(NEW YORK) — The number of flu cases, hospitalizations and deaths this season are rapidly increasing, according to data released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
So far this season, there have been at least 4.4 million illnesses, 38,000 hospitalizations and 2,100 deaths from influenza.
The numbers are about 1.5 times higher than the 2.8 million illnesses, 23,000 hospitalizations and 1,300 deaths reported the prior week.
Additionally, the cumulative hospitalization rate currently sits at 8.1 per 100,000 — up from 5 per 100,000 the previous week — which is the highest at this point in the season since statistics began being recorded in the 2010-11 season.
The data also shows that 8,707 new patients were admitted to hospital this past week with flu complications, according to the CDC, compared to 6,465 the previous week.
Two pediatric deaths from the flu were recorded last week bringing the total this season to seven, the CDC said.
(SILVER SPRING, Md.) — For the first time, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved a treatment that can delay the onset of Type 1 diabetes.
Teplizumab, a monoclonal antibody that will be marketed under the brand name Tzield from pharmaceutical companies ProventionBio and Sanofi, is administered through intravenous infusion. The injection was shown in clinical trials to delay onset of insulin-dependent Type 1 diabetes for patients with autoantibody markers of early risk by over two years, with hopes for some that it can delay onset even longer.
“Today’s approval of a first-in-class therapy adds an important new treatment option for certain at-risk patients,” said Dr. John Sharretts, director of the Division of Diabetes, Lipid Disorders, and Obesity in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “The drug’s potential to delay clinical diagnosis of type 1 diabetes may provide patients with months to years without the burdens of disease.”
MORE: 3 in 10 uninsured Americans with diabetes may ration insulin: Study
Tzield was approved to delay the onset of stage 3 Type 1 diabetes in adults and children ages 8 and up who currently have stage 2 Type 1 diabetes. The medication is thought to slow down the body’s attack on its own insulin-producing cells and thus give people more time before they become dependent on pharmaceutical insulin. Tzield is not suitable for people with insulin-dependent Type 1 diabetes, people who are pre-Type 2 diabetics or those with type 2 diabetes.
“This approval is a watershed moment for the treatment and prevention of type 1 diabetes,” said Dr. Mark S. Anderson, director of the University of California San Francisco Diabetes Center. “Until now, the only real therapy for patients has been a lifetime of insulin replacement. This new therapy targets and helps to halt the autoimmune process that leads to the loss of insulin.”
Type 1 diabetes is a chronic autoimmune condition in which the pancreas does not produce insulin, the vital hormone responsible for controlling the amount of glucose in the body’s bloodstream. People with Type 1 diabetes have increased glucose that requires them to get insulin shots or wear an insulin pump to survive.
People with a family history of Type 1 diabetes or are otherwise concerned about developing the disorder can get a blood test processed through a lab that can detect autoantibodies. Studies have shown that 75% of people with these diagnostic markers usually become insulin-dependent within five years and nearly 100% at some point in their lifetime.
In 2019, an estimated 28.7 million people of all ages across the United States — or 8.7% of the country’s population — had diagnosed diabetes, including 1.6 million adults aged 20 and older who reported both having Type 1 diabetes and using insulin. Some 64,000 people are diagnosed with insulin-dependent Type 1 diabetes nationwide each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
(VALLETTA, Malta) — Malta announced Wednesday it is easing its abortion laws, becoming the last country in the European Union to end a total ban on the procedure.
The Mediterranean nation, located off the coast of Sicily, does not allow women to receive an abortion, including in cases of rape or incest.
However, Health Minister Chris Fearne said the government will amend the law to allow termination of a pregnancy if the mother’s life or health is at risk.
A legislative amendment will be presented to its Parliament next week allowing abortion if the mother is at risk of death and the fetus is not developed enough to be delivered.
Currently, Malta’s criminal code states any providers who perform an abortion to save the mother’s life — or women who receive an abortion — could face up to four years in prison.
“The choice isn’t whether the mother or the baby survive. The choice here is whether the mother and baby both dies, or whether the mother’s life is saved,” Fearne told reporters, according to Reuters.
“We don’t believe that after going through this ordeal the woman should face the possibility of imprisonment,” Fearne said.
The change was spurred after an American pregnant woman nearly died in the country because doctors refused to perform an abortion.
Andrea Prudente was 16 weeks pregnant when she and her partner Jay Weeldreyer decided to go on a two-week “babymoon” to Malta.
