Axios: Senate Republicans Block Dem Request To Pass Birth Control Access Bill
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) on Wednesday blocked a unanimous consent request to pass legislation that would have created a federal right to birth control use. Driving the news: Democrats moved to pass the bill through unanimous consent — meaning the bill would have been deemed passed had no one objected —in response to Justice Clarence Thomas' concurring opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, in which he said the Supreme Court should reconsider its precedents that protect access to contraceptives. (Gonzalez, 7/27)

Axios: Dems Fear Red States Banning Abortion Will Zero In On Birth Control Next
Democrats' anxiety over access to birth control is peaking as more red states attempt to adopt restrictions on emergency contraception and IUDs and could move to potentially ban them. ... Republican-led states are particularly hostile to Plan B and other emergency contraception pills and IUDs, which are one of the most commonly used birth control methods. Experts believe that some abortion bans that these states have enacted could be interpreted to cover these types of contraceptives. (Gonzalez, 7/28)

On how the birth control landscape is already reshaping —

The Hill: Two Thirds Of Gen Z Men Ok With Trying Male Oral Birth Control Pill
Generation Z has some different thoughts on safe sex compared to older Americans.  In a new report published by Innerbody Research, 81 percent of Generation Z men said they would be willing to try oral contraception.  The online wellness guide called Gen Z’s willingness to try a birth control pill “impressive” compared to older generations. In the same survey, only 65 percent of Millennial men, 64 percent of Boomer men and 58 percent of Gen X men said they would be willing to try taking a pill to prevent unwanted pregnancy.  (O’Connell-Domenech, 7/27)

The Guardian: Snipped In Solidarity: The American Men Getting Vasectomies After Roe – While They Can
Shawn is one of many American men seizing control of their own reproductive health, as millions of American women are stripped of that right. Since the draft decision on Roe was leaked in May, data collected by Innerbody Research showed a huge increase in the number of daily web searches relating to vasectomies. Searches for “where can I get a vasectomy” swelled by 850%. Related queries – “how much is a vasectomy?” and “is a vasectomy reversible?” – also exploded. (Semley, 7/28)

USA Today: Birth Control Denied By Walgreens Pharmacist Over Faith. What Do I Do?
But even before the Dobbs decision overturned a federal right to an abortion, some states already had passed laws on whether pharmacists can deny a prescription or items like condoms because of religious beliefs or moral objection. Other states leave it up to the discretion of the pharmacy location, and some don't require objecting providers to provide patients with alternate pharmacists or care. Many of those laws go as far back as 1992, when Congress passed a suite of laws under the Church Amendment. (Edwards, 7/27)

AP: Republicans Reject Family Planning Contracts For 4th Time
The abortion landscape has changed but the votes didn’t when New Hampshire Republicans rejected family planning contracts Wednesday for the fourth time in less than a year. The Executive Council — which approves nominations and state contracts — voted 4-1 to deny funding to the Equality Health Center, Lovering Health Center and Planned Parenthood of Northern New England. The contracts, which were supported by Republican Gov. Chris Sununu, would have funded cancer screenings, testing for sexually transmitted diseases, contraception and other routine health care services for more than 16,000 low-income women. (Ramer, 7/27)

The New York Times: With Roe Gone, Republicans Quarrel Over How Far To Push Abortion Bans
Though Republican legislators support the broad idea of restricting abortion, they have clashing views on how far to go. Should there be an outright ban? If so, should there be exceptions for rape and incest? And what if a woman’s health is threatened by a pregnancy but doctors do not believe she will die? (Smith and Bosman, 7/27)

NBC News: Senate Dems Push VA To Expand Access To Abortion Care For Female Veterans
Senate Democrats are urging the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide abortion services at their hospitals, ramping up pressure on federal agencies to increase access to abortion care after the Supreme Court struck down the protection. The Supreme Court's recent ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the senators write in a letter first obtained by NBC News and signed by 23 Democratic lawmakers, “makes it even more critical that veterans receive access to the reproductive care to which they are entitled.”  (Thorp, Vitali and Tsirkin, 7/28)

PBS NewsHour: How Abortion Bans Will Likely Lead To More Deadly Infections
Each year, Puterbaugh sees one or two cases of pregnancy-related sepsis. It’s been rare in the United States for decades, and deaths from these infections have been nearly unheard of. According to maternal mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention covering the last three years, no more than 45 people died of complications linked in any way to this form of sepsis. But after more than 17 years of practicing in Texas, where abortion essentially has been banned since last year, Dr. Rakhi Dimino said more patients come to her now with sepsis or hemorrhaging “than I’ve ever seen before.” (Santhanam, 7/27)

On state moves to ban or protect abortion access —

AP: Judges Block Abortion Bans In Wyoming, North Dakota
Abortion bans set to take effect this week in Wyoming and North Dakota have been temporarily blocked by judges in those states amid lawsuits arguing that the bans violate their state constitutions. A judge in Wyoming on Wednesday sided with a firebombed women’s health clinic and others who argued the ban would harm health care workers and their patients, while a North Dakota judge sided with the state’s only abortion clinic, Red River Women’s Clinic in Fargo. (Gruver and Willingham, 7/28)

