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☆ Pfizer/BioNTech seek FDA authorization for updated Covid-19 vaccine for youngest kids
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Pfizer and BioNTech have submitted an application to the US Food and Drug Administration for their updated Covid-19 vaccine to be used as the third shot in the three-dose primary vaccine series for children ages 6 months through 4 years. The vaccine makers announced on Monday that if authorized for emergency use, children in that age group will still receive the original version of the Covid-19 vaccine as their first two doses and then the updated Covid-19 vaccine – formulated to target the coronavirus Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 – as the third dose. While the primary Covid-19 vaccine series for older children and adults involves receiving two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, a three-dose primary series has been the approach for children younger than 5. “With the high level of respiratory illnesses currently circulating among children under 5 years of age, updated COVID-19 vaccines may help prevent severe illness and hospitalization,” according to the companies’ announcement on Monday morning. There is no vaccine for RSV, but health officials have urged people to get their flu shots and updated Covid-19 boosters heading into winter.

☆ Biden administration plans to let mpox emergency declaration end in January
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Katherine Dillinger | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —The US Department of Health and Human Services said Friday that it does not plan to renew the public health emergency declaration for mpox. “Given the low number of cases today, HHS does not expect that it needs to renew the emergency declaration when it ends on January 31, 2023,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement Friday. President Joe Biden named Bob Fenton, a regional Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator, and Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, director of the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention at the CDC, as coordinators of the White House’s mpox response in August. Get CNN Health's weekly newsletter Sign up here to get The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta every Tuesday from the CNN Health team. Fenton’s and Daskalakis’ appointments are not tied to the emergency declaration and will continue for now, as will data collection and some other flexibilities provided by the emergency declaration.

☆ Flu brought nearly twice as many people to the hospital last week as the week before, updated CDC data show
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Deidre Mcphillips | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

There have been nearly 17 flu hospitalizations for every 100,000 people, rates typically seen in December or January. The cumulative hospitalization rate hasn’t been this high at this point in the season in more than a decade. Less than two months in, the RSV hospitalization rate this season is already nearing the total RSV hospitalization rate from the entire 2018-19 season. With the holiday season – and flu season – underway, Dr. Anthony Fauci warned this week of the potential for an emergency situation. “When you have very little wiggle room of intensive care beds, when you have like almost all the intensive care beds that are occupied, it’s bad for the children who have RSV and need intensive care.

☆ Children’s painkillers are in high demand as respiratory illnesses continue to rise
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Carma Hassan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The availability of children’s painkillers first started dropping in June. The US Food and Drug Administration said it is closely working with drug manufacturers to assess the situation. The FDA understands that manufacturers expect availability to continue to increase in the near future,” the agency said. According to Seattle Children’s Hospital, the continuing surge of respiratory illnesses has affected liquid acetaminophen and ibuprofen, which are commonly given to children. Johnson & Johnson says it’s seeing high demand for its pain relief products and is working to maximize production capacity.

But agency veterans, outside public health officials, and workplace organization experts said the current workplace structure could be a major barrier to that goal. As of early 2020, much of the workforce of the FDA and the National Institutes of Health was working remotely. Today, the NIH is mostly back in the office, but the FDA said many of its employees continue to work remotely when possible. Many people have fled the U.S. public health workforce in recent years, burned out from the covid-19 response. Benjamin said the CDC would likely have made its pandemic stumbles even if staffers hadn’t been working remotely.

☆ Teens’ brains aged faster during the first year of the pandemic, study says, and stress may be to blame
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Jen Christensen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —The brains of US teens have physically changed during the Covid-19 pandemic, aging faster than normal, a new study says. Dozens of studies have found that teens’ and adolescents’ mental health has suffered during the pandemic. “The pandemic has not been kind to adolescent mental health,” said Gotlib, a psychology professor at Stanford University. There is a chance that their brain changes could have just been an immediate response to a stressor that will normalize over time, he said. Gotlib hopes parents and guardians keep in mind that although lockdowns and school closures may be over, the mental health consequences may be lingering.

