CNBC: Pharmacy Staff From Walgreens, Chains Like CVS To Walk Out Again
Some pharmacy staff from Walgreens and other drugstore chains are planning to walk out this week in the latest pushback against what they call unsafe working conditions that put both employees and patients at risk. (Constantino, 10/29)

On sickle cell disease —

AP: A New Cure For Sickle Cell Disease May Be Coming. Health Advisers Will Review It Next Week
The only cure for painful sickle cell disease today is a bone marrow transplant. But soon there may be a new cure that attacks the disorder at its genetic source. On Tuesday, advisers to the Food and Drug Administration will review a gene therapy for the inherited blood disorder, which in the U.S. mostly affects Black people. Issues they will consider include whether more research is needed into possible unintended consequences of the treatment. (Ungar, 10/27)

Bloomberg: Crispr Sickle Cell Therapy Safety Data Concerns Raised By FDA Staff
The Food and Drug Administration’s staff raised concerns about safety data on a potential gene-editing treatment for sickle cell disease, ahead of a closely watched meeting where scientific experts will weigh the first therapy using Crispr technology. FDA advisers are preparing to meet Oct. 31 to consider and discuss an application from Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Crispr Therapeutics AG to use a Crispr-based treatment for people with the painful blood disorder. (Smith, 10/27)

On Alzheimer's disease —

The New York Times: CUNY Halts Investigation Of Alzheimer’s Researcher 
The City University of New York is pausing its investigation into a faculty member, an Alzheimer’s researcher accused of misconduct, the university said in a statement on Friday. Studies by the neuroscientist, Hoau-Yan Wang, underpin an Alzheimer’s drug in advanced clinical trials. The drug, simufilam, is made by Cassava Sciences, a pharmaceutical company based in Texas. Dr. Wang frequently collaborated with Lindsay H. Burns, the company’s chief scientist. (Mandavilli, 10/28)

Bloomberg: Alzheimer’s Research Offers Doctors ‘Rightful Optimism’ On Care
Neurologists at the biggest Alzheimer’s research meeting in the US experienced something this week they hadn’t in years: optimism. Just months after Eisai Co.’s Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi received full US approval, normally dour neurologists were buoyed by hints of easier-to-use therapies and the possibility of responding to the disease faster and on multiple fronts over the next few years. (Langreth and Smith, 10/27)

Health News Florida: Risk For Alzheimer’s May Increase With Lack Of Green Space, UM Study Says
The risks for Alzheimer’s disease, related dementias and strokes might increase for those living in areas lacking green spaces. That’s according to a new study led by a doctor at the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami. (Zaragovia, 10/27)

In other pharmaceutical news —

First for Women: Little-Known Ozempic Side Effect Is Worse For Women Over 50: MDs Explain & Advise 
By now, we’ve all heard about the wildly popular prescription injectable drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy that are helping people lose loads of pounds quickly. Perhaps you’ve seen friends successfully slim down. Or you’ve noticed Hollywood celebs, like Sharon Osbourne, looking a bit scary-thin. But amid all the buzz and success stories is a growing list of side effects for these prescriptions. One that keeps popping up: muscle pain. (Maxbauer, 10/29)

Bay Area News Group: CRISPR Could Kill HIV. But We Don't Know If It's A Cure
In a provocative first step toward an elusive end to a devastating disease that has claimed 40 million lives, three patients have received CRISPR gene-editing therapies in an effort to eradicate HIV from their bodies. The results ... have not yet been disclosed by the San Francisco biotech company that created the technology based on Nobel Prize-winning research by UC Berkeley’s Jennifer Doudna. But the potential treatment, called EBT-101, is safe and caused no major side effects, Excision BioTherapeutics reported at a meeting in Brussels this week. (Krieger, 10/28)

Stat: Prime Medicine Says Its Gene Editing Passes Test In Monkeys 
Prime Medicine said Friday it successfully used a new, ultra-versatile form of genetic surgery called prime editing to edit liver cells in monkeys. The results, presented at the European Society of Gene & Cell Therapy meeting in Brussels, are a major step for a technology that could transform treatment of numerous diseases. (Mast, 10/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Some Cold Medicines Don’t Work. Here’s What Doctors Recommend Instead
There is one medicine that is the time-honored standard for relieving congestion from cold and flu: Pseudoephedrine. The decongestant shrinks blood vessels in the nasal area and prevents blood from flowing into them, stopping the congestion. “We know that it works because when people take it they certainly report benefit and relief,” said Elliott. This isn’t the medicine that researchers say doesn’t work, though the names sound a bit similar, which has caused some consumer confusion. Pseudoephedrine does provide relief of nasal stuffiness, studies say. The other ingredient, phenylephrine, has been shown to be no better than a placebo. (Hopkins, 10/29)

