(NEW YORK) — Superbugs are now a leading global health risk, according to a major U.N. report published Tuesday.
Major industries like the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries are largely responsible for this growing threat, inadvertently driving dangerous pathogens to evolve to outsmart currently available medications, the report said.
Antimicrobials, which include antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, and antiparasitics are commonly used to prevent and treat infections in humans, animals and crops. However, their overuse and misuse have led to the development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the world, where microorganisms become resistant to treatments that were once effective. AMR has been identified by the World Health Organization as one of the top 10 threats to global health, with the potential to cause significant harm to human health, food security and the environment.
In 2019, an estimated 1.3 million deaths were directly linked to drug-resistant infections; nearly 5 million deaths were associated with AMR. At this pace, researchers estimate that by 2050 there could be up to 10 million additional deaths per year. The economic toll could result in a GDP drop of at least USD 3.4 trillion annually by 2030 as well, according to the report.
“That economic toll will come in terms of actually lives and livelihoods through disruption of trade losses, livestock productivity, and higher health care costs, not counting of course the human toll on lives,” said Dr. Anthony D, So, director of the Innovation and Design Enabling Access Initiative at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “The impact will be felt across sectors and disproportionately will fall upon poorer countries least well-positioned to mitigate the impact of AMR,” So added.
AMR is not only a public health issue, but also has ties to the environment.
“Environment plays really a key role in the development, transmission and spread of antimicrobial resistance,” said Jacqueline Alvarez, ehief of the Chemicals and Health Branch, United Nations Environment Programme. The report mentions that, “AMR is closely linked to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste,” which are “driven by human activity and unsustainable consumption and production patterns.”
“We have real tangible and physical recommendations…This goes beyond government. It talks about practices, it talks about culture, it talks about different sectors that need to really change the dynamics of the things that they are doing,” Alvarez added.
The U.N. report’s authors argued these problems should be fixed with top-down, government-level initiatives, which should be implemented as soon as possible. Specifically, governments should consider freeing up enough funding for national development planning, climate change initiatives and monitoring for the evolution of new superbugs.
Governments should also consider placing regulatory limits on the use of antimicrobials on farms, discharge of wastewater from pharmaceutical companies, improving wastewater management and beefing up safer sanitation practices, the report further urged.
(NEW YORK) — Donnese Tyler said she was at a routine PTA meeting at her son’s Maryland school last year when she suddenly felt an unusual feeling.
“I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, what was that?'” Tyler told Good Morning America of the symptoms she felt, which included a sharp pain in her chest and discomfort in her throat. “I said, ‘I hope I’m not having a heart attack.'”
Tyler, 52, also said that when she drank water, the water tasted salty — an atypical symptom she said was a precursor to the medical emergency she quickly began experiencing.
Tyler, whose story was first reported by local ABC affiliate WJLA-TV, credits some of the other moms at that PTA meeting with saving her life.
“I did not want to go, but two of the moms actually drove me to the ER,” Tyler said. “If I had not been around those moms, I would have just driven myself home and laid down, and who knows what the outcome would have been.”
At a Bethesda, Maryland, hospital, Tyler said doctors diagnosed her with SCAD or spontaneous coronary artery dissection, a rare occurrence where a tear forms in the wall of a blood vessel of the heart and separates without warning, according to the American Heart Association.
SCAD can cause a blood clot that may lead to a heart attack, arrhythmia or even sudden cardiac death and some cases require open heart surgery.
What to know about SCAD, heart disease in women
When it comes to heart disease, women can often experience symptoms other than chest pain, including shortness of breath, lightheadedness, pain in the arms or back, nausea and sweating.
Tyler’s symptom of tasting salt in water is incredibly rare and is not supported by any current medical research, according to Dr. Jennifer Ashton, ABC News chief medical correspondent.
Heart disease, which refers to several types of heart conditions, including SCAD and heart attack, is the leading cause of death for women in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There is no known cause for SCAD, but it often happens to women who are otherwise healthy and have few to no risk factors for heart disease, according to the American Heart Association. It is also shown in studies to occur more often in women who are, according to the AHA, postpartum and women who are “experiencing or close to a menstrual cycle.”
The most common demographic for SCAD is women in their 40s and 50s, according to the AHA.
Treatments for SCAD can range from medication to surgery to insert a stent to hold the artery open, according to the AHA.
Today, Tyler is in cardiac rehab and said she’s hoping to be well enough to run a 5K this May.
Ashton said the prognosis for SCAD varies, but in Tyler’s case, it’s “a great example” of incredible progress.
“Everyone’s recovery will be determined by how severe their dissection was and what their baseline level of condition was before that,” said Ashton. “So it does vary, but early diagnosis and treatment is critical for survival and the good news — these blood vessels, when there’s a small tear, they do tend to be able to heal spontaneously on their own.”
