First Edition: Nov. 18, 2022
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
KHN:
As STDs Proliferate, Companies Rush To Market At-Home Test Kits. But Are They Reliable?
Among the more remarkable legacies of the covid-19 pandemic is how quickly federal regulators, the health care industry, and consumers moved to make at-home testing a reliable tool for managing a public health crisis. But that fast-track focus is missing from another, less publicized epidemic: an explosion in sexually transmitted diseases that can cause chronic pain and infertility among infected adults and disable or kill infected newborns. The disparity has amplified calls from researchers, public health advocates, and health care companies urging the federal government to greenlight at-home testing kits that could vastly multiply the number of Americans testing for STDs. (Szabo, 11/18)
KHN:
Mistrust And Polarization Steer Rural Governments To Reject Federal Public Health Funding
When Elko County commissioners rejected a $500,000 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that could have helped the county create a health department or health district, Kayla Hopkins pleaded with them to reconsider. Hopkins, who has lived for nearly nine years in the sprawling rural county that forms the northeastern corner of Nevada, told the board how she struggled through postpartum depression and needed mental health resources. (Rodriguez, 11/18)
KHN:
KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: The Changing Of The Guard
The coming Congress will look different from the current one: While Democrats narrowly kept control of the U.S. Senate, Republicans gained a majority in the House. While their majority is small, it will likely be enough to block any further items on President Joe Biden’s agenda. Meanwhile, the current, lame-duck Congress still has a lot of items on its to-do list, including keeping the government open and averting a scheduled 4% cut in payments to health providers. (11/17)
CNN:
FDA Approves First Treatment To Delay Onset Of Type 1 Diabetes
A biologic therapy that delays the onset of type 1 diabetes received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration on Thursday. It is the first therapy approved for prevention of type 1 diabetes. The monoclonal antibody teplizumab, which will be marketed under the brand name Tzield, from ProventionBio and Sanofi is given through intravenous infusion. (Christensen and Goodman, 11/17)
ABC News:
FDA Approves 1st Drug To Delay Onset Of Type 1 Diabetes
Tzield was approved to delay the onset of stage 3 type 1 diabetes in adults and children ages 8 and up who currently have stage 2 type 1 diabetes. The medication is thought to slow down the body's attack on its own insulin-producing cells and thus give people more time before they become dependent on pharmaceutical insulin. Tzield is not suitable for people with insulin-dependent type 1 diabetes, people who are pre-type 2 diabetics or those with type 2 diabetes. (Strauss and Winsor, 11/18)
The Washington Post:
Epilepsy Drugs As ‘Chemical Restraint’ On Rise In Nursing Homes
Government policies aimed at curbing excessive use of powerful psychiatric drugs for dementia patients in nursing homes are probably having an unintended side effect: greater use of anti-seizure medications, a government report said Thursday. The evidence released by the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services indicates physicians specializing in nursing home care may have traded one controversial practice for another in response to regulatory scrutiny, seeking to sedate dementia patients with anticonvulsant medications rather than antipsychotics. (Rowland, 11/17)
Modern Healthcare:
Nursing Home Antipsychotic Drugs Use Is Safety Concern: HHS OIG
Eight out of 10 Medicare long-stay nursing home residents received psychotropic drugs from 2011-2019, the HHS OIG found in a review of Medicare data. Residents of facilities with low staff ratios and with high shares of low-income people are more likely to receive psychotropic medicines. (Berryman, 11/17)
AP:
USDA Program Keeps Extra COVID-Era Money For Fruits, Veggies