AP: Maine Police Were Alerted Weeks Ago About Shooter’s Threats
Two local law enforcement chiefs told The Associated Press that a statewide awareness alert was sent in mid-September to be on the lookout for Robert Card after the firearms instructor made threats against his base and fellow soldiers. But after stepped-up patrols of the base and a visit to Card’s home – neither of which turned up any sign of him – they moved on. “We added extra patrols, we did that for about two weeks. ... The guy never showed up,” said Jack Clements, the police chief in Saco, home to the U.S. Army Reserve base where Card trained. (Condon and Mustian, 10/28)

CNN: Cops Were Sent To Maine Gunman’s Home Weeks Before Massacres Amid Concern He ‘Is Going To Snap And Commit A Mass Shooting’
The Maine National Guard asked local police to check on the reservist who killed 18 people after a soldier became concerned he would “snap and commit a mass shooting,” according to information shared with CNN. Officers from the Sagadahoc County and Kennebec County Sheriff’s Offices responded and tried to contact the man on September 16, less than six weeks before Wednesday’s massacres in a bowling alley and a bar, documents say, according to a law enforcement source. (Prokupecz, Morales, Tran and Clarke, 10/29)

The New York Times: Maine Gunman Disclosed He Had Mental Health Issues, Gun Shop Owner Says
Nearly three months before Robert R. Card II fatally shot 18 people in Lewiston, Maine, a gun shop declined to let him complete his purchase of a firearm silencer after he disclosed on a form that he had mental health issues, the shop’s owner said in an interview Sunday. On Aug. 5, Mr. Card, 40, went to pick up a silencer from Coastal Defense Firearms in the neighboring town of Auburn, said Rick LaChapelle, the gun shop owner. Mr. LaChapelle said Mr. Card had bought the silencer — a device that quiets gun shots that is also known as a suppressor — from another store, and that store sent it to Coastal Defense Firearms for pickup. (Marcius, 10/29)

Bangor Daily News: Accused Shooter’s NY Mental Health Evaluation Wouldn’t Trigger Maine ‘Yellow Flag’ Law
The suspect in the Lewiston mass shootings had a mental health evaluation this past summer in New York, but that alone would not have triggered a Maine law restricting his access to guns. Maine’s “yellow flag” law, enacted in 2020, created a process by which police can temporarily confiscate guns from someone deemed to be a threat to themselves or others. The process involves police taking someone into protective custody, and then getting a medical professional and a judge to agree that the person poses a threat to either themselves or others. (Trotter and Weidmayer, 10/27)

Also —

Axios: Speaker Johnson On Shootings: "Problem Is The Human Heart, Not Guns"
New House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told Fox News' Sean Hannity in his first interview as speaker that now is not the time to discuss legislation to address the scourge of mass shootings, adding: "The problem is the human heart, not guns." (Lawler, 10/27)

Politico: White House Hits Johnson Over Claiming Gun Violence Was A Matter Of The ‘Heart’
The Biden administration hit back Friday on Speaker Mike Johnson’s recent comments that placed blame for mass shootings in the United States on Americans’ “hearts,” calling the remarks “offensive.” In a statement, White House spokesman Andrew Bates said the administration “absolutely” rejected “the offensive accusation that gun crime is uniquely high in the United States because of Americans’ ‘hearts.’” “Gun crime is uniquely high in the United States because congressional Republicans have spent decades choosing the gun industry’s lobbyists over the lives of innocent Americans,” Bates added. (Haberkorn, 10/27)

More on the gun violence epidemic —

The Washington Post: The Louisville Bank Shooter Bought A Gun Despite Struggles With Mental Health 
Six months after Louisville bank employee killed five coworkers and wounded eight others, survivors, victims’ families and his parents wonder why it was so easy for a troubled young man to get a rifle. Some are planning to sue the gunmaker. (Klemko, 10/30)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Mass Shootings Can Affect Kids' Mental Health. Here Are Some Ways To Respond
Many parents and caregivers are struggling to explain the recent mass shooting in Maine to their children. But mental health practitioners say there are steps they can take to support young people through difficult moments like this. Professionals recommend limiting, or at least closely monitoring, kids’ media consumption. But it’s also important for adults to monitor their own reactions. (Richardson, 10/27)

