(NEW YORK) — For the last few months, JN.1 has been the dominant COVID-19 variant in the United States, making up the majority of cases. A new variant, however, has taken over and may lead to an increase in cases this summer.
KP.2, which is an offshoot of the omicron variant, currently accounts for an estimated 28.2% of COVID cases after making up just 1.4% of cases in mid March, according to data from the Centers for Disease and Prevention.
Over the past four years, the U.S. has seen summer waves of COVID and this summer may also bring a rise in cases, but not severe as in past seasons.
“We’ve had four consecutive increases of COVID in the summers in the last four years,” Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a professor of medicine and an infectious disease expert at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), told ABC News. “We expect an increase this summer too, but it probably won’t be large and it probably won’t be as profound as wintertime.”
Chin-Hong said he would refer to the increase as more of a “swell” rather a “wave” or a “surge.”
“Like when you’re at the beach and you see the swell coming,” he explained. “It’s not like a tsunami, it’s not like a huge wave crashing, it’s just kind of like a little swell. But the swell does mean that some people are going to get sick.”
Early data indicates KP.2 has more mutations to the spike protein than JN.1, which the virus uses to attach to — and infect – cells, which could potentially make KP.2 more infectious.
“The virus’ capacity to evolve is anticipated, and it’s something we’ve prepared for in our ongoing public health response,” said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor. “Given the seasonal patterns observed with COVID-19, a slight uptick in cases could be anticipated this summer, making ongoing surveillance and vaccination efforts all the more essential.”
Experts say there is no clear evidence that KP.2 — which some scientists have nicknamed “FLiRT” on social media but is not an official name used by the CDC or the World Health Organization — causes more severe illness or is more deadly than previous variants.
While more studies are needed to see if KP.2 is better at evading current vaccines than other variants, Chin-Hong said his experience at UCSF’s hospital over the past few weeks seems to indicate that vaccines are continuing to provide good protection.
He said the one common factor among all the patients hospitalized at UCSF with severe COVID is that none of them received the updated COVID vaccine that rolled out in fall 2023.
“If you haven’t done, go ahead and get it,” Chin-Hong said.
He added that it’s especially important for those who are immunocompromised or more susceptible to severe disease, such as being aged 65 and over, to get vaccinated.
COVID hospitalizations have not been increasing in the U.S., a milestone for the nation.
In late April, the latest week for which data is available, the U.S. hit 5,615 COVID weekly hospitalizations. By comparison, there were more than 150,000 weekly admissions at the peak of the omicron variant circulating in early 2022.
Experts say the U.S. is in a much better place to fight COVID than at the start of the pandemic and new variants are a reminder to remain vigilant, but not to panic.
“We have to remember this virus is now part of the respiratory mix we handle yearly just like influenza and, just like influenza, we try to stay ahead of the game to prepare for any possible surge or to understand how well the vaccines are matched,” Brownstein said. “This is all bread-and-butter public health surveillance. It’s important to stay up-to-date with vaccines and remain vigilant and stay home when sick.”
Rick Slayman being discharged two weeks after pig kidney transplant. – Massachusetts General Hospital
(BOSTON) — The 62-year-old man who received the first-ever pig kidney transplant in the world has died, his family announced on Saturday.
Richard Slayman underwent the four-hour procedure in March at Massachusetts General Hospital and was discharged from the hospital two weeks later on April 2.
The hospital emphasized there was no indication Slayman’s sudden passing was due to the transplant.
“The Mass General transplant team is deeply saddened at the sudden passing of Mr. Rick Slayman. We have no indication that it was the result of his recent transplant,” Massachusetts General Hospital said in a statement.
Slayman a resident of Weymouth — 16 miles southeast of Boston — had been living with Type 2 diabetes and hypertension for many years, the hospital said at the time of his transplant. He was on dialysis for many years before receiving a kidney transplant from a human deceased donor in December 2018 at Massachusetts General Hospital.