One week into the trip, Prudente was rushed to the hospital after she began bleeding profusely. Doctors told her the placenta had separated from the uterus — a condition known as placental abruption — and she was miscarrying.
Prudente was told the pregnancy was no longer viable and she was at risk of hemorrhaging if she didn’t have an abortion.
However, due to Malta’s strict abortion laws, doctors were unable to perform the procedure.
After days of communicating with their midwife back in the U.S., Prudente and Weeldreyer were able to get their insurance company to organize an emergency flight to Spain, where an abortion could be performed.
“This baby can’t live,” Weeldreyer told ABC News at the time. “And the fact that Andrea’s being forced to suffer as a consequence of it is barbaric. Like … it’s inexcusable. It’s been a long grind. She’s been through the wringer,” he said.
In September, the couple sued Malta’s government, arguing the ban is unconstitutional and violates the European Convention of Human Rights. The case has yet to go to trial.
Malta is a predominantly Catholic country with most residents favoring abortion restrictions. One recent poll found 61.8% of Maltese do not believe abortion should be decriminalized.
The poll showed 27.8% of survey respondents believe abortion should be legal in some circumstances while 8.3% said it should be legal in all cases.
Malta is one of only five countries in Europe where abortion is severely restricted, which includes Andorra, Liechtenstein, Poland and Vatican City.
(NEW YORK) — Social media is abuzz with people sharing stories about weight loss using Ozempic, a drug designed to regulate insulin.
Now, doctors are weighing in with context about this influential drug.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Ozempic, also known as semaglutide, as a treatment for Type 2 diabetes alongside diet and exercise if other medications cannot control blood sugar levels well enough.
Studies show patients with Type 2 diabetes — a chronic condition in which the body doesn’t respond to insulin well — who take Ozempic can even reduce risk of heart disease.
Although Ozempic is not explicitly approved for chronic weight management, it can be prescribed off-label and used safely for people who are obese.
Another drug called Wegovy is essentially the same injectable drug prescribed at a higher dosage.
The FDA has specifically approved Wegovy for patients with severe obesity, or who are overweight and have one or more weight-associated conditions like high blood pressure or high cholesterol.
Both drugs are currently in shortage, according to the FDA.
Doctors say both drugs are important options for people with obesity and diabetes. More than 40% of Americans are obese and 10% of Americans have diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Obesity is a complex disease. It’s all encompassing of genetic, occupational, hormonal, physical, mental, and social factors,” said Dr. Marlena Klein, DO, DABOM, obesity medicine specialist at Cooper University Health Care. “Patients have hugged me in the office and said I’ve changed their life because it allowed them to make changes.”
She continues, “It was like this was a missing piece in trying to get this disease under control.”
People who don’t have diabetes or obesity can still be prescribed the drug “off-label” but they may have to pay out of pocket, which could cost $800 to $1,400 for a one-month supply.
Since they hit the market, both Ozempic and Wegovy have been in high demand, both for on-label and off-label use.
Novo Nordisk, the company that makes both drugs, says it is currently experiencing “intermittent supply disruptions” of Ozempic due to “incredible demand” paired with supply chain constraints.
Because weight loss is a major concern in the United States, experts hope more patients can have access to these medications very soon.
Semaglutide works by helping the pancreas release insulin to move sugar from the blood into body tissues.
It also works by slowing down movement of food through the stomach and curbing appetite, thereby causing weight loss. It cannot be given to patients with certain medical conditions, including medullary thyroid cancer, pancreatitis, or gallstones.
Side effects can include severe nausea and constipation.
Its safety has not yet been established in minors.
Doctors will start out with a low dose of the injection and increase the dose after four weeks based on your body’s response.
Dr. Louis J. Arrone, director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Center at Weill Cornell Medicine & New York Presbyterian, said that in his practice, patients have been turning to Ozempic because Wegovy is in such short supply.
Novo Nordisk said it is on track to make Wegovy more widely available in December, and that a broad commercial re-launch is expected next year.
Doctors say that any patient having a hard time accessing Ozempic or Wegovy due to the current national shortage should speak to their primary care doctor or endocrinologist about alternative options within the same class of medications.
There are oral forms and other injectable forms that can be administered daily or weekly.
(NEW YORK) — Home births in the United States reached the highest level in three decades during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.
The report’s findings show the nationwide number of pregnant people giving birth at home rose from 1.26% in 2020 to 1.41% in 2021 — an increase of 12% and the highest level since at least 1990. That followed a 22% increase from 2019 to 2020.
The percentage peaked in January 2021 at 1.51%, according to the report.