U.S. agriculture officials proposed changes Thursday to the federal program that helps pay the grocery bills for low-income pregnant women, babies and young children, including extending a bump in payments for fresh fruits and vegetables allowed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The update also adds more whole grains, canned fish and non-dairy options to their shopping carts. The effort is aimed at expanding the number and type of healthy foods available to families who get assistance from the Agriculture Department’s program known as WIC, officials said. (Aleccia, 11/18)
The Hill:
Markey Introduces Legislation To Improve Tech Access For Americans With Disabilities
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) on Thursday introduced new legislation that aims to improve access to communications technology for Americans with disabilities to ensure they have equal opportunities in an increasingly online world. The Communications, Video, and Technology Accessibility Act (CVTA) will update policies for television programming and online video streaming platforms. (Dress, 11/7)
Axios:
Time Running Out On Insulin Cost Caps
An effort to lower the cost of insulin for privately insured patients faces long odds in the lame duck session, Axios' Peter Sullivan reports. (Sullivan, 11/18)
Axios:
Study: Most Medicaid Enrollees Unprepared For Safety Net Redeterminations
Millions of Medicaid recipients are unaware that states will redetermine their eligibility for the program when the COVID-19 public health emergency ends — and fewer than one third know what other coverage options exist, according to an Urban Institute policy brief. (Moreno, 11/17)
Reuters:
Cancer Diagnoses Lag After Screenings Fall During Pandemic, U.S. Study Finds
Screenings for a variety of common cancers have not returned to pre-pandemic levels, potentially leading to diagnoses later in the course of the disease when it may be more difficult to treat successfully, U.S. data published on Thursday suggest. In 2020 - the first year of the pandemic - average rates of screening for breast cancer fell by 40%, for cervical cancer by 36%, and for colorectal cancer by 45%, compared to the three previous years, according to an analysis of medical claims data from 306 million adults. (Alleyne-Morris, 11/17)
CNN:
More Adolescent E-Cigarette Users Report Vaping Within Five Minutes Of Waking Up, Study Finds
Although the prevalence of e-cigarette use among teens has declined in recent years, those who do vape are starting younger and they’re using e-cigarettes more intensely, a new study suggests. Among adolescents who only use e-cigarettes, the percentage who used the products within the first five minutes of waking up in a day was less than 1% between the years 2014 and 2017, but that shifted to 10.3% from 2017 through 2021, according to the study published Monday in the medical journal JAMA Network Open. (Howard, 11/17)
NBC News:
Biden Administration Sidesteps Calls To Declare RSV A Health Emergency
The Biden administration on Thursday sidestepped calls from pediatric groups that have been urging the government to declare a public health emergency in response to the surge in respiratory illnesses in children. (Alba, Egan and Bendix, 11/17)
Scientific American:
Why Did Flu Season Start So Early This Year?
“Typically, the population-level immunity is what counts in terms of how many infections we are going to see” in a given season, says Arnold S. Monto, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. “Now almost everybody is going around unmasked, so we have the situation where [flu] transmission can go back to what we have normally seen,” he says. The fact that fewer people currently have antibodies against the flu because they weren’t exposed to it during the pandemic may be facilitating the spread of the virus, he adds. That doesn’t mean that lack of exposure to a virus impairs an individual’s immune system, a misconception that is sometimes referred to as “immunity debt.” (Lenharo, 11/17)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. County Returns To Strongly Recommending COVID Masking
Amid a sustained rise in coronavirus transmission, Los Angeles County is once again strongly recommending wearing a mask in indoor public spaces. The daily number of newly reported cases has jumped almost 70% from a month ago, though case rates are still well shy of previous waves and officials continue to tout the benefits of available vaccines and therapeutics in warding off the worst COVID-19 has to offer. (Money and Lin II, 11/17)