The Texas Tribune: Gun Fatalities Now Leading Cause Of Death For Texas Youths
Yosha Hamilton was frying some pickles in the kitchen one Tuesday evening when she caught a quick glimpse of her son Shane outside. Before the two could catch up about their day, the teen scurried off to a friend’s home. Hamilton didn’t take it personally. She figured Shane, who’d turned 16 just four days earlier, would be home soon. She also didn’t give too much thought to a rat-tat-tat of gunfire that cracked the dark, cool air outside a few minutes later. There’s always gunfire, she thought. A moment later, Shane collapsed at the front door and was bleeding from gunshot wounds. It was the last time Hamilton would see her son alive. (Serrano and Webb, 10/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Insurers Spar With Biden Administration Over Coverage For Mental Health Care
Many consumers with insurance are forced to pay hundreds and even thousands of dollars a year on mental-health care despite a 15-year-old law that is supposed to make such treatment as affordable and accessible as any other type of medical care. Now the Biden administration wants to impose new requirements on insurers that it says would reduce out-of-pocket costs for mental-health care and substance-use-disorder treatment. The insurance industry is firing back, arguing the proposal would drive up prices and set impossible-to-meet standards. (Armour, 10/29)

KFF Health News: When That Supposedly Free Annual Physical Generates A Bill 
Christine Rogers of Wake Forest, North Carolina, didn’t hesitate when she was asked to fill out a routine mental health questionnaire during a checkup last November. Her answers on the form led her primary care doctor to ask about depression and her mood, and Rogers said she answered honestly. “It was a horrible year. I lost my mom,” Rogers said she told her physician. After what Rogers estimates was a five-minute conversation about depression, the visit wrapped up. She said her doctor did not recommend treatment nor refer her for counseling. (Appleby, 10/30)

On the Alaska Airlines incident —

CNN: Alaska Airlines Incident Renews Calls For FAA To Address Pilot Mental Health Reform 
Countless professional pilots are calling on the FAA to take up “decades overdue” mental health reform after one of their own was charged with trying to crash an Alaska Airlines flight. (Muntean and Wallace, 10/29)

NBC News: Psychedelics And Mental Health Issues: What You Should Know
What many people don’t understand about psychedelics, said psychiatrist Dr. Joshua Woolley, director of the translational psychedelic research program at the University of California, San Francisco, is the impact can last for days, weeks or longer after the substance is no longer detectable in the body. In a new study, British researchers described the experiences of 608 people who were willing to talk about long-lasting difficulties that occurred after they had taken psychedelic drugs. ... According to the new study, 15% of the participants experienced “derealization," or confusion or uncertainty over what was real in the days, weeks or months after a psychedelic experience. (Carroll, 10/29)

In other mental health news —

BorderBelt: Children's Mental Health Swamps Rural Providers 
A 9-year-old girl who spent four months last year inside the Columbus County hospital’s emergency department lashed out at nurses and clawed at the drywall. She wasn’t allowed to use a fork over fears she would use it as a weapon. Each day, staff at the Columbus Regional Healthcare System tried desperately to secure a bed for the child at a pediatric mental health facility. But such placements can be hard to find in North Carolina. (Rappaport, 10/28)

BorderBelt: Mental Healthcare Limited For Foster Children
Amanda Price and her husband were finally in the process of adopting their three daughters in 2022. The couple had fostered the girls for four years and had planned to adopt them in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused delays. The wait was hard on the biological sisters, who are now 6, 10 and 11. The older girls struggled with memories of being shuffled around the foster care system. The oldest lived in three different homes before landing with the Prices. At school, the middle child was teased for having a different last name than her parents. “They’ve been through so much in their short years,” Price said. (Baldauf, 10/29)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Program That Helps Those With Severe Mental Illness Get Jobs Expands Across Missouri
For nearly 20 years, Kenney Willis was afraid to get a job. He had worked a couple days at a convenience store but was fired after he couldn’t find the potato wedges and spilled the pizza sauce. “I worked once, and I failed, and I didn’t think I could do it again,” said Willis, 40, who has bipolar disorder and lives in a group home in Farmington. Bipolar disorder causes unusual shifts in mood, energy and concentration. (Munz, 10/29)

Chicago Tribune: Mayor Brandon Johnson's Mental Health Investments Spark Questions
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s first budget comes at a crossroads moment for the Chicago Department of Public Health. More than three years after COVID-19 placed the Health Department on the front lines and made it among the most vital and prominent departments in the city, Johnson’s decisions on prioritizing spending there as federal pandemic dollars dry up will help shape how prepared Chicago is should another significant public health crisis arise. (Byrne, 10/30)