AP: W.Va. House Passes Sweeping Ban Criminalizing Abortion
West Virginia’s Republican-dominated House of Delegates passed a sweeping abortion ban Wednesday that makes providing the procedure a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The measure, which now heads to the Senate for consideration, includes exceptions for victims of rape and incest, as well as for medical emergencies. (Willingham, 7/27)

NBC News: Kansas Voters To Decide Fate Of State Abortion Rights In Country’s First Ballot Test Since Roe Reversal
When Kansas voters head to the polls on Tuesday, they will be asked to decide whether the state’s Constitution should continue to protect abortion rights. It will be the first time since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade that U.S. voters cast ballots on abortion. (Edelman, 7/27)

AP: Mills Looking Into Amendment To Protect Abortion Rights 
Democratic Gov. Janet Mills said Tuesday that her administration is reviewing whether the right to an abortion is already enshrined in the Maine Constitution, or if an amendment is warranted. Mills said it’s possible that the Maine Constitution already has protections that the U.S. Constitution does not under a Supreme Court ruling in June. But she said all options are “on the table.” Maine already has a law adopted in 1993 that codified the right to an abortion. (7/27)

The Boston Globe: Over Three-Quarters Of Massachusetts Residents Say Abortion Should Be Legal In All Or Most Cases, Poll Finds
When the Supreme Court overturned nearly five decades of federal protection for abortion, Maria Bartini was, in a word, furious. Across the state, others echoed her anger in visceral terms, from “nauseated” to “horrified” and “depressed.” Outrage over the rollback of abortion rights nationally is particularly pronounced in Massachusetts, where abortion rights enjoy sweeping public support, according to a new poll. (Ebbert, 7/27)

AP: Biden Emerges From COVID Isolation, Tells Public: Get Shots
President Joe Biden ended his COVID-19 isolation on Wednesday, telling Americans they can “live without fear” of the pandemic if they take advantage of booster shots and treatments, the protections he credited with his swift recovery. “You don’t need to be president to get these tools to be used for your defense,” he said in the Rose Garden. “In fact, the same booster shots, the same at-home test, the same treatment that I got is available to you.” (Megerian and Superville, 7/27)

ABC News: Biden Compares His COVID Recovery To Trump's Hospitalization In Rose Garden Speech
After five days working in isolation at the White House, President Joe Biden reemerged on Wednesday -- and told the American public that his mild bout of COVID-19 was a testament to the power of vaccines and therapeutics. "Even if you get COVID, you can avoid winding up with a severe case," Biden said from the Rose Garden late Wednesday morning, in his first public appearance after back-to-back negative antigen test results. (Axelrod, 7/27)

On developments in covid vaccines —

Politico: Evolving FDA Standards For Covid-19 Vaccine Decisions Make Sense, Hahn Says
As the Covid-19 pandemic evolves, it only makes sense that the Food and Drug Administration’s regulatory standards for updated vaccines do too, former Commissioner Stephen Hahn told POLITICO. With more people vaccinated and boosted, and a lower case fatality rate than the nation experienced earlier in the Covid-19 pandemic, along with the emergence of different variants, Hahn said it is appropriate that the FDA is adapting the regulatory stance it laid out in its initial vaccine guidance documents. (Lim, 7/27)

Fortune: BA.5 Booster Strategy Is 'Flawed.' We Need A Universal COVID Vaccine Instead, Scientists Say
"You’re dealing with a moving target," he said on The Hill's Rising television show. “There’s always the possibility that you’re going to have the evolution of another variant... And hopefully, if that occurs, it will vary off from the BA.5 only slightly—in the sense of being a sub-sublineage of it, and not something entirely different." The White House and vaccine makers are already trying to head off a worse outcome by accelerating efforts to develop a universal COVID vaccine that would protect against multiple variants. (McGregor, 7/28)

Reuters: Pfizer Starts Mid-Stage Trial For Vaccine Against Omicron Subvariant
Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) and its German partner BioNTech SE (22UAy.DE) said on Wednesday they had started a mid-stage study of a modified COVID-19 vaccine which targets both the original as well as the BA.2 Omicron subvariant. Pfizer said the vaccine is in an initial proof-of-concept study to gather more data. (7/27)

CNN: Millions Of US Children Remain Unvaccinated As BA.5 Spreads And New School Year Looms
Millions of school-age children in the United States are still unvaccinated against Covid-19 as many prepare for a return to school. A new CNN analysis finds that less than half of children and teens are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, and only a tenth have been boosted. (Howard, 7/27)