CNN:
Reduce Your Risk Of Getting Sick This Thanksgiving Season
What are steps people can take to protect themselves and their loved ones against Covid-19 during Thanksgiving dinners and other gatherings over the coming holidays? Is it still important to require vaccines for attendees at such events? Does a mini-quarantine period help to reduce risk? If people are testing before gathering together, when should they test, and with what tests? And what’s the best way to protect against other circulating viruses? (Hetter, 11/16)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Indoor Humidity May Reduce Infection Risk, Study Finds
Maintaining an indoor relative humidity between 40-60% is associated with relatively lower rates of COVID-19 infections and deaths, according to a study by MIT researchers who found that indoor relative humidity may also influence the transmission of the coronavirus. (Vaziri, 11/17)
AP:
Indian Health Service Steps Up COVID, Other Vaccine Push
The Indian Health Service announced Thursday that all tribal members covered by the federal agency will be offered a vaccine at every appointment when appropriate, under a new vaccine strategy. Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, American Indians and Alaska Natives have had some of the highest COVID-19 vaccination rates across the country. (11/17)
Fortune:
You May Have COVID Rebound Even Without Taking Paxlovid. Here Are The Three Symptoms Most Likely To Return, According To One Study
Paxlovid, the antiviral drug used to treat COVID, isn’t the only reason you could be experiencing rebound symptoms, a new study suggests. In the study, published in JAMA Network last month, over a third of those infected with COVID who didn’t take Paxlovid still experienced a recurrence of their symptoms two days after their initial recovery. ... The overwhelming majority (85%) of people with recurring symptoms said they were mild, and most commonly reported cough, fatigue, or a headache. (Mikhail, 11/17)
NPR:
Treating Long COVID Patients Still Requires Lots Of Trial And Error
Medical equipment is still strewn around the house of Rick Lucas, 62, who came home from the hospital nearly two years ago. He picks up a spirometer, a device that measures lung capacity, and takes a deep breath, though not as deep as he'd like. Still, he has come a long way for someone who spent more than three months on a ventilator because of COVID-19. (Farmer, 11/18)
NBC News:
Vaccine Trials Should Monitor Menstrual Changes, Researchers Say
Although they made up around half the participants in Covid vaccine trials, women were not asked about any menstrual changes as part of that process. Since then, several studies have revealed that Covid vaccines can indeed induce short-term changes in menstrual cycles. (Bendix, 11/17)
CIDRAP:
New-Onset Diabetes Risk Higher In Recovering COVID-19 Patients
People recovering from COVID-19 are at higher risk of a new diabetes diagnosis, a research team from Beijing reported this week in BMC Medicine. ... They note that an increased risk of diabetes has also been found for other viruses, but their analysis shows a 20% higher risk of developing diabetes following COVID compared to patients with other upper respiratory viruses and an 82% increased risk compared to the general population. (11/17)
CIDRAP:
Post-COVID Epilepsy Rare But More Common Than After Flu
COVID-19 patients—especially children and those with nonsevere infections—are 55% more likely to develop epilepsy or seizures in the next 6 months than those who have influenza, but the overall risk remains very low, concludes a study published yesterday in Neurology. (Van Beusekom, 11/7)
Bloomberg:
Elizabeth Holmes Sentencing: How Theranos Fraud Trial Verdict May Impact Ex-CEO
Elizabeth Holmes’s punishment for her role in the collapse of Theranos Inc. will finally be decided Friday, closing a key chapter in one of the biggest scandals in Silicon Valley history. (Rosenblatt, 11/18)
The Washington Post:
Blood Tests For Alzheimer’s Are Here. Here’s What You Need To Know.
