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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.

☆ Updated boosters add limited protection against Covid-19 illness, first real-world study shows
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Brenda Goodman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The new study found that the updated boosters work about like the original boosters. Compared with people who were unvaccinated, adults 18 to 49 who had gotten bivalent boosters were 43% less likely to get sick with a Covid-19 infection. The relative vaccine effectiveness showed the added protection people might expect on top of whatever protection they had left after previous vaccine doses. So overall, the updated boosters got them to around 50% effectiveness against symptomatic infection. According to CDC data, roughly two-thirds of Americans have completed at least their primary series of Covid-19 vaccines.

☆ Study suggests that HDL or ‘good’ cholesterol is less beneficial than previously thought, especially for Black adults
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Deidre Mcphillips | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Also, higher levels of HDL cholesterol were not found to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease for either group. “It’s been well accepted that low HDL cholesterol levels are detrimental, regardless of race. The researchers found that high levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and triglycerides “modestly” predicted heart disease risk among both Black and White adults. But they suggest that more work is needed to understand what’s driving the racial differences in the link between HDL and heart disease risk. And in the meantime, current clinical assessments for heart disease risk “may misclassify risk in Black adults, potentially hindering optimal cardiovascular disease prevention and management programs for this group,” they wrote.

“Embryo adoption is not a legal ‘adoption’ at all, at least in the sense of a traditional adoption which occurs after birth,” the National Embryo Donation Center says. Risks of multiplesSoutheastern Fertility, which partners with National Embryo Donation Center, thawed the embryos February 28. There’s about an 80% survival rate when thawing frozen embryos, experts say. I have to have them all.”Philip and Rachel Ridgeway had twins born from embryos that were frozen for about 30 years. Studies have found that 25% to 40% of frozen embryo transfers result in a live birth.

☆ Sperm counts may be declining globally, review finds, adding to debate over male fertility
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Brenda Goodman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Over the past 50 years, human sperm counts appear to have fallen by more than 50% around the globe, according to an updated review of medical literature. The review, and its conclusions, have sparked a debate among experts in male fertility. Overall, the researchers determined that sperm counts fell by sightly more than 1% per year between 1973 and 2018. Normal sperm counts are considered to be over 40 million per milliliter. In other research, Levine says, he and others have teased out some factors that are associated with lower sperm counts.

☆ Children’s health leaders call for emergency response as respiratory viruses continue to spread across the US
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Deidre Mcphillips | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

And health care systems nationwide continue to feel the strain of a respiratory virus season that has hit earlier and harder than usual. There have been about 8 flu hospitalizations for every 100,000 people this season – rates typically seen in December or January. While the Covid-19 emergency declaration remains in place, the federal government has not made a formal emergency declaration around children’s health care. HHS and the CDC are in regular contact with health care leaders and providers, actively monitoring situational needs and ready to provide assistance on a case-by-case basis, an HHS spokesperson told CNN. They also urge all those eligible to get their flu and Covid-19 vaccines, along with other routine vaccinations.

☆ Gabby Giffords still struggles to find words, but she hasn’t lost her voice
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Dr. Tara Narula | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Watch “Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down” at 9 p.m. ET/PT November 20 on CNN. One of those voices that has spoken up in her own unique way is Gabby Giffords. Video Ad Feedback Obama shares what he's learned from Gabby Giffords 00:58 - Source: CNNI met Gabby before the debut of the CNN documentary “Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down,” a detailed portrayal of the inner fire that helped her heal and pushes her to help others do the same. Gabby told me she feels optimistic, but she knows that she has a long road ahead. Gabby told them “rocking chairs”: a phrase to mean a long time from now, when they’re sitting on the porch in old, worn rocking chairs.

☆ US home births reached highest level in 30 years in 2021
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Carma Hassan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

This follows a 22% increase in home births between 2019 and 2020, “corresponding with the initial surge of COVID-19 cases in the United States,” the report says. Home births increased 21% for Black women, 15% for Hispanic women and 10% for White women in 2021. Among the 30 states that reported more births at home, West Virginia had the highest increase: 49% between 2020 and 2021. Despite the rise, home births still remain rare, accounting for 1.26% of all births in the US, according to the report. The pediatrician group generally doesn’t recommend planned home births, but it does recognize a woman’s right to choose one.

☆ As measles outbreak sickens children in Ohio, local health officials seek help from CDC
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —A growing measles outbreak in Columbus, Ohio, has sickened dozens of unvaccinated children and hospitalized nine of them, and local public health officials are seeking assistance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One child is 6 years old.”Health officials with Columbus Public Health and Franklin County Public Health have been investigating these cases and tracing any contacts who may have been exposed to the measles virus. In the 1950s, researchers isolated the measles virus in a patient’s blood, and in the 1960s, they were able to transform that virus into a vaccine. As of October 28, a total of 33 measles cases have been reported this year in five jurisdictions across the United States, according to the CDC. “So the possibility that someone carrying measles virus coming into the country could spread into an unvaccinated population is always there.”

