Two-thirds of U.S. adults do not plan on getting COVID boosters

Around two-thirds of adults in the United States are not planning to get the updated COVID-19 booster shots soon, according to a survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), a health policy nonprofit organization.

Only a third of adults polled said they either already received the updated shots or plan to get the booster as soon as possible, the poll found.

About 18% said they would wait and see whether they would get the new booster shot, while 10% said they would only get it if it was required. About 12% of adults surveyed said they would definitely not get the shot, while 27% said they were not eligible because they were not fully vaccinated.

About 7.6 million people received the updated shots over the first four weeks the boosters have been available, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data released on Thursday. That represents about 3.5% of the 215.5 million people in the United States aged 12 or older who are eligible to receive the shots because they have completed their primary vaccination series.

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Last month, the Food and Drug Administration authorized reformulated versions of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna Inc. vaccines that aim to protect against the omicron subvariants.

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The reformulated shots target both the original strain of the coronavirus and the omicron BA.4/BA.5 subvariants that many are catching.

The latest KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor survey found that awareness of the updated boosters was relatively modest, with about half of adults saying they’ve heard "a lot" (17%) or "some" (33%) about the new shots.

Additionally, around 40% of fully vaccinated adults said they were not sure whether the new COVID-19 boosters are recommended for them. The CDC recommended that all people aged 12 and older get the reformulated COVID-19 booster at least two months after being fully vaccinated.

For the survey, KFF polled 1,534 adults from Sept. 15 to Sept. 26.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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British health officials recommend everyone over the age of 55 be screened for lung cancer

Health officials in the United Kingdom are recommending that citizens older than 55 who have smoked a cigarette, even once, should be checked for lung cancer. 

The U.K. National Screening Committee made this recommendation to help fight against the disease that has become the most cause of cancer death in the country. The age recommendation from the committee is any individual from 55 to 74 who has smoked at any point in their lives should be assessed, according to The Telegraph. 

Lung cancer can become deadly because patients are often diagnosed when the disease is more severe due to not having regular medical check-ups. Every year, approximately 35,000 people in the United Kingdom die from lung cancer. 

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The U.K. Cancer Research organization endorsed the recommendation and added that it should be implemented "as swiftly as possible."

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"We welcome this recommendation and urge governments in all four U.K. nations to roll out a targeted lung cancer screening program as swiftly as possible,: said Dr Ian Walker in a statement to The Telegraph. 

Walked added, "Lung cancer causes more deaths in the U.K. than any other cancer type, and screening could save lives by diagnosing people at an earlier stage – when treatment is more likely to be successful.'

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Katie Couric's breast cancer: What other women can learn from her diagnosis

Longtime television journalist Katie Couric announced this week that she was diagnosed with breast cancer in June of this year and has now undergone successful surgery to remove a 2.5-centimeter tumor. 

"Every two minutes, a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States. On June 21st, I became one of them," Couric tweeted on Sept. 28, 2022.

Couric decided to have "breast conservation" surgery followed by radiation and medication, as Fox News Digital just reported.

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Mammography and ultrasound are lifesaving tools — and women need to put mammography at the top of their to-do list, Dr. Marisa Weiss, chief medical officer and founder of Breastcancer.org, told Fox News Digital in a phone interview.

Dr. Weiss currently practices at Lankenau Medical Center in Wynnewood, Penn., where she serves as director of breast radiation oncology and director of breast health outreach.

"Breast cancer is the most common cancer to affect women," said Weiss. 

"And there is an opportunity to find it early and save lives. Our best tool to find breast cancer early before it spreads to other parts of the body is mammography — digital mammography."

She added, "Mammography could save your life. It can help you get the best and most effective treatment with the least side effects."

Dr. Weiss said that it is critical to find breast cancer early, "when it can be the most effectively treated with the least aggressive therapies."

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She also said, "Most breast cancer is found through mammography. Roughly, a third or 40 percent is found through mammography, 20-25% is found through physical exam alone and the rest of cases are found with a combination of the two."

Weiss said the "best shot at early detection" depends on "high quality mammography done early — each year starting at age 40."

She also said that many women "are coming in with much later stages of disease because their mammogram slipped off their schedule during the [COVID] pandemic."

Weiss noted that this is "particularly true for people who have less access to quality care."

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"The people who are most likely to have a delayed diagnosis, because of the pandemic and having a harder time getting access to mammography, are people who are [among] under-represented populations," she noted.

"Black women are more likely to be diagnosed with later stages of disease and at an earlier age," she said.

If a woman's doctor advises an ultrasound of the breast after a mammogram, the doctor is looking for more information on a potential trouble spot, said Weiss.

"Ultrasound is generally not a screening test," said Weiss, "but a supplemental test. If you see anything you’re concerned about, ultrasound — which uses sound waves — can see what is going on in that location."

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An ultrasound can find a "lump, irregularity, or architectural distortion" in the breast, she noted.

"It's another way to look at the breast, can be very helpful to in deciding if it’s a fluid-filled structure, like a cyst, or a solid spot like a nodule that could be cancer," she explained.

Ultrasounds contain "no radiation, so it's used regularly," said Weiss. 

"If a mammogram shows anything that’s a little bit questionable, it’s a nice add-on, particularly if you’re a young person."

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She emphasized, "Mammography could save your life. It can help you get the best and most effective treatment with the least side effects."

She added, "Our life is our greatest gift, and it’s our job to take care of ourselves."

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Kids with head lice don't need to leave school: report

Health experts at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) say children don't have to be sent home from school if they have head lice.

The Illinois-based association of pediatricians issued a clinical report on Monday, Sept. 26, which states lice are not a "health hazard" because they are not connected to disease and have a low transmission rate.

"There is significant stigma resulting from head lice infestations in high-income countries, resulting in children and adolescents being ostracized from their schools, friends, and other social events," the AAP’s report said. "Head lice can be psychologically stressful to the affected individual."

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The AAP recommends against "no-nit" policies that prohibit students from attending school while having a lice infestation.

The association warned that such policies haven't been proven to be effective and could put a school at legal risk because it may violate the civil liberties of students.

Caregivers and medical professionals should instead focus on providing lice education and treatment, according to the AAP.

Treatment options include pediculicides – lice killing agents – approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, including permethrin 1% lotion, pyrethrin and piperonyl butoxide shampoo, ivermectin 0.5% lotion or an ivermectin 3-milligram tablet, malathion 0.5% lotion and spinosad 0.9% suspension.

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Alternative treatments the AAP recommends include using botanical agents for killing or repelling lice, occlusive agents, desiccants and manual removal.

- Botanical agents for killing or repelling lice: Various essential oils, such as Ageratum, Aloysia, Aniba, Annona, Cananga [ylang ylang], Cinnamomum, Cocos, Curcuma, Elletaria, Eucalyptus, Eugenia, Geranium, Heliantus, Juniperus, Lavandula, Lippia, Litsea, Melaleuca, Melia, Mentha, Monarda, Myrcianthes, Origanum, Pimpinella, Rosmarinus, Salvia, Schinus, Tagetes, tea tree, Zingiberaceae or citronella

- Occlusive agents: Home remedies made with petrolatum, mayonnaise, melted butter or margarine, olive oil, dimethicone or face cleanser

- Desiccants: Natrum muriaticum, isopropyl myristate or an AirAllé device

- Manual removal: Physical and electronic nit combs, vinegar-based products or hair shaving

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Caregivers and school personnel who are without health care backgrounds should contact medical professionals if single or community-wide lice infestations show resistance toward over-the-counter treatments, the AAP's report said.

