Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Secret Repository Kept Well-Stocked In Case Of Bioterror Attack, Pandemic, Or Major Public Health Crisis
The Washington Post: Inside The Secret U.S. Stockpile Meant To Save Us All In A Bioterror Attack
From the outside, it looks like an ordinary commercial warehouse, only much bigger, about the size of two super Walmarts. Inside it’s dark except when motion sensors are triggered. When the lights come on, hundreds of thousands of shrink-wrapped boxes of medicines emerge from the gloom, stacked on shelves nearly five stories high. This is quite a different kind of warehouse. It and several others across the country are part of the $7 billion Strategic National Stockpile, a government repository of drugs and supplies ready for deployment in a bioterrorism or nuclear attack, or against an infectious disease outbreak — of either a known pathogen or some unknown threat with pandemic potential, which global health officials dub “Disease X” — or other major public health emergency. There are antibiotics, including the powerful medication Ciprofloxacin, vaccines for smallpox and anthrax and antivirals for a deadly influenza pandemic. (Sun, 4/24)
Stat: Early Trials Of Stem-Cell Therapies Hint At Potential To Restore Vision
In certain eye diseases, cells that are crucial for vision die off, with no innate way to rebuild their supply. But scientists around the world are increasingly deploying treatments derived from stem cells, placing them in patients’ eyes in hopes of regenerating the lost tissue. Two research groups in the past two months have reported enticing results from approaches using embryonic stem cells, finding that their therapies appear to be safe and even produced some vision gains. (Joseph, 4/25)
The Associated Press: First Drug Approved For Most Common Inherited Kidney Disease
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first drug to slow kidney decline in patients with the most common inherited kidney disease. Jynarque (jihn-AR'-kew), from Japan's Otsuka Pharmaceutical, was approved Tuesday for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease.The progressive genetic disorder is the fourth-leading cause of kidney failure. It causes fluid-filled cysts to develop in and damage kidneys. (Johnson, 4/24)
The Associated Press: After A Death, How Much Can 'Broken Heart' Hurt Survivors?
You hear it whenever someone gets sick or dies soon after losing a spouse: Was it because of a broken heart? Stress might not be to blame for former President George H.W. Bush's hospitalization a day after his wife's funeral, but it does the body no favors, and one partner's health clearly affects the other's. A sudden shock can trigger a heart attack or something like it called broken heart syndrome. Some studies also have found that people are more likely to die soon after losing a longtime spouse. (Marchione, 4/24)
The Associated Press: Kids With Rare Rapid-Aging Disease Get Hope From Study Drug
Children with a rare, incurable disease that causes rapid aging and early death may live longer if treated with an experimental drug first developed for cancer patients, a study suggests. The small, preliminary study isn't proof the drug works and it found only a small benefit: Treated children with the disease progeria were more likely than others to survive during the two-year study. But some kids taking the drug in this and other studies have lived into their late teens. Researchers and others say the results suggest a potential breakthrough for a heartbreaking condition that typically kills kids before they reach adulthood. (Tanner, 4/24)
PBS NewsHour: Why A Promising New Approach To HIV Prevention Could Lose Funding
A battle is brewing in the HIV research world about the best way to prevent HIV transmission. On one side are drugs that target the tissue where exposure to the virus occurs — think a gel or douche. On the other is a whole-body approach. (Boerner, 4/24)
The New York Times: In Real Life, SPF 100 Sunscreens May Work Better Than SPF 50
Sunscreens with a rating of SPF 100 may be more effective than ones rated SPF 50, according to a randomized trial, even though the Food and Drug Administration says that any SPF above 50 offers no additional protection. The study, in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, included 199 men and women given two tubes of sunscreen, one marked “right” and one “left.” They applied the cream to the indicated side of the face and neck, and then went about their normal activities on a sunny day at a ski resort. One of the tubes contained SPF 50 cream, the other SPF 100. (Bakalar, 4/24)
The Washington Post: She Read About A 4-Year-Old’s Mysterious Death. A Year Later, It Saved Her Own Daughter’s Life.
As 4-year-old Elianna Grace sat in the back seat of the SUV, battling her second fever in three days, her mom flashed back to the coughing and vomiting fit the preschooler had the previous weekend — and to a niggling fear about the girl's sudden illness. Elianna had spent April 14 playing in her grandparents' pool in Bradenton, Fla. She blew a geyser of water at family members with a pool noodle. One of them tried to spray her back, but Elianna was already inhaling and got a mouth full of water. (Wootson, 4/24)
KCUR: Federal Food Aid Is A Crucial Service For Mentally Ill, But Staying In Program Is Difficult
It’s a challenge for people with severe mental illnesses to hold down a job or get the medical help they need. And that extends to when they try to alleviate hunger by getting on the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. “(The mentally ill) have some of the highest food insecurity rates in this country,” said Craig Gunderson, a University of Illinois professor who researchers hunger and food programs like SNAP. “And this holds even after controlling for income, controlling for employment status, controlling for a whole bunch of other factors is still those with disabilities including mental health issues have substantially higher rates of food insecurity.” (Beck, 4/25)
Columbus Dispatch: Volunteers' Health Data To Aid Heart-Attack, Stroke Research
Three years later, Breece is part of an initial group of people participating in the American Heart Association’s My Research Legacy, a new initiative aimed at collecting biometric, genetic and medical data from 250,000 volunteers. The goal is to use the information to foster scientific discoveries on cardiovascular disease and stroke and eventually find ways to predict whether someone is at risk — and prevent an event from happening. (Viviano, 4/25)