☆ Adderall users struggle amid ongoing medication shortage
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Raenu Charles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

A report from data analytics firm Trilliant Health found that nationally, prescriptions for Adderall among people ages 22 to 44 increased 15% between 2020 and 2021. “I’ve had patients call 10,15, 20 pharmacies in order to get their medication,” Goodman said. Clara is headed to her doctor to seek an alternative medication until Adderall is back in stock. It took five days for his pharmacy to fill his prescription in late October, and those days took a toll. Goodman strongly warns against this, offering a reminder that not only is selling your own prescription medication a felony, so is sharing it with others.

CNN —A biologic therapy that delays the onset of type 1 diabetes received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration on Thursday. The most common side effects reported in the trial participants were low white blood cells and lymph cells, rash and headache. Without insulin, blood sugar can build up in the bloodstream and break down the body’s own fat and muscle. With Tzield, doctors would screen individual family members of people with type 1 diabetes to see whether they have those specific antibodies. As of 2019, about 1.9 million people have type 1 diabetes in the United States, according to the American Diabetes Association, including 244,000 children and adolescents.

☆ FDA lays out plan to combat bacterial illnesses in baby formula
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Brenda Goodman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —The US Food and Drug Administration is charting a plan to enhance its surveillance of infant formula for Cronobacter bacteria. Cronobacter infections are rare, but they can be serious and even fatal, especially in newborns. Cronobacter lives in the environment, but when these infections are diagnosed in infants, they are often linked to powdered formula. Only one state, Minnesota, now requires doctors to report Cronobacter infections to the state health department. The infants had all consumed powdered formula manufactured at an Abbott Nutrition production facility in Sturgis, Michigan.

☆ As Ebola outbreak grows in Uganda, US ramps up preparedness plans
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

“All primary and secondary schools in Uganda are directed to close by November 25th, 2022 for third term holidays as a measure to contain Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the country,” Museveni said in a statement. Major US cities get Ebola plans in placeThe CDC estimates that 20% of travelers from Uganda will arrive without a cell phone or US-based phone number. “CDPH continues to work with our hospitals to screen patients for travel history and be alert for symptoms of Ebola virus disease or, more likely, malaria or circulating respiratory viruses. ‘We need to be prepared’The Ebola virus is transmissible – but not as transmissible as some other infectious diseases, like Covid-19. “If we do see any cases in the United States, the hope is that they will be identified quickly before there is further spread,” Barouch said.

☆ Covid-19 rebound may be more common in people who take Paxlovid, early study suggests
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Brenda Goodman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Covid-19 rebound also seems to be more common in people who take Paxlovid compared with those who don’t take the antiviral, although it can happen in either circumstance. In the past few months, instances of Covid-19 rebound have peppered headlines. That study found rebound happened about twice as frequently in people taking Paxlovid as in those who took the placebo. Among the 127 who took Paxlovid, about 14% saw their viral loads climb again after treatment. At least one study has documented a case of a person with rebound Covid-19 who took Paxlovid and passed the infection to an infant.

Now, a woman from Austin, Texas, has come forward because she nearly died when she couldn’t get a timely abortion. “We found out that we were going to lose our baby,” Amanda said. “To see in a matter of maybe five minutes, for her to go from a normal temperature to the condition she was in was really, really scary,” he said. That leaves the Zurawskis scared – and furious that they might never have a family because of a Texas law. She and Josh worry about women in rural areas, or poor women, or young, single mothers in states like Texas.

☆ Covid-19 boosters could keep thousands of kids out of hospitals, but uptake remains low
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Deidre Mcphillips | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

And if Covid-19 booster coverage reached 80% among school-age children by the end of the year, more than 50,000 hospitalizations could be averted. Preventing Covid-19 hospitalizations could help ease the strain on pediatric hospitals, which have been especially full for the past few weeks as the respiratory virus season – including flu, RSV and Covid-19 – sweeps the country earlier than usual. But more than 2,400 children were admitted to the hospital with Covid-19 last week – nearly three times higher than the week before, CDC data shows. And Covid-19 vaccination rates among children have long lagged behind those for adults. Just 32% of children ages 5 to 11 and 61% of those ages 12 to 17 have competed their initial series of Covid-19 vaccination, compared with 78% of adults.

☆ RSV hospitalization rate for seniors is 10 times higher than usual for this point in the season
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Jen Christensen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

In the years before the Covid-19 pandemic, hospitalization rates for seniors were about 10 times lower at this point in the season. Based on best estimates, there are between 10,000 and 15,000 adult deaths in the United States from RSV each year and around 150,000 hospitalizations for RSV, Falsey said. Adults with weakened immune systems need to be careful in RSV season. Doctors’ offices have swab tests that can determine whether an illness is flu, RSV or Covid. Protective measures for this busy RSV season will sound familiar: Wash your hands frequently, disinfect surfaces, and wear a mask in crowded spaces.

