Florida Reports Seventh Case Of Locally-Contracted Malaria

AP: Florida County Reports Its 7th Case Of Locally Contracted Malaria 
A southwest Florida county has document a seventh case of malaria, state authorities said. The Florida Department of Health reported a new locally acquired case of malaria in Sarasota County during the week of July 9-15. That’s in addition to five cases last month and one case in May. (7/19)

NBC News: New Malaria Case In Florida Brings National Total To 8, The First U.S. Acquired Cases In 20 Years
Malaria was considered eliminated from the U.S. by 1951, but the country gets around 2,000 cases annually, nearly all among people who had traveled outside the U.S. Dr. Monica Parise, the director of the CDC’s Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria, said malaria outbreaks in the U.S. have historically been “relatively small and contained.” The outbreak in Sarasota County fits the pattern, she said. (Bendix and Alexander, 7/18)

CIDRAP: Florida Reports More Cases Of Malaria And Dengue
In its latest weekly arbovirus report, the Florida Department of Health confirmed one more local malaria case as well as one more local dengue infection. The report covers mosquito-borne illness activity for the week ending July 15. The malaria case involves a resident of Sarasota County, where the earlier locally acquired cases occurred. The new case lifts the number of local cases for the year to seven. Texas also reported a local malaria case this year, which involved someone from Cameron County. (Schnirring, 7/18)

Health News Florida, WUSF: Health Officials Report A Seventh Case Of Malaria In Sarasota County
In addition, the year's third case of dengue was confirmed in Miami-Dade. Sarasota, Manatee and Miami-Dade counties are under a mosquito-borne illness alert. Health officials have confirmed one new case of locally acquired malaria in north Sarasota County this past week, for a total of seven this year. (Mayer, 7/18)

Meanwhile, on the opioid crisis —

San Francisco Chronicle: Dangerous New Strain Of Fentanyl Discovered In S.F.’s Drug Supply
A dangerous new strain of fentanyl — fluorofentanyl — was found in dozens of overdose deaths in San Francisco last year while a concerning new street drug called xylazine — commonly known as “tranq” — was present in more than a dozen cases, according to a new report from the medical examiner. Fluorofentanyl, which can range from half to five times as powerful as prescribed fentanyl, was found in 45 deaths, while xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer not intended for human consumption, was identified in 15 cases. Different kinds of fentanyl were found in 12 cases. All tranq cases also contained fentanyl. (Moench, 7/18)

Also —

Salt Lake Tribune: Signs Of Harmful Algal Toxin Found In Virgin River In St. George Following Puppy’s Death
The presence of a harmful algal bloom has been detected in the Virgin River through a part of St. George. The Utah Department of Environmental Quality announced Friday that the presence of a bloom was found in a segment of the Virgin River between the area of the RV Rental Pad senior community and Mall Drive Bridge. (Kessler, 7/18)

Newsweek: Toxic Algal Bloom Covering Florida Lake So Big It Is Visible From Space
A toxic bloom of blue-green algae is blossoming across Lake Okeechobee in Florida, leading to health warnings and the closure of parts of a local marina. The bloom was thought to have spread across 380 square miles of the lake as of June 12. It is Florida's largest freshwater lake, and the 10th-largest natural freshwater lake in the U.S. (Thomson, 7/18)

USA Today: Misdiagnosis Kills, Disables An Alarming Number Of Americans Each Year
For years, the public hasn't known much about the full scope of medical misdiagnoses that happen in the U.S., according to a new report released by the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute Center for Diagnostic Excellence. Until now, estimates of annual incorrect diagnoses have varied widely, the report says. Now, researchers say an estimated 371,000 patients die and 424,000 are permanently disabled each year because they are incorrectly diagnosed across a range of medical care settings — not just in the family doctor's office. (Thornton, 7/18)

The Hill: Here Are The 10 Fittest And Least Fit Big US Cities 
Arlington, Va. and Washington, D.C. topped a ranking of America’s fittest cities released Tuesday, with Wichita and Oklahoma City taking up the rear among the 100 largest U.S. cities. The 16th annual American Fitness Index is a collaboration between the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the Elevance Health Foundation. The index uses census and city-provided data surrounding 34 fitness indicators to rank the 100 largest U.S. cities. (Roseborough, 7/18)

CIDRAP: Experts Offer Tips To Combat Rampant Online COVID, Other Health Misinformation
The US medical and public health communities should work together to combat online health misinformation through sustainable investments in media monitoring and counter messaging, according to a Harvard Medical School–led research team. Their report, published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine, describes how to address untruths such as the social media rumors that undermined trust in science during the COVID-19 pandemic. (7/18)

KFF Health News: Once The New Over-The-Counter Birth Control Pill Is Available, What About Cost And Coverage?
Last week, the FDA approved Opill, the first daily oral contraceptive that will be available for sale over the counter in stores as well as online. Reproductive health advocates hailed the groundbreaking approval as a step that can help millions of people avoid pregnancy, which is unintended nearly half the time in the United States. They long have argued that eliminating the often-time-consuming step of requiring people to get a prescription before they can get birth control pills would expand access and give people more control over their contraceptive decisions. (Andrews, 7/19)