Stat: Biden Proposes Fixes To No Surprises Act Dispute Resolution Process
The Biden administration dropped a new proposal Friday designed to fix the controversial dispute resolution process that’s part of the federal surprise billing ban. Since the beginning of 2022, the No Surprises Act has shielded patients in most cases against bills from out-of-network providers for care delivered at in-network facilities. But the behind-the-scenes battles between those providers and health insurers over what that care should cost have gotten ugly. (Bannow, 10/27)

In other insurance updates —

Axios: As Millions Lose Medicaid, ACA Sign-Up Season May Help
Relatively few people who lost Medicaid coverage this year have wound up in Affordable Care Act plans — but the HealthCare.gov sign-up period starting this week could be a chance to enroll people who've fallen through the cracks. The ACA's health insurance markets, which offer heavily subsidized coverage for lower-income people, can provide a backstop for some of the millions who have been removed from Medicaid this year as states pare their rolls for the first time since the pandemic. (Goldman, 10/30)

Modern Healthcare: Bright Health, Friday Health Cost ACA Risk-Adjustment Program $1.1B
Health insurance companies will lose $1.1 billion in expected exchange risk-adjustment payments this year because two troubled companies can't make good on their obligations, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services disclosed Friday. Financially struggling Bright Health Group is short $380.2 million owed to exchange carriers ..., CMS wrote in a notice. Bankrupt Friday Health Plans owes $741 million to insurers ... . Bright Health and Friday Health are the sole insurers unable to contribute to the $9.24 billion risk-adjustment program this year. (Tepper, 10/27)

USA Today: Hospitals Terminate Medicare Advantage Contracts Over Payments
One large health system with hospitals in Virginia and Ohio this year cut off in-network access to consumers enrolled in some Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Medicare and Medicaid health insurance plans. Two doctors groups with Scripps Health in San Diego are terminating contracts with private Medicare plans over concerns about payments and routine denials. (Alltucker, 10/27)

More health care developments —

The Boston Globe: Cambridge’s Forsyth Institute Joins ADA To Create ‘Biggest Monster In Dentistry’
The American Dental Association is merging with the Forsyth Institute, a quiet, yet influential Cambridge nonprofit credited with some crucial breakthroughs in oral health. ... The program will remain in Cambridge and be led by Wenyuan Shi, president and CEO of Forsyth. “We’re creating the biggest monster in dentistry,” Shi said in an interview. “That really means we’re introducing a lot of innovation into the dental practice.” (Parker, 10/27)

The CT Mirror: Prospect Medical Bought Rockville Hospital. It's Now A Shell Of Itself
Rockville General Hospital has been a fixture in Christen Ellis’ life for decades. She’s been a nurse there for over 30 years. It’s where she gave birth to her kids and where her mother got surgery when pancreatic cancer made it nearly impossible for her to eat. It’s where both her parents eventually entered hospice care during the final days of their lives. (Golvala and Carlesso, 10/29)

Iowa Public Radio: Mercy Iowa City Hospital Bought By UI After Prior Bid Deemed Unviable
In an unusual turn of events, the University of Iowa has won the auction for Mercy Iowa City, reversing an earlier result where Mercy's chief creditor bought the financially imperiled hospital. The UI's original bid of $28 million was resubmitted Friday morning and chosen as the best and highest option. (Smith, 10/27)

Houston Chronicle: Houston's Texas Medical Center Helix Park Bioresearch Campus Opens
The first piece in a long-anticipated multibillion-dollar biomedical research campus opened Thursday in the Texas Medical Center, setting the stage for what could become a game-changing life sciences hub generating $5.4 billion in annual economic impact and tens of thousands jobs in Houston. ... “When you looked at the incredible business and economic platform the state of Texas has, there was one glaring deficiency, and that is to have a massive hub for life sciences,” Gov. Greg Abbott said at the event. (Luck, 10/27)

Modern Healthcare: How Clinically Integrated Networks Could Boost Rural Healthcare
More rural hospitals are joining clinically integrated networks to improve their standing with commercial insurers, maintain services, boost care quality and reduce costs. The Rough Rider High-Value Network, a clinically integrated network of 23 North Dakota rural hospitals, represents the latest of these alliances. Others include the Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network, the Rural Collaborative in Washington state and the Texas Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals. (Kacik, 10/27)