Also —

NBC News: Millions Still Without Sense Of Smell Or Taste After Covid-19
About 5% of patients with confirmed cases of Covid-19 — some 27 million people worldwide — are estimated to have suffered a long-lasting loss of smell or taste, a new analysis suggests. In the analysis published Wednesday in The BMJ (the peer-reviewed medical journal of the British Medical Association), researchers evaluated  18 previous studies of smell and taste loss across several continents and in varying demographic groups. About three quarters of those affected by loss of taste or smell regained those senses within 30 days. (Bush, 7/27)

The Washington Post: School Mask Mandates Return, As Latest Covid Variants Surge
Mask mandates are making a comeback at public schools in Louisville. They could return to Los Angeles, after a possible decision this week. And outside Atlanta, where classes start in a matter of days, they are required for school employees. (St. George, 7/27)

On Paxlovid —

KHN: Everything You Need To Know About Paxlovid — Especially, Should You Take It?
When President Joe Biden tested positive for covid-19 on July 21, his physician recommended he take the antiviral drug Paxlovid. The drug significantly reduces the likelihood of hospitalization or death for someone at high risk of developing severe covid. Biden started the five-day course that day, according to the White House, and within six days he tested negative for the virus and was cleared to leave isolation. (Andrews, 7/28)

The New York Times: Manchin, In A Reversal, Agrees To Climate And Tax Package
Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, a key centrist Democrat, announced on Wednesday that he had agreed to include hundreds of billions of dollars for climate and energy programs and tax increases in a package to subsidize health care and lower the cost of prescription drugs, less than two weeks after abruptly upending hopes for such an agreement this summer. The package would set aside $369 billion for climate and energy proposals, the most ambitious climate action ever taken by Congress, and raise an estimated $451 billion in new tax revenue over a decade, while cutting federal spending on prescription drugs by $288 billion, according to a summary circulated Wednesday evening. (Cochrane, 7/27)

The Washington Post: Manchin Says He Has Reached Deal With Schumer On Economy, Climate Bill
On health care, meanwhile, Schumer secured Manchin’s support for a three-year extension of tax credits that help lower health insurance costs for roughly 13 million Americans. Without congressional action, these individuals would have seen premium increases next year on plans purchased through insurance exchanges — a financial headache for families and a political conundrum for Democrats sensitive to price hikes. The deal also would allow Medicare for the first time to negotiate the price of drugs, a policy Democrats have campaigned on for years. And it further includes a $2,000 annual cap for seniors on their out-of-pocket spending for prescription drugs. (Romm, Stein, Roubein and Joselow, 7/27)

Politico: What's In The Manchin-Schumer Deal
Here’s what’s in the agreement, with estimates from the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Congressional Budget Office: Total raised: $739 billion. $313 billion — The legislation will raise revenues in part by imposing a corporate minimum tax of 15 percent. $288 billion — The agreement calls for prescription drug pricing reform, which will allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices. Out-of-pocket costs will be capped at $2,000, the agreement summary says. ... (Ward, 7/27)

Roll Call: Health Care Budget Bill To Face Open-Ended 'Vote-A-Rama'
The Senate may be preparing to take up a single-issue, health care budget package under the jurisdiction of a single committee — Finance. But the nature of the budget reconciliation process means the bill will be open for amendment on virtually any topic the original legislation was intended to address, from climate change to taxes to child care. (Krawzak, 7/27)

AP: FDA Chief's Long-Promised Opioid Review Faces Skepticism
Dr. Robert Califf even personally commissioned a report from the nation’s top medical advisers that recommended reforms, including potentially removing some drugs from the market. But six years later, opioids are claiming more lives than ever, and the FDA has not pulled a single drug from pharmacy shelves since the report’s publication. In fact, the agency continues putting new painkillers on the market — six in the last five years. (Perrone, 7/27)

AP: Senators Seek Help For Seniors Struggling With Opioid Use
Senators from Maine and Maryland have proposed legislation they said would support older residents who are addicted to opioids. Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland said Wednesday they’ve introduced a bill to address challenges that Medicare beneficiaries face when seeking treatment for addiction. Collins said the toll of the opioid epidemic on older adults is an underappreciated aspect of the crisis. (7/28)

Reuters: AbbVie's Allergan Reaches $2 Bln Opioid Lawsuit Settlement 
AbbVie Inc's (ABBV.N) unit Allergan has reached an agreement to pay over $2 billion to resolve thousands of lawsuits related to the marketing of its opioid painkiller, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. (7/27)

In legal moves around toxic chemicals —

Politico: House Approves Bipartisan PFAS Research Bill
“While this heat-, water- and oil-resistant chemical was created over 80 years ago to solve problems, it has become increasingly clear that it's created more problems than it solved,” said Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) during floor debate. “Traces of the PFAS can also be found within the human body, animals drinking water, fish and soil. In fact, a recent report by the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] found PFAS in the blood of 97 percent of Americans.” (Forrest, 7/27)

Roll Call: Veterans Toxic Exposure Bill Delayed As Cloture Attempt Rejected
An effort to give millions of veterans easier access to health and disability benefits suffered another surprising setback Wednesday on the Senate floor when supporters couldn’t muster the 60 votes needed to limit debate. The 55-42 procedural vote on cloture derailed, at least temporarily, a sweeping expansion of veterans benefits that appeared to be heading to President Joe Biden’s desk this week. (Lerman, 7/27)

