TB Exposure Warning Issued For California Casino’s Staff, Customers

The Mercury News: Contra Costa County: Casino Staff, Customers Exposed To TB
Health officials in Contra Costa County sounded a warning Thursday to anyone who has spent time in a Pacheco casino over the past five years that they were exposed to tuberculosis and should be tested. Contra Costa Health Services officials in a statement said that recent genetic testing revealed several related cases since 2018 among staff and customers at the California Grand Casino, located in the 5900 block of Pacheco Boulevard. Of 11 confirmed TB cases, 10 were linked genetically, and the majority were linked with the casino’s staff and customers. (Hurd, 11/2)

CIDRAP: California Confirms 2nd Local Dengue Case 
For the second time in 2 weeks, California has reported a local dengue case, this time involving a patient from Long Beach, city officials announced yesterday. The patient has recovered at home, and no other illnesses have been detected. The Long Beach health department is carefully monitoring the situation and has alerted health providers to be aware of dengue symptoms. In a statement, Mayor Rex Richardson urged people to remove standing water from their property and to help control mosquitoes in neighborhoods. Officials also urged the public to avoid bites from Aedes mosquitoes. (Schnirring, 11/2)

More health news from across the U.S. —

Reuters: Alabama Supreme Court Allows First US Execution By Nitrogen Gas To Proceed
The Supreme Court of Alabama has authorized state officials to proceed with what would be the first execution of a prisoner in the U.S. using asphyxiation by nitrogen gas. In August, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, a Republican, asked the court to allow the state to proceed with gassing Kenneth Smith, who was convicted of murder in 1996, using a face mask connected to a cylinder of nitrogen intended to deprive him of oxygen. Smith, 58, is one of only two people alive in the U.S. to have survived an execution attempt after Alabama botched his previously scheduled execution by lethal injection in November when multiple attempts to insert an intravenous line into a vein failed. (Allen, 11/2)

CBS News: Brooklyn Doctors Head To Train Medical Professionals In Ukraine
There's a set of skills that only decades in the emergency room can teach you. Dr. Joshua Schiller, Director of Social Emergency Medicine at Maimonides Health, will be leading a team of seven emergency physicians to Ukraine on Saturday to share life-saving skills to medical students and professionals in the war-torn country. "One of the things that brought me into medicine was trying to figure out how to connect to the world in a way that makes it better," Schiller says. (Kliger, 11/2)

AP: Volunteer Medics Are Caring For Migrants Arriving In Chicago 
Using sidewalks as exam rooms and heavy red duffle bags as medical supply closets, volunteer medics spend their Saturdays caring for the growing number of migrants arriving in Chicago without a place to live. Mostly students in training, they go to police stations where migrants are first housed, prescribing antibiotics, distributing prenatal vitamins and assessing for serious health issues. These student doctors, nurses and physician assistants are the front line of health care for asylum-seekers in the nation’s third-largest city, filling a gap in Chicago’s haphazard response. (Tareen, 11/2)

Votebeat and The Texas Tribune: Texas Election Worker Has Heart Attack. Who Is To Blame Sparks Controversy
A poll worker in Williamson County had a heart attack Monday while working at an early voting site. County officials initially blamed the medical emergency on a tense interaction with a voter fraud activist and poll watcher, but on Thursday retracted the accusation after the activist threatened legal action. (Contreras, 11/2)

KFF Health News: States Reconsider Religious Exemptions For Vaccinations In Child Care 
More than half the children who attend Munchkin Land Daycare near Billings, Montana, have special needs or compromised immune systems. The kids, who range in age from 4 months to 9 years, have conditions that include fetal alcohol syndrome, cystic fibrosis, and Down syndrome, according to owner Sheryl Hutzenbiler. “These families came to me knowing we could offer them a safe and healthy environment,” Hutzenbiler said. Part of ensuring that healthy environment is having a strong vaccination policy, she said, especially for those who are immunocompromised or too young to receive the full slate of childhood vaccines. (Volz, 11/3)