The Atlantic: What Financial Engineering Does To Hospitals
Riverton, Wyoming, a city of about 11,000 people at the feet of the Wind River mountain range, seems far away from the world of Big Finance. Yet like so much of America, Riverton has become well acquainted with the business that most epitomizes today’s Wall Street: private equity. In 2018, the local hospital, SageWest, was purchased by Apollo Global Management as part of the giant private-equity firm’s $5.6 billion deal to buy a chain of hospitals called LifePoint Health. (Nocera and McLean, 10/28)

Also —

The Colorado Sun: Boulder Deconstructs And Recycles An Entire Old Hospital
For three years, the 250,000-square-foot hospital on Balsam Avenue went untouched. Lights, doors, toilets and medical technology sat quietly inside, ready to be bulldozed and sent to landfills. City officials knew they couldn’t leave up the massive beige block of a building. The structure, abandoned when its owner decided to consolidate at a different location, didn’t fit into the walkable neighborhood residents wanted at Balsam and Broadway. In trying to convert the hospital for other use — where occupants could get some sunlight, ideally — they knew they would end up taking most of it down anyway. (Zhang and Booth, 10/29)

Stat: Paying For Covid Pills Will Soon Shift To Insurers
The Biden administration is slowly shifting millions of Covid-19 treatments to private insurers and drugmakers, starting [this] week. The transition to commercial payers and providers will begin Nov. 1 but last through at least December as providers dole out existing stock, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra wrote in a letter issued Friday. That includes Pfizer’s Paxlovid, which the government will stop ordering on Dec 15, and Merck’s Lagevrio, which will be open for provider orders through Nov. 10. (Owermohle, 10/27)

Axios: Federal Coverage Of COVID Drugs Ending
The uninsured, and those with Medicare or Medicaid coverage, will be able to get Paxlovid at no cost until the end of 2024. Pfizer is also setting up a patient-assistance program for uninsured and underinsured people, and it will run a co-pay savings program for those with private insurance. (Reed, 10/30)

More on the spread of covid —

NBC News: New Covid Variant Gains Dominance Amid Slow Uptake Of Updated Shots
A new Covid variant has become dominant in the U.S., but relatively few people have thus far gotten the new shots that could offer some protection against it. The variant, called HV.1, replaced EG.5 as the country's most prevalent this week, according to data released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The two variants are genetically similar versions of omicron. (Bendix, 10/27)

CIDRAP: US, Global COVID-19 Markers Show Declines
Of the two main severity indicators, hospitalizations last week declined by 0.2%, with some counties in the moderate range—especially in Montana—and a few counties listed as high, mainly in the central part of the country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in its weekly data updates. (Schnirring, 10/27)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 That Confines You To Bed For Several Days Most Likely To Lead To Long COVID, Study Finds 
[In the study,] COVID-19 survivors who were bedridden for at least 7 days had the highest prevalence of symptoms, while those never bedridden had similar rates to uninfected participants. A higher prevalence was also noted in those hospitalized for their infections 2 to 22 months after diagnosis. (Van Beusekom, 10/27)

The CT Mirror: CT Local Public Health Officials Reflect On Managing COVID-19 Relief
In February 2021, residents over 65 became eligible for the COVID vaccine. But for seniors with mobility issues, getting to appointments presented a challenge. Officials in Vernon recognized the barrier and set out to address it. They struck a deal with Uber to give free rides to seniors who needed them. The program was the one of the first of its kind in the country, and a national campaign President Joe Biden rolled out months later closely mimicked the model. (Golvala, 10/27)

Also —

The Atlantic: The Other Group Of Viruses That Could Cause The Next Pandemic
Whether it begins next week, next year, or next decade, another pandemic is on its way. ... But scientists can at least make an educated guess about what might catalyze the next Big One. Three main families of viruses, more than most others, keep scientists up at night: flu viruses, coronaviruses, and paramyxoviruses, in descending order of threat. Together, those groups make up “the trifecta of respiratory death,” Sara Cherry, a virologist at the University of Pennsylvania, told me. (Wu, 10/29)

Axios: White House Calls For All Schools To Carry Naloxone Amid Rising Youth Overdoses
The Biden administration on Monday will send a letter urging all schools to keep an opioid overdose reversal drug on hand and train staff and students on how to use it. The request is a response to the grim reality that opioid overdoses — particularly those involving illicit fentanyl — have risen rapidly among children and teenagers in recent years. (Owens, 10/30)

