Medicine

The New York Daily News reports: Victory is in sight. City officials say they are on the cusp of the once unthinkable — ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic as new medicines and treatment drove down the number of new cases to a 17-year-low in 2018, Health Department stats show. And officials say it’s all thanks to the emergence of a new …

From the American Medical Association: AMA supports state and federal bans on conversion therapy The AMA will develop model state legislation and advocate for federal legislation to ban so-called reparative or conversion therapy for sexual orientation or gender identity. The support for legislative bans strengthens AMA’s long-standing opposition to this unscientific practice. The AMA heard testimony, including first-hand accounts, regarding …

The Associated Press reports: U.S. health officials are telling people to avoid romaine lettuce grown in Salinas, California, as they investigate a food poisoning outbreak. The warning comes almost exactly one year after a similar outbreak. They also say not to eat the leafy green if the label doesn’t say where it was grown. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration …

Time Magazine reports: The American Medical Association is calling for an immediate ban on all electronic cigarettes and vaping devices. The group adopted the sweeping stance Tuesday at a policy-making meeting in San Diego. It aims to lobby for laws, regulations or legal action to achieve a ban, but the industry is sure to fight back. The AMA cited the …

USA Today reports: Drug-resistant “superbugs” infect 2.8 million people and cause more than 35,000 deaths each year, underscoring the enormous public health threat of germs in what one official describes as a “post-antibiotic era,” according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report. The report, which analyzes electronic health records and other data, shows an infection every 11 …

Gallup Polling reports: More than 13% of American adults — or about 34 million people — report knowing of at least one friend or family member in the past five years who died after not receiving needed medical treatment because they were unable to pay for it, based on a new study by Gallup and West Health. Nonwhites, those in …

Reuters reports: In many U.S. cities, tanning salons appear to cluster in neighborhoods where more gay and bisexual men live, according to a study that suggests this might be one reason for higher skin cancer rates among sexual minority men. The odds of living near a tanning salon were twice as high in areas where at least 10% of households …

The Associated Press reports: Pharmacists in California will be able to dispense HIV prevention pills to patients without a doctor’s prescription after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Monday that supporters say will greatly reduce the spread of infection. Advocates of Senate Bill 159 say that California is the first state to authorize pre-exposure prophylaxis, also called PrEP, and post-exposure prophylaxis, …

NBC News reports: Gilead Sciences, the drug giant behind the blockbuster HIV prevention pill Truvada, won FDA approval on Thursday to market Descovy — a medication already used by those who have HIV — as its next-generation prevention drug. The final approval follows an August vote in favor of Descovy as a pre-exposure prophylaxis medication, or PrEP, by an FDA …

CNBC reports: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging people to stop vaping THC products as the death toll from a mysterious lung disease rises with no signs of abating. The vaping-related illness has sickened 805 people across 46 states and one territory, the CDC said Friday. One person died in Oregon this week, bringing the death toll …

Axios reports: Public health officials on Thursday urged Americans to get their seasonal flu vaccine early this year, in case the U.S. follows Australia’s season in which the virus hit many people early. While public health officials admit the vaccine is not 100% effective, there’s growing research showing that the vaccine reduces the severe and sometimes deadly complications from the …

The New York Times reports: Bernie Sanders has long wanted to remake the health care system so no one will have to pay directly for medical care again. Now, he also wants to go back and cancel all the medical debts of people who have been billed under the current system. In a plan released Saturday, Mr. Sanders, the Vermont …

Politico reports: A chorus of mostly white women sang the gospel song “We Shall Overcome” in the California State Capitol, an anthem of the civil rights movement. Mothers rallied outside the governor’s office and marched through Capitol corridors chanting “No segregation, no discrimination, yes on education for all!” Some wore T-shirts that read “Freedom Keepers.” But this wasn’t about racial …

CNBC reports: The Trump administration is preparing to ban flavored e-cigarettes as federal health officials call for restrictions to combat an outbreak of a mysterious lung disease that has sickened hundreds and killed at least six people, U.S. health secretary Alex Azar told reporters Wednesday. President Donald Trump held a policy meeting on the issue at the White House on …

The New York Times reports: Medical experts and federal health officials on Friday warned the public about the dangers of vaping and discouraged using the devices as the number of people with a severe lung illness linked to vaping has more than doubled to 450 possible cases in 33 states. State officials reported two deaths, bringing the number of confirmed …

The Washington Post reports: State and federal health officials investigating mysterious lung illnesses linked to vaping have found the same chemical in samples of marijuana products used by people sickened in different parts of the country and who used different brands of products in recent weeks. The chemical is an oil derived from vitamin E. Investigators at the U.S. Food …

Gothamist reports: New York City’s biggest measles outbreak in nearly 30 years, which predominantly sickened ultra-Orthodox Jewish residents of Williamsburg and Borough Park, has ended. According to Health Department officials, 42 days, or two consecutive incubation periods for the highly contagious virus have passed, allowing the city to declare itself measles-free. The last recorded infection was in mid-July. An emergency …

The Washington Post reports: Michigan on Wednesday will become the first state in the nation to ban flavored e-cigarettes, a step the governor said was needed to protect young people from the potentially harmful effects of vaping. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), in an interview, said the state health department found youth vaping constituted a public health emergency, prompting her to …

Axios reports: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a formal warning on Friday against the use of e-cigarettes, recommending users do not buy bootlegged e-cigarettes or modify vaping products or substances, per a press release. Why it matters: As of Aug. 27, 215 cases of lung illnesses associated with vaping had been reported, along with 1 death related …

NBC News reports: Johnson & Johnson must pay over $572 million for its role in the Oklahoma opioid epidemic that officials claim led to more than 6,000 deaths in the state over nearly two decades, a judge ruled Monday. Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter claimed in court that Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and its pharmaceutical subsidiary, Janssen, marketed opioids to …