The AAP also noted that lice cannot hop or jump and can only travel by crawling – meaning transmission usually occurs between people who have direct contact with lice-infested hair.

Head-to-head contact is the most common transmission method, but indirect spread can happen through when someone makes contact with personal belongings that are shared with a lice-infested person, such as combs, brushes, hats and sports helmets. 

These indirect transmission methods are "much less likely to occur," according to the AAP.

"Lice found on combs are likely to be injured or dead, and a louse is not likely to leave a healthy head unless there is a heavy infestation," the AAP wrote in its updated report.

"In one study, live lice were found on only 4% of pillowcases used by infested persons," the AAP continued. "Thus, the major focus of control activities should be to reduce the number of lice on an individual’s head and to lessen the risks of head-to-head contact."

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) agrees with the AAP's stance on head lice in schools.

The national health agency acknowledges that lice can be a "nuisance" on its "Head Lice Information for Schools" webpage, but the CDC goes on to say that these parasitic insects haven't been shown to spread disease and aren’t an indicator of poor personal hygiene or cleanliness.

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"Students diagnosed with live head lice do not need to be sent home early from school; they can go home at the end of the day, be treated, and return to class after appropriate treatment has begun," the CDC wrote. "Nits may persist after treatment, but successful treatment should kill crawling lice."

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Anxiety screenings recommended by US task force will cause overdiagnosis, overprescription, psychologist warns

Pushing primary care doctors to screen all patients for anxiety will lead to overdiagnosis and overprescribing, as well as exacerbate existing shortages in mental health resources, a psychologist said. 

"It’s the wrong solution at the wrong time," Dr. Jonathan Shedler, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, told Fox News. "You can’t just carve the world into disorders and think you’re doing an adequate job of determining someone’s mental health needs."

Earlier this month, the United States Preventive Services Task Force recommended that all adults under 65 get screened for anxiety as more Americans report symptoms of mental health issues following the COVID-19 pandemic. The advisory group, which released the guidance as a draft, said the purpose was to help prevent mental health disorders from going undetected and untreated.

"It’s simply terrible care to give somebody a seven-question questionnaire in the office and write a prescription on that basis without addressing the bigger picture," Shedler, who has authored over 100 scholarly and scientific papers in psychology, said. 

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More than 30% of adults reported symptoms of an anxiety or depressive disorder this summer, the National Center for Health Statistics estimates. The share of adults who received mental health treatment increased to nearly 23% in 2021, up from 19% in 2019, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Shedler worries that mass screening will lead to misdiagnosis, causing doctors to prescribe anxiety medications to patients who may not need them.

"Primary care is not the place to get mental health care," Shedler said. "The physicians don't have the time. They don't have the resources. They don't have the training."

The psychologist pointed to a similar recommendation made by the panel in 2002 to standardize depression screenings, which was followed by a rise in people diagnosed with and prescribed anti-depressants. In 1996, roughly five million people were on anti-depressants. That number steadily rose to 13 million in 2015, according to a study by Frontiers in Psychiatry.

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A member of the federal task force, American Psychological Association CEO Arthur C. Evans, told The Wall Street Journal that the group's recommendation "is a really important step forward" in the country's ongoing battle with mental health. "Screening for mental health conditions is critical to our ability to help people at the earliest possible moment," he said.

Shedler, who has done extensive research on these types of standardized screening tests, said they are ineffective at identifying mental health disorders. 

"Psychiatric difficulties don't exist in a vacuum," the psychologist told Fox News. "I think for vast numbers of people, the world is feeling increasingly unsafe and unpredictable." 

"There's a difference between anxiety and fear," he added. "On the screening questionnaires, there's no distinction."

Shedler said he's concerned that simplified screenings will yield false positives. 

"This kind of screening is going to diagnose huge numbers of people with a disorder and a good number of them are going to end up on a lifelong path of one medication and one treatment after another," the doctor said. "When, in fact, they're responding to realistic circumstances in the world."

"There's a lot of things going on in society, in culture, financially, politically, that leave people feeling extremely vulnerable," Shedler told Fox News. He said fear often stems from these external dangers, while anxiety "is a response to internally arising dangers, psychological dangers."

"If it's not anxiety, but fear of something out there, psychological treatment isn't going to be the answer," he said.

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Additionally, as mental health issues increase, doctors have raised concerns over a shortage of resources for those seeking help. 

"We have a chronic shortage of psychiatrists, and it’s going to keep growing," Saul Levin, MD, CEO and medical director of the American Psychiatric Association said during a May briefing. "People can’t get care. It affects their lives, their ability to work, to socialize, or even to get out of bed." 

By 2024, the U.S. will be short between 14,280 and 31,109 psychiatrists, and psychologists, social workers, and others will be overextended as well, according to a study published in Psychiatry Online.

Shedler said the lack of proper mental health care will only be made worse if the federal task force's recommendation is finalized, as the number of patients seeking treatment will increase without proportionately adding mental health professionals. 

He also highlighted that health insurers frequently don’t cover mental health treatment. When they do, it’s often only low-quality care that is covered, creating another barrier for those seeking treatment, according to Shedler.

"A competent, skilled mental health professional has the expertise to tease apart what's a psychological difficulty that we can deal with in psychotherapy, where is medication a reasonable part of a comprehensive treatment and when isn't it," he told Fox News.

"That's what we're in the business of doing. It's not what a primary care physician can do with a seven-question questionnaire," Shedler said. 

The proposed draft guidance is open to public comment through Oct. 17. 

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Israel has one of the lowest death rates from prostate cancer in the world

Men in Israel have one the highest survivability rates against prostate cancer compared to other countries around the world. 

The country's Health Ministry announced this week that Israel's death rate from the disease is one of the lowest globally, ranking at 143, according to Jerusalem Post. Moreover, the data released by the agency noted that Arab men overall are less likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer. 

However, Israel's incidence rate, or how quickly disease occurs in a population, is ranked higher at 58th in the world.

The agency relied on data from Israel's latest cancer registry figures from 2019, which show that 2,493 men were diagnosed with invasive prostate cancer. Of those diagnosed, the overwhelming majority were Jewish, representing 94.5%, and only 5% were Arab.

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A similar trend continued to show in data of those living in Israel who were diagnosed with the cancer between 2015 and 2019. Of the 10,725 cases, over 10,000 were Jews, while Arabs only represented 602 cases. 

Despite the low risk of death, prostate cancer still remains the most common cancer found among men in Israel, as well as the fourth most common cancer for mortality. The number of Israeli males who died from cancer in 2019 was 493, with most of the deaths occurring over the age of 75. 

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From 1996 until 2019, Israel saw a significant reduction in death rates, while most deaths that did occur had an average male age of 81 for Jewish men and 77 for Arab males. The health ministry released these findings to the public near the end of September, which is World Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. 