More on the opioid crisis —

WTOP: DC Mayor Pressed To Declare Public Health Emergency Over Opioid Overdoses 
Asiyah Timimi, who runs a youth anti-violence program, said she was driving down New York Avenue when she saw a young man overdosing outside of a McDonalds. “I turned him on his side and he was just … the fluid was just pouring out,” Timimi said. “His friend didn’t have a clue what to do. He was punching him, dragging him, kicking him.” Elizabeth Stoll, a parent in Ward 5, said that in September, kids at her son’s preschool found fentanyl containers on the school grounds. “Toddlers, children in pre-K three and four, brought them home and into the classroom,” Stoll said. Stoll and Timimi were two of a dozen community organizers, doctors and health workers calling on the city to declare a public health emergency at a city council hearing Thursday. (Estulin, 10/27)

WHAS11.com: State Data Shows Increase In Opioid Overdose Deaths Among Black Kentuckians
Officials with the Team Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet are reporting deaths in the state due to opioid overdoses have increased 8%. [But] the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet reports an 8% increase in opioid overdose deaths among Black Kentuckians. (Woods, 10/29)

San Francisco Chronicle: SF Drug Dealers Could Face Murder Charges Under New Plan
California and San Francisco law enforcement officials plan to begin investigating some opioid overdose deaths in the city as homicides and expect to pursue murder charges against drug dealers starting next year, a major escalation of the government’s ongoing attempts to crack down on open-air drug markets. (Morris, 10/27)

The Conversation: White Patients Are More Likely Than Black Patients To Be Given Opioid Medication For Pain In US Emergency Departments
White people who visit hospital emergency departments with pain are 26% more likely than Black people to be given opioid pain medications such as morphine. This was a key finding from our recent study, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. We also found that Black patients were 25% more likely than white patients to be given only non-opioid painkillers such as ibuprofen, which are typically available over the counter. (Thompson and Stathi, 10/27)

On the death of 'Friends' star Matthew Perry —

The Telegraph: Matthew Perry: The Tragedy Of Extreme Addiction Is That The Body May Never Recover
The comic star appeared to have achieved sobriety-induced optimism – but drink and drug abuse takes its toll on the body, even in recovery. (Lytton, 10/30)

The Independent: How Matthew Perry Confronted His Drug Addiction, And Spent His Life Urging Others To Seek Help
‘Friends’ star, who has died aged 54, was a prominent campaigner for drugs reform and spoke candidly about his own battles with substance abuse. (O'Connor, 10/29)

NPR: The FDA Issues Warning For Eyedrop Products Due To Infection Risk
U.S. health officials are warning consumers to stop using more than two dozen over-the-counter eye drop products due to the potential risk of eye infection that could lead to vision loss. The Food and Drug Administration on Friday issued the alert for 26 products from the following brands: CVS Health, Leader (Cardinal Health), Rugby (Cardinal Health), Rite Aid, Target Up&Up and Velocity Pharma. (Bowman, 10/29)

In other public health alerts —

CBS News: Riverside County Resident Tests Positive For Tuberculosis, According To Health Officials
Riverside County health officials report that a resident has tested positive for active tuberculosis. In a statement released on Friday, officials disclosed that a person who has affiliation with California Baptist University in Riverside tested positive and their potential exposure period was between Sept. 5 and Oct. 16. Despite the infection, they are expected to recover, officials said. (Fioresi, 10/27)

NBC News: Strep Throat Rising, Some Hospitals Report. What To Know About The Fall Uptick
Strep throat is surging among children in some pockets of the country, raising concerns that a shortage of antibiotics to treat it could worsen as the nation heads into winter. An unprecedented number of otherwise healthy adults and children are coming into the emergency room at Henry Ford Medical Center — Fairlane in Dearborn, Michigan, sick with strep, said Dr. Jennifer Stevenson, the head of the emergency department. I've been practicing emergency medicine for 25 years, and I have not seen strep throat as frequently as I have in these past six or eight months," Stevenson said. (Edwards, 10/28)

AP: Syphilis, Other STDs Are On The Rise. States Lost Millions To Treat Them 
State and local health departments across the U.S found out in June they’d be losing the final two years of a $1 billion investment to strengthen the ranks of people who track and try to prevent sexually transmitted diseases — especially the rapid increase of syphilis cases. The fallout was quick: Nevada, which saw a 44 percentage-point jump in congenital syphilis from 2021 to 2022, was supposed to get more than $10 million to bolster its STD program budget. Instead, the state’s STD prevention budget went down by more than 75%, reducing its capacity to respond to syphilis, according to Dawn Cribb at the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health. (Hunter, 10/28)