☆ HIV vaccine candidate induces immune response in early clinical trial
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —An experimental HIV vaccine has been found to induce broadly neutralizing antibodies among a small group of volunteers in a Phase 1 study. “We know that broadly neutralizing antibodies are a potentially effective strategy to prevent HIV,” del Rio said. “However, the incorporation of many different shots into an HIV vaccine regimen is unappealing. More than 20 HIV vaccine clinical trials are ongoing around the world, according to the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. But having an HIV vaccine available would make protection against the virus more accessible, he said.

☆ On World AIDS Day, Biden administration releases new global strategy to end HIV/AIDS by 2030
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Jamie Gumbrecht | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —On World AIDS Day, the Biden administration renewed its focus on ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2030, releasing a new five-year strategy for the United States’ global response. HIV remains a serious threat to global health security and economic development,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote in the new strategy. Globally, progress toward ending HIV and AIDS has been uneven. In the United States, there are wide disparities in access to treatment, and Black and Hispanic Americans are disproportionately affected by HIV. More than 1.1 million people in the United States had HIV at the end of 2019, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

☆ Organ donations rise during major motorcycle rallies due to crashes, study says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Raenu Charles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Organ donations and transplantations increase during major US motorcycle rallies due to crashes, according to a new study, signaling a need for increased safety measures. In regions near where motorcycle rallies were held, there were 21% more organ donors and 26% more transplant recipients per day during rallies than in the four weeks before and after. In nearby areas without a motorcycle rally on those same dates, there were 11% fewer organ donors and 10% fewer transplant recipients. Large motorcycle rallies often come with a surge in trauma volume at local hospitals, the study says. Safer ridingThe Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, held each August, is the largest and most popular in the country.

☆ ‘Living in despair and hopelessness’: A lack of affordable housing can put people’s health at risk
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Renuka Rayasam Fred Clasen-Kelly Kaiser Health News | Renuka Rayasam | Fred Clasen-Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

She suspected the gray and brown splotches spreading through the apartment were mold and had caused her son’s illness. A nationwide affordable housing crisis has wreaked havoc on the lives of low-income families, like Joseph’s, who are close to the brink. Housing instability — such as having trouble paying rent, living in crowded conditions, or moving frequently — can have negative consequences on health, according to the federal Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. And there is no county in the country where a minimum-wage worker could afford a two-bedroom rental home, according to an August report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition. A few months after leaving the apartment, Joseph and her two children moved in with her sister in Orlando, Florida, with their remaining possessions — a car and some clothes.

☆ FDA considering shift toward individual risk-based assessments for blood donors
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Carma Hassan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —The US Food and Drug Administration is considering shifting its blood donation policy away from blanket assessments toward questionnaires that focus more on individual risk, it said Wednesday. “The FDA remains committed to gathering the scientific data related to alternative donor deferral policies that maintain a high level of blood safety,” the statement says. Those who have not would be allowed to donate blood, an FDA official told the Journal. The current policy requires men who have sex with men to wait three months after sexual contact with other men before they can donate blood. Other men who have sex with men are still required to refrain from sex for three months before donating in the UK.

☆ Drug and alcohol deaths increasing among US adults 65 and older, CDC data shows
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

In 2020, more than 5,000 adults 65 and older in the United States died of a drug overdose. Though drug overdose death rates for older adults tend to be lower than for other age groups – and made up just 0.2% of total deaths among adults 65 and older in 2020 – such deaths have been climbing. Between 2000 and 2020, the rates rose from 2.4 to 8.8 deaths per 100,000 people among adults 65 and older. Between 2000 and 2020, drug overdose deaths increased more among men than women, rising from 2.7 to 12.3 deaths per 100,000 men compared with 2.3 to 5.8 per 100,000 women. “Because of ageism, we typically do not think of older adults as having a substance use disorder nor do we think of older adults for being at-risk for a drug overdose.

☆ America’s gun epidemic is deadlier than ever, and there are vast disparities in who’s dying
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Deidre Mcphillips | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The researchers found that firearm mortality rates increased for most demographic groups in recent years – especially during the pandemic – and vast disparities persisted. With infant mortality in the United States, when you look at Black infants versus White infants, there’s over a two-fold (difference in) mortality rate. There are two key factors driving community gun violence, says Jonathan Jay, an assistant professor at Boston University School of Public Health: disadvantage at the neighborhood level and exposure to gun violence at the individual level. “Gun violence is most likely in spaces that show signs of physical disinvestment. The gun suicide rate increased 10% while the non-gun suicide rate decreased by 8%, and the gun homicide rate increased 45% while the non-gun homicide rate increased only 6%.