In terms of risk factors for prostate cancer, family disease history, genetic mutations, and age are the main contributors. However, certain lifestyle choices such as tobacco smoking, diet, and gland inflammation may play a role. 

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Scientists test new malaria vaccine with box full of mosquitoes: 'Whole forearm swelled'

Scientists are trying to find a new malaria vaccine by sticking people's forearms over a box full of mosquitoes. 

Researchers at the University of Washington are using mosquitoes to inject human participants with genetically modified Plasmodium parasites that stop them from getting sick. However, their bodies produce antibodies that make them capable of fighting the real disease. 

"We use the mosquitoes like they’re 1,000 small flying syringes," said Dr. Sean Murphy, a University of Washington physician, in a recent paper. Murphy is not planning to vaccinate people by using mosquitoes. Instead, the practice will only be used in clinical trials, although using live mosquitoes to feed on the subjects is considered arcane. 

The team chose to use the mosquitos because injections of the modified parasite via needles are more expensive and time-consuming, according to NPR. Moreover, Dr. Kirsten Lyke of the University of Maryland School of Medicine told NPR she believes the use of a live parasite is "a total game changer" while noting that "all things old become new again."

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One test subject claimed she put her forearm over a box full of at least 200 mosquitos. The trial includes 26 people, with some of them showing signs of protection against malaria months later. 

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"My whole forearm swelled and blistered," Carolina Reid told NPR. "My family was laughing, asking like, ‘why are you subjecting yourself to this?'

Last year, the World Health Organization approved the first malaria vaccination called GlaxoSmithKline's RTS but is only 30-40% effective. 

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Alzheimer’s drug study yields positive results in early stages of disease

An experimental Alzheimer's drug made by Eisai Co Ltd and Biogen slowed cognitive and functional decline in a large trial of patients in the early stages of the disease, they said on Tuesday, potentially a rare win in a field littered with failed drugs.

Multiple drugmakers have so far tried and failed to find an effective treatment for the brain-wasting disease that affects about 55 million people globally. A breakthrough would be a major boost to similar studies being run by Roche and Eli Lilly.

Speaking of the Eisai-Biogen drug results announced late on Tuesday night, Ronald Petersen, director of the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Disease Research Center in Rochester, Minnesota said: "It's not a huge effect, but it's a positive effect".

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The drug, lecanemab, slowed progress of the disease by 27% compared with a placebo, meeting the study's main goal, and potentially offering hope for patients and their families desperate for an effective treatment.

The race to stem the progression of Alzheimer's comes as the number of Americans living with the disease is expected to roughly double to 13 million by 2050, according to the Alzheimer's Association.

Globally, the figure could reach 139 million by 2050 without an effective treatment, Alzheimer's Disease International said.

Eisai, leader of the 50-50 partnership's lecanemab program, is seeking FDA approval under an accelerated pathway, with a decision expected in early January.

It is aiming for full approval and commercialization of the drug in the United States, Europe, and Japan by the end of 2023, CEO Haruo Naito told reporters in Tokyo.

After being untraded with a glut of buy orders on Wednesday, Eisai's shares, as per Tokyo stock exchange rules, closed up by their daily limit of 1,000 yen, a 17% rise, pointing to further strong buying demand on Thursday. Biogen shares surged 50% in premarket trading, lifting the stocks of rivals Roche and Eli Lilly.

Eisai said results from the 1,800-patient trial prove the longstanding theory that removal of sticky deposits of a protein called amyloid beta from the brains of people with early Alzheimer's can delay advance of the debilitating disease.

The data is an "unequivocal win" for Alzheimer's patients, said BMO analyst Evan Seigerman while Jefferies analyst Michael Yee said it suggested a potentially new multi-billion dollar franchise.

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'Very Early Days'

Lecanemab, like the partners' previous drug Aduhelm, is an intravenous antibody designed to remove amyloid deposits. Unlike Aduhelm, lecanemab targets forms of amyloid that have not yet clumped together.

"If you can slow a disease by almost 30% that's fantastic," said Dr Jeff Cummings, director of the Chambers-Grundy Center for Transformative Neuroscience at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

The so-called amyloid hypothesis has been challenged by some scientists, particularly after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's controversial approval of Aduhelm in 2021 based on its plaque-clearing ability rather than proof that it helped slow cognitive decline. The decision came after the FDA's own panel of outside experts had advised against approval.

While the top-line results for lecanemab are convincing, it's still "very early days" in determining whether the effects are clinically meaningful, said Dr Kristian Steen Frederiksen, director of a clinical trial unit at the University of Copenhagen.

Alzheimer's "is an extremely complex disease and amyloid-related pathology is unlikely to be the only player," he said. "Therefore targeting a single target is not likely to produce large effect sizes."

Aduhelm was the first new Alzheimer's drug approved in 20 years after a long list of high-profile failures for the industry.

Patient advocacy groups hailed the news of positive lecanemab trial results.

"I would hope that the FDA approves the drug in January," USAgainstAlzheimer's Chairman George Vradenburg said.

The Phase III trial evaluated the drug's ability to reduce cognitive and functional decline based on the Clinical Dementia Rating-Sum of Boxes (CDR-SB), a numerical scale used to quantify the severity of dementia in patients in areas such as memory, orientation, judgment and problem solving and personal care.

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Brain Swelling

The rate of a brain swelling side effect associated with anti-amyloid treatments was 12.5% in the lecanemab group, versus 1.7% in the placebo group. But many cases did not cause symptoms, with symptomatic brain swelling seen in 2.8% of those in the lecanemab group, the companies said.

Micro hemorrhages in the brain occurred at a rate of 17% in the lecanemab group, and 8.7% in the placebo group.

Petersen said the side effect rate was much less than with Aduhelm and "certainly tolerable."

Aduhelm's approval was a rare bright spot for Alzheimer's patients, but critics have called for more evidence that amyloid-targeting drugs are worth the cost.

The controversy and reluctance by some payers to cover Aduhelm led Biogen to slash the drug's price to $28,000 per year from an initial $56,000.

Medicare, the U.S. government health plan for people 65 and older, said this year it would only pay for Aduhelm and other similar drugs if patients were enrolled in a valid clinical trial, which sharply curtailed the medication's use.

Michael Irizarry, Eisai's deputy chief clinical officer, said on a conference call that the company will have discussions with Medicare about coverage of lecanemab.

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Melatonin should be avoided in children unless directed by a health care professional, says sleep academy

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) is urging parents to consult a health care professional before starting their child on melatonin, according to a recent health advisory. 

"While melatonin can be useful in treating certain sleep-wake disorders, like jet lag, there is much less evidence it can help healthy children or adults fall asleep faster," said Dr. M. Adeel Rishi, vice chair of the AASM Public Safety Committee and a pulmonology, sleep medicine and critical care specialist at Indiana University Health Physicians, in a press release.

"Instead of turning to melatonin, parents should work on encouraging their children to develop good sleep habits," he added.

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Those sleep habits include "setting a regular bedtime and wake time, having a bedtime routine and limiting screen time as bedtime approaches."

Our bodies naturally produce the hormone melatonin to regulate our sleep, per the health advisory. 