More health and wellness news —

The New York Times: How A Lucrative Surgery Took Off Online And Disfigured Patients 
The bulge on the side of Peggy Hudson’s belly was the size of a cantaloupe. And it was growing. “I was afraid it would burst,” said Ms. Hudson, 74, a retired airport baggage screener in Ocala, Fla. The painful protrusion was the result of a surgery gone wrong, according to medical records from two doctors she later saw. Using a four-armed robot, a surgeon in 2021 had tried to repair a small hole in the wall of her abdomen, known as a hernia. Rather than closing the hole, the procedure left Ms. Hudson with what is called a “Mickey Mouse hernia,” in which intestines spill out on both sides of the torso like the cartoon character’s ears. (Kliff and Thomas, 10/30)

Bloomberg: Extreme Heat Set To Increase Heart Attack, Stroke Deaths In US
Cardiovascular-related deaths due to extreme heat are expected to nearly triple in the US by mid-century as climate change raises the frequency of very hot days, according to a new study. ... The study, supported by the National Institutes of Health and published Monday in the journal Circulation, predicts that the number of heat-related cardiovascular deaths in the contiguous US will increase from an annual average of 1,651 recorded in recent years to 4,320 by mid-century (defined as from 2036 to 2065). (Liu, 10/30)

CNN: Counting Time Instead Of Calories Also Controls Blood Sugar And Belly Fat
People with type 2 diabetes who followed a time-restricted diet lost belly fat and improved their blood sugar as much as those who counted calories, according to a new randomized clinical trial that followed a group of 75 people for six months. (LaMotte, 10/27)

NPR: Intermittent Fasting Helps With Weight Loss And Blood Sugar For Type 2 Diabetes
Research suggests that simply having less time to eat can lead people to cut down on how much they ultimately consume, without the rigmarole of watching each calorie. Now, new research bolsters the case that intermittent fasting — specifically limiting when you eat to a given window of time during the day — can be a safe and effective strategy for managing Type 2 diabetes. The study, published on Friday in JAMA Open, finds people with Type 2 diabetes can successfully shed weight and manage their blood sugar by eating only within an 8-hour window each day. (Stone, 10/27)

USA Today: Headaches And Migraines: Childhood Trauma Could Be Causing Them
If you suffer from headaches, new research suggests your childhood may be partially to blame. A report published last week in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, found that people who experienced one or more traumatic events during childhood were 48% more likely to develop headache disorders as an adult. The body holds trauma that can manifest into physical symptoms, the study found. (Rodriguez, 10/30)

CNN: When Daylight Saving Ends, Don’t Be Surprised If You Feel These Health Impacts
When the clock is set back, does your world get turned a little upside down? Daylight Saving Time will end on Sunday, November 5, moving the clocks in most US states back an hour – and that is no small thing for our health, according to Dr. Rajkumar Dasgupta, associate professor of clinical medicine at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles. (Holcombe, 10/26)

Insider: Virginia's November Elections Could Upend Abortion Access In The South
Legislative districts across the state were reshaped through a new redistricting process, adding a huge element of suspense to the 2023 races. (Dorman, 10/29)

The 19th: What Message Will Virginia Deliver About Abortion On Election Day?
Door-knocking in this rural neighborhood 30 miles south of Richmond, state House candidate Kim Pope Adams encounters a voter who wastes no time getting to the point. “I’m not voting for you. I can’t — you’re a little too liberal for me actually,” the voter, U.J. Severin, 61, said, listing out concerns about public safety and stewardship of public dollars. But, Severin said, she also isn’t voting for Adams’ opponent, Republican Kim Taylor, “because of her abortion stance.” (Barclay, 10/27)

Abortion updates from Ohio —

AP: Misinformation Is Flowing Ahead Of Ohio Abortion Vote. Some Is Coming From A Legislative Website
The inflammatory language targeting a reproductive rights measure on Ohio’s fall ballot is the type of messaging that is common in the closing weeks of a highly contested initiative campaign — warning of “abortion on demand” or “dismemberment of fully conscious children” if voters approve it. Only the messaging is being promoted on the official government website of the Republican-controlled Ohio Senate. And because the source is a government website, the messaging is being prioritized in online searches for information about Issue 1, the question going before Ohio voters Nov. 7. (Smyth and Fernando, 10/27)

The Washington Post: As Ohio Prepares To Vote On Issue 1, Anti-Abortion Forces Struggle
Students hoping to get others to vote “no” on an upcoming Ohio amendment to ensure abortion rights took the soft approach at a recent event at the University of Cincinnati. The signs in their booth were alarmist — “Late-Term Abortion is on the Ballot” — but the young “Students for Life” advocates opted for a moderate appeal as they stopped students hurrying back and forth to class. (Gowen, 10/29)

