Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Reports Of Kids With Melatonin Poisoning Jump Dramatically
AP: Melatonin Poisoning Reports Are Up In Kids, Study Says
Researchers are drawing attention to a rise in poisonings in children involving the sleep aid melatonin — including a big jump during the pandemic. Last year, U.S. poison control centers received more than 52,000 calls about children consuming worrisome amounts of the dietary supplement — a six-fold increase from about a decade earlier. Most such calls are about young children who accidentally got into bottles of melatonin, some of which come in the form of gummies for kids. (Stobbe, 6/2)
In updates on two separate hepatitis outbreaks —
CIDRAP: CDC Reports 30 More Kids' Unexplained Hepatitis Cases
In its weekly update yesterday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that investigations are under way into 30 more unexplained hepatitis cases in children, raising the nation's total to 246. The number of affected states and jurisdictions remained the same, at 38. The CDC has said that many of the recently reported cases are retrospective, with the probe covering illnesses experienced since October 2021. (6/2)
USA Today: FDA Probes Strawberries, Hepatitis A Link: How A Virus Gets To Fruit
Public health officials are investigating an outbreak of hepatitis A potentially linked to organic strawberries. But how could the virus have gotten into the fruit in the first place? The source of any hepatitis A food contamination is human, said Francisco Diez, director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia. "There are different possibilities how the virus gets to the strawberries," Diez said. "One of them could be because the water used for irrigating the strawberries could have been contaminated with sewage, because the virus is specific for humans." The berries could have also been contaminated after being handled by an infected person who did not follow proper hand washing hygiene, Diez said. (Pérez Pintado, 6/2)
In other health news —
CBS News: Feds Warn Not To Use Adult Bed Rails Blamed For At Least 3 Deaths
Americans are being urged to stop using any of 285,000 adult portable bed rails after the deaths of at least three people who suffocated after becoming caught in one of 10 models of the product. The bed rails were manufactured and sold by Mobility Transfer Systems from 1992 to 2021 and by Metal Tubing USA in 2021 and 2022, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said on Thursday. Neither company has agreed to recall the beds or offer a remedy to consumers, according to the agency. The bed rails were sold at Walmart.com, Amazon.com, MTSMedicalSupply.com, VitalityMedical.com, Alimed.com and other online retailers for roughly $30 to $170. (Gibson, 6/2)
AP: Baseball Honors Gehrig While Raising Awareness Of ALS
Jim Poole describes the past year almost matter-of-factly, even though the effects of ALS on the former reliever are anything but. “I’m going to say a downhill spiral, but not in the negative sense. I’m not sad, or ‘woe is me.’ It’s just the way it is,” the 56-year-old said. “When I was diagnosed, I could still walk, my left arm still worked, I could speak well. In a matter of 11 months, (I’m) in a wheelchair and I adapt. That’s the main word that it’s been about, adapting and appreciating whatever I can accomplish in a given day.” Poole was at Camden Yards on Thursday night for Lou Gehrig Day, when baseball celebrates the life and legacy of the Yankees’ Hall of Famer, who died on June 2, 1941, of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. (Trister, 6/3)
The 19th: Biden’s New Environmental Justice Office Aims To Tackle The Health Impacts Disproportionately Faced By People Of Color
The Biden administration has created an Office of Environmental Justice in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), part of an effort to tackle the health impacts of pollution and climate change disproportionately faced by communities of color. Dr. Sharunda Buchanan, who has over 30 years of experience working for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in positions related to environmental justice and environmental health, will lead the office as the interim director. She joins a growing list of women of color working on environmental justice issues on a federal level in the Biden administration. (Kutz, 6/2)