It is available as an over-the-counter medication and often advertised as a sleep aid — but there "is little evidence that taking it as a supplement is effective in treating insomnia in healthy children," according to the sleep academy, which is headquartered in Darien, Ill. 

Melatonin has less oversight because it’s regulated by the Food and Drug Administration as a "dietary supplement" — and research has found that the melatonin content in supplements is not uniform, according to the press release.

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One 2017 Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine study examined the melatonin content in approximately 30 supplements. It found that over 71% of supplements did not meet the label claims.

The study found the most significant variability in melatonin content in chewable tablets, which is the form mostly likely used in children.

This study "found that the actual content in these supplements was very inaccurate," said Dr. Baljinder S. Sidhu, a pulmonologist and sleep specialist who is the co-owner of Pacific Coast Critical Care Group in Southern California.

"While this may not be a big deal for adults, this could have a significant impact on small children," he said.

He advises the use of melatonin with caution.

"One of the more surprising facts I share with my patients is that over-the-counter melatonin is not closely regulated," Sidhu added.

Pediatric melatonin ingestions reported annually to U.S. poison control centers increased by 530% during 2012–2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

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"The availability of melatonin as gummies or chewable tablets makes it more tempting to give to children and more likely for them to overdose," added Rishi in the press release. 

"Often, behavioral interventions other than medication are successful in addressing insomnia in children," he added.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine shares the following important tips.

1. Melatonin should be kept out of reach of children.

2. Parents should discuss the topic with a health care professional before starting the medication.

3. Parents need to know that "many sleep problems can be better managed with a change in schedules, habits or behaviors rather than taking melatonin."

If parents are going to give their child melatonin, the sleep academy recommends verifying that the product has the USP Verified Mark for safety reasons.

"Melatonin is never a first-line treatment in children," Sidhu told Fox News Digital.

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"Insomnia is not uncommon in children as they develop after the age of 2," he added.

"This resistance to bedtime can be difficult to manage and even has a diagnosis we call ‘limit-setting insomnia,’ which can be generally managed with bedtime routines."

He reminds people that while melatonin can be used for certain sleep disorders, such as ADHD and other chronic health conditions that affect sleep as well as autism, it should always be recommended and managed by a physician first. 

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Researchers study whether child vaccines and asthma are linked

A number of scientists have wondered if aluminum, a vaccine additive that has been used for decades, had a role in allergies and asthma in children.

A new federally funded study has found a possible link, but experts say the research has important shortcomings and is not a reason to change current vaccine recommendations. The study doesn’t claim aluminum causes the breathing condition, and officials say more work is needed to try to confirm any connection, which hadn't been seen in earlier research.

Even if a link were ever found, the life-saving benefits of the vaccines are still likely to outweigh the asthma risk, said Dr. Matthew Daley, the study’s lead author. But it’s possible that if the results are confirmed, it could prompt new work to redesign vaccines, he added.

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Dr. Paul Offit, of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, worried that the flawed study will needlessly scare some families away from proven vaccines.

"Making an extraordinary claim requires extraordinary evidence," Offit said. This study does not offer that kind of evidence, he said.

He and other outside experts noted that Daley and his colleagues were unable to account for the effects of some potentially important ways children are exposed to aluminum — such as in the air or through their diet.

They also noted the findings include hard-to-explain inconsistencies, like why, in one subset of thousands of fully vaccinated kids, more aluminum exposure didn’t seem to result in a higher asthma risk.

CDC officials, in a statement, said it appears that aluminum-containing vaccines "do not account for the overall trends that we see."

The study, released Tuesday, suggests that young children who were vaccinated with most or all of the recommended aluminum-containing vaccines had at least a 36% higher risk of being diagnosed with persistent asthma than kids who got fewer vaccines.

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Aluminum has been used in some vaccines since the 1930s, as an ingredient — called an adjuvant — that provokes stronger immune protection.

By age 2, children should be vaccinated against 15 diseases, according to U.S. recommendations. Aluminum adjuvants are in vaccines for seven of them.

Aluminum adjuvants have long been considered safe and effective. Still, scientists noted a period of increased rates in allergies and asthma among U.S. children during a 30-year period starting in about 1980, and some wondered if there was a connection. (Those rates leveled off starting about a decade ago and have declined somewhat in recent years, for reasons not fully understood.)

Several previous studies didn’t find a link between aluminum-containing childhood vaccines and allergies and asthma. But other research has linked aluminum in industrial workplaces to asthma. And mice injected with aluminum suffer an immune system reaction that causes the kind of airway inflammation seen in childhood asthma.

"Based on what I consider limited animal data, there is a theoretical risk that the aluminum in vaccines could influence allergy risk," said Daley, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

In 2013, the Institute of Medicine — now known as the National Academy of Medicine — called for more federal research into the safety of childhood vaccines, including their use of aluminum.

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The new study is part of the government response to that call, Daley said. It was funded by the CDC, and included current and former CDC staffers among its authors. It was published by the medical journal Academic Pediatrics.

The researchers focused on about 327,000 U.S. children born from 2008 to 2014, looking at whether they got vaccines containing aluminum before age 2 and whether they developed persistent asthma between ages 2 and 5.

Asthma, a condition that can cause spasms in the lungs, usually results from an allergic reaction. About 4% of U.S. children under 5 have persistent asthma.

The researchers took steps to try to account for different factors that might influence the results, including race and ethnicity, whether kids were born premature or whether children had food allergies or certain other conditions.

But there were many other factors they were unable to address. For example, aluminum can routinely be found in breastmilk, infant formula and food, but the researchers were unable to get data on how much aluminum the kids got from eating. They also had no information on aluminum exposures from the air and environment where the children lived.

The researchers split the study group into two. One was about 14,000 kids who developed eczema, a skin condition that is seen as an early indicator for the development of asthma or other allergic diseases. They wanted to see if kids with eczema were more or less sensitive to aluminum in vaccines, compared with children who did not have early eczema. The other 312,000 or so kids in the study did not have early eczema.

Both groups got roughly the same amount of vaccine-related aluminum. The researchers found that for each milligram of aluminum received through vaccines, the risk of persistent asthma rose 26% in the eczema kids and 19% in kids who did not have eczema.

Overall, kids who got 3 milligrams or more of vaccine-related aluminum had at least a 36% higher risk of developing persistent asthma than kids who got less than 3, Daley said.

Offit said the study's limitations meant that the work has "added nothing to our understanding of vaccines and asthma."

But other experts said the researchers drew from a respected set of patient data and worked carefully with the best information that was available.

"This is public health at its best. They are making every effort to find any possible signal that may be a concern," said Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. "It’s our job to exhaustively examine that to see if that’s true."

He acknowledged anti-vaccine activists will likely jump to conclusions that the evidence doesn't support. But if CDC had the information and didn’t publish it, the agency might be seen as misleading the public, further eroding trust, he said.

Dr. Sarah Long, professor of pediatrics at the Drexel University College of Medicine, echoed that.

"I believe in complete transparency," she said. "If you've asked a question and here spent our (taxpayer) money to (investigate) that question, I think the results should be aired in all of its warts and glory."

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FDA warning about NyQuil chicken TikTok challenge may have spiked interest

A statement issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration asking people to stop combining NyQuil with chicken after a "Sleepy Chicken" challenge went viral on social media earlier may have unintentionally spiked interest in the trend. 