Also —

Politico: House Passes Telehealth Rules Extension Through 2024
The House overwhelmingly passed legislation by Wyoming Republican Liz Cheney Wednesday that would extend eased telehealth rules through the end of 2024. The 416-12 vote was a significant win for telehealth advocates. The bill would allow Medicare and federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics to continue covering telehealth visits from patients’ homes, as well as audio-only telehealth under Medicare. The measure would also extend a waiver permitting mental health patients to avoid having to go to in-person visits. (Leonard, 7/27)

Bloomberg: Monkeypox Vaccine Latest: 786,000 Shots Available Thursday To Fight Outbreak
“HHS is working to make these doses available to states and jurisdictions as soon as possible to fulfill their needs and will announce allocations tomorrow,” Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “Aggressively responding to the monkeypox outbreak is a critical priority for HHS.” (Muller, 7/27)

Newsweek: What Is Tecovirimat? Ed Markey Wants Monkeypox Treatment Stockpile Released
A U.S. senator has called on federal health agencies to expand access to the national stockpile of a limited smallpox treatment known as tecovirimat amid continued soaring demand for the Jynneos vaccine. As of July 26, there were more than 3,500 cases of monkeypox in the U.S., according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data, with only four states not declaring a single case yet. (Browne, 7/27)

Politico: FDA Clears Additional Manufacturing Site For The Monkeypox Vaccine
The Food and Drug Administration has cleared an additional facility in Denmark to finish manufacturing monkeypox vaccines, allowing more doses to be distributed and administered across the U.S., the agency said Wednesday. (Ellen Foley, 7/27)

On the government's response to monkeypox —

Reuters: CDC To Make Monkeypox Nationally Notifiable Condition
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday it plans to make the rapidly spreading monkeypox disease a nationally notifiable condition. The designation, which is set to take effect on Aug. 1, updates criteria for reporting of data on cases by states to the agency and would allow the agency to monitor and respond to monkeypox even after the current outbreak recedes, the CDC said. (7/27)

Politico: Biden Administration Expected To Soon Declare Monkeypox A Health Emergency
The declaration, which is made by the Department of Health and Human Services, would follow a similar decision made last weekend by the World Health Organization. By designating the outbreak an emergency, HHS could then take a slew of actions, including accessing new money and appointing new personnel, according to the law that dictates how and when the federal government can declare such an emergency. (Banco and Cancryn, 7/27)

Meanwhile, WHO addresses the global outbreak —

Reuters: WHO Says More Than 18,000 Cases Of Monkeypox Globally, Most In Europe
There have been more than 18,000 cases of monkeypox reported globally from 78 countries, with the majority in Europe, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday. The WHO declared the outbreak a global health emergency on Saturday. So far, 98% of cases outside the countries in Africa where the virus is endemic have been reported in men who have sex with men, the WHO said. (7/27)

AP: WHO Chief Advises Reducing Sex Partners To Avoid Monkeypox
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 98% of the monkeypox cases detected since the outbreaks emerged in May have been among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men. He called for those at risk to take steps to protect themselves. “That means making safe choices for yourself and others, for men who have sex with men,” Tedros said. “This includes, for the moment, reducing your number of sexual partners.” (7/27)

Also —

CIDRAP: Push To Rename Monkeypox To Fight Growing Stigma
Yesterday, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC Health) sent a letter to the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, asking that monkeypox be renamed as soon as possible. (Soucheray, 7/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Traveling-Nurse Bubble Bursts
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…for nurses. Hospitals across the U.S. have had to dig deep to treat patients during the Covid-19 pandemic as some of the most lucrative parts of their business, elective surgeries, were constantly postponed. The flip side of that has been a bonanza for the companies that helped them keep staffing levels adequate as well as for the brave and flexible people who filled those positions. (Wainer, 7/27)

Modern Healthcare: Rehab, Psychiatry And Hospice Get Medicare Pay Hikes
Inpatient rehabilitation facilities, inpatient psychiatric facilities and hospice providers will see a boost in Medicare payment next fiscal year. In regulations issued Wednesday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services finalized a 3.8% payment update for hospices, which amounts to an estimated $825 million increase from 2022. Inpatient rehabilitation providers will see an overall 3.2% update, about $275 million more, while inpatient psychiatric providers will get an overall 2.5% pay hike, according to an agency fact sheet. (Goldman, 7/27)

In other industry news —

Reuters: Exclusive: Cassava Sciences Faces U.S. Criminal Probe Tied To Alzheimer's Drug, Sources Say
The U.S. Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into Cassava Sciences Inc (SAVA.O) involving whether the biotech company manipulated research results for its experimental Alzheimer's drug, two people familiar with the inquiry said. (Taylor and Spector, 7/27)