However, the kidney began to fail about five years later and Slayman was forced to resume dialysis in May 2023, which the hospital said affected his quality of life.
“Mr. Slayman will forever be seen as a beacon of hope to countless transplant patients worldwide and we are deeply grateful for his trust and willingness to advance the field of xenotransplantation. We offer our heartfelt condolences to Mr. Slayman’s family and loved ones as they remember an extraordinary person whose generosity and kindness touched all who knew him,” the hospital’s statement read.
The kidney was provided by eGenesis, a pharmaceutical company based in Cambridge, from a pig donor genetically-edited using CRISPR-Cas9 technology. The harmful pig genes were removed and certain human genes were added to improve its compatibility with humans, according to the hospital.
In a statement, Slayman’s family thanked the doctors and his care team at Mass General Hospital.
“Our family is deeply saddened about the sudden passing of our beloved Rick but take great comfort knowing he inspired so many. Millions of people worldwide have come to know Rick’s story. We felt – and still feel – comforted by the optimism he provided patients desperately waiting for a transplant.”
“We are extremely grateful to his care team across Massachusetts General Hospital and Mass General Brigham, especially Dr. Williams, Dr. Kawai, and Dr. Riella, who truly did everything they could to help give Rick a second chance. Their enormous efforts leading the xenotransplant gave our family seven more weeks with Rick, and our memories made during that time will remain in our minds and hearts.”
His family said one of the reasons Slayman underwent the transplant was to provide hope for the thousands of people awaiting transplants to survive.
“Rick accomplished that goal and his hope and optimism will endure forever. His legacy will be one that inspires patients, researchers, and health care professionals everywhere.”
ABC News’ Eric Strauss contributed to this report.
(WEBSTER, N.Y.) — An upstate New York nurse has been accused of falsifying vaccine records for more than 100 children across the state.
The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) issued a $55,000 penalty against Sandra Miceli, a licensed nurse practitioner and registered professional nurse at Surviving Naturally in Monroe County.
Miceli is accused of falsifying immunization records for 116 school-aged children for nearly 550 different scheduled vaccinations.
Health professionals say that by lying about the vaccination status of dozens of children, Miceli left them exposed to numerous communicable diseases including measles, chickenpox and polio.
“Falsifying school-aged children’s vaccine records endangers both the child and their peers, as vaccination is the best protection against preventable disease,” NYSDOH Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said in a statement this week.
“Furthermore, this is an example of how the spread of vaccine misinformation undermines the entire system that exists to protect the public’s health. The New York State Department of Health will continue to investigate those who falsify vaccine records and use all available enforcement tools against those who have been found to have committed such violations,” the statement continued.
Both Miceli and an attorney representing her declined an ABC News request to comment.
Miceli is the owner and operator of Surviving Naturally, a so-called “natural wellness center” in Webster, a suburb of Rochester, according to an investigation by the NYSDOH Bureau of Investigations.
From July 2019 through February 2021, Miceli provided false information to the New York State Immunization Information System (NYSIIS) about 546 vaccinations that never occurred and children who were never vaccinated, according to the health department.
The majority of children that Miceli falsely claimed had been vaccinated live and attend schools in Monroe County and Western New York, but some lived as far away as New York City, according to the NYSDOH.
All of the unvaccinated and under-vaccinated children Miceli claimed were immunized must be fully up-to-date on their required vaccinations or be in the process of receiving the missing vaccinations before returning to school or day care, the NYSDOH said.
In its investigation, the NYSDOH says they learned that Miceli would purchase a small supply of vaccines and pretend to administer doses to children. For one vaccine, she reported that she had administered 30 times the number of doses than she had purchased, according to the NYSDOH.
Miceli allegedly was a longtime opponent of vaccines and vaccine mandates, which she made clear on social media, according to the NYSDOH. On Surviving Naturally’s Facebook page, officials say, she posted material claiming vaccines have “unidentified contaminants” that lead to autism, pregnancy miscarriage, cancer, and death.