There were fewer than five searches for NyQuil chicken content on TikTok a day prior to the Sept. 15 statement from the FDA, according to data provided to Fox News Digital by the social media app. 

By Sept. 21, around 7,000 searches were recorded. 

"Content that promotes dangerous behavior has no place on TikTok. This is not trending on our platform, but we will remove content if found and strongly discourage anyone from engaging in behavior that may be harmful to themselves or others," a TikTok spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

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In a consumer update, the FDA mentioned the unusual trend as an example of over-the-counter drug misuse.

"A recent social media video challenge encourages people to cook chicken in NyQuil (acetaminophen, dextromethorphan, and doxylamine) or another similar OTC cough and cold medication, presumably to eat," the FDA wrote. "The challenge sounds silly and unappetizing — and it is."

The agency warned that cooking chicken in the nighttime cough medicine could cause liver damage and muscle breakdown. 

"Through its routine drug safety surveillance, the FDA observed social media trends promoting dangerous misuse of medications. In response to these observations, the FDA prepared a Consumer Update," an FDA spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News. "The communication informs health care professionals and consumers (including parents) of this safety concern to facilitate its monitoring, management, and hopefully risk reduction. To that effect, the Consumer Update proactively communicates how to keep children safe and prevent potentially harmful trends, and the update includes directions on how to store and use over-the-counter drugs safely."

The #SleepyChicken hashtag on TikTok has 1.2 million views, and it has been tagged with trending reaction videos in which users share their thoughts on the medicine-cooked dish – many of which have expressed shock and disgust.

The social media app said it's not seeing the NyQuil chicken challenge as a trend on its platform and has since directed search results on the topic to a community guidelines page to discourage such behavior.

The FDA acknowledged that the viral "Benadryl Challenge" of 2020 – in which people consumed high amounts of allergy medicine (diphenhydramine) to induce hallucinations – led to hospitalizations and death, even though the agency warned the public not to participate.

Fox News' Courtney Moore contributed to this report.

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Japan’s herd immunity for COVID-19 nears 90%

Japan's population level immunity to COVID-19 has reached about 90% in major population areas after a recent Omicron wave, though that level of protection is likely to diminish in a matter of months, according to a study published on Tuesday.

That level of so-called "herd immunity" reflects partial protection imparted from both natural infection and vaccination, according to the Tokyo Foundation of Policy Research, which estimated the levels for 12 of Japan's most-populated prefectures.

People in Tokyo, Osaka and the southern prefecture of Okinawa got most of their immunity through contagion amid high case counts in those areas, particularly during a seventh wave of infections that peaked last month, the researchers found.

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About 65% of Japan's population have received at least one COVID vaccine booster shot, compared to about 33% in the United States, based on government data.

Japan last week began distributing booster shots formulated to target the Omicron strain of the virus.

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Japan currently requires a five-month interval for booster shots, though that may be too long to offer protection to elderly and vulnerable groups should a projected eighth wave emerge toward the end of the year, the researchers wrote.

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Congo declares end to Ebola outbreak in eastern province

Democratic Republic of Congo has declared the end of its latest Ebola virus outbreak in the eastern province of North Kivu, Health Minister Jean-Jacques Mbungani Mbanda said in a statement on Tuesday.

The fifteenth outbreak in the central African country emerged when a new case of the deadly virus was confirmed in the eastern city of Beni on Aug. 22.

Testing showed the case was genetically linked to the 2018-2020 outbreak in North Kivu and Ituri provinces, which killed nearly 2,300 people.

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Another flare-up from that outbreak killed six people last year.

"After 42 days of reinforced surveillance without a new confirmed case... I am happy to solemnly declare the end of the 15th epidemic... that lasted one month and 12 days," Mbungani Mbanda said.

Congo's dense tropical forests are a natural reservoir for the Ebola virus, which causes fever, body aches, and diarrhoea.

The country has recorded 14 outbreaks since 1976. The 2018-2020 outbreak in the east was Congo's largest and the second largest ever recorded, with nearly 3,500 total cases.

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Congo's most recent outbreak was in northwest Equateur province. It was declared over in July after five deaths.

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Cholera deaths in Syria reach 29

A cholera outbreak in several regions of Syria has killed 29 people, the Syrian health ministry said on Monday in what the U.N. has called the worst outbreak in the war-torn country for years.

Rapid assessment testing confirmed 338 cases since the outbreak was first recorded last month, with the bulk of deaths and cases in the northern Aleppo province, the ministry said in a statement.

It said 230 cases were in Aleppo province where 25 people were confirmed dead. The rest were spread across the country.

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The United Nations this month said the outbreak was believed be linked to irrigation of crops using contaminated water and people drinking unsafe water from the Euphrates river which bisects Syria from the north to the east. 

The highly contagious disease has also spread to the country's Kurdish-held and opposition areas in north and northwestern Syria where millions have been displaced by the decade-old conflict, medical officials said.

Suspected cholera cases have risen to 2,092 in the northeast of Syria since the outbreak was announced this month, said the U.S.-based International Rescue Committee (IRC) which operates in the northern region.

It said there were fears about significant under-reporting of cases.

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The widespread destruction of national water infrastructure after more than a decade of war means much of the Syrian population is reliant on unsafe water sources.

Prior to the recent cholera outbreak, the water crisis had caused an increase in diseases such as diarrhea, malnutrition and skin conditions in the region, according to the World Health Organization.

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Uganda Ebola rises to 16 as outbreak grows

Uganda said on Sunday its Ebola caseload had jumped to 16 people while a further 18 people also likely had the disease, fuelling fears of a spreading outbreak that involves a strain for which a vaccine has not yet been found.

In a tweet, the ministry of health also said the death toll of confirmed cases remained four while 17 others classified as probable cases had also died. The outbreak had also now spread to three districts, all in central Uganda.

The east African country last week announced the outbreak of Ebola, a haemorrhagic fever whose symptoms include intense body weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat, vomiting, diarrhoea and rashes among others.

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The current outbreak, attributed to the Ebola Sudan strain, appears to have started in a small village in Mubende district around the beginning of September, authorities have said.

The first casualty was a 24-year old man who died earlier this week.

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The World Health Organization says the Ebola Sudan strain is less transmissible and has shown a lower fatality rate in previous outbreaks than Ebola Zaire, a strain that killed nearly 2,300 people in the 2018-2020 epidemic in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

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Breath training may help reduce blood pressure by serving as a 'dumbbell for the diaphragm': New study

Strength training isn’t just for biceps.

It may also provide support for the muscles that help us breathe to reduce blood pressure.

A daily dose for six weeks of high-resistance inspiratory muscle strength training (IMST) reduced the systolic blood pressure by an average of nine millimeters of mercury, according to a new study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology.

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"In our research, we’ve found that high-resistance inspiratory muscle strength training, consisting of 30 resisted inhalations per day through a handheld device, lowered systolic blood pressure by 9 mmHg on average," said lead author Dr. Daniel Harrison Craighead.

He is assistant research professor of integrative physiology at the University of Colorado Boulder.

"This is important," Craighead said, "because a reduction in blood pressure of that level would reduce someone’s risk for getting cardiovascular disease and other health problems associated with high blood pressure." 