Tyler said she is sharing her story in hopes of encouraging others not to ignore any symptoms they may notice.
“If something doesn’t feel right, you just feel a little off, definitely get it checked out,” she said.
(NEW YORK) — New York City workers will no longer need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to be employed by the city, Mayor Eric Adams announced Monday.
The mayor said the vaccine mandate for city employees will end Friday, nearly 15 months after his predecessor, Bill de Blasio, implemented the policy, during a vote by the city’s Department of Health. Adams said 96% of the city workforce has received both shots so the mandate for current and prospective employees served its purpose.
“This is the right moment for this decision,” Adams said in a statement.
By comparison, 90% of New York City residents over 18 have completed their COVID-19 vaccine series as of Monday, according to data from the city’s Health Department.
De Blasio issued the mandate on Oct. 29, 2021, and was met with protests and criticism from some employees from various city agencies, including the fire department, police department and department of education.
Roughly 84% of the city’s roughly 331,000 workforce was fully vaccinated when the mayor announced the mandate, according to city data.
Despite those protests, the number of vaccinated city employees rose between de Blasio’s announcement earlier in October and the deadline, with 83% of all city employees reporting they were fully vaccinated before the deadline, city data showed. By Nov. 1, the first full weekday after the mandate went into effect, 90% of the city’s workforce was fully vaccinated, the data showed.
Those who weren’t granted a religious or medical exemption were placed on unpaid leave and some later were terminated.
The Health Department said 1,780 city employees were fired for not complying with the mandate. The agency said those former employees won’t automatically return to their previous positions but “will be able to apply for positions with their former agencies through existing city rules and regulations and hiring processes.”
Adams urged residents to get their vaccine shots and boosters if they haven’t done so.
Since the vaccines were made available to the public two years ago, the weekly hospitalization rate of COVID-19 cases among 100,000 unvaccinated New Yorkers was 36.84 compared to 6.82 among 100,000 boosted New Yorkers, Health Department data showed.
Chimére Smith, 40, from Baltimore, Maryland, during a function at the school where she was a teacher in Feb. 2020, before she contracted COVID-19. – Courtesy of Chimére Smith
(NEW YORK) — Throughout the pandemic, Black Americans have made up a disproportionate share of cases, hospitalizations and deaths compared to any other racial or ethnic group.
Now, doctors and advocates are warning the Black community is facing another barrier: access to long COVID care.
Long COVID occurs when patients who were infected with the COVID-19 virus have lingering symptoms for more than four weeks after recovering. In some cases, these symptoms can persist for months or even years.
It’s unclear what causes people to develop the condition, but research is ongoing.
According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey, with the latest update conducted between Jan. 4 and Jan. 16, 28.7% of Black respondents said they currently have or have had long COVID.
By comparison, 27.6% of white adults reporting having or having had long COVID. Hispanic adults were the only racial/ethnic group with a higher percentage reporting long COVID at 31.7%.
However, when it came to adults currently with long COVID who are suffering from significant limitations, Black patients had the highest share of people reporting, the survey shows.
Data shows 34.6% of Black Americans with long COVID report severe limitations on their ability to perform day-to-day activities. Hispanics had the second highest rates of severe physical limitations at 32% and those who reported being multiple races or another race were 30.5%.
‘Nobody wanted to listen to me’
One of those people is Chimére Smith, a 40-year-old former middle school English teacher from Baltimore, Maryland.
Smith said she contracted COVID in late March 2020. Her symptoms started off with a scratchy throat and soon progressed to a myriad of symptoms including extreme fatigue, a persistent cough, fogginess, headaches, nausea, diarrhea and spinal pain.
“I remember trying to do some type of social media dance with my partner and after like two minutes, I had to sit down because the world was spinning,” she told ABC News. “And so, within those first few days, as I said to my partner, ‘I think I have COVID.'”
Smith said she went to two hospitals in the Baltimore area, both of which were familiar with her medical history, but doctors refused to test her for COVID-19.
“They told me that my symptoms were not profound enough to test,” she said. “They told me that they didn’t have enough tests. They told me that I was fine and that I was just being anxious because we were out of school for the unforeseeable future. I got a lot of doctors telling me I was anxious, and that I was okay.”
However, Smith’s symptoms continued for several weeks and even months, to the point where she lost vision in her left eye and was left unable to work or drive.
Smith said she paid more than a dozen visits to doctors and hospitals asking for help, but she said she was discharged after every visit with no treatment plan in place.
Smith said she had never been dismissed by a doctor before and felt discouraged.