CIDRAP: Data-Sharing Initiative Aims To Help Fight Against Antibiotic Resistance
For all that is known about the rise of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), much remains unknown. But there's hope that a new data-sharing effort launched in June could help unlock information that may mitigate the worst aspects of the "silent pandemic" of drug-resistant infections. (Dall, 7/27)

Reuters: GSK Says U.S. FDA Approves Kidney Disease Drug For Children
GSK Plc said on Wednesday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had cleared its kidney disease drug Benlysta for the treatment of children aged 5 to 17 years. The clearance makes Benlysta the first treatment approved by the U.S. regulator for children with lupus nephritis, a kind of kidney inflammation. (7/27)

Reuters: Sanofi Lifts Profit Outlook As Dupixent Sales Surge 43%
In March the French group said peak annual sales of Dupixent, jointly developed with Regeneron (REGN.O), would be more than 13 billion euros, up from a previous target of more than 10 billion euros. Revenue from anti-inflammatory treatment Dupixent jumped 43.4% to 1.96 billion euros in the reported quarter, beating an analyst consensus of 1.86 billion euros, on prescriptions in dermatitis, asthma and certain nasal infections. (Burger, 7/28)

Modern Healthcare: Teladoc Posts Nearly A $10B Loss In First Half Of 2022
Teladoc Health’s acquisition of Livongo continues to haunt its balance sheets as the Purchase, New York-based company posted significant losses in the first half of 2022. Teladoc said it posted a net loss of $3.1 billion in the second quarter of 2022 and a $9.7 billion loss for the first half of the year. The losses are primarily due to a non-cash goodwill impairment charge related to the Livongo acquisition that totaled $9.6 billion in the first half of 2022. (Turner, 7/27)

Bloomberg: Humana Shares Fall As Medical Costs Overshadow Earnings Beat
Humana Inc. shares fell after higher medical expenses than Wall Street expected overshadowed positive earnings and a modest increase in the health insurer’s forecast for the year. The company’s medical-loss ratio, a closely watched measure of how much premium revenue is paid out for medical care, was 85.8%, higher than analysts’ forecast but in-line with the company’s expectations. Shares declined as much as 3.5% in New York trading Wednesday. (Tozzi, 7/27)

Stat: IQVIA Lawyer Declines To Discuss Experian Relationship, But Pledges Privacy
IQVIA does not publicly discuss its work with Experian. But a STAT investigation uncovered internal documents showing IQVIA employees had raised concerns about the adequacy of privacy safeguards surrounding the data, which included records on more than 120 million people. (Ross, 7/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Labcorp To Spin Off Clinical-Development Business
Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings plans to spin off its unit focused on clinical drug trials, according to people familiar with the matter, a move that will create a new stand-alone company in the fast-growing contract-research sector. (Lombardo, 7/28)

On the national mental health hotline, and nursing home debts —

KHN: The US Mental Health Hotline Network Is Expanding, But Rural Areas Still Face Care Shortages
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s 988 phone number, which launched July 16, was designed as a universal mental health support tool for callers at any time anywhere. But the U.S. is a patchwork of resources for crisis assistance, so what comes next isn’t universal. The level of support that 988 callers receive depends on their ZIP code. (Saint Louis, 7/28)

KHN: Nursing Homes Are Suing The Friends And Family Of Residents To Collect Debts
Lucille Brooks was stunned when she picked up the phone before Christmas two years ago and learned a nursing home was suing her. “I thought this was crazy,” recalled Brooks, 74, a retiree who lives with her husband in a modest home in the Rochester suburbs. Brooks’ brother had been a resident of the nursing home. But she had no control over his money or authority to make decisions for him. She wondered how she could be on the hook for his nearly $8,000 bill. (Levey, 7/28)

The New York Times: Potentially Deadly Bacteria Detected In U.S. Soil For First Time
A potentially deadly bacteria was found for the first time in water and soil samples in the United States, prompting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to alert doctors and public health experts throughout the country on Wednesday to take it into consideration when examining patients. The bacteria, Burkholderia pseudomallei, was detected in the Gulf Coast region of Southern Mississippi. Exposure to the bacteria can cause melioidosis, a “rare and serious disease,” according to the C.D.C.; about one in every 4,600 people exposed are found to have the disease, according to a study from 2019. The study also found that about 90,000 people die annually from melioidosis. (Oxenden, 7/27)

AP: Bacteria That Causes Rare Tropical Disease Found In US Soil
The bacteria was found on the property of a Mississippi man who had come down with the disease, melioidosis. Officials don’t know how long it had been there, but they say it likely is occurring in other areas along the Gulf Coast. U.S. physicians should consider melioidosis even in patients who haven’t traveled to other countries, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a health alert. (Stobbe, 7/27)

