The War Against Ebola: ‘If You Don’t Know The Stories Of The People Involved, Then You Don’t Know The Epidemic’

The New York Times: The Fight To Get A Vaccine To Center Of Ebola Outbreak
Aiming to squelch an Ebola outbreak that has infected 54 people, killing almost half of them, aid workers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have begun giving an experimental vaccine to people in the rural region at the epicenter of the outbreak. Epidemiologists working in the remote forests have not yet identified the first case, nor many of the villagers who may have been exposed. Investigators will need to overcome extreme logistical hurdles to reconstruct how the virus was transmitted, vaccinate contacts and halt the spread. (Baumgaertner, 6/1)

The Washington Post: Even If A Medical Test Shows An Abnormality, You May Not Need To Worry About It
I have an extra vein into my heart that, in most people, disappears during embryonic development. My eyeballs are shaped more like lemons than like baseballs. And I once woke up after a foot surgery to hear the doctor say, “I’ve never seen anything like that before. ”I’m not the only one who is loaded with physiological quirks. A survey of friends revealed tonsils that kept growing back after tonsillectomies; a missing kidney that was discovered missing only after age 40; and blood that tests positive for syphilis, even though there is no syphilis. I heard about extra toes, fingers and nipples. One friend never grew wisdom teeth. Another grew seven of them. (Sohn, 6/3)

The Washington Post: Group Doctor Appointments Can Mean Better Health
Walter Gardner knew his life was at risk: Nearly 100 pounds overweight, he had developed Type 2 diabetes and needed several prescriptions. Traditional medical appointments had little effect on the 55-year-old’s health. Then he was offered a way to spend more time with his doctor. Gardner seized the opportunity. “I needed to do something or I probably wasn’t going to make it to 60,” he said. (Levingston, 6/2)

The Baltimore Sun: More Patients Could Survive — And Even Thrive After — Major Strokes Under New Guidelines 
Strokes are a major burden in the United States. They strike nearly 800,000 people a year and kill about 133,000, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The new guidelines released by the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association earlier this year say that the clot-removing procedure could help people up to 18 to 24 hours after a stroke if the clot is located in a large blood vessel in the brain and the patient still has brain function. (Cohn, 6/1)

The Associated Press: Organ-Donor Advocate Dies Waiting For Kidney
A Delaware man who for years advocated for increased organ donations has died while lingering on the list for a kidney transplant. Fifty-six-year-old Bill Murray of Wilmington had spent the last five years receiving dialysis for chronic kidney disease. During those years, he advocated for kidney-disease awareness and the need for organ donation to help the tens of thousands of Americans waiting for a transplant. (6/2)

NPR: From Chaos To Calm: A Life Changed By Ketamine
For six years now, life has been really good for James. He's got a great job as the creative director of an advertising firm in New York City. He enjoys spending time with his wife and kids. And it's all been possible, he says, because for the past six years he's been taking a drug called ketamine. Before ketamine, James was unable to work or focus his thoughts. His mind was filled with violent images. And his mood could go from ebullient to dark in a matter of minutes. (Hamilton, 6/4)

The Star Tribune: 'Invisible Workforce' Of Caregivers Wearing Out With Age 
Growing numbers of Americans face the immense and often overwhelming challenge of caring for an aging parent or other loved one, a burden that will skyrocket as 76 million baby boomers move into their 80s and need help coping with dementia, cancer, heart disease or just plain frailty and old age. Social trends and medical progress are working against each other. Half of the 35 million family caregivers who now assist older adults have full-time jobs. Families are more geographically dispersed. Adult children are squeezed between raising their own families and managing a dizzying array of housing needs, health care, insurance, finances and supportive services for their elders. (Crosby, 6/2)

The New York Times: Cinnamon May Be Safe In Foods, But Is It Safe In E-Cigarettes?
A common cinnamon food additive that is widely used to flavor e-cigarettes had harmful effects on human lung cells in a laboratory culture, disrupting the cells’ innate host defense system, scientists report. The compound, called cinnamaldehyde, gives cinnamon its characteristic flavor and smell and is generally considered safe when added to food. But like many chemicals in e-cigarette emissions, it has not been thoroughly evaluated for safety when inhaled rather than ingested, said Phillip Clapp, who recently completed his doctorate in the lab of Dr. Ilona Jaspers, deputy director of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Center for Environmental Medicine, Asthma and Lung Biology. (Rabin, 6/1)

The New York Times: Antibiotics Weren’t Used To Cure These Patients. Fecal Bacteria Were.
The bacteria can take over a person’s intestines and be difficult to eradicate. The infection causes fever, vomiting, cramps and diarrhea so severe that it kills 14,000 people a year in the United States alone. The first line of treatment for the attacking microbes, called Clostridium difficile, is antibiotics. But a group of Norwegian researchers asked if something more unusual — an enema containing a stew of bacteria from feces of healthy people — might work just as well. (Kolata, 6/2)

WBUR: Witnessing Violence When You're A Child Can Have A Lifelong Impact, Study Finds 
The Boston Reentry Study looks at whether witnessing deadly violence as a child can have a lifelong impact, tracking 122 men and women released from prison in Massachusetts between 2012 and 2014 to see how they're adjusting to life outside. Researchers found that 42 percent of people they spoke to had seen someone killed during their childhood. (Young, 6/1)

Kaiser Health News: Bubble Pop? Brownie Batter? Vapes’ Added Flavors Fuel E-Cig Debate 
A heated debate is redrawing alliances in the tobacco control movement as federal officials wrestle with how to regulate the growing e-cigarette market. The players include researchers, smoking-cessation advocates and “vaping” connoisseurs.“ It’s become very divisive in a community that was largely united against Big Tobacco,” said Samir Soneji, an associate professor at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, who researches tobacco control policy. (Luthra, 6/4)