“I felt extremely frustrated,” she said. “I was incredibly sad and depressed about that. I felt very despondent. I had several white male doctors sit at my bedside and ask me, ‘Are you sure there’s nothing personal going on in your life? Are you sure? Is it a relationship issue? Was it a job issue?'”
She continued, “But nobody wanted to listen to me. And so, it was infuriating. I felt powerless. The way that some of those doctors talk to me, I can tell they were talking to me that way because I was a Black female patient, who they assumed did not know anything about what was happening to her body.”
In April 2021, Smith testified before the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health on the lingering effects of COVID-19.
Implicit bias in the medical field
There is a history of distrust when it comes to the Black community and the health care system due to beliefs among patients that doctors won’t treat them as well as their white counterparts. A 2012 meta-analysis found Black patients were 22% less likely than white patients to receive any pain medication.
There is also a fear of being used as guinea pigs in clinical research or other studies as what occurred during the Tuskegee experiments from 1932 to 1971.
Black men were injected with syphilis to track progression of the sexually transmitted in infection, but the study was conducted without informed consent and patients never received treatment for the disease.
What’s more, eugenics movements in the 20th century saw many women across communities or of color forcibly sterilized.
Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos, an assistant professor and physician in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told ABC News there is unconscious and implicit bias in the medical field that may lead to doctors dismissing Black patients compared to white patients.
“I can tell you, for a lot of affluent patients coming to our clinic or white patients, what got them to this clinic is that their doctor took their symptoms seriously and got him to our clinic,” Galiatsatos, a member of the Johns Hopkins Post-Acute COVID-19 Team, said. “Counter that with disadvantaged patients from a socioeconomic standpoint or Black/African-American patients, it took them several doctors to listen to what they’re experiencing before someone took them seriously.”
During the period when she thought no one was listening to her, Smith said she felt like she was going to die before anyone figured out what was wrong.
It wasn’t until a year and two months after Smith’s symptoms first began that she visited a doctor who told her she believed that Smith was suffering from long COVID.
“I had a doctor’s appointment on May 20, which was my 39th birthday, and on that day was when a physician, a Black woman said to me, for the very first time, ‘I believe you,'” she said. “And when she said that I cried like a baby. Because I could not believe somebody was actually telling me, ‘I believe you. Everything that you’re saying to me, convinces me that you had COVID.'”
Trouble accessing care
It’s not just a matter of getting doctors to believe Black patients. There’s also trouble accessing care among the Black community.
“So, with my own eyes, my colleagues and I have seen it in our own clinic, where those that are so economically disadvantaged, those of minority race, their persistence of symptoms by the time they get to our clinic have been going on for a little over a year,” Galiatsatos said. “When we counter that versus populations of higher socioeconomic status or the white race, for instance, those individuals usually catch us well within three to six months.”
There are several factors at play. Black Americans traditionally have less access to insurance – let alone quality insurance — allowing them allowing them to see a doctor at a post COVID clinic.
“So many of our patients that we’ve taken on have had to go through several insurance authorizations just to get a referral to come to us, and that’s what they will say is part of their delay,” Galiatsatos said.
Additionally, despite several clinics opening up across the country, Black patients are more likely to rely on public transportation, meaning less access to clinics. Galiatsatos said fewer than 10% of the patients he sees at the post-COVID clinic are Black.
Black households are also less likely to have internet. According to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, 34% of Black adults in the U.S. do not have home broadband, meaning they may not have information about long COVID or know where to go to receive care.
What’s more, a 2022 study found Black Americans make up about 15% of the U.S. workforce, but are much more likely than white Americans to hold frontline or essential jobs, accounting for 30% of bus drivers and 20% of food service workers, for example.
“A day missed of work is a day missed of income,” Galiatsatos said. “If those patients have long COVID, they’re going to decide between a paycheck and their health every day and that’s not fair to them.”
To close the racial gap in long COVID care, Galiatsatos recommends more regular implicit bias training among doctors and more telemedicine so patients can access specialized clinics.
Smith, the long COVID patient, said school buildings, historically black colleges and universities, churches and other community organizations can be used to educate Black communities on the effects of COVID and long COVID.
While Smith is able to cook and drive again, she still is unable to work and experiences several symptoms including brain fog, short-term memory loss, joint pain, gastrointestinal inflammation and headaches.
She hopes her story will help educate others and convince them to be their own advocate if they get pushback from physicians.
“This has been my reality for three years,” she said. “I would rather be in a classroom with 40 kids, talking about how to write a great essay, than sitting here talking to you. Three years later, and I still get no comfort. I love telling my story to inspire other Black people and Black families, but I don’t get any joy.”
(NEW YORK) — The hit HBO series “The Last Of Us” describes a post-pandemic world devastated by a mass outbreak of a “zombie fungus” that infects and takes over the mind of its hosts. Originally a video game, the popular show was recently renewed for a second season.