In related reproductive health news from Texas and California —

Houston Chronicle: Texas Maternal Death Rate Dropped From 2013 To 2019, Report Shows
The rate of pregnancy-related deaths in Texas decreased from 2013 to 2019, according to an updated report released Wednesday by the state health department, but Black patients continued to die during or after their pregnancies at higher rates than other racial groups. The newly published findings expand on a preliminary analysis of 2019 pregnancy-related deaths, published last year by the Texas Department of State Health Services amid controversy over the state’s decision to delay its release. (Gill, 10/27)

Los Angeles Times: Pregnancy Care Providers Lagged In Anti-Bias Training, Review Finds
California hospitals and clinics were slow to carry out mandated training intended to combat unconscious bias among workers who care for pregnant patients, the state Department of Justice found in a newly released investigation. Less than 17% of facilities that provided information to the state agency had initiated “implicit bias training” in the year after California started requiring it for pregnancy and childbirth professionals, according to the report unveiled Friday by California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta. (Alpert Reyes, 10/27)

KFF Health News: Dads Drive Growth In California’s Paid Family Leave Program
In a sign of growing domestic equality, more new dads are claiming paid family leave to bond with their babies and support their partners during the first weeks of parenthood. In California, which has one of the nation’s oldest programs, men filed 44% of bonding claims last year, up from 31% a decade prior, according to state statistics. About 119,300 California men took paid family leave for bonding in the state’s fiscal year that ended at the end of June, up by 19%, or nearly 20,000, from 2020, according to California’s Employment Development Department. The number of women taking state leave for bonding has held relatively steady at roughly 150,000 since 2019. (Reese, 10/30)

USA Today: Black Pregnant Women Are More Likely To Die. More Midwives Can Help
I became a midwife after working as a doula for 10 years. I came into the work with the knowledge and concern for the lack of safety that is espoused to Black women and birthing people that I witnessed while attending births within institutions that have and continue to perpetuate harm in birthing spaces. (Jeanine Valrie Logan, 10/30)

Chicago Tribune: More Americans Are Using Ozempic And Buying Less Junk Food
Can Ozempic save us from the perils of obesity? It turns out that the drug, first developed to treat diabetes, has become a high-profile appetite killer. Ozempic and similar drugs are skyrocketing in popularity, thanks to their ability to help take off those dreaded pounds. (Laura Washington, 10/30)

USA Today: My Mom Died By Suicide. The System Is Failing Women Like Her
The lasting impacts of homelessness and housing instability are devastating and cruel. Not only does homelessness impact people’s health and wellness – drastically increasing their stress, exposure to communicable diseases and violence, and further exacerbating chronic health conditions – but suicide rates among people experiencing homelessness have been estimated to be at least nine times higher. (Laura Feldman Hay, 10/30)

The Tennessean: Seniors, Beware: Medicare Open Enrollment Feels Like 'Open Season' On Older Americans
Open enrollment goes through Dec. 7. My mailbox is already filling with official-looking letters from commercial insurance companies posing as Medicare. They tout the advantages of their particular plan while conveniently withholding information that we seniors need and deserve in order to make a truly informed decision about our choice of health insurance. (Carol Paris, 10/30)

Miami Herald: Academic Medicine Fighting Chronic Disease Can Fix Healthcare In Florida And The World
Nearly three years after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, preparedness has emerged as the top public health priority for 2024 and beyond. The backdrop for this focus is compelling: The next pandemic is already here. We face an ongoing crisis of chronic disease that not only generates huge economic and societal costs, but also increases the risk from emerging infectious diseases and seasonal viruses. (Julio Frenk, 10/27)

The Atlantic: What Financial Engineering Does To Hospitals 
We are longtime financial journalists. In our new book, The Big Fail, we wrote about how the pandemic both exposed and exacerbated preexisting problems in America. One such problem is how financial engineering has helped hollow out our health-care system. (Joe Nocera and Bethany McLean, 10/28)

Stat: Testing For Cancer Recurrence Creates A New Limbo For Patients
My husband’s cancer came back this summer after not being evident for almost two years. With advances in cancer surveillance, we now speak of cancer survivors being cancer-free far less frequently. If you are among the luckiest unlucky who survive treatment for metastatic cancer and receive clear scans, you simply have “no evidence of disease.” (Mara Buchbinder, 10/29)