“In posting anti-vaccination propaganda on social media, Miceli spread dangerous public-health falsehoods and sowed fear about vaccines at the same time that she claimed, as a licensed nurse, to be protecting public health by administering immunizations required for enrollment in schools and day cares,” the NYSDOH said in a press release.
Miceli also allegedly expressed her opposition to a New York state bill that eliminated non-medical exemptions from the state’s school and day care vaccine requirements. The bill was passed by the state legislature and became law in June 2019.
Miceli was fined $55,000 by the New York State Department of Health for her alleged actions, $30,000 of which she was ordered to pay within 10 days of the stipulation and order going into effect. The remainder of the penalty will be suspended as long as Miceli is compliant with the terms set forth in the order, according to the NYSDOH. Those terms include refraining from facilitating, aiding, abetting, advising, recommending, or conspiring in any scheme to misrepresent vaccination status, the NYSDOH says.
Additionally, Miceli and other staff of Surviving Naturally are “permanently excluded” from the NYSIIS, and are barred from administering any vaccine that is required to be reported to the NYSIIS, the NYSDOH says.
(MAUI, Hawaii) — For the thousands of people who survived the Maui fires last August, the trauma of what they lived through still lingers.
Lahaina painter Kirk Boes and his wife Laura have lived on Lahaina together for more than 40 years. They evacuated on August 8, only to return three days later. They were overwhelmed with grief at the destruction left behind.
“There’s the initial disbelief, just denial,” Boes told ABC News. “I wasn’t even registering what I was seeing. Then it hit me. What really did happen.”
Nearly half of the victims in the Lahaina fire died in Boes’ neighborhood, known as Kuhua Camp. Many of those victims were found on Boes’ dead-end street.
“We lost 19 of our neighbors just in this five house radius right here. People that I’ve been waving to hello to for a decade,” Boes said, pointing to neighboring homes.
Kirk said he became separated from his wife on August 8, as he ran ahead of their car to find a safe evacuation route. He said they eventually found each other near the Banyan Tree.
“When you go through something this heavy, it brings you together, but it’s also like your nerves are raw,” he said.
Laura Boes lost many animals in the fire. “She cried every night, sometimes twice a day… for six months,” Boes said about his wife. For months Kirk suffered from flashbacks and sleepless nights. Eventually the couple sought therapy from a close friend to regain a state of health or well being, or olakino in the Hawaiian language.
The cornerstone of healing for the Boes family is rooted in faith. Kirk was once angry at officials for not sounding the sirens and possibly preventing loss of life. He said he later found a piece of Scripture about forgiveness in the debris of his home.
“And wow, it’s like a switch went on in my life that day, and I began to pray for all those people that I was really angry with,” Boes said. “I want them to know that I forgive them, right? Because when I forgave them, I was able to move into healing.”
The pain of losing someone deepens with distance for Kathleen Hennricks, who lives in Oregon. Her sister Rebecca “Becky” Ann Rans died in the fire with her partner Doug Gloege, a few blocks from the Boes’ home. Rans, 57, was a mother of three boys.
“My sister was a, I always call her a free spirit, because she was somebody that went her own path,” Hennricks told ABC. “I know that she absolutely was absolutely the best mother to her boys that she knew how to be and was just such a caring and giving person.”
Hennricks said she has found comfort leaning on people who have also suffered in the tragedy.
“There are so many other people that have been affected by this tragedy, and there is most definitely comfort. And I know that I have found a huge comfort with the people that love my sister. And I think that that does kind of help fill that void just a little bit, is talking to the people that knew her and loved her and hearing stories that I had never heard before. It was like her being here at times.”
Kathleen Hennricks said she has also coped with the loss through art therapy.
Divided Supreme Court rules no quick hearing required when police seize property “One of the things that I do if I’m having a rough day is I do watercolor painting. I really enjoy just getting into my office and just painting… and I know that that’s something that she enjoyed as well,” Hennricks said. “It gives me that ability to connect with her, fill that void a little bit.”