Although its premise is science fiction, the fungus in the show is actually based in scientific reality.
Is the ‘zombie’ fungus real?
Cordyceps – the so-called “zombie fungus” – is a real fungus and is sometimes used in treatments and therapeutics in Chinese herbal medicine.
Although cordyceps does not infect humans, it does infect a wide range of insects.
In ants, cordyceps slowly infects its victims by mind-controlling the host to migrate to a humid climate where the conditions are perfect for its growth. Once a suitable environment has been found, the ant will dig its jaws into a plant and await death.
The fungus will then slowly consume the ant while eventually sending out its own spores – a sort of antenna to enthrall and trap future victims.
Could the ‘zombie fungus’ threaten human health?
There are thousands of species of cordyceps each designed to infect a particular species – luckily, humans aren’t one of them. The human body’s immune system is more advanced than that of an ant and has a higher internal temperature, which would protect it from cordyceps infection.
However, other fungi have made their presence known throughout human history. Ergot poisoning, also dubbed “St. Anthony’s Fire,” is caused by the contamination of grain and has been attributed to mass hysteria events such as the Salem Witch trials in the 17th century, Matthew Fisher, Ph.D., a professor of fungal disease epidemiology at the Imperial College School of Public Health, said.
While some fungi have been known to cause hallucinations on very rare occasions, “a human manipulating cordyceps is vanishingly unlikely,” Fisher said.
Scientists said that while there are approximately 150,000 species of fungi – with a few million yet to be discovered – only about 200 are known to infect humans.
How do fungi currently affect human health?
Fungal infections are responsible for over 150 million severe cases and an estimated 1.7 million deaths per year worldwide, according to one study.
Researchers estimate that nearly a billion people have skin, nail and hair fungal infections annually. More serious fungal infections usually appear in people with other underlying health problems such as asthma, AIDS, cancer, organ transplant recipients and those on corticosteroid therapies.
In a detailed report, the World Health Organization warned in October, 2022, of 19 fungal pathogens representing the greatest threat to public health.
Yet, fungal infections receive less than 1.5% of infectious disease funding while killing more people than tuberculosis – a leading infectious disease killer worldwide.
“It’s really shocking that research on fungal pathogens is so underfunded. Biohazardous threats are much broader than just bacteria and viruses,” Jessica Malaty Rivera, infectious disease epidemiologist and research fellow at Boston Children’s Hospital and The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told ABC News.
Will there be a pandemic caused by fungal infections?
While some fungi can be transmitted from person to person, they generally do not spread as easily or quickly as viruses. Additionally, the human body’s immune response and the availability of antifungal medications make it less likely that a fungus would be able to cause a global outbreak.
It is unlikely that a single fungus would cause a global pandemic on the same scale that we’ve seen with COVID-19. Viruses typically spread through respiratory droplets whereas fungal infections spread through direct skin-to-skin contact or from sharing items.
Despite a low possibility of spurring a worldwide pandemic, the global burden of fungal infections remains high. “Many of these infections can be incredibly difficult to treat and have high mortality rates,” Rivera said.
Is climate change making things worse?
While it is highly unlikely climate change would lead to a zombie-like apocalypse according to experts, the warming of the globe continues to pose a threat to global health.
Research has shown that global pandemics from infectious diseases may become more common as habitats continue to bleed into one another and animals are exposed to species they have never interacted with before, while the space between humans and the natural world shrinks.
A new study also found that when scientists increased the temperature of a particular fungus was exposed to, the pathogen could adapt with certain genetic changes.
“These mobile elements are likely to contribute to adaptation in the environment and during an infection,” postdoctoral researcher Asiya Gusa Ph.D. of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology in the Duke School of Medicine said in a press release accompanied with the study. The research may suggest that pathogenic fungi can adapt to the planet’s warmer temperatures as well – highlighting the danger of global warming.
“It is clear that in a warmer wetter world, we are going to be exposed to more [fungi] than ever before – signs of this were seen during Hurricane Katrina – and this is going to pose an increased public health stress,” Fisher said.
“If we are going to really tackle climate change, we have to get more specific about the impact it has on public health,” Rivera said.
(NEW YORK) — Two types of artificial tears eye drops have been voluntarily recalled following 55 reports of adverse use effects, including eye infections, vision loss and even a bloodstream infection that led to one death, according to federal officials.
The affected eye drops were distributed by Aru Pharma, EzriCare and Delsam Pharma under Global Pharma Healthcare.
According to a health alert released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wednesday, federal, state and local health agencies have identified at least 55 individuals — some in health care facilities — across 12 states who had been infected with a strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa that expresses bacterial enzymes, making it highly resistant to many antibiotics.