Some experts say much more research is needed before the new tests can be widely deployed, especially in primary-care settings. Others say there already is sufficient information on the accuracy of some tests. All agree that no single test is perfect and physicians still should perform a complete clinical assessment. Widespread use of the tests may be some time off in the future — after insurance coverage improves and even more accurate next-generation tests become available. For now, none is covered by Medicare, and private insurance coverage is patchy. (McGinley, 11/17)
Stat:
MRNA Drugs With A ‘Copy Machine’ Could Lead To Safer Therapies
Remember that messenger-RNA-based Covid-19 vaccine you got? Just a few days later, the teeny molecular messengers contained in the shot were already gone. Despite scientists’ best attempts to bolster mRNA and improve its stability, these molecules are ephemeral. (Wosen, 11/18)
Reuters:
Big Pharma May Have To Reveal Government Deals In WHO's Draft Pandemic Rules
Pharmaceutical companies could be made to disclose prices and deals agreed for any products they make to fight future global health emergencies, under new rules that would govern a World Health Organization-backed pandemic accord reviewed by Reuters. (Rigby and Farge, 11/18)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
EMT Driving Ambulance Killed In Head-On Crash In North Metro Atlanta
An emergency medical technician responding to a call died after being struck head-on by a car Thursday morning in Forsyth County, according to the Georgia State Patrol. Shortly before 7 a.m., the Central EMS ambulance was traveling east on Ga. 20 in the center lane, according to investigators. The ambulance, which had its emergency equipment including lights and siren activated, was in the turn lane to avoid other vehicles, the GSP said. (Stevens, 11/17)
CNN:
As Measles Outbreak Sickens Children In Ohio, Local Health Officials Seek Help From CDC
A growing measles outbreak in Columbus, Ohio, has sickened dozens of unvaccinated children and hospitalized nine of them, and local public health officials are seeking assistance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “We asked the CDC for assistance and they will be sending two epidemiologists at the end of the month to assist with our local investigation,” Kelli Newman, a spokesperson for Columbus Public Health, told CNN in an email Thursday. (Howard, 11/17)
NBC News:
Oklahoma Proposes Landmark Rule To Keep Mailed Medications Safe From Extreme Temperatures
Patients who get their prescription medications by mail in Oklahoma may soon have better protections for the safety of those drugs than any other state. On Wednesday, Oklahoma regulators proposed the nation’s first detailed rule to control temperatures during shipping, according to pharmacy experts. (Kaplan, 11/17)
Reuters:
U.S. Justice Dept Launches Probe Of Oklahoma's Mental Health Services
The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday launched a probe into whether Oklahoma, Oklahoma City and the city's police department discriminate against people who have mental health disabilities in the provision of behavioral care services. The investigation will examine if Oklahoma violates federal law, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), by relying on psychiatric institutions to serve adults with behavioral health issues rather than relying on community-based services offered to others, Assistant Attorney General Clarke said at a news conference. (11/17)
News Service of Florida:
Thousands Of Florida Students Were Committed Last Year Under The Baker Act
Florida had 5,077 incidents of students being involuntarily committed under a mental health law known as the Baker Act during the past school year, data presented Wednesday to a school safety commission showed. (Dailey, 11/17)
Colorado Sun:
Colorado Ill-Equipped To Handle Adopted Kids With Severe Trauma
Colorado’s child welfare system has stepped up efforts in recent years to either keep kids with their relatives or more quickly get them adopted, policies motivated by research that children are better off in permanent homes. But where the system is failing, parents and child advocates say, is in getting kids the mental health help they need to heal — not just from the original abuse and trauma, but from the grief that comes with losing their biological parents. (Brown, Prentzel and Najmabadi, 11/17)
The Washington Post:
Yale Defends Mental Health Policies Under Fire From Students, Alumni
Yale University President Peter Salovey wrote a letter to school alumni Wednesday defending the university’s mental health services and the way it treats suicidal students, while also detailing plans for more resources and possible changes to policy. His letter followed a Washington Post story in which current and former students described being pressured by university administrators to withdraw once the university learned about their mental health problems and being forced to reapply to get back into the university. (Wan, 11/17)
Axios:
Rise In Mental Health Needs Persists
Nearly three years into the pandemic, demand for mental health services is swamping the psychology profession, according to a new report from the American Psychological Association. Nearly half of 2,300 psychologists surveyed said they were unable to meet demand for treatment, while 60% said they have no more openings for new patients. (Moreno, 11/17)
Reuters:
Nearly Half Of World Population Suffers From Oral Diseases - WHO
Nearly half of the world's population, or 3.5 billion people, suffer from oral diseases, the majority of them in low- and middle-income countries, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. The most common oral illnesses are tooth decay, severe gum disease, tooth loss and oral cancers, with untreated tooth decay affecting nearly 2.5 billion people, the United Nations agency said. (11/17)