Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Leeches Are A Tool Used In Desperate Times. But Even The Old-Fashioned Treatment Is Susceptible To Antibiotic Resistance.
Stat: Antibiotic-Resistant Infections Began After Surgery. Were They Transmitted By Leeches?
When doctors saw blood pooling in the new graft, threatening to kill this one, too, they had the perfect treatment. Down in a hospital lab was a tank rippling with leeches. They fished some out and placed them on the man’s face. Things got better for Christmas. For New Year’s, they got worse. The wound had started oozing pus, which smelled like a sewer and baffled the physicians. Leech guts, like ours, are crawling with bacteria, so the team had pumped the patient full of ciprofloxacin before allowing his blood to be sucked. That should have stopped any infections before they started. Then lab tests confirmed their suspicions: These bugs, called Aeromonas, were cipro-resistant. (Boodman, 7/24)
Stat: Employees With Depression Miss Fewer Days When Bosses Support Them, Study Finds
A new study makes the case that a supportive manager might help employees with depression miss fewer days on the job. The research, published Monday in BMJ Open, found that workplaces where managers support and help employees with depression have lower rates of missed days on the job due to depression. That support can come in the form of a formal policy, a referral system for care, or transitional support to help employees take time off work for mental health reasons and then return to their roles. (Thielking, 7/24)
Chicago Tribune: 'It’s Not Just A Girl Problem': When Offering HPV Vaccine, Doctors Advised To Focus On Cancer Prevention
As HPV vaccination rates continue to lag behind other, less controversial immunizations, medical experts are urging pediatricians to stress the importance of the vaccine just as strongly as they do other shots and to tout the link to cancer prevention. As part of the effort, the American Cancer Society is rolling out a public campaign this summer, pledging to eventually eradicate cancers related to HPV, a sexually transmitted disease, through use of the vaccine for adolescents, as well as screenings for adults who came of age before it became available in 2006. (Thayer, 7/23)
The New York Times: Alternative Cancer Treatments May Be Bad For Your Health
Herbs, acupuncture and other so-called complementary treatments for cancer may not be completely innocuous. A new study has found that many cancer patients treat these nostrums not as a supplement to conventional treatment, but as an alternative. This, the researchers say, can be dangerous. (Bakalar, 7/23)
PBS NewsHour: Fetal Alcohol Disorders Are More Common Than You Think
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, a possible result from mothers drinking during pregnancy, has flown under the radar for decades. Now new conservative estimates published in The Journal of the American Medical Association show that anywhere from 1.1 to 5 percent of the U.S. population is affected, meaning it could be more common than autism. (Nawaz, 7/23)
The New York Times: When We Eat, Or Don’t Eat, May Be Critical For Health
Nutrition scientists have long debated the best diet for optimal health. But now some experts believe that it’s not just what we eat that’s critical for good health, but when we eat it. A growing body of research suggests that our bodies function optimally when we align our eating patterns with our circadian rhythms, the innate 24-hour cycles that tell our bodies when to wake up, when to eat and when to fall asleep. Studies show that chronically disrupting this rhythm — by eating late meals or nibbling on midnight snacks, for example — could be a recipe for weight gain and metabolic trouble. (O'Connor, 7/24)
Kaiser Health News: Hospitals Gear Up For New Diagnosis: Human Trafficking
The woman arrived at the emergency department at Huntington Hospital on New York’s Long Island after she was hit by her boyfriend during an argument. Her situation raised concerns among the medical staff, which had recently been trained to be on the lookout for signs of sex trafficking. An undocumented immigrant from El Salvador, she worked at a local “cantina” frequented by immigrants. Her job was to get patrons drinks and to dance with them, but many workers in those jobs are expected to offer sex, too. Her boyfriend didn’t want her to work there, and that led to the fight, one doctor recalled. (Andrews, 7/24)
The Washington Post: Some Police Departments Have Psychiatrists To Help Them Deal With People Suffering From Mental Illness
Police departments have become a de facto arm of the American mental-health system. Research suggests that about 2 million people with serious mental illness are booked into jails in the United States each year. A 2016 review of studies estimated that 1 in 4 people with mental illness has a history of police arrest. The Treatment Advocacy Center, a nonprofit that studies topics related to mental health, has calculated that the odds of being killed during a police encounter are 16 times as high for individuals with untreated serious mental illness as they are for people in the broader population. (Morris, 7/23)
The Associated Press: 4 Types Of Goldfish Crackers Recalled, Salmonella Fears
Pepperidge Farm is voluntarily recalling four varieties of Goldfish Crackers because of fears they could potentially have salmonella. The company on Monday took the action after one of its ingredient suppliers notified it that whey powder used in a seasoning may be contaminated. The products were distributed in the United States and no illnesses have been reported. (7/24)
The New York Times: Ritz Cracker Products Recalled After Potential Salmonella Risk Identified
The snack food company Mondelez International recalled some of its Ritz cracker products on Saturday after a whey powder supplier identified a potential salmonella risk. As of Monday afternoon, there had been no reports of illnesses connected to the products, a Mondelez spokeswoman said. The recall was limited to the United States, including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to a news release on Saturday. It was “being conducted with the knowledge of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration,” the release said. (Victor, 7/23)
Boston Globe: Pot Is Legal, But Is It Safe? Here’s What We Know
Although marijuana has been studied in many ways over many years, the studies vary in quality and often reach conflicting conclusions, according to experts on the issue. ... Amid the uncertainty, discussions tend toward pro-or-con polarization, said Dr. Kevin P. Hill, director of addiction psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. (Freyer, 7/23)
