry, powdered foods. It can be fatal in infants, causing sepsis or meningitis. (Newman and Loftus, 6/23)

Axios: California Passes Bill To "Shield" Abortion Providers And Patients From State Bans
The California state Senate on Thursday passed a bill to protect abortion providers and patients from bans, lawsuits and penalties in other states. The measure is in response to laws like those in Texas and Oklahoma, which ban most abortions at early points in the pregnancy and encourage private citizens to sue those believed to be involved in obtaining an abortion. It also comes ahead of a Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade, as the court appears prepared to overturn those federal abortion protections. (Gonzalez, 6/23)

AP: Birx Describes A White House Divided On COVID Response
A lack of clear, concise and consistent messaging about the seriousness of the novel coronavirus in the earliest months of its spread created a false sense of security among Americans that the pandemic would not be serious and resulted in inaction early on across the federal government. That was the assessment of Dr. Deborah Birx, who served as the COVID response coordinator under former President Donald Trump and testified for the first time Thursday before a House panel about her time in the Trump administration. (Freking, 6/23)

The Washington Post: Trump Swayed By ‘Dangerous Ideas’ About Coronavirus, Birx Tells House Panel 
“People were communicating with the president dangerous ideas … on a daily basis,” such as encouraging former president Donald Trump to advocate for unproven treatments, including hydroxychloroquine, or providing him with misleading data about the virus, Birx told the House select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis. Asked about Trump’s repeated claims in 2020 that the virus would simply disappear, Birx implied that the president wrongly believed that if enough Americans were infected, the pandemic would go away. (Diamond, 6/23)

PBS NewsHour: WATCH: Former Trump COVID-19 Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx Appears Before House Committee
Former COVID-19 coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx appeared before a Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis Thursday morning to testify on former President Donald Trump's response to the pandemic. (6/23)

AP: COVID Vaccines Saved 20M Lives In 1st Year, Scientists Say
Nearly 20 million lives were saved by COVID-19 vaccines during their first year, but even more deaths could have been prevented if international targets for the shots had been reached, researchers reported Thursday. On Dec. 8, 2020, a retired shop clerk in England received the first shot in what would become a global vaccination campaign. Over the next 12 months, more than 4.3 billion people around the world lined up for the vaccines. (Johnson, 6/23)

Reuters: Sanofi, GSK Variant-Specific COVID Shot Found Effective Against Omicron
Late-stage data on an experimental COVID-19 vaccine from Sanofi and GSK has showed the shot confers protection against the Omicron variant of the virus, the companies said on Friday. The so-called bivalent vaccine targets the Beta variant - first identified in South Africa - as well as the original Wuhan strain of the virus. (Grover, 6/24)

AP: Experts Endorse Moderna COVID-19 Shots For Kids Ages 6 To 17 
An expert panel backed a second COVID-19 vaccine option for kids ages 6 to 17 Thursday. Advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted unanimously to recommend Moderna shots as an option for school-age kids and adolescents. This group has been able to get shots shots made by Pfizer since last year. The panel’s recommendations usually are adopted by the CDC, and become the government’s guidance for U.S. doctors and their patients. (Stobbe, 6/23)

Tampa Bay Times: Publix Won’t Give COVID Vaccine To Children Under 5
Since COVID-19 vaccines first became available, Publix has played a major role in tackling the public health emergency in Florida by offering vaccines to adults and, later, children as young as 5. But the Lakeland grocery company says it will not offer the vaccine approved for children ages 4 and under “at this time.” Spokesperson Hannah Herring said Tuesday that Publix will not release a statement explaining its decision. The company’s website indicates that it is still accepting COVID-19 vaccine appointments for children ages 5 and up. (O'Donnell and Hodgson, 6/23)

CNN: Biden Admin Announces At-Home Covid Tests For Blind And Low-Vision People 
The Biden administration on Thursday rolled out free at-home Covid-19 tests that are designed to be more accessible for people who are blind or visually impaired. White House Covid-19 response coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said the administration will provide more accessible, rapid self-tests to Americans across the country for free through Covidtests.gov, which ships tests through the US Postal Service. (Judd and Vazquez, 6/23)

AP: Vermont's State-Run COVID-19 Testing Sites Ending 
Vermont’s state-run COVID-19 testing sites are closing for good by Saturday. The state first opened sites in the spring of 2020 to help slow the spread of the virus. The Health Department said at-home tests are available at pharmacies and online and meet most testing needs. The tests are covered by many insurance providers and Vermonters are encouraged to have some at home in case they develop symptoms, the department said. (6/23)

