Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First-Ever Personalized Gene-Editing Treatment Saves Baby's Life
The New York Times: Baby Is Healed With World’s First Personalized Gene-Editing Treatment
Something was very wrong with Kyle and Nicole Muldoon’s baby. The doctors speculated. Maybe it was meningitis? Maybe sepsis? They got an answer when KJ was only a week old. He had a rare genetic disorder, CPS1 deficiency, that affects just one in 1.3 million babies. If he survived, he would have severe mental and developmental delays and would eventually need a liver transplant. But half of all babies with the disorder die in the first week of life. (Kolata, 5/15)
More health and wellness news —
AP: The US Has 1,001 Measles Cases And 11 States With Active Outbreaks
New Mexico announced two new measles cases Thursday and North Dakota added one. The U.S. surpassed 1,000 measles cases Friday. Texas still accounts for the vast majority of cases in an outbreak that also spread measles to New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas. Two unvaccinated elementary school-aged children died from measles-related illnesses in the epicenter in West Texas, and an adult in New Mexico who was not vaccinated died of a measles-related illness. (Shastri, 5/15)
CIDRAP: Woman Dies Of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Almost 50 Years After Taking Prion-Contaminated Growth Hormone
A University of California–led case report in Emerging Infectious Diseases, describes a 58-year-old woman who, an estimated 48 years after treatment with cadaver-derived human growth hormone, died of iatrogenic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (iCJD), a prion disease. The patient, who sought care after developing gait imbalance and tremors 2 weeks earlier, had received prion-contaminated cadaveric human growth hormone (chGH) for 9.3 years starting at age 7. (Van Beusekom, 5/15)
CounterPunch.Org: Is A Prion Epidemic Brewing?
The deaths of two people and illness of one from a possible fatal and rare brain disease clustering in Oregon have public health officials and medical professionals worried. They fear a returning threat from the prion disease mad cow (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) which roiled US markets 20 years ago. It led to devastating international boycotts of US beef, agricultural market upheavals, medical panic and widespread distrust of the US government which was seen to mismanage the outbreak. (Rosenberg, 5/16)
WUFT: Night Owls At Greater Risk For Depression Due To Poorer Sleep Quality, A Study Shows
In the past, research has shown that people who tend to stay up late — sometimes termed “evening chronotypes” — report more depression symptoms than those who are early risers, also known as “morning chronotypes.” The mechanisms between the two, however, bear explaining. A new study from researchers in the United Kingdom points to a potent mix of mindfulness, total sleep quality and alcohol consumption that may help explain why those of us who prefer to stay up late reap an unpleasant reward. (Hagmajer, 5/15)