Nevertheless, the vast majority of U.S. births still happen at a hospital or birthing center. Prior to the pandemic, the country’s rate of home births hovered around 1%.
The report noted that interest in home births increased due to COVID-19 and “concerns about giving birth in a hospital.”
The rise in U.S. home births from 2020 to 2021 was sharpest among Black women, with an increase of 21%. That followed a 36% increase from 2019 to 2020, according to the report.
For Hispanic women, home births increased 15% from 2020 to 2021, following a 30% increase from 2019 to 2020. For white women, home births increased 10% from 2020 to 2021, following a 21% increase from 2019 to 2020, according to the report.
From 2020 to 2021, the percentage of home births was on the rise in 30 U.S. states, with increases ranging from 8% for Florida to 49% for West Virginia. That followed increases in home births in 40 states from 2019 to 2020, the report said.
Medical associations like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists assert that every individual should have the right and opportunity to choose how they want to give birth. But they also say that hospitals and birthing centers are the safest places to give birth because trained professionals can intervene quickly if something goes wrong.
(NEW YORK) — A child under the age of 5 has died due to complications from flu and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, health officials in California confirmed on Monday.
The California Department of Public Health did not release additional details on the child or their illness, but noted this is the first pediatric death in the state due to RSV and flu this season.
The child’s death comes as cases of RSV and flu have been appearing earlier this year than usual and are on the rise across the United States.
Earlier this month, health officials in Michigan confirmed a 6-year-old died after developing complications from RSV, a contagious virus that can spread from viral respiratory droplets.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 11,000 RSV infections were diagnosed in September 2022 – which rose to over 44,000 for the month of October.
At the same time, positive tests for influenza reported to the CDC by clinical laboratories jumped from 2,083 to 7,504 in October, according to CDC data.
Though cases of RSV are on the rise, death from the virus remains rare, according to the CDC.
There are between 100 to 500 pediatric deaths and 14,000 adult deaths each year related to RSV, with the actual figure likely higher due to undercounting.
Experts told ABC News that a combination of waning immunity to COVID and lack of exposure to other viruses, combined with close gatherings indoors, is fueling a “perfect storm.”
“Mostly the issue is there’s low population immunity and kids are, once again, gathered again,” said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital, and an ABC News contributor. “And this is facilitating rapid spread of viruses like RSV.”
On Nov. 4, the CDC issued an official health advisory in response to the rise in respiratory infections in children.
The health advisory warned that “co-circulation of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza viruses, SARS-CoV-2, and others could place stress on healthcare systems this fall and winter.”
Doctors say it’s possible for people to become infected with two or more viruses at the same time. If this happens, especially in children or people with weakened immune systems, it can lead to a more severe illness.
What parents should know about RSV
RSV is a contagious virus that can spread from viral respiratory droplets transferred from an infected person’s cough or sneeze; from direct contact with the virus, like kissing the face of a child with RSV; and from touching surfaces, like tables, doorknobs and crib rails, that have the virus on them and then touching your eyes, nose or mouth before hand-washing, according to the CDC.
People infected with RSV are usually contagious for three to eight days, but some infants can continue to spread the virus even after they stop showing symptoms, for as long as four weeks, according to the CDC.
Among children, premature infants and young children with weakened immune systems or congenital heart or chronic lung disease are the most vulnerable to complications from RSV.
“Pretty much all kids have gotten RSV at least once by the time they turn 2, but it’s really younger kids, especially those under 6 months of age, who can really have trouble with RSV and sometimes end up in the hospital,” Dr. William Linam, pediatric infectious disease doctor at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, told ABC News last year. “That’s where we want to get the word out, for families with young children or children with medical conditions, making sure they’re aware this is going on.”
In the first two to four days of contracting RSV, a child may show symptoms like fever, runny nose and congestion.
Later on, the symptoms may escalate to coughing, wheezing and difficulty breathing.
Parents should also be alerted to symptoms including dehydration and not eating, according to Linam.
“Not making a wet diaper in over eight hours is often a good marker that a child is dehydrated and a good reason to seek medical care,” he said. “Sometimes kids under 6 months of age can have pauses when they’re breathing and that’s something to get medical attention for right away.”
Infants and toddlers can usually recover at home with RSV unless they start to have difficulty breathing, are not eating or drinking, or appear more tired than usual, in which case parents should contact their pediatrician and/or take their child to the emergency room.
At-home care for kids with RSV can include Tylenol and Motrin for fevers, as well as making sure the child is hydrated and eating.