Stat: CDC: Bacterium That Causes Rare Disease Likely Endemic Along Gulf Coast
“This is a big deal because clinicians generally speaking only consider melioidosis in patients who have recent travel to an endemic area like Thailand, South Asia, Australia. They would not consider just somebody living in the Gulf Coast area who has never traveled, that they would have melioidosis,” Julia Petras, an epidemic intelligence service officer with CDC’s bacterial special pathogens branch, told STAT. (Branswell, 7/27)

Separately, a rare brain-eating amoeba is found in Iowa —

CBS News: Brain-Eating Parasite Found In Iowa Lake, 1 Dead
Federal and state health officials on Wednesday confirmed the presence of a brain-eating amoeba in an Iowa lake after one swimmer was infected and later died. The lake will remain open as infections are rare, but officials will create signage that warns of the parasite. The amoeba, also known as Naegleria fowleri, was found in the Lake of Three Fires, which is located in Bedford, Iowa, according to a statement from the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Christen Jones, 7/27)

The Hill: Democrats, Gun Manufacturers Battle Over Violence, White Supremacy At Heated Hearing
When questioned by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on symbols of white nationalism and supremacy in their advertisements, such as the white-supremacist adopted Valknot, both CEOs denied having been aware of such symbols. But Ryan Busse, senior advisor at Gifford Law Center and former firearms executive, said the use of such imagery in marketing is “looked away from.” He added that racist imagery is “not properly controlled or addressed” in the gun industry. (Daniels, 7/27)

AP: AR-15 Style Guns Sold As A Sign Of Manhood As Shootings Rise
Gun makers have taken in more than $1 billion from selling AR-15-style guns over the past decade, at times marketing them as a way for young men to prove their masculinity, even as the number of mass shootings increases, according to a House investigation unveiled Wednesday. (Whitehurst, 7/27)

The Texas Tribune: Uvalde School Board Wants Special Legislative Session On Assault Rifle Laws
The Uvalde school board is formally urging Gov. Greg Abbott to call state lawmakers back to Austin so they can raise the legal age to buy assault rifles from 18 to 21, more than two months after a gunman used such a weapon to kill 19 elementary school students and two teachers days after he turned 18. (Edison, 7/25)

ABC News: Abbott Commits $1.25M For Trauma Counseling For Uvalde
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced he will provide a $1.25 million grant to the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District for counseling students and faculty impacted by the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. "As the community of Uvalde continues to heal, Texas continues working to help improve security and aid in the recovery among students and educators," Abbott said in a news release. (Grant, 7/28)

KHN: Watch: Navigating Social Media After Mass Shootings
A University of Pennsylvania professor shares advice on navigating the intersection of gun violence and social media as part of KHN’s new “Spotlight” interview series. Buffalo, New York. Uvalde, Texas. Highland Park, Illinois. Graphic imagery and news about the recent string of mass shootings has ricocheted across social media, and professor Desmond Patton shares advice on how to navigate it. Earlier this year, Patton, the Brian and Randi Schwartz university professor at the University of Pennsylvania, spoke with Midwest correspondent Cara Anthony about the wrapping of caskets in colorful images to pay tribute to young lives lost to trauma and violence. (Norman, 7/28)

In developments in HIV and AIDS —

The Wall Street Journal: Two HIV Patients Appear To Have Beaten Virus, Offering Hope For Cure
A 66-year-old man in Southern California and a woman in her 70s in Spain are the latest in a small group of people who appear to have beaten their HIV infections, providing researchers new clues to a possible cure at a time when Covid-19 and other crises are slowing progress against the spreading virus. (McKay, 7/27)

AP: Global AIDS Fight At Crossroads After Setbacks During COVID
The number of people on lifesaving HIV treatments grew more slowly last year than it has in a decade. Inequities are widening. Every two minutes last year, a teen girl or young woman was newly infected — and in sub-Saharan Africa, they’re three times as likely to get HIV as boys and men the same age. And 650,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses last year, the report found. (Neergaard, 7/27)

On vitamin D supplements —

AP: Study Casts More Doubt On Use Of High-Dose Vitamin D Pills
An estimated third of Americans 60 and older take the supplements and more than 10 million blood tests for vitamin D levels are performed annually -- despite years of controversy over whether the average older adult needs either. The newest findings -- added to other trials with similar results -- should end that debate, wrote Drs. Steven Cummings of California Pacific Medical Center and Clifford Rosen of Maine Medical Center Research Institute in a commentary in the medical journal. (Neergaard, 7/27)

The New York Times: Vitamin D Supplements Don’t Help Another Condition, Study Finds
But now, in the first large randomized controlled study in the United States, funded by the federal government, researchers report that vitamin D pills taken with or without calcium have no effect on bone fracture rates. The results, published Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine, hold for people with osteoporosis and even those whose blood tests deemed them vitamin D deficient. (Kolata, 7/27)

Also —

The Boston Globe: Did You Wake Up Sluggish And Irritable? Fewer Than 1 In 3 Americans Get ‘Restorative’ Sleep, Study Finds
Got seven or more hours of sleep, but still woke up feeling irritable, sluggish, and tired? You’re not the only one: Fewer than 1 in 3 Americans are getting the right of kind of sleep that leaves them feeling refreshed, energetic, and alert the next morning, a new study has found. (Pan, 7/27)