NBC News: These ER Doctors Said Profit-Driven Company Officials Pressed Them To Work While They Had Covid Symptoms
In January, Sonali Patel, an emergency department doctor at a big Houston hospital, became ill while on duty. After testing positive for Covid, she said she told her boss she had the coronavirus and was going home. “He insisted I stay and finish the shift,” she recalled in an interview with NBC News and in a recent lawsuit. “I told him it’s not the safe thing to do. We have a ton of immunocompromised patients and we were putting them at risk.” By requesting time off from work while sick with Covid, Patel breached an unofficial policy promoted by officials at the hospital staffing company she works for — American Physician Partners — according to the lawsuit filed against the company by her and seven physician colleagues. (Morgenson, 6/24)

Modern Healthcare: Supreme Court Dialysis Ruling Sets Stage For Coverage Limits
A Supreme Court decision that greenlighted a private health plan's limited dialysis coverage may set the stage for other insurers to cut pay for kidney care and other treatments Medicare covers. The high court rejected a challenge to an employer health plan's low reimbursements for dialysis, which the plaintiff argued discourage providers from joining its network and effectively nudge policyholders to enroll in Medicare instead. This legal decision offers a playbook that other group health plans could follow by designing benefit packages in a way that encourages people with end-stage renal disease to forgo private coverage in favor of Medicare, which is available to anyone with chronic kidney failure regardless of age. And the ramifications may extend beyond dialysis patients. (Tepper, 6/23)

Modern Healthcare: Supreme Court To Determine Federal Government's Right To Dismiss Whistleblower Cases
The Supreme Court will hear a case on whether the federal government has the authority to dismiss a False Claims Act case after declining to take action. In August 2019, the Department of Justice dismissed a whistleblower case filed in 2012 by Dr. Jesse Polansky, a former employee of UnitedHealth Group subsidiary Executive Health Resources, that alleged hospital billing fraud. Polansky claimed his employer was billing the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid for inpatient admissions that were outpatient visits to receive higher reimbursements. (Christ, 6/23)

Modern Healthcare: Mayo Clinic, UnitedHealthcare Reach Medicare Advantage Network Agreement
Mayo Clinic and UnitedHealthcare have come to terms on an agreement that adds the provider to the insurer's network, the health system announced Thursday. The Mayo Clinic stopped accepting appointments from out-of-network patients to preserve hospital capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic early this year. The deal that takes effect Jan. 1 will give UnitedHealthcare's Medicare Advantage members nationwide access the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and its other Midwest locations. (Abrams, 6/23)

ABC News: Newly Diagnosed HIV Cases Dropped During The Pandemic – Here’s Why That’s Bad News
New HIV diagnoses dropped 17% during the first year of the pandemic, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but researchers warn disruptions brought by the pandemic’s early lockdowns mean that far fewer people got tested. (Salzman, 6/23)

Stat: FDA Halts Study Of Sarepta Treatment For Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
Sarepta Therapeutics said Thursday that it has temporarily stopped a clinical trial of its second-generation medicine for patients with a certain type of Duchenne muscular dystrophy due to a serious safety incident reported by a patient. The Food and Drug Administration placed a clinical hold on the Sarepta drug, called SRP-5051, after a patient in the study experienced a “serious” decrease in blood-based magnesium, a condition known as hypomagnesemia. (Feuerstein, 6/23)

Modern Healthcare: 'Bias Is Profitable': Health Disparities May Cost $1T By 2040
Disparate health outcomes could cost the American healthcare system $1 trillion annually by 2040, nearly tripling in size over the next 20 years and accounting for nearly 12.5% of healthcare spending, a new report warns. The analysis, published by Deloitte Wednesday, found the cost of excess health services delivered due to disparities is $320 billion annually, and the rate of increase outpaces overall cost trends. Total healthcare spending is expected to rise by 5.3% annually to 2040 while spending tied to disparities is expected to increase by 6.2% per year. (Hartnett, 6/23)

USA Today: Lack Of Universal Health Care Cost 300,000 US Lives In COVID: Study
More than 330,000 Americans could have been saved during COVID-19 pandemic if the United States operated under a universal health care system – nearly one-third of the total COVID-related deaths – according to a recent study. The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA last week found that universal health care would have helped address underlying and pre-existing conditions that contributed to the COVID-related deaths, ultimately saving over 338,000 lives between the start of the pandemic and mid-March 2022. (Elbeshbishi, 6/23)

Axios: Colorado To Offer State Health Plans
Colorado is reviving an old progressive health care goal with a new twist, creating a public health insurance option that could be a model for other states trying to expand affordable coverage as they move past the pandemic. Using flexibilities the Biden administration granted on Thursday, the state is trying to prove a government-run health plan can attract more consumers and save money while avoiding the political pitfalls associated with single-payer systems. (Dreher, 6/24)