According to Linam, parents can help protect their kids from RSV by continuing to follow as much as possible the three Ws of the pandemic: wear a mask, wash your hands and watch your distance.
Infants who are born prematurely (less than 29 weeks) and are less than 12 months old may benefit from a medication to prevent complications of RSV since they are at increased risk of severe disease, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Infants born prematurely with chronic lung disease may also qualify for medication. Parents should discuss this with their pediatrician.
ABC News’ Teddy Grant and Mary Kekatos contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Parents and medical providers are being called on to be careful with prescription cough medication as overdoses among children are on the rise.
Calls to poison control centers in the United States reporting the ingestion of prescription cough medicine by children rose by 158% between 2010 and 2018, according to a study published Tuesday by the Food and Drug Administration.
The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, found that pediatric poisonings involving the drug benzonatate, sold under the brand name Tessalon, have increased each year.
Most cases of unintentional exposures involved children 5 and under, according to the study.
Benzonatate is used as a cough relief for people ages 10 and older.
The FDA says on its website that the medication’s safety and effectiveness for children under the age of 10 has not been established and that “accidental ingestion resulting in death has been reported” in children under 10.
The signs and symptoms of an overdose of benzonatate may start as soon as 15 minutes after ingestion and may include choking, tremors and restlessness, according to the FDA.
The agency said convulsions, coma and cardiac arrest leading to death have been reported within one hour of ingesting benzonatate, which comes in capsule form.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says it is especially important not to give cough medicine to children with asthma, at any age, as ingredients in suppressants can cause severe exacerbations.
Doctors recommend honey alone or with warm water or tea to help alleviate cough symptoms for children over 2 years old. But caution that this is dangerous for children less than 2 years old due to botulism risk.
The study calls on doctors and medical providers who are prescribing benzonatate to give detailed instructions on the proper administration and storage of the medication.
Parents are also being called on to keep the drug out of the reach of children.
“Accessibility to medical products at home presents a risk for unintentional ingestion in young children as oral exploration is a normal part of development in infants, and young children may be enticed to consume objects that resemble candy,” the study’s authors wrote.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has a medication safety guide for parents and caregivers on its website.
The tips include keeping medicines out of sight and out of the reach of children by storing them in their original packages in locked cabinets or containers.
Parents should never leave their children alone with medicine and should remind babysitters, grandparents and other caregivers to keep purses or jackets that may contain medicine out of the reach of kids, according to the AAP.
When giving a child any medicine, the AAP recommends doing it away from a common area of the home and following directions exactly, paying attention to the correct dosage and strength. Contact your child’s pediatrician before giving your child any new medication, or with any questions or concerns regarding medication use.
(ATLANTA) — While respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, has been surging among children in the United States, older adults are being affected as well.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that senior citizens are being hospitalized with the virus at this point in the season at a rate much higher than seen in seasons past.
As of the week ending Nov. 5, the latest date for which data is available, adults aged 65 and older are being hospitalized at a weekly rate of 1.6 per 100,000.
Although the raw number might seem small, it is much higher than usually seen at this time of year. CDC data going back to the 2014-15 season shows the rate has never been higher than 1.0 per 100,000 in early November.
“Overall, it’s very striking that we’re seeing this level of RSV than we normally see across age groups,” said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor. “While there’s a lot of focus on the pediatric impact, we know RSV affects all vulnerable groups, including the elderly population.”
“The hospitalizations numbers are greater than anything we’ve seen in the past nine seasons,” he added.
An increase in respiratory viruses, including RSV, has been flooding pediatric hospitals and causing schools to shut down to stem the spread.
Public health experts told ABC News the early rise in cases is due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the last two years, children have been staying home from school, wearing masks and practicing social distancing, which has led to low RSV activity.
Now, with most pandemic measures relaxed, RSV is infecting both children who were born during the pandemic or primarily stayed home during the pandemic.
However, as more kids get exposed, so do more adults.
“Now all the children are back in school, they’re going to birthday parties, they’re playing with each other and we’re having a very early surge in RSV all over the country,” Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told ABC News. “They’re bringing it home and they’re giving it to grandparents, Aunt Susie, Uncle Frank and other adults who have underlying illnesses and it’s those adults who sometimes get illness severe enough to require hospitalization.”
He continued, “So the adults are part of this surge that has been described mostly in terms of its impact on children in pediatric hospitals.”
Adults with RSV typically experience the same symptoms as children including coughing, wheezing, fever, running nose, sneezing and decrease in appetite, according to the CDC.
