Simply Asking ER Patients If They’d Get Flu Shots Lifts Uptake Rate: Study

CIDRAP: Asking Patients About Flu Shots In The Emergency Room May Boost Uptake
Simply asking patients to get the flu vaccine during emergency department (ED) visits may double vaccination rates—or raise them even higher if the request is combined with helpful video and print messages, according to a study this week in NEJM Evidence. The study, led by researchers at the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF), compared two interventions among 767 non-critically ill adult patients seen in the ED who were not yet vaccinated against influenza. (Soucheray, 3/28)

On other infectious disease news —

AP: US Tuberculosis Cases Were At The Highest Level In A Decade In 2023
The number of U.S. tuberculosis cases in 2023 were the highest in a decade, according to a new government report. Forty states reported an increase in TB, and rates were up among all age groups, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. More than 9,600 cases were reported, a 16% increase from 2022 and the highest since 2013. Cases declined sharply at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, but have been rising since. (Stobbe, 3/28)

CNN: Mpox Cases In The US Are On The Rise As Vaccination Rates Lag And New Threats Loom
Mpox cases in the United States are twice as high as they were at this time last year, and experts are stressing the importance of improving vaccination coverage as transmission risks rise. (McPhillips, 3/28)

AP: Dengue Is Sweeping Through The Americas Early This Year
Dengue is surging across the Americas early this year from Puerto Rico to Brazil, with 3.5 million cases of the tropical disease reported so far, health officials said Thursday. That tally is three times the number of cases reported at this point last year, said Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, director of the Pan American Health Organization, the regional office of the World Health Organization in the Americas. Last year, there were a record 4.5 million cases in the region, and PAHO officials said they expect this year will set a new record. (Coto, 3/28)

Axios: This Could Be The Worst Year Yet For Dengue In The Americas
A surge of dengue cases in North and South America is on track to make 2024 the worst year yet for the mosquito-borne virus as Puerto Rico scrambles to contain an outbreak. The combination of climate change and El Niño are fueling conditions allowing the disease-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquito to spread earlier than usual and in new areas, according to the World Health Organization. (Millman, 3/28)

CIDRAP: Quick Takes: Record Dengue Pace In The Americas, Call For Ebola Treatment Stockpile
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) this week called for the establishment of an international stockpile of Ebola treatments. Though it's been 10 years since West Africa's large outbreak, two treatments are not readily available in countries where Ebola is endemic. "Instead, all Ebola treatments remain under the control of just two US pharmaceutical corporations, Regeneron and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, and are almost exclusively kept in a US stockpile for national security and biodefense purposes," MSF said in a statement. (Schnirring, 3/28)

Also —

The Washington Post: More Than One Alcoholic Drink A Day Raises Heart Disease Risk For Women
Young to middle-aged women who drink more than one alcoholic beverage a day, on average, were more likely to develop coronary heart disease than people who drink less, according to new research by Kaiser Permanente Northern California. Women in the study who reported drinking eight or more alcoholic beverages per week were 33 to 51 percent more likely to develop coronary heart disease. (Chesler, 3/28)

Newsweek: Partners May Live Longer When They Drink Together
Your partner's drinking habits could affect your lifespan, new research suggests. Scientists have long suspected that couples who have similar drinking patterns tend to have better marital outcomes, reporting both better quality and longer lasting marriages. ... To investigate these effects, researchers from the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research recruited a cohort of 4,656 married or cohabiting heterosexual couples over the age of 50 in the United States. (Dewan, 3/28)

The New York Times: Working With Your Hands Is Good For Your Brain
The human hand is a marvel of nature. No other creature on Earth, not even our closest primate relatives, has hands structured quite like ours, capable of such precise grasping and manipulation. But we’re doing less intricate hands-on work than we used to. A lot of modern life involves simple movements, such as tapping screens and pushing buttons, and some experts believe our shift away from more complex hand activities could have consequences for how we think and feel. (Heid, 3/28)

AP: Key Findings From AP's Investigation Into Police Force That Isn't Supposed To Be Lethal
Every day, police in the U.S. rely on common use-of-force tactics that, unlike guns, are meant to stop people without killing them. But when misused, these tactics can still end in death. Over a decade, more than 1,000 people died after police subdued them through physical holds, stun guns, body blows and other means not intended to be lethal, an investigation led by The Associated Press found. In hundreds of cases, officers weren’t taught or didn’t follow best safety practices for this force, creating a recipe for death. (Dunklin, 3/29)

KFF Health News: A Physician Travels To South Asia Seeking Enduring Lessons From The Eradication Of Smallpox
Smallpox was certified eradicated in 1980, but I first learned about the disease’s twisty, storied history in 1996 while interning at the World Health Organization. As a college student in the 1990s, I was fascinated by the sheer magnitude of what it took to wipe a human disease from the earth for the first time. Over the years, I’ve turned to that history over and over, looking for inspiration and direction on how to be more ambitious when confronting public health threats of my day. (Gounder, 3/29)