An ongoing meningitis outbreak in Florida has thus far solely been affecting males who’ve intercourse with males. Separately, three new papers have proven that meningitis vaccines have effectiveness in opposition to gonorrhea, an sickness in opposition to which there is no present vaccine obtainable.
Health News Florida:
Orange County Health Care Providers Order More Meningitis Vaccine Amid Outbreak
Orange County clinics that cater to the LGBTQ group are stocking up on meningitis vaccines as a result of an outbreak that’s solely been detected thus far in males who’ve intercourse with males. The CDC says the very best prevention in opposition to meningitis is getting vaccinated. Hope & Help’s Medical Director Dr. Trey Vanderburg says that’s why his Winter Park clinic, which normally supplies HIV, STI and hepatitis C testing, has ordered the meningitis vaccine. “We are at the moment out of the vaccine proper now. And we have now contacted the well being division and we’re within the strategy of getting extra vaccines delivered to our facility.” (Prieur, 4/14)
Tallahassee Democrat:
Newest Outbreak In Florida: Meningitis Spread By Close Contact, Including Kissing, Shared Drinks
How do you catch meningococcal illness? These micro organism should not as contagious as germs that trigger the frequent chilly or flu. People don’t catch the micro organism by means of informal contact or by respiration air the place somebody with meningococcal illness has been, in line with each the CDC and Department of Health. It requires shut contact over a time frame, or direct contact akin to kissing or sharing drinks. (McCloud, 4/13)
And meningitis vaccines may forestall gonorrhea —
CIDRAP:
Studies Highlight Meningitis Vaccine’s Potential Against Gonorrhea
A trio of papers printed this week in The Lancet Infectious Diseases make the case that meningitis vaccines might play a task in stopping gonorrhea infections. … While no gonorrhea-specific vaccines are at the moment obtainable, two of the research printed in The Lancet discovered that the four-component serogroup B meningococcal (4CMenB) vaccine, designed in opposition to Neisseria meningitidis, confirmed some cross-protection in opposition to N gonorrhoeae. And a 3rd examine means that the usage of the 4CMenB vaccine in these at biggest danger of an infection might be probably the most impactful and cost-effective technique of averting gonorrhea. (Dall, 4/14)
In different public well being information —
NPR:
The Military Might Be Creating ‘A Perfect Storm’ For Eating Disorders
Marine veteran Chandler Rand has struggled with varied consuming issues since she was a toddler. Though she says she’s wholesome now, she describes her restoration as an ongoing course of. She nonetheless has to struggle off detrimental ideas about her physique picture and weight. “It’s principally like strolling a tightrope,” Rand says. In 2016, Rand was a Marine. She was efficiently handled for anorexia as a young person, however after boot camp, she started to binge eat and have become bulimic. “I do not suppose I noticed that as a part of my consuming dysfunction on the time,” Rand says. “I feel I simply noticed it as a part of being Marine.” (D’Iorio, 4/15)
CNBC:
Here’s Why Health Savings Accounts May Contribute To Inequality
A preferred approach to save for out-of-pocket medical bills could be contributing to health-care inequality, new analysis suggests. Health financial savings accounts are tax-advantaged accounts obtainable to Americans with high-deductible medical insurance insurance policies. Federal regulation established them in 2003. Since then, HSAs have grown rapidly as employers have adopted high-deductible plans for his or her workforces to save cash. HSAs supply a three-tiered break on earnings taxes: contributions are tax-free, as are funding earnings and withdrawals for eligible medical bills. (Iacurci, 4/14)
Bloomberg:
Drug And Alcohol Abuse Is Slowing Labor Force Recovery, Fed Finds
Federal Reserve coverage makers and researchers who’ve been puzzled by the gradual return of U.S. employees to the labor pressure throughout the Covid-19 pandemic might have discovered a brand new rationalization: alcohol and drug abuse. Increased substance abuse accounts for between 9% and 26% of the decline in prime-age labor-force participation between February 2020 and June 2021, in line with a brand new examine by Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta researcher Karen Kopecky, Jeremy Greenwood of the University of Pennsylvania and Nezih Guner of the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. (Matthews, 4/14)
And now for some excellent news —
CNN:
It Doesn’t Take A Lot Of Exercise To Fight Depression, Study Says
Get up and transfer — even small doses of bodily exercise, akin to brisk strolling, might considerably decrease the danger of despair, in line with a brand new information evaluation. “Most advantages are realized when shifting from no exercise to at the very least some,” the examine authors wrote. Recommended ranges of train within the United States, in line with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, embrace cardio exercise at average ranges (akin to a brisk stroll) for two.5 hours every week, together with a exercise of all main muscle teams twice every week. Alternatively, an individual can select a vigorous cardio train, akin to working, for 1.25 hours every week, together with the identical quantity of power coaching. (LaMotte, 4/14)
Bronx News 12:
‘It’s Quite An Amazing Feeling.’ Marine Veteran Donates Part Of Liver To Save 8-Month-Old Girl’s Life
A bit of Marine veteran John Rubino is holding 8-month-old Ariany alive. … Ariany was struggling for months from a doubtlessly lethal and really uncommon illness, Biliary Atresia. It is a blockage within the tubes (ducts) that carry bile from the liver to the gallbladder. Ariany wanted an implant immediately, so Dr. Nadia Orchinsky bought her on the nationwide donor waitlist instantly, however there was no match.
This is Rubino’s second time giving somebody a second likelihood. The first was a kidney given to a girl named Jessica in Connecticut. (4/1)
NPR:
Researchers Explore An Unlikely Treatment For Cognitive Disorders: Video Games
The neurologist stated Pam Stevens’ cognitive impairment could not be handled. After struggling a stroke in 2014, the 85-year-old wasn’t responding to treatment. She and her husband, Pete Stevens, have been instructed to surrender hope. “On two separate events, over a two-year interval, the neurologist stated there was nothing we might do,” stated Pete Stevens. “He stated ‘simply take her dwelling and be ready that she’s gonna die.'” But he refused to just accept that grim prognosis. He was prepared to strive something — together with an experimental online game remedy — to revive Pam’s mind. (Gordon, 4/15)
North Carolina Health News:
Decreasing Sex Crimes With Therapy, Friendship
Most of society shuns registered intercourse offenders, however Drew Doll has a unique resolution — befriending folks convicted of high-risk intercourse crimes. “By forming friendships … we get to know folks rather well,” stated Doll, who’s the reentry and reconciliation coordinator on the Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham. “We maintain them shut.” The Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham is one among a number of teams in North Carolina exploring methods to cut back intercourse crimes impartial of the intercourse offender registry, by means of strategies starting from restorative justice practices to cognitive behavioral remedy. (Thompson, 4/15)
This is a part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a abstract of well being coverage protection from main information organizations. Sign up for an electronic mail subscription.
https://khn.org/morning-breakout/more-meningitis-vaccines-ordered-for-florida-outbreak/