Since muscles weaken over time, strength training is often used to keep the muscles of the body healthy.

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Craighead, however, wanted to apply that same concept to the muscles that help us inhale, such as the diaphragm.

Along with other researchers, he recruited healthy volunteers ages 18-82 to use a device called PowerBreathe, which provides resistance training for the muscles that help us inhale. (There are several such devices on the market.)

The study's participants were asked to use the device for five minutes a day for six weeks.

It’s often referred to as the "dumbbell for your diaphragm" because it creates resistance when we take a breath, according to the PowerBreathe website. 

"Just as you would use a heavier dumbbell as your bicep strength improves, you can increase the resistance on the breathing device as your breathing strength improves," the website added.

The new study found that performing 30 breaths per day for six weeks lowered systolic blood pressure by approximately 9 millimeters of mercury, which is similar to the reduction attained by conventional aerobic exercise such as walking, running or cycling.

"In addition, the protocol takes only 5-10 minutes per day, so we hope it’ll be easy for people to adhere to," Craighead told Fox News Digital. 

"It can easily be done while doing things like watching TV or waiting for your coffee to brew."

Lowering systolic blood pressure by 10 mm Hg reduces the risk of stroke by about 35% and that of heart disease events by approximately 25% at age 65, according to a British Medical Journal report. 

The American Heart Association defines a normal blood pressure as less than 120/80 mm Hg.

The top number is the systolic blood pressure, which is pressure inside the artery when the heart is contracting and sends blood throughout the body.

The bottom number is the diastolic blood pressure, or when pressure of the artery when the heart is at rest and fills with blood, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.

A patient is at risk for high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, if the systolic blood pressure readings are consistently 120-129, which is termed elevated blood pressure.

People who are diagnosed with stage 1 hypertension have systolic blood pressure readings that consistently range from 130-139 mm Hg or diastolic reading that range from 80-89 mm Hg.

When people are diagnosed at this stage, lifestyle changes are often recommended first before starting any medication.

"High blood pressure is a common problem and contributes to stroke, heart failure, kidney failure and a variety of other cardiovascular complications," Dr. Deepak L. Bhatt, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical school, told Fox News Digital. 

"Lifestyle measures, such as restricting salt intake and weight loss, can help lower blood pressure, though many people with high blood pressure eventually end up needing medications," added Bhatt. 

He is also executive director of interventional cardiovascular programs at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Heart & Vascular Center in Boston.

Stage 2 hypertension is when systolic blood pressure readings consistently range at 140/90 mm Hg or higher, according to the American Heart Association.

"Potentially, breath training, as was done in this [new] study, might help strengthen the muscles involved with breathing and additionally lower blood pressure," Bhatt said.

"It seems like a safe approach," he added, "though further study is needed to determine just how effective it may be and who the ideal candidates might be." 

People who are on high blood pressure medications, said Bhatt, should not stop these medications without consulting their physicians first.

"I don’t think it will be a magic fix on its own," Craighead of the University of Colorado Boulder told Fox News Digital about IMST, the strength training process for respiratory breathing muscles.

"A reduction in systolic blood pressure won’t be enough to fully control blood pressure in people with more than mild hypertension," he said.

"However, so far we’ve seen that it is effective in people already taking antihypertensive medications — so it could be a good ‘add-on’ therapy to medications."

He also noted it has additional benefits to conventional exercise "because the breathing training is so different from running or walking — but that question still needs to be confirmed with further research."

Endothelial cells cover the lining of the blood vessels, which in turn help produce a key compound that protects the heart called nitric oxide, according to Cleveland Clinic.

Nitric oxide widens the blood vessels, which promotes healthy blood flow.

The study found that six weeks of inspiratory-muscle strength training increased endothelial function by about 45%.

Craighead noted that his current study has some limitations, including that it only tested participants for six weeks.

"We need to do much longer studies to confirm that we actually see a lower rate of blood pressure-associated conditions in people who do this training," he told Fox News Digital.

SHOULD YOU GET THE FLU SHOT THIS YEAR? DOCTORS REVEAL THEIR DECISION

He also noted that most participants in his study were non-Hispanic white adults, so it’s difficult to generalize the research to a diverse population of people.

All the research was done in a controlled laboratory setting, said Craighead, so "we need to learn about how effective this breathing training is when people train on their own, without researcher oversight."

He hopes, however, that the study results inspire more research on high-resistance inspiratory muscle strength training. 

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"If the health benefits are confirmed in larger trials with longer treatment durations, then I can see this becoming another important tool in the toolbox for helping control blood pressure," Craighead added.

"I think it is really promising because it is so time-efficient — and thus far has been shown to be safe in the groups investigated."

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Should you get the flu shot this year? Doctors reveal their decision

With influenza cases already being reported in the month of September 2022, many health officials are recommending that anyone six months and older get their flu shot in September and October of this year to prepare for the upcoming flu season.

"It is a perfectly good time for [people] to get the shot, right now," said Dr. Aaron Glatt, M.D., chair of the Department of Medicine and chief of Infectious Diseases at Mount Sinai South Nassau in New York. 

He is also a hospital epidemiologist. 

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Michael Kinch, Ph.D., an immunologist and vaccine expert, as well as dean of Sciences and a vice president at Long Island University in New York, told Fox News Digital, "While influenza virus can cause a severe disease in all people — regardless of health or age — older and immune-compromised people are particularly susceptible" to it. 

He added, "In an average year, 60,000 Americans die from influenza." 

Regarding that tremendous loss of life, he added that "most of [those losses] can be prevented by routine vaccination."

Yet another expert weighed in on the discussion.

Dr. Fred Davis, the associate chair of Emergency Medicine at Northwell Health in Long Island, New York, told Fox News Digital that he sees a number of flu cases present to the emergency department each year. Davis recommends that people get a flu vaccine ideally before the end of October — before flu cases start to rise.

Davis also said, "It is important that those individuals six months and older and who are not have had previous severe allergic reactions get their flu shot every year." 

Each year the flu shot is formulated to protect against the four most likely influenza viruses expected to be the most prevalent that year, Davis noted.

By getting the flu vaccine yearly, he said, people reduce the chances of serious complications from the influenza virus.

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"Those more at risk are [people older] than 65 years old, those with certain chronic medical conditions (i.e. asthma, heart disease, diabetes and chronic kidney disease) and those who are pregnant," he said. 

"The yearly flu vaccine is specifically important in these groups to reduce the risk of hospitalization and death from influenza," Davis told Fox News Digital. 

While federal health officials recommend that most individuals six months of age and older get a flu vaccine every season, in rare exceptions it's not appropriate. 

Some vaccines may not be right for certain individuals, health officials said as well.

"Different influenza vaccines are approved for different age groups," the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes on its website. 

"Some people (for example, pregnant people and people with some chronic health conditions) should not get some types of influenza vaccines, and some people should not receive flu vaccines at all (though this is uncommon)."

The CDC also said that different flu shots are approved for people of different ages — and that everyone should get a vaccine that is appropriate for their age.

There are standard-dose inactivated flu vaccines that are approved for people as young as six months of age, the agency noted; however, some vaccines are approved only for adults. 