Those impacted were in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin.
Artificial tears are often used to relieve burning and irritation due to dryness of the eyes and provide lubrication while preventing further eye irritation.
“Use of contaminated artificial tears can result in the risk of eye infections that could result in blindness,” Global Pharma Healthcare said in a recall statement posted on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration website Thursday.
“Global Pharma Healthcare is notifying the distributors of this product, Aru Pharma Inc. and Delsam Pharma and is requesting that wholesalers, retailers and customers who have the recalled product should stop use,” the statement continued. “…Consumers should contact their physician or healthcare provider if they have experienced any problems that may be related to using these over-the-counter drug products.”
The CDC issues similar guidance, stating that anyone who may have used EzriCare’s artificial tears and suspects they have an eye infection should seek medical care. Signs of an eye infection may include discharge from the eyes, pain or discomfort, redness of the eye or eyelid, blurry vision, increased light sensitivity, a feeling of something in the eye, according to the CDC.
The CDC also recommended people reach out to their health care providers if they were using the eye drops under the care of a doctor.
EzriCare, one of the distributors of the impacted eye drops, has set up a website with information for consumers.
“We immediately took action to stop any further distribution or sale of EzriCare Artificial Tears. To the greatest extent possible, we have been contacting customers to advise them against continued use of the product. We also immediately reached out to both CDC and FDA and indicated our willingness to cooperate with any requests they may have of us,” the company said in a statement.
The artificial tears were available over-the-counter online. The CDC, FDA and EzriCare are advising consumers to discontinue using any recalled eyedrops.
When reached by phone, Delsam Pharma president Kuppusamy Arumugam told “Good Morning America” the eyedrops Delsam distributed were recalled after the company was notified of a problem with Ezricare’s eyedrops. Arumugam said any recalled eyedrops from Delsam can be sent back to the company for a refund.
According to the FDA, the recalled eye drops were packaged in bottles with safety seals and small cartons, with Ezricare drops having the NDC number 79503-0101-15 and UPC number 3 79503 10115 7, and Delsam Pharma drops labeled with the NDC number 72570-121-15 and UPC number of 72570-0121-15.
Consumers can direct questions to the distributors via email or phone. Aru Pharma and Ezricare can be reached at arupharmainc@yahoo.com or at@ezricare-info.com or at 1-518-738-7602 while Delsam Pharma is available at delsampharma@yahoo.com or 1-866-826-1306.
(NEW YORK) — Many were stunned when videos were released of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, being beaten to death by five Memphis police officers during a traffic stop.
Officers pulled Nichols from his car on Jan. 7, pepper sprayed him and used a taser, the footage shows. He managed to flee, but the officers caught up with him and held him on the ground as they punched and kicked him in the head and hit him with a baton, according to the video that was released last week.
Seven Memphis police officers have been relieved of duty, with the five involved in the beating charged with murder. Additionally, three Memphis Fire Department personnel were fired.
While it’s unclear what motivated the officers to act in that way, psychologists and other social experts told ABC News some people act differently in groups than when they are alone and may participate in group-based violence because of it.
Police may misperceive someone as a threat
George Smith, director of outpatient group therapy at McLean Hospital — a psychiatric hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts — said police group violence might be different from other forms of group violence because they may act when they view someone as a threat.
“I was just thinking about the five police officers, and they may have believed that there was an actual threat, either to the community or to themselves,” he told ABC News. “Thinking this person is a menace to the community, and we need to do something to protect humanity from this genuine threat, or it may be that they believe that this person was a threat to one of them.”
“And when that happens, your good judgment can go completely out the window,” he added.
Smith said the person police officers might think to be a threat could be completely innocent, but the violence can still occur anyway.
“Even in a more benign situation, when a traffic cop pulls somebody over, it may be a completely innocent person whose taillight was out,” he said. “But they don’t know if this person has a weapon in their glove compartment so there’s this unnatural tendency for them to get adrenalized and to approach the situation in a more belligerent way than was warranted.”
Wanting to feel part of a group
Experts told ABC News wanting to belong to a group is nothing new and extends from wild animals running in a pack to humans wanting to affiliate.
While joining a group may have been necessary for survival in prehistoric times, it is now for developing a sense of camaraderie and belonging, experts said.
“As people are part of a group, they start to feel identified with this group, they feel like it’s an important part of who they are, they might even come to define themselves in terms of being a member of a group,” Dr. Rebecca Littman, an assistant professor in the department of psychology at the University of Illinois Chicago, told ABC News.
“There’s different kinds of groups, some that are based on the premise of violence and others that are not,” she continued. “So, you feel like you’re very identified with this group, you want to be a good group member, you want to get along with everyone else. And that can lead kind of ordinary people who generally in their individual lives would never end up participating in violence.”