Rans’ family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the state, the county of Maui, Hawaiian Electric, and the largest private landholder in Hawaii. They claim overgrown vegetation on unkept land, aging electrical infrastructure, and the county’s lack of emergency preparation contributed to Rans’ death. Boes has also filed a lawsuit.
In statements to ABC News, both the county of Maui and the Hawaii State Attorney General office told ABC News they do not comment on pending litigation, and said the ATF and Maui Fire and Public Safety Department are “conducting an investigation into the cause.”
Hawaiian Electric declined to comment on the lawsuit, but in an August statement wrote the morning fire appeared to have been caused by power lines that fell in high winds, and was later declared “extinguished” by Maui County Fire Department. The statement claims a second fire in the afternoon began in the same area, after their power lines had been de-energized for more than six hours, and its cause has not been determined. Hennricks also submitted written testimony to Congress.
“Our quest for justice has been, on top of the grief. I think the grief is what drives the quest for justice,” Hennricks said. “It’s the fact that we lost her is obviously detrimental. The after effects, the knowing that this could have been prevented, the knowing how many people were affected during this event, has just been catastrophic. It’s hard enough to grieve over somebody that you’ve lost, but to know that so many people that were affected continue to be affected, I think has been probably one of the most devastating things of all. And we want answers,” she said.
Divided Supreme Court rules no quick hearing required when police seize property The fires on Maui not only left behind a trail of physical destruction, but an invisible one, too.
With suicide rates rising nearly 16% among Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders from 2021-2022, mental health continues to be a big concern on Maui, especially since all but one full-service medical facility in Lahaina was destroyed.
And the housing shortage and lack of safe spaces for those living with mental health issues has exacerbated the problem on Maui, according to Nicole Hokoana, CEO of Maui Behavioral Health Resources. MBHR operates 3 nonprofits that offer mental health services and substance use treatment across the island.
“The people that we see and have been working with have already been living with, right living with these types of struggles, so the fires really just made everything worse,” she said. “It’s really hard to be well on Maui right now,” said Hokoana.
Hawaii State House Representative Elle Cochran, who represents West Maui, agreed.
“Where is the light at the end of the tunnel? Where is the ray of hope? I mean, where’s the help? And people are frustrated and they feel like, there’s a lot of people just made it through COVID. They just finally got back on their feet, they finally got to rebuild their lives, businesses, what have you, and now this happens.”
Hawaii was awarded $17 million in federal funding for mental health support shortly after the August fires. And since July 2022, Hawaii has operated the nation’s first state legislated Office of Wellness and Resilience; its aim is to make Hawaii a trauma-informed state and break down barriers that impact health. OWR offers mental health programs at the resorts where displaced victims are sheltered including music therapy.
Cochran says community outreach is crucial, including “to just get out and be boots on the ground literally and walk the beaches, go to the parks, go to the tent cities and what have you, to the hotels.”
David “Kawika” Mattos’ group, Maui Family Support Services Kāne Connections, regularly line the streets of Maui and wave signs to encourage residents to talk about mental health and prevent suicide. Mattos also hosts a men’s group at a resort shelter to help men process their trauma, but also move forward and to support each other and continue to grow as men and fathers.
Cochran said, “I heard from quite a few males that, ‘it’s hard,’ but yet no one looks at them as they should having these types of feelings. And then looking at parents having to be strong and stand up and not fight from breaking down in front of their children, that was also a really huge challenge.”
Another outreach team caring for the Maui community is the Pūlama nā ‘Ohana Team.
“When we were so fortunate as to get some extra funding, because this is outside of what we typically do, what we wanted to do was recruit a team of people that are of Lahaina, of Maui,” Hokoana said. “Already connected, already serving, people that are trustworthy in the community.”