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These include the recombinant flu vaccine that is approved for people aged 18 years and older, and the adjuvant and high-dose inactivated vaccines that are approved for people 65 years and older. 

Beginning with the 2022-2023 flu season, the CDC said there are three flu vaccines that are recommended for people aged 65 and older. 

These vaccines are the Fluzone High-Dose Quadrivalent vaccine, the Flublok Quadrivalent recombinant flu vaccine and the Fluad Quadrivalent adjuvanted flu vaccine.

Davis told Fox News Digital it's recommended that people age 65 and over receive one of these shots because these are higher doses than the other vaccines — and the higher doses are potentially more effective in fighting the flu for this age group. 

The CDC points out that women who are pregnant and people with certain chronic health conditions can get a flu shot as well as those people with an egg allergy.

Health experts, however, also said it is important that people discuss their individual cases with their health care providers to see if the vaccine is right for them. 

The CDC also states that there are rare circumstances in which certain individuals should not receive a flu shot. 

Those who should not get a flu vaccine include children younger than six months of age and individuals with "severe, life-threatening allergies to any ingredient in a flu vaccine (other than egg proteins)."

The agency said this might include antibiotics, gelatin and other ingredients.

The CDC also said that people who had a severe allergic reaction to a flu vaccine in the past may not be able to receive other influenza vaccines.

It is vital to speak with a physician or health care provider to see if vaccination is appropriate.

The CDC said it is also important to speak with health care providers before getting a flu shot if you've ever had Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), a severe paralyzing illness — as some people with a history of GBS should not get a flu vaccine. 

In addition, if you've had a severe allergic reaction to a previous dose of any other flu vaccine, discuss with a health care provider whether you should abstain from a new flu vaccine this time around. 

If you're not feeling well, talk to a doctor first about your symptoms — to see if it is an appropriate time to get a flu vaccine or not, the CDC also pointed out. 

When it comes to the nasal spray flu vaccine vs. injection, health experts told Fox News Digital that it is vital to talk to your physician to see if this type of vaccine is appropriate — as there are several scenarios in which it's contraindicated and in which a shot would be safer.

"The nasal spray is a live, attenuated vaccine, meaning it's a weakened but living flu virus," said Dr. Ken Zweig, M.D., a primary care physician with Northern Virginia Family Practice in Arlington, Va.

"It won't cause a problem in health patients, but it could potentially result in a flu infection in anyone who is pregnant, immuno-suppressed or very young — less than two years old," he also said. 

Zweig is an assistant professor of medicine at both Georgetown University and George Washington University Medical Schools in Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital. 

Zweig added, "There are other less common reasons not to get the nasal spray, so anyone considering it should check with their physician first."

Zweig also told Fox News Digital, "This year will definitely be tougher than the last two flu seasons, because society is opening up again — and people are wearing masks less and less." 

Zweig, is hopeful the likelihood of spreading the flu virus will decrease, since COVID is still on people’s minds and many people are still exercising caution. 

"Most people are still less likely to go to work or see friends when they have cold symptoms, so I think there will be less chance to spread the flu than there was prior to COVID," he said. 

However, Zweig is still concerned. 

"A lot of people have vaccine fatigue from all the COVID shots — and more infants and toddlers have never seen the flu, since the last two seasons have been so mild, so they likely don't have any immunity. The best way to ensure a milder flu season is to get as many people vaccinated as possible, so be sure to get vaccinated."

Glatt also told Fox News Digital, "Flu remains a very serious illness that we need to eradicate — and the best way to prevent getting very serious flu illness is through vaccination "

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Uganda Ebola death toll rises to four

Three more Ebola patients have died in Uganda, the health ministry said on Friday, bringing the total death toll to four, days after authorities confirmed an outbreak of a strain of the deadly disease for which no vaccine has yet been approved.

Uganda's health ministry said it had confirmed 11 cases of Ebola in total, including the four deaths.

The current outbreak, attributed to the Ebola Sudan strain, appears to have started in a small village in Mubende district around the beginning of September, authorities say.

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Seven other deaths are being investigated for being linked to the outbreak in Mubende, around 130 km west of the capital Kampala.

The first casualty was a 24-year old man who died earlier this week.

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The World Health Organization says the Ebola Sudan strain is less transmissible and has shown a lower fatality rate in previous outbreaks than Ebola Zaire, a strain that killed nearly 2,300 people in the 2018-2020 epidemic in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

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WHO says ability to track COVID variants diminishing as surveillance declines

The World Health Organization warned Thursday that the ability to track COVID-19 variants and subvariants around the world is decreasing due to declining surveillance. 

 "With surveillance declining, the number of tests are declining, the numbers of sequences that are being conducted and being shared are declining. And, that limits our ability to assess the known variants and subvariants… but also our ability to track and to identify new ones," said Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s COVID technical lead. "So, this is why it's really important that we keep surveillance activities up."

Speaking at a media briefing, Van Kerkhove told reporters that part of ending the pandemic is trying to reduce the spread of transmission. 

"The more this virus circulates, the more opportunities it has to change. And, this is something we are deeply concerned about," she said.

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While omicron is dominant worldwide, the agency is currently tracking 200 coronavirus sublineages.

Van Kerkhove said the WHO is working with member states to "right-size" the response to the virus, as the world is still at risk for future variants. 

"We expect future variants to be more transmissible. We expect future variants to potentially have more immune escape, which may render some of our countermeasures not as effective as they are right now. But, we don't know if future variants will be more or less severe," she said later. 

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that while the pandemic is not over, the end is "in sight." 

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"Yes, we’re in a better position than we’ve ever been. The number of weekly COVID-19 deaths continues to decline, and are now just 10% of what they were at the peak in January 2021," he stated. 

"But, 10,000 deaths a week is 10,000 too many, when most of these deaths could be prevented," Tedros noted. 

Van Kerkhove said that while "we're not there yet," the WHO is very hopeful. 

"The reason we're hopeful is because we have so many tools," she continued. "We just need to make sure that all countries have access to them and that all countries have the policies in place to use them most effectively."

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US task force recommends anxiety and depression screenings for adults

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended anxiety and depression screenings for adults as mental health concerns among Americans rise. 

The task force recommends that adults below the age of 65 undergo screenings for anxiety. Meanwhile, the policy for depression is recommended for all adults, including those who are pregnant and postpartum. The recommendation applies only to individuals who do not have recognized signs of these mental conditions. 

"To address the critical need for supporting the mental health of adults in primary care, the Task Force reviewed the evidence on screening for anxiety, depression, and suicide risk," said Lori Pbert, a task force member, in a statement. "The good news is that screening all adults for depression, including those who are pregnant and postpartum, and screening adults younger than 65 for anxiety, can help identify these conditions early so people can be connected to care."

Under the new guidance, anxiety is categorized as generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, separation anxiety disorder, phobias, and selective mutism. The task force says screenings and followup care help reduce the symptoms of anxiety and depression but more research on its importance regarding suicide risk. 

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"The Task Force cares deeply about the mental health of people nationwide. Unfortunately, evidence is limited on screening adults 65 or older for anxiety and screening all adults for suicide risk, so we are urgently calling for more research," said Gbenga Ogedegbe, M.D., a task force member. "In the absence of evidence, health care professionals should use their judgment based on individual patient circumstances when determining whether or not to screen." 