While most cases can resolve with resting at home, drinking fluids and managing pain and fever, some adults are at higher risk of severe illness.
“First of all, advanced age, anybody over age 65, and of course, the older you are, the more likely you are to get severe illness,” Schaffner said. “Second, underlying illness, particularly of the lung, and heart. So, if you have underlying lung disease or heart disease, those are the circumstances that put you at increased risk of getting more severe RSV infection that will impair your capacity to breathe and will require hospitalization.”
There are currently no vaccines available that protect against RSV, although several are undergoing clinical trials, and some may undergo review from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In the meantime, the experts recommend following similar mitigation measures followed during the pandemic.
“It’s vaccinating against flu and COVID, it’s masking, it’s social distancing, it’s staying home when sick,” Brownstein said. “It’s the same non-pharmaceutical interventions we’ve been promoting during COVID.”
(ATLANTA) — A judge on Tuesday overturned Georgia’s six-week abortion ban, ruling that it is not constitutional.
The so-called “heartbeat bill” was signed into law in 2019 by Gov. Brian Kemp but was prevented from going into effect following legal challenges.
In July, three weeks after the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed a constitutional right to an abortion, a federal appeals court ruled the ban could go into effect.
The law prevents abortions from performed once fetal cardiac activity can be defected, which typically occurs at about six weeks’ gestation — before many women know they’re pregnant — and redefines the word “person” in Georgia to include an embryo or fetus at any stage of development.
Several groups — including the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Georgia, the Center for Reproductive Rights, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective — filed a lawsuit arguing the ban violates the right to privacy without political inference protected under the Georgia Constitution.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney agreed and said it went against the law because the ban was signed before Roe was overturned.
“At that time — the spring of 2019 — everywhere in America, including Georgia, it was unequivocally unconstitutional for governments — federal, state, or local — to ban abortions before viability,” McBurney wrote, referring to the original passage of the 6-week ban.
ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett and Ben Stein contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — People who smoke marijuana were more likely to have certain types of lung damage than people who smoked cigarettes, according to a new study that reviewed lung scans of smokers. The researchers who led the study say their findings suggest smoking marijuana may be more harmful than people realize.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates at least one-fifth of Americans have tried marijuana at least once. With more states legalizing the drug, it has become the most commonly used drug that is still illegal at a federal level.
Some health effects, such as brain development issues, high blood pressure, and increased risk of heart attacks and strokes, have been studied. However, according to Dr. Albert Rizzo, lung doctor and chief medical officer of the American Lung Association, “We don’t know the long-term effects of marijuana as we do for the long-term effects of tobacco.”
Researchers from Ottawa Hospital General in Canada compared approximately 150 lung scans from marijuana smokers, tobacco-only smokers and nonsmokers. The study found that rates of emphysema, airway inflammation and enlarged breast tissue were higher in marijuana than in tobacco smokers.
The scans showed that 75% of the marijuana smokers had emphysema. Slightly less than 70% of tobacco-only smokers had emphysema, while only 5% of nonsmokers had it.
Emphysema, a form of chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD), is the third leading cause of death in the U.S.
“There are air sacs in your lungs that are getting bigger than they should. As they get bigger, they are less efficient than they should be for gas exchange,” Rizzo said. The condition is caused by long-term exposure to irritants such as smoke, leading to irreversible lung damage.
“Marijuana smokers had more emphysema, a disease that causes difficulty breathing, than heavy tobacco smokers and nonsmokers,” said Dr. Giselle Revah, study co-author and cardiothoracic radiologist.
Doctors say there are several reasons marijuana might cause more lung damage than tobacco.
“Marijuana smokers breathe in more deeply, and they hold their breath longer, before they exhale. You combine the irritating effect of longer exposure and deeper inhalation of these toxins,” Rizzo said.
Tobacco smoke is also filtered, but marijuana smoke is not. All of these factors contribute to inflammation and irreversible damage, doctors say.
“Anything you inhale that could irritate the lungs would not be advisable, so I would recommend they stop,” Rizzo said. However, he recognizes that some users have medical necessity — for those individuals, he recommends a discussion with your doctor, who may be able to convert you to another, safer form of the drug, such as an ingestible form.
“There is a public perception that marijuana is safe. This study signals that marijuana could be more harmful than people realize,” Revah said.
Alicia Zellmer, M.D., and Joy Liu, M.D., are resident physicians in Internal Medicine and members of the ABC News Medical Unit.