Su-Lynn Pohai Kaihewalu, a care coordinator on the team, said that trust is everything, and often it can begin with supplying food or water. “We gotta remember what the common goal is and it’s to supply our people with their needs. Get stability first, and then they can work on their mental health,” she said.
Adri Haia is also a care coordinator on the team, and leads a women’s circle, or wahine circle. She says there is a stigma around getting mental health on Maui. “We’ve been taught to hold it in, be strong, figure it out, and when you really need help, and because you’ve built that armor up, it’s so hard to receive,” Haia said. “It’s so hard to ask for help.”
With limited resources, mental health experts on Maui are trying to meet people where they are and tailor treatments.
“Not only are we a very multicultural, multilingual community, but I think we’ve learned from disasters in other communities, that people need different resources. We don’t all heal in the same way. And indigenous healing was often communal healing,” Hokoana said. “It’s really important to be open-minded and to be person-centered or community-centered, and listen to the people who have been most impacted, and try to deliver a wide range of services.”
One of the services offered on Maui is equine therapy. Every Wednesday Ronda Pali receives a ride from a local transportation company, to travel two hours away from Lahaina, and receive trauma informed care. She is in her tenth session, trying to cope with the trauma of losing her home in the fire, in addition to heart issues.
“The thought of the rebuild of Lahaina is overwhelming. It’s definitely a source of strain and worry and fear,” Pali said. “Coming here is helping me keep things in perspective and it’s giving me the sense that I am being cared for. My needs are met 100%. I am loved, I have purpose and I feel grounded.”
Spirit Horse Ranch has held more than 950 sessions for survivors looking to heal and recover. Ronda’s individualized therapy includes a self-regulation breathing technique, and deep connection work with her horse Beauty.
“Sometimes she’ll turn around and put her face right in my face,” Pali said. “It brings me so much joy when she acknowledges me.”
“We don’t get that nurturing that we need for love. So the horses provide this connection through working with them over time, to reconnect to the person’s self and then to another, which is the horse. And then also detach. How many times do we hold onto things that are not healthy? Relationships, jobs, places? So that’s a big part of what we do,” DePonte said.
They also offer equine-assisted learning activities.
“We have about 20 different activities that we use in different various forms with the horses to unearth the trauma, heal it in real time with the horse as their partner,” DePonte said. “They love to help nudge the client, nurture the client, hold the client accountable. They’ll stomp their foot and say, “You’re not telling the truth.” And spur them on a little bit. They wind them down, they build them up. It’s incredible.”
Pali is also trying an alternative therapy technique called brainspotting.
“We have seen a lot of pain and confusion and loss. So brainspotting helps go through the ocular nerves into an inner resource part of the brain. It’s called the reptilian part of the brain, where our memories are stored, our trauma’s stored. And using various different techniques, a pointer or gaze spotting to direct and find an activation point, we can lock into very deep trauma that might be creating the reaction today, that fight, flight, or freeze. So if we unlock that, that trigger is no longer apparent, it’s no longer holding them hostage,” DePonte said.
Pali said she can feel a difference.
“I feel loads of tension coming out of me every time I come here,” she said.
(NEW YORK) — On Sept. 10, 2022, Michael and Jill Katz received a devastating phone call that their 21-year-old daughter Sarah had collapsed while out to dinner with friends. They raced from their New Jersey home to Philadelphia, where Sarah was attending college.
Sarah Katz had suffered cardiac arrest and was then transported to a nearby hospital, where doctors informed her parents that she had suffered another cardiac arrest and ultimately passed away.
“The pain is just so hard and so deep,” Jill Katz said in an interview with “Nightline” about her daughter’s death. “It’s not something you get better from. Some people say oh time is all healing. It’s not. There’s no healing. It’s just acclimation.”
“It’s so many mixed emotions,” Michael Katz said. “There are no more photos. There are no more memories. It’s the memories that we have. And luckily, we’re very fortunate. We’ve got so many wonderful, incredible memories.”