Zenger News: Babies Breastfed For A Year Or More Better Protected Against Adult Obesity: Study
Babies breastfed for a year or more could be protected against obesity into adulthood, according to new research. In experiments, rodent pups given mother's milk for prolonged periods didn't put on weight after they grew up - even when fed junk food. (Kitanovska, 7/26)

Stat: Researchers Launch Effort To Make Artificial Human Eggs In Test Tube
In a little-noticed study published earlier this year, scientists from Oregon Health & Science University reported the birth of three mouse pups that had been created with a never-before-used recipe for reproduction. Using a common cloning technique, researchers removed the genetic material from one female’s eggs and replaced them with nuclear DNA from the skin cells of another. Then with a novel chemical cocktail, they nudged the eggs to lose half their new sets of chromosomes and fertilized them with mouse sperm. (Molteni, 7/28)

In other scientific developments —

Zenger News: Scientists Say They May Have Discovered Why Men Die Earlier Than Women
A new study has potentially shed light on why men die earlier than women. The loss of the male sex chromosome as many men age causes the heart muscle to scar and can lead to deadly heart failure, according to the study. (Barillas, 7/26)

North Carolina Health News: Uterine Cancer Rates Rising, Black Women Especially At Risk
Black women die of uterine cancer at twice the rate of white women, and the reasons for the disparity remain unclear. That’s an unacceptable fact for a group of researchers and clinicians at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. That’s why they have research underway to investigate many factors such as tumor biology, access to care, and lifestyle and behavior that may play a role in survivorship. (Crumpler, 7/26)

Stat: Telehealth Buoyed Treatment Of Veterans With Opioid Use Disorder During Covid
Drug treatment of veterans with opioid use disorder increased during the first year of the pandemic, according to a new study, suggesting that the rapid shift from in-person to telehealth visits at VA medical centers enabled patients to get access to care despite Covid-related disruptions. (Muthukumar, 7/28)

CIDRAP: Less Methadone, More Buprenorphine Distributed Amid COVID In US
A study published yesterday in JAMA Network Open details US utilization of the two most effective medications used to treat opioid use disorder (OUD) in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, finding that quantities of methadone dwindled as buprenorphine doses expanded. The increases in buprenorphine dispensed didn't offset the proportional declines in the methadone distributed. (Van Beusekom, 7/27)

On other covid research news —

ABC News: Smoking, Vaping Increases Risk Of Death From COVID, Study Finds
Smokers and vapers are more likely to have a severe case of COVID-19 or die of the disease, a new study finds. People who reported use of tobacco products prior to their hospitalization were 39% more likely to be put on mechanical ventilation than non-smokers. What's more, they were 45% more likely to die. (Kekatos, 7/27)

San Francisco Chronicle: COVID In California: Adults With Young Children Less Likely To Get Severe COVID
The study, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that adults without children who got COVID were 49% more likely to be hospitalized and 76% more likely to be admitted to the intensive care unit than adults with COVID who had children under five years old. The study looked at medical records for more than 3 million adult members of Kaiser Northern California from two years before the pandemic through the first year of COVID. (Ho, 27)

AP: Temperatures Could Hit Triple Digits Again In Northwest
Heat wave duration records could be broken in the Pacific Northwest this week and authorities are expanding capacity at some cooling centers as temperatures near triple digits are forecast to extend into the weekend. “For the next several days through Saturday we’re going to be within a few degrees of 100 every day,” said Colby Neuman, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Portland, Oregon. (Rush and Flaccus, 7/28)

Modern Healthcare: Anti-Vaccine Doc Sues Houston Methodist For $25M, Claiming Defamation
A Texas physician filed a $25 million defamation lawsuit against Houston Methodist Hospital and its CEO Monday, claiming public statements they made harmed her reputation, career and safety. Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, an otolaryngologist who formerly worked at the health system, has used social media to make claims about harmful side effects from COVID-19 vaccines. Bowden filed a separate lawsuit in January; both cases are in the Harris County District Courts in Texas. (Berryman, 7/27)

The Boston Globe: After Horrific COVID Deaths In Holyoke, Lawmakers Poised To Send Soldiers’ Home Reform Bill To Governor
Massachusetts legislative leaders reached a deal Wednesday on legislation that would reshape oversight of the state’s two soldiers’ homes, promising change more than two years after dozens of veterans died at the Holyoke facility in one of the most notorious and deadly COVID-19 outbreaks in the country. (Gross, 7/27)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County General Hospital Is Set To Become Affordable Housing
Los Angeles County officials are moving forward with a plan to convert the mostly vacant General Hospital building, on the site of L.A. County-USC Medical Center, into affordable housing units. The Board of Supervisors approved a motion Tuesday to begin creating construction and financial plans for the project. The motion directs county departments to report back within four months on a potential timeline and allocate up to $194.7 million in funding for the project, according to a news release from Supervisor Hilda Solis. (Lin, 7/27)