☆ Early research suggests promising use of AI to predict risk of heart attack or stroke using a single chest X-ray
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Deidre Mcphillips | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Early research suggests a promising use of artificial intelligence to predict the 10-year risk of death from a heart attack or stroke from a single chest X-ray. The AI model uses the same risk thresholds as the established risk calculator, and early findings suggest that it works just as well. Sometimes, the AI findings align with a traditional radiology reading, but other times, it picks up on things that may have been missed, he said. He was not involved in the new AI research but says it’s important to keep the field moving forward. “The risk calculator is one part of risk assessment, but it’s not the only part.

☆ Experimental drug appears to slow progression of Alzheimer’s disease in clinical trial but raises safety concerns
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

It involved 1,795 adults, ages 50 to 90, with mild cognitive impairment due to early Alzheimer’s disease or mild Alzheimer’s disease-related dementia. Such a score is consistent with early Alzheimer’s disease, with a higher number associated with more cognitive impairment. By 18 months, the CDR-SB score went up 1.21 points in the lecanemab group, compared with 1.66 in the placebo group. Overall, there were serious adverse events in 14% of the lecanemab group and 11.3% of the placebo group. The researchers also wrote that about 0.7% of participants in the lecanemab group and 0.8% of those in the placebo group died, corresponding to six deaths documented in the lecanemab group and seven in the placebo group.

☆ WHO renames monkeypox as ‘mpox’
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Jamie Gumbrecht | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —The World Health Organization announced Monday that “mpox” is now the preferred name for monkeypox. “Both names will be used simultaneously for one year while ‘monkeypox’ is phased out,” the organization said. In August, WHO encouraged people to propose new names for monkeypox by submitting suggestions to it website. The preferred term mpox can be used in other languages,” WHO said in its statement. So far, more than 81,000 monkeypox cases in 110 cases have been reported to WHO in the recent outbreak.

☆ Flu season continues to intensify in the US, and holiday gatherings could make it worse
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Deidre Mcphillips | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

And the CDC estimates that there have been at least 6.2 million illnesses, 53,000 hospitalizations and 2,900 deaths from influenza this season. Less than two months in, the RSV hospitalization rate this season is already nearing the total RSV hospitalization rate from the entire 2018-19 season. The latest surveillance data does not capture Thanksgiving week or the effects of holiday gatherings. Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths reached record high levels during last year’s holiday season – and this holiday season could also bring a rise in spread. Flu shots are lagging, too, with millions fewer vaccinations at this point in the season than in the past two years.

☆ Community health groups that played crucial role during Covid-19 pandemic say they’re being left out of government funding
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Elizabeth Cohen Lauren Mascarenhas | Elizabeth Cohen | Lauren Mascarenhas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

“A lot of times, the funding streams have names that say ‘community,’ ‘community-based organizations’ or ‘community health workers,’ but the funding often goes to states and doesn’t end up helping at a grass-roots level,” said Denise Smith, executive director of the National Association of Community Health Workers. “HRSA strongly values the critical role that community health workers play – and can increasingly play – in supporting the health and well-being of communities. “Community health workers are frontline public health workers who are trusted members of the community they serve. The group’s promotores de salud, or community health workers, encouraged vaccination and set up a hotline to distribute accurate information about the virus. “Grantees will be able to hire community health workers, as needed and appropriate,” said Nordlund, the CDC spokesperson.

☆ Fauci shares lessons from pandemic, criticism of China’s zero-Covid policy ahead of his departure from government
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Katherine Dillinger | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —The Covid-19 pandemic has carried a key lesson for public health officials, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday: When talking to Americans, be clear that science is often a moving target. “Hopefully, we could have been more on top of appreciating the dynamic nature of how things change, thinking that it wasn’t aerosol spread in the beginning, and then you find out it is aerosol spread. Experts agree that the virus almost certainly jumped into humans from an animal market in China but that they may never know for sure. “It’s possible that there was a lab leak,” Fauci said. Fauci criticized China’s controversial zero-Covid policy, saying shutdowns “should always be a temporary phenomenon, not a long-range strategy,” and should be done with an end point in mind, such as buying time to secure PPE or provide vaccinations.