☆ Rate of babies born preterm in US climbs to 10.5%, March of Dimes report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The US preterm birth rate peaked in 2006 at 12.8%, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics. States with the highest and lowest ratesThe new March of Dimes report also highlighted state-by-state differences in the rate of babies born prematurely across the country. The report grades a preterm birth rate less than or equal to 7.7% as an A and a preterm birth rate greater than or equal to 11.5% as an F.The national preterm birth rate of 10.5% is graded as a D+. No state has achieved an A rate, and only one has a state-level preterm birth rate that would be graded as an A-: Vermont, which has the lowest preterm birth rate in the US at 8%. Henderson also said that preterm birth is one of the top causes of infant deaths and disproportionately affects babies born to women of color.

☆ Experimental therapy gantenerumab fails to slow or improve Alzheimer’s memory loss in clinical trials
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Brenda Goodman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Gantenerumab is part of a class of injected drugs that are designed to remove sticky protein pieces called beta amyloid from the brain. Beta amyloid buildup is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. Roche said Monday that gantenerumab appears to have removed less beta amyloid from the brains of study participants than anticipated. The results for gantenerumab follow positive results for a different beta amyloid reducing drug, lecanemab. An estimated 6.5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease in 2022, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.

CNN —Even before their daughter was born in June, Aaron and Helen Chavez knew she would need heart surgery. Data reported to the US government shows that as of Friday, more than three-quarters of pediatric hospital beds and 80% of intensive care beds for kids are full. Federal data shows that the strain on hospital beds for kids began in August and September, which is right around the start of the school year in many areas. It may also mean children who have chronic conditions and need procedures or hospital care, but whose conditions are stable, may have to wait. She was very thin for a baby,” Aaron said.

☆ Flu season already hitting hard across half of the US
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Deidre Mcphillips | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —About half of the US – 22 states, along with Washington, DC, New York City and Puerto Rico – is reporting high or very high respiratory illness activity, as flu season sweeps through the country weeks earlier than usual. “Among the people who study flu, there’s a little saying: ‘If you’ve seen one flu season, well, you’ve seen one flu season,’ ” said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. Although the numbers are especially high for this time of year, experts say the trends are otherwise following an expected pattern, and the early arrival of flu season doesn’t necessarily mean it will last longer or be more severe. It’s not like we’re seeing a lot of hospitalizations without a lot of illness.”Flu activity has been highest in the South, CDC data shows. And millions fewer flu vaccines have been distributed this season than at this point in previous years.

☆ Thanksgiving is two weeks away. Get your updated Covid-19 shot now, health officials warn
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —With Thanksgiving just two weeks away, people who are eligible for an updated Covid-19 vaccine booster but still haven’t received the shot will need to roll up their sleeves Thursday to get as much protection as possible before the holiday. After getting the updated Covid-19 vaccine, that biological process can take about 10 to 14 days. Health officials say it’s fine to get the updated Covid-19 booster and flu vaccine at the same time. The vaccine candidate contains components of the companies’ updated Covid-19 booster and their investigational flu vaccine. Moderna is also developing a combined flu and Covid-19 mRNA vaccine and another combination vaccine targeting flu, Covid-19 and RSV.

☆ More than 3 million middle and high school students reported using tobacco in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Raenu Charles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

For the ninth consecutive year, e-cigarettes were the most commonly used tobacco product among youth – about 2.55 million reported using them – followed by cigars, cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. Non-Hispanic White youth reported the most e-cigarette use, 11%, while Black youth reported the most combustible tobacco product use, 5.7%, including cigar use, 3.3%. “Commercial tobacco product use continues to threaten the health of our nation’s youth, and disparities in youth tobacco product use persist,” Deirdre Lawrence Kittner, director of CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, said in a statement. Researchers call for continued surveillance of all tobacco products, sustained implementation of tobacco control strategies and FDA regulation of tobacco products. However, with an ever-changing tobacco product landscape, there’s still more work to be done,” Brian King, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, said in a statement on Thursday.

☆ More adolescent e-cigarette users report vaping within five minutes of waking up, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The data included a total of 151,573 survey respondents, all in middle or high school in the United States. ‘Concerning’ trends in the intensity of useThe overall prevalence of e-cigarette use peaked in 2019 and then declined. But by 2019, more e-cigarette users were using within the first five minutes of waking up each day compared with traditional cigarette users. “It is encouraging that the prevalence of e-cigarette use has declined among U.S. adolescents from 2019 to 2021. “Unfortunately, early nicotine addiction could overturn the significant tobacco control progress made over many decades,” she said.

☆ Kids’ average daily screen use increased by more than an hour and twenty minutes during the pandemic, analysis finds
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Carma Hassan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Average daily screen use by children during the Covid-19 pandemic increased by more than an hour and twenty minutes, according to an analysis published in JAMA Pediatrics on Monday. Kids’ average daily screen use increased by 1.5 times during the pandemic – from a baseline of 162 minutes a day before the pandemic to 246 minutes during the pandemic, according to the analysis. Also, some of the studies in the analysis used retrospective estimates, meaning parents could have misremembered how much screen time their kids had before the pandemic. Parents and caregivers’ amount of screen time, as well as their stress levels, during the pandemic were found to be associated with the duration of kids’ screen use, the analysis said. It is also critical to discuss balancing screen use with other important daily functions, such as sleep and physical activity,” the researchers advised.

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