ScienceDaily: Promising Developments In Pursuit To Design Pan-Coronavirus Vaccine 
Researchers have shown that a specific area of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein is a promising target for a pan-coronavirus vaccine that could offer some protection against new virus variants, common colds, and help prepare for future pandemics. (The Francis Crick Institute, 7/27)

CIDRAP: Persistent Brain Fog, Hair Loss Highlighted In Long-COVID Studies
Two new studies describe long-COVID symptoms, with one finding that 53% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients still had cognitive impairment ("brain fog") 13 months after infection, and another adding conditions such as hair loss and sexual dysfunction to the list of persistent symptoms among outpatients. (Van Beusekom, 7/27)

New England Journal of Medicine: Supplemental Vitamin D And Incident Fractures In Midlife And Older Adults
In an ancillary study of the Vitamin D and Omega-3 Trial (VITAL), we tested whether supplemental vitamin D3 would result in a lower risk of fractures than placebo. (LeBoff, M.D., et al, 7/28)

ScienceDaily: Researchers Identify How Cells Move Faster Through Mucus Than Blood
Researchers have discovered that certain cells move surprisingly faster in thicker fluid because their ruffled edges sense the viscosity of their environment and adapt to increase their speed. Their combined results in cancer and fibroblast cells suggest that the viscosity of a cell's surrounding environment is an important contributor to disease, and may help explain tumor progression, scarring in mucus-filled lungs affected by cystic fibrosis, and the wound-healing process. (University of Toronto, 7/25)

Bloomberg: Why An Up-Your-Nose Covid Spray Will Be Costly
If we are blithely ignorant now of rates of Covid-19 infection, it’s largely thanks to vaccines, which kept most people free from serious illness. But the immune defenses we get from vaccines and from infection wane in time. Disease in circulation means the new variants and subvariants are likely, with no guarantee that they will be weaker or less transmissible than previous iterations. (Therese Raphael and Sam Fazeli, 7/28)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Vaccines Were A Near Miracle. We Need Another
It can’t be emphasized often enough that the vaccines against the coronavirus pandemic, in particular the mRNA vaccines, proved a triumph over adversity that saved millions of lives, thanks to years of investment in basic research, advances in genomics and other disciplines, massive federal aid, and productive cooperation among policymakers, scientists and the private sector. That feat was completed not long ago — but we need to do it again. (7/27)

The Star Tribune: Mixed News On COVID Boosters 
There are No. 1 rankings that inspire celebration. And then there are those that elicit a more mixed "Really, we're No. 1?" response. Minnesota's current top honors in a state-by-state comparison of a key COVID-19 metric — how many seniors 65 and older have had a second booster shot — regrettably falls into the latter category. (7/27)

NBC News: Biden Set A Bad Example With His Covid Casse
On Wednesday, the White House reported that President Joe Biden had twice tested negative for Covid-19. The news was welcome but expected. When Biden first tested positive a few days ago, his having been vaccinated and boosted, combined with his access to the nation’s best doctors and latest treatments, nearly guaranteed him an uneventful acute illness course. (Kristin Urquiza, 7/27)

Also —

Newsweek: The Next Frontier Of The Fight For Abortion Rights Is Privacy Law 
The Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade and the ensuing response from certain states have launched a national battle to protect the right to an abortion. Among others, a new front has emerged: the right to reproductive privacy. (Thora Johnson, Kyle Kessler and Alyssa Wolfington, 7/27)

Chicago Tribune: Regarding Abortion, Indiana Legislators Should Leave Well Enough Alone
This week in Indianapolis, the legislature became the first state to hold a special session to further restrict abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. A legislative committee within the Republican-controlled legislature passed by a 7-5 vote an amendment adding the new restrictions to the current law. (7/27)

Los Angeles Times: Monkeypox Is An Emergency Because We've Neglected LGBTQ Health 
Monkeypox is not a novel virus. The infection, which can cause fever, headaches, body aches, fatigue and a painful rash across the body, already has government-approved vaccine and treatment as well as an established lab test. The national scientific community couldn’t have been more primed for a monkeypox outbreak. The U.S. contained an outbreak in 2003 and experts have warned of a potential epidemic for more than a decade. (Eric Kutscher and Lala Tanmoy Das, 7/27)

USA Today: SCOTUS Ruling Impacts Gender-Affirming Care
The fight for reproductive rights and gender-affirming care is one and the same. As a transgender man, I’m speaking out about the necessity of these services. (Mikiko Galpin, 7/27)

The Washington Post: In The Rural West, ‘Self-Reliance’ Can Take A Heavy Toll On Mental Health 
In “The Homesman,” a 2014 movie starring Tommy Lee Jones and Hilary Swank, three traumatized pioneer women are transported back East to get help from a women’s relief society. There is no solace in open spaces, we learn. Only devastating isolation and social censure. (Maddy Butcher, 7/27)