Sarah Katz, a University of Pennsylvania student, was diagnosed when she was 5 years old with a heart condition called Long QT syndrome type 1 (LQT1). The diagnosis prompted her to become an advocate, and she began teaching CPR and defibrillator use when she was just 13 years old. She was also a Red Cap Ambassador for the American Heart Association. Due to her condition, Sarah avoided high-caffeine energy drinks at the recommendation of her doctors.
After Sarah’s death, her parents say they were able to pinpoint the cause.
“We had to go pack up her apartment in Philadelphia,” Michael Katz said. “When we went there, her roommate told us that she had had a drink from Panera, a Charged Lemonade drink. The reason why the roommate brought it up to us was that she had known about some of the dangers in these excessively caffeinated energy drinks that have multiple other ingredients. And so she was the one to put the pieces together. And then the doctor said that is absolutely something that could have contributed.”
The Katz family filed suit against Panera Bread Co. for wrongful death, negligence and several other counts, claiming that the company failed to properly warn consumers of its dangerous product. The suit alleges that a 30-ounce serving of Panera’s Charged Lemonade exceeds the caffeine in a 12-ounce Red Bull and a 16-ounce Monster Energy Drink combined.
Panera Bread issued a statement following Sarah Katz’s death.
“We were saddened to learn last week about the tragic passing of Sarah Katz. While our investigation is ongoing, out of an abundance of caution, we have enhanced our existing caffeine disclosure for these beverages at our bakery cafes, on our website and on the Panera app,” a spokesperson for Panera told ABC News in a statement.
Amid mounting pressure, Panera Bread announced on May 7, 2024, that the company would remove its Charged Sips drinks from the menu.
ABC News contacted Panera, which did not answer specific questions about its Charged drinks. However, it said it was undergoing a “menu transformation” and was launching low-sugar and low-caffeine options.
In addition to the Katzes’ lawsuit, the company faced two others: one from the family of a Florida man who allegedly died after drinking three Charged Lemonades, and another from a Rhode Island woman who claimed the drink caused her permanent heart issues.
Panera has denied wrongdoing in all three cases.
Dr. Roshini Malaney, a cardiologist who spoke with ABC News, warns that some energy drinks, due to their caffeine content, can pose a danger to specific individuals.
“Increasing the heart rate can lead to these abnormal heart rhythms that can be fatal,” said Malaney, who did not treat Sarah Katz and is not involved in the Panera lawsuit. “In addition, caffeine can weakly increase that recharging time, so both of these things together can create the perfect storm where someone with an underlying genetic disorder, like Long QT, can go into a fatal heart rhythm.”
The FDA does not mandate any specific warnings on energy drink labels. In response to Panera’s Charged products, the FDA told ABC News they contacted the company. The FDA added that it’s up to the companies to ensure they understand their responsibility to consumers when adding caffeine to their products.
“I’ve seen a lot of patients, not just with genetic cardiac issues, just with normal hearts come in with symptoms and abnormal heart rhythms after consuming energy drinks,” Dr. Malaney said. “So I would definitely say that the FDA should have some sort of labeling.”
Sarah Katz’s parents hope they can save other families from this type of tragedy.
“Nothing changes that our daughter’s gone,” Michael Katz said. “Nothing’s going to bring her back. But if we can help, and help others avoid this, this devastating loss for anyone else I think that will be worth the additional pain to make a positive impact.”
(NEW YORK) — The City Council in Long Beach, California, voted Tuesday to ratify a local public health emergency order after an outbreak of tuberculosis sickened several people.
The outbreak is linked to a single-room occupancy hotel, a form of affordable housing meant for low- or minimal income residents, according to the city’s public information office.
As of April 29, 14 cases have been confirmed and approximately 170 people have likely been exposed.
Nine have been hospitalized and one person has died.
Here is everything you need to know about TB, including how it spreads, what are the symptoms and how to prevent infection:
What is TB?
Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The bacteria typically attack the lungs