Those same people, even though they know violence is wrong, may still participate because they’ll feel shunned by the group if they don’t.
“People are afraid of losing a social status, particularly when it’s a group that they really care about,” said Littman, who has studied why people participate in group-based violence. “They don’t want to be ostracized or, even just in a less extreme form, they don’t want to be seen as the odd person out.”
Dr. Vivian Zayas, a professor in the department of psychology at Cornell University in New York, said if a person starts to go against what the group thinks, they might be seen as undermining the group.
“Strategically, there are consequences to people who don’t work well in a group,” Zayas told ABC News. “They can be left out of the group, they can be left out of decision-making, they can be marginalized, they could lose power and status. Those sorts of social punishments can be used to silence differing opinions.”
Groups can normalize violent behavior
Research has shown that people’s thoughts and actions are often influenced by how those around them think and act.
If a group normalizes a behavior, even if that behavior is bad — such as violence — then we might believe that behavior is acceptable.
“What can happen is that this group is creating this new set of social norms. Maybe in this group, we’re often in situations where we feel a lot of threat and we have to protect ourselves, and the way we protect ourselves is violence,” Littman said.
“So, you can kind of see how that violence in particular groups can become normalized in a lot of different ways and make people either themselves genuinely feel like it’s okay or at least feel like this is what is normal in my group,” she added.
Leaders can influence behavior
The experts told ABC News that because we are influenced by leaders — and leaders set examples for the group — if the leader believes in bad behavior, the group may follow.
“If that person has status in that group and if they’re saying that the behavior is appropriate for group members — even if initially, someone thought that the behavior is problematic — they might feel that or come to think that it’s more appropriate,” said Zayas.
Zayas added that someone in the group might also see that the leader was elevated by engaging in problematic behaviors and wasn’t punished or reprimanded so they think they can also engage in the behavior without getting in trouble.
Reports have emerged that Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis adopted a “tough on crime” strategy when she took on the role.
Part of that included launching the SCORPION unit, which stands for Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhood, of which the five officers were members. Activists and residents have said members of the unit used excessive force. The unit has since been disbanded.
“The process of listening intently to the family of Tyre Nichols, community leaders, and the uninvolved officers who have done quality work in their assignments, it is in the best interest of all to permanently deactivate the SCORPION Unit,” a statement from the department read.
This doesn’t mean that Davis advocated the use of violence nor that she encouraged her officers to be violent, but the officers may have felt they were fulfilling her mission, experts said.
“So, it became part of a shared mission and when you get that mission, and there’s buy-in, because you’re part of a group that believes this mission,” Smith said. “One’s ability to discern whether it actually is a perceived threat can get totally overshadowed by this belief that we together are saving the community from these threats that are out there.”
In a video posted on Jan. 26, Chief Davis condemned the officers’ actions and called the circumstances surrounding Nichols’ death “horrific.”
“I am not wavering in my commitment to you to have a police force that is here to serve and protect you,” she said. “Those five officers and others failed our community and they failed the Nichols family and that is beyond regrettable.”
(NEW YORK) — Shoppers have seen significant price spikes on eggs as of late and since everyone wants to make the most of their hard-earned money, there are a few simple rules and tricks you should know to prevent prematurely tossing or wasting the staple protein.
Most egg cartons sold in stores get stamped with a “best if used by” or “best before” date for stores to control and rotate inventory. The U.S. Department of Agriculture explains that the printed “expiration date” is there so consumers know how long the eggs will be at their highest quality and best taste when stored in ideal conditions.
“Use by” dates show shoppers how long they have to consume the eggs before their overall quality diminishes. According to the USDA, the “use by” date “may not exceed 45 days including the day the eggs were packed into the carton.”
However, in many cases eggs can still be safely consumed beyond that date if they aren’t spoiled.
Eggs can last up to five weeks after they were packed, when stored in proper refrigerator conditions, according to The American Egg Board.
Here are some Grade A tips from the USDA to keep in mind when you need to know if you still have a good egg:
How to properly store store-bought eggs
Eggs purchased at the store should be brought straight home and refrigerated immediately at 40 degrees or colder, the USDA advises: “Keep them in their carton and place them in the coldest part of the refrigerator, not in the door.”
Typically, the coldest part of the fridge is lower shelves and towards the back of the unit.
Due to risk of bacteria growth and salmonella, don’t leave store-bought eggs out of the refrigerator for more than 2 hours. Any bacteria present in an egg can multiply quickly at room temperature, according to the USDA. When a cold egg sweats at room temperature, it can cause bacteria to move into the egg and spread more easily.
How long are eggs good once cracked?