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The UTSF is made up of volunteer medical experts that seek to make evidence-based recommendations involving screenings, counseling and preventative medications to improve the health of Americans. The positions of the task force do not represent the official positions of the Department of Health and Human Services.

The proposal draft evidence review is open to public comment until Oct. 17. 

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Baby formula shortage: FDA response report cites outdated system, training issues

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) acknowledged that its response to the infant formula shortage was hindered by outdated technology and delays. 

In a 10-page report, the agency said the tech that supports systems that allow the public and other stakeholders to submit product safety and quality complaints, adverse event reports and product manufacturing concerns is outdated.

In addition, "inadequate processes and lack of clarity" related to whistleblower complaints may have delayed the FDA's response to those complaints. 

A company whistleblower had tried to warn the FDA of problems at the Abbott Nutrition facility in Sturgis, Michigan, in the fall of 2021, but government inspectors didn’t investigate the complaints until months later.

The agency previously told Congress that agency officials did not learn about the complaint until February because of mail delays and a failure to escalate the Abbott employee’s allegations. 

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The administration also found that some samples taken from the Michigan plant had been delayed in transit by third-party delivery companies.

The FDA said it had to reschedule its initial inspection of the Abbott plant due to cases of COVID-19 among company staff.

In a total of 15 findings, the FDA said the emergency response lacked clarity of roles between programmatic and incident command standard operating procedures; the agency needed effective mechanisms to rapidly engage with regulatory and public health partners to avoid confusion; its investigators received limited infant formula-specific training; funding limitations had stalled growth of the foods program; record-keeping practices were dated, and the FDA does not have the ability to manage supply chain issues. 

Some findings were related to the nature of the issue, with the report highlighting that consumer education regarding the safe handling and preparation of infant formula is limited, and the incident required "an unusual level of agency leadership involvement to assess and weigh risks associated with potential product contamination against risks of essential products being unavailable due to a shortage."

Cronobacter is not a nationally reportable disease and gaps in understanding the contamination reportedly stymied the FDA's response. 

The FDA said conditions observed at the Abbott Nutrition facility "were not consistent with a strong food safety culture."

The FDA's report was the result of dozens of interviews with the staff and leadership directly involved with the events.

The national formula shortage was sparked primarily by the shutdown of the Michigan production plant. 

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The plant was shut down after the cronobacter pathogen was detected in the supply and led to at least four infant illnesses – including two deaths.

An investigation into the links between the illnesses and the formula is ongoing.

Abbott previously told FOX Business in a statement that "there is no causal relationship between Abbott’s products and the reported deaths."

"Abbott conducts microbiological testing on products prior to distribution and no Abbott formula distributed to consumers tested positive for Cronobacter sakazakii or Salmonella," the company said. "All retained product tested by Abbott and the FDA during the inspection of the facility came back negative for Cronobacter sakazakii and/or Salmonella. No Salmonella was found at the Sturgis facility."

The shortage has forced the U.S. to airlift millions of pounds of powdered formula from overseas.

Since then, U.S. inventories of baby formula have been improving and the plant has started producing formula.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Chronic lack of sleep may negatively affect our immune cells, raising certain health risks: New study

Losing an hour-and-a-half of sleep each night on a consistent basis may lead to inflammatory disorders and cardiovascular disease, according to a new study from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.

The study — published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine on Wed., Sept. 21, 2022 — found that a chronic lack of sleep could affect a person’s immune cells and contribute to inflammation in the body. 

"An increase of inflammation makes you susceptible to a whole bunch of problems, in particular cardiovascular diseases," co-lead investigator Cameron McAlpine, Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine (cardiology) at Icahn Mount Sinai, told Fox News Digital in an interview. 

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McAlpine is one of the researchers who participated in the new study. 

Lead author Filip Swirski, Ph.D., director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute at Icahn Mount Sinai, said in a news release, "This work emphasizes the importance of adults consistently sleeping seven to eight hours a day to help prevent inflammation and disease, especially for those with underlying medical conditions." 

The researchers said the study begins to identify the mechanisms in the body that link sleep and immunological health over the long term. 

The study revealed that in humans and mice, disturbed sleep can influence the cell programming and rate of production of the immune cells; this can then cause the immune cells to lose their effectiveness in protecting against disease.

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It can also affect the rate of production of these cells and potentially make infections worse. 

Researchers also found disturbing evidence in the mice model study that these effects may be long-lasting. 

"This is important because it is yet another key observation that sleep reduces inflammation and, conversely, that sleep interruption increases inflammation," Swirski said in a news release. 

McAlpine told Fox News Digital that the purpose of the study was to better understand how chronic sleep disruption may affect cardiovascular conditions that develop over time due to inflammation. 

These findings, he said, may help with research involving other inflammatory diseases and conditions in the body, such as arthritis.

The study looked at long-term effects of chronic sleep deprivation, said McAlpine, compared to a short-term interruption in sleep over a few days. 

He said the study helped identify biological mechanisms and pathways that link sleep and immune system health over a long period. 

The investigators looked at 14 healthy adults who regularly sleep eight hours a night. 

Participants were monitored at first as they slept at least eight hours a night for six weeks. The team of researchers took blood samples and analyzed the participants’ immune cells. 

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The group of participants then decreased their sleep time by 90 minutes each night for six weeks — and had their blood drawn and analyzed again. 

The investigators compared the blood samples and found that all 14 participants had significant changes in their immune cells that they attributed to the lack of sleep.

The reduced sleep blood samples showed an altered DNA structure and an increased number of immune cells. 

Typically, in a heightened state of inflammation, health experts explained to Fox News Digital that there are increased numbers of immune cells. 

The researchers also looked at the effect of sleep disruption in mice. 

In the mice model, groups of mice were allowed to sleep undisturbed, while another group was awakened throughout the night for 16 weeks. 

The mice in the disrupted sleep group then went through uninterrupted sleep recovery for 10 weeks, according to the report.

The research team analyzed the immune stem cells and the cells from the groups of mice — and the findings were consistent with the human study, McAlpine said.

"We found in [both] the human and mice models [that] if you disturb sleep, you get heightened inflammation in the blood." 

The heightened state of inflammation in the mice that had fragmented sleep did not reverse even after sleep recovery, McAlpine also told Fox News Digital.

Not all stem cells responded to insufficient sleep in the same manner, he said. 

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"Unfortunately, in the human study, we did not assess recovery — but [we] did look at recovery in mice. And in mice, we found some parameters of inflammation did return to regular levels with sleep recovery — however, not all."

McAlpine said that some cells did remain (after the sleep recovery) that predisposed mice to inflammation. 

In a news release, the co-investigator said, "Our findings suggest that sleep recovery is not able to fully reverse the effects of poor-quality sleep. We can detect a molecular imprint of insufficient sleep in immune stem cells, even after weeks of recovery sleep. This … can cause the cells to respond in inappropriate ways, leading to inflammation and disease."

McAlpine told Fox News Digital that the research team plans more study to understand what genes are being influenced by sleep — or pathways of genes that may respond to sleep. That will enable researchers to understand the impacts of sleep in more detail.

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