AP: Michigan To Destroy Some Blood Spots In Fight Over Consent
The state of Michigan has agreed to destroy more than 3 million dried blood spots taken from babies and kept in storage, a partial settlement in an ongoing lawsuit over consent and privacy in the digital age. At the state’s direction, hospitals have routinely pricked the heels of newborns to draw blood to check for more than 50 rare diseases. That practice, which is widespread across the U.S., isn’t being challenged. Rather, the dispute is over leftover samples. (White, 6/23)

Houston Chronicle: Report: 72-Year-Old Named Harris County's First Heat-Related Death This Year
A 72-year-old woman has been identified as Harris County’s first heat-related death of the summer, KTRK-TV reports. Gloria Mosier was found unresponsive in a vehicle outside her north Houston residence but died in the hospital on June 11, according to the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. The medical examiner determinedt she died from hyperthermia, or abnormally high body temperatures. Houston has faced record-breaking temperatures this month with an ongoing heat wave that caused the city to activate its emergency heat plan unusually early. The blazing heat can be dangerous and deadly, according to the National Weather Service, especially for certain populations. Vehicles become oven-like in the summer sun, heating up by 20 degrees in ten minutes, the agency said. (Ketterer, 6/23)

Sacramento Bee: California Dialysis Initiative Could Be Doomed From The Start
Once again, California’s largest healthcare workers union is campaigning for dialysis reform — but they face powerful opponents. It’s deja-vu for the California political scene, where such a battle transpires repeatedly. This time around, SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West is advocating for a ballot initiative that would require a physician assistant, physician or nurse practitioner to monitor patient dialysis treatments. (Tucker-Smith, 6/22)

The Washington Post: Virginia Board Of Health Reprimands Health Commissioner
Virginia Board of Health members on Thursday told Health Commissioner Colin Greene that his comments dismissing evidence of structural racism in health outcomes and calling gun violence a political talking point damaged the health department, its employees and marginalized communities. After questioning Greene for nearly an hour, the board passed a resolution expressing members’ “embarrassment” over his views and advised him not to publicly question “basic scientific facts regarding disparities.” (Portnoy, 6/23)

Fox News: Pediatricians Recommend All Adolescents Be Screened For Suicide Risk
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is advising depression and suicide risk screenings for all adolescents age 12 and older, according to their updated schedule for preventative care released online this week. The screening for suicide risk was added to the existing depression screening recommendation consistent with the AAP's Guidelines for Adolescent Depression in Primary Care, which were released in 2018. (Brown, 6/23)

USA Today: Insomnia, Sleep Issues Hit Young Adults The Worst, Health Survey Finds
More than 1 in 4 adults ages 18 to 24 experience insomnia every night; it's the highest rate of insomnia out of any age group in the U.S., according to a recent survey from Norwegian health and wellness publication Helsestart. The company conducted a Google survey among 2,000 U.S. adults age 18 and up, asking respondents how often they struggle to fall asleep, as well as their genders and their ages. Half of respondents said they experienced insomnia at least once a month, while nearly a quarter said they struggle to fall asleep every night. (Martin, 6/23)

Los Angeles Times: Many Use Philips Respironics Ventilators Despite Recall
In Rochester, N.Y., Diane Coleman has relied on a machine to help her stay alive, but she worries that it might be slowly undermining her health. Her ventilator was among millions of breathing devices that Philips Respironics recalled last summer over safety concerns about numerous models of its ventilators, BiPAP and CPAP machines. (Reyes, 6/23)

AP: American Woman Who Had Miscarriage On Malta Trip Can't Get Abortion 
A pregnant American woman who suffered an incomplete miscarriage while vacationing in Malta will be airlifted to a Spanish island on Thursday for a procedure to prevent infection because Maltese law prohibits abortion under any circumstances, the woman’s partner said. Jay Weeldreyer told The Associated Press by phone from a hospital in the island nation that his partner, Andrea Prudente, is at risk of a life-threatening infection if the fetal tissue isn’t promptly removed. ... He indicated she was 16 weeks pregnant when the bleeding began. (D'Emilio, 6/23)

AP: State Dept. To Pay 6-Figure Sums To Havana Syndrome Victims
The State Department is preparing to compensate victims of mysterious brain injuries colloquially known as “Havana Syndrome” with six-figure payments, according to officials and a congressional aide. Current and former State Department staff and their families who suffered from “qualifying injuries” since cases were first reported among U.S. embassy personnel in Cuba in 2016 will receive payments of between roughly $100,000 and $200,000 each, the officials and aide said. (Lee and Merchant, 6/23)

CIDRAP: Study Documents Rise Of Antibiotic-Resistant Typhoid 
A new study by an international team of scientists reveals a new understanding of how antibiotic-resistant strains of typhoid fever have quickly emerged and spread from South Asia to other parts of the world. The authors of the study, published this week in The Lancet Microbe, say the findings highlight the need to consider drug-resistant typhoid fever as a global—rather than a local—problem, and to rapidly expand prevention measures. (Dall, 6/23)