Because bacteria can enter eggs through cracks in the shell, the USDA says to never purchase an egg that’s cracked.
“If eggs crack on the way home from the store, break them into a clean container, cover it tightly, keep refrigerated, and use within two days,” the agency states. “If eggs crack during hard cooking, they are safe. Remember that all eggs should be thoroughly cooked.”
How to use water to test if eggs are still fresh
Despite a “best by” or “packed on” date — or if you have a couple extra eggs out of their carton in the fridge and don’t remember when they got there — this sink or float test is a good baseline to determine if an egg is still fresh.
First, fill a bowl with enough cold water to cover the egg, and gently lower the egg in.
If it sinks to the bottom and stays on its side, the egg is very fresh, according to The Spruce Eats, which regularly tests common kitchen and cooking tricks like this one.
An egg that sinks to the bottom but floats on an angle or upright is slightly older but still safe to eat.
Eggs that float completely should be discarded as they’re too old to safely consume, The Spruce Eats notes.
As eggs age, the shell becomes more porous so more air is able to flow through and can create a larger air pocket between the egg membrane and shell. That small sack of air, once large enough, is what makes the egg float.
How long do you have to safely eat eggs once cooked?
Cooked eggs and dishes made with eggs should be eaten immediately after cooking. They can also be stored in a shallow container for quick cooling and then refrigerated for later use within three to four days.
When it comes to hard boiled eggs, the USDA states that the shell’s protective coating, or “bloom,” which is produced by a hen when it lays an egg, gets washed away “leaving bare the pores in the shell for bacteria to enter and contaminate it.”
For that reason, the USDA recommends hard-cooked eggs be refrigerated within two hours of cooking and used within a week.
How long do farmers market eggs stay fresh?
Because farm stands and farmers aren’t bound by the same USDA requirements to be washed, these eggs are often sold unrefrigerated and protected by their bloom.
According to The Happy Chicken Coop — an online publication and “group of chicken enthusiasts from around the world who have been raising chickens in their backyards for decades” — farm fresh eggs can be left unrefrigerated for up to a month, though after that, should be stored in a refrigerator, where they can be kept for up to six months.
Freeze raw eggs to use later
Yes, you can freeze eggs, just not in their shell because they will expand and break. So if you know you won’t finish an entire carton before the expiration, this is a great way to cut down on food waste.
According to The American Egg Board, there is a simple way to freeze eggs.
Crack the eggs into a bowl, gently whisk until whites and yolks are combined (not so much that air is introduced), and pour the eggs into an ice cube tray to freeze in individual servings. One cube is approximately half an egg. Once the cubes are frozen solid, transfer from the tray into a freezer-friendly, air-tight plastic bag.
Chef Jürgen David, director of pastry R&D at the Institute of Culinary Education, told ABC News’ Good Morning America that he suggests separating the whites from the yolks first “because many pastry applications call for just yolks or an unequal amount of yolks and whites.”
Gently beat the yolks until it forms a liquid and freeze and store as explained in the first method. One cube equals two egg yolks.
For the whites, pour directly into an ice cube tray, then freeze and store accordingly.
Frozen eggs keep best for two to three months, but can last up to a year in the freezer.
When ready to use the frozen eggs, thaw them in the refrigerator overnight or under running cold water and use them as intended.
(NEW YORK) — When the highly infectious Mpox virus, formerly called Monkeypox, was declared a public health emergency in August of last year, more than 450 people were testing positive every day. With more than 30,000 cases and 28 deaths, many feared Mpox could become the next pandemic.
The virus — characterized by a painful rash and deep lesion — was primarily spreading via skin-to-skin contact among sexual networks.
Now, roughly six months later, the emergency is over, with the nation averaging fewer than three cases per day. According to doctors and public health experts interviewed by ABC News, the virus didn’t disappear on its own. Instead, the virus was controlled through an aggressive, highly coordinated public health response.
“Mpox is a success story of conquering an outbreak,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco.
The successful control of Mpox was due largely to the rapid deployment of vaccines and treatments paired with an aggressive public awareness campaign that leveraged trusted voices in the LGBTQ community, which was hit first by the outbreak.
“Of course there have been criticisms,” said Dr. Vincent Hsu, an infectious disease specialist and AdventHealth’s infection control officer. “But the fact remains that in a relatively short period of time, we have been able to get the number of cases down to where there’s just very few.”
Key to that success was public outreach and education.
“Health departments and community advocates got the message out about Mpox — how the disease presented, how it was spread, how it could be treated and how it could be prevented, including vaccination,” said Dr. Roy M. Gulick, chief of the Infectious Diseases Division at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. “The sharp decrease in cases directly resulted from these efforts.”