☆ Thanksgiving leftovers: What to do with all the food
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Casey Barber | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

But it’s just as easy to chop up leftover Thanksgiving turkey and sneak it into non-holiday comfort food. Use leftover Thanksgiving turkey to make turkey black bean enchiladas. A lemony Dijon dressing can brighten a grain bowl made with holiday leftovers. Leftover stuffing mixed with eggs and a touch of broth or gravy are all you need to turn Thanksgiving stuffing into a savory next-day breakfast. If that kind of post-holiday meal suits you, make this Thanksgiving leftover pizza and savor the classic flavors on a slice rather than between bread.

Of particular importance is information about how many seniors die, develop disabilities, can no longer live independently, or have a significantly worsened quality of life after major surgery. “What older patients want to know is, ‘What’s my life going to look like?’” Cooper said. Invasive procedures that take place in operating rooms with patients under general anesthesia were counted as major surgeries. Two years ago, Gill’s team conducted research that showed 1 in 3 older adults had not returned to their baseline level of functioning six months after major surgery. This includes assessing older patients three times a day for delirium (an acute change in mental status that often afflicts older hospital patients), getting patients moving as soon as possible, and using non-narcotic pain relievers.

☆ Daylight Saving Time debate sheds light on growing racial inequities in sleep health
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the Sleep Research Society and other medical groups have advocated for ending the practice, calling for the adoption of a permanent standard time that would not involve shifting forward each spring and falling back each autumn. She authored a paper, published in September in the journal Sleep, detailing the potential health benefits of adopting a permanent standard time. Now, some sleep researchers worry about the potential effects that continuing to change standard time twice each year may have on sleep health inequities. “Fortunately, sleep health is largely modifiable.”As for the inequities seen in sleep health, it’s not that White adults don’t also experience a lack of sleep and its health consequences – but people of color appear to disproportionately experience them more, and that’s believed to be largely due to social systems in the United States. Improving sleep health has been a national objective in the federal government’s past two Healthy People programs, noted Caraballo-Cordovez, who is not involved in the programs.

☆ New subvariants, family gatherings may bring more Covid-19 after holiday, but experts don’t expect severe surge
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Brenda Goodman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Experts expect that Thanksgiving gatherings will stir up social networks and give new coronavirus subvariants fresh pockets of vulnerable people to infect. And we are concerned that after holiday gathering, lots of people coming together, that we may see increases in Covid-19 cases as well,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Tuesday on CNN. For the week ending Nov. 19, the CDC estimates that BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 were causing about half of all new Covid-19 cases in the US. Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths have remained flat for the past four weeks. “It’s probably got a bit more of a fitness advantage, so what we’re seeing is gradual replacement without a massive change in the total number of Covid-19 cases,” he said.

☆ FDA approves $3.5 million treatment for hemophilia, now the most expensive drug in the world
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Deidre Mcphillips | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —The US Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved Hemgenix, a new drug to treat hemophilia. Manufacturer CSL Behring set the price at $3.5 million per treatment, making it the most expensive drug in the world. In a recent cost-effectiveness analysis of the drug, weighing health benefits against offset costs, ICER suggested that a fair price for the drug to be between $2.93 million and $2.96 million. According to an analysis by GoodRx, the most expensive drug in the US previously was Zolgensma, which was approved by the FDA in 2019 to treat spinal muscular atrophy and priced at $2.1 million for a course of treatment. FDA approved Hemgenix based on safety and effectiveness evaluated in two studies of about 60 adult men.

On social media, families say they’ve hunted for hours for Tamiflu and the first-line antibiotics amoxicillin and Augmentin. They have one viral illness after another. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than half of US states have “high” or “very high” respiratory virus activity. As for the antibiotics amoxicillin and Augmentin – a combination of amoxicillin and clavulanate, an agent that helps guard against antibiotic resistance – it’s not entirely clear why demand is so high. Some viral illness, like influenza, can leave the body more vulnerable to secondary bacterial infections that may need treatment with antibiotics.

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