Public health experts credited a strong, unified response from leaders in the LGBTQ community. In fact, the rapid response in the LGBTQ community did not allow the virus to spread even further, Hsu said.
“The LGBTQ community has a strong record of community advocacy and successful interactions with the public health system from the time of the HIV epidemic,” said Gulick. “Education led to behavior changes in the community, including limiting the number of sexual partners, as well as the enthusiastic uptake of the vaccine.”
“Some of the secret sauce came around communication,” added Chin-Hong, including “using trusted messengers from the community” to deliver the message. Chin-Hong pointed to Reggie Aqui, an ABC anchor in San Francisco and an openly gay man, as an example. Aqui was nominated for a GLAAD award for his work and community discussions about Mpox.
Another smart move was appointing Dr. Robert Fenton and Dr. Demetre Daskalakis to head the federal government’s MPox response, Chin-Hong said. Fenton and Daskalakis deployed evidence-based guidelines which helped doctors like him feel comfortable trusting their advice, he said.
Beyond education, an equally crucial factor in controlling the outbreak was the rapid deployment of existing vaccines and treatments that had been stockpiled for smallpox, a closely related virus.
“The prior availability of therapeutics meant we weren’t flying the plane as we were building it,” said John Brownstein, an ABC News contributor and chief innovation officer at Boston’s Children’s Hospital.
In August — with limited supplies of the only FDA-approved mpox vaccine — government public health officials made a controversial choice to break up a single vaccine into multiple doses, tweaking the route of administration to maximize the body’s immune response.
Thankfully, this new vaccine strategy worked — as did existing treatments, according to doctors and public health experts.
Still, experts warn the virus hasn’t been fully eradicated and could return. Although “the emergency is largely over,” Hsu said, “we need to continue to be vigilant.”
“The Mpox response is now a model by which to prepare for future infectious disease threats,” Brownstein said.
Added Chin-Hong: “I think Mpox generally provides a great playbook of how to deal with an outbreak: the alignment of science and politics needed, a national a local strategy that was implemented and having strong and unified consistent messaging that is empathic and specific.”
(NEW YORK) — A new warning from the Food and Drug Administration urges consumers to beware of marketers attempting to sell illegal and unproven mpox “medication” and “cures” in order to swindle scared, vulnerable people and bilk them out of their money.
The agency also shared a series of pictures of the alleged illegal products for sale.
These products, often sold online, have not been reviewed by FDA, the agency says, and are not proven safe or effective to treat mpox and other health conditions that they claim to address.
Several warning letters have been sent by FDA to the companies allegedly peddling these products.
One company’s website falsely claims that an “herbal natural remedy” for mpox comes from the carnivorous purple pitcher plant, Sarracenia Purpuria, the agency said.
“For decades, research has shown the effectiveness of Sarracenia Purpurea (Pitcher Plant) against past outbreaks of small pox [sic] in the 19th Century, found to halt viral replication in viral, derived from the Variola Virus also associated with Monkey Pox,” the company’s site says, according to FDA’s warning letter.
FDA notes that site also uses additional metatags and social media posts with key terms like “Monkey Pox,” “Herbal Natural Remedy” and “remedy coming soon!” to bring consumers to their site for purchases.
Another company’s site, which appears to target young parents, allegedly falsely claims that colloidal silver can help fight viral infections — not only mpox, but also COVID-19, RSV and other upper respiratory tract infections.
The FDA quotes this company as saying on its website, “What Can Colloidal Silver Treat? … As an antiviral, silver can kill the virus that causes COVID-19 and may be an effective adjunctive treatment. There is also evidence that it may be effective against other viruses of interest including monkeypox, herpes, RSV, and viruses that cause upper respiratory tract infections (like influenza).”
Claims like these are particularly concerning in light of their appeared marketing toward infants and children, the agency says — with marketers allegedly preying on parents’ scrambling to take care of their kids after a difficult fall and winter when pediatric patients were slammed hard with the tripledemic of RSV, Covid, flu and other viruses — amid notable shortages of the cold, fever and cough medications which are actually approved to help their symptoms.
The FDA said it’s “particularly concerned” that the second company marketed their colloidal silver product “for use in infants and children,” the letter says. The agency singled out a blog post for parents that advertised the product as tasting “like water and is easy to give to even the pickiest kids.”
“The use of untested drugs can have unpredictable and unintended consequences, especially in vulnerable populations such as children and infants who may be at greater risk for adverse reactions,” the FDA said, since their bodies absorb and metabolize drugs differently.
Health experts say the best way to get medical care for mpox — or any other malady — is to speak with your healthcare provider. Wellness products aren’t rigorously tested and don’t have great oversight, especially on the internet — something which marketers know they can take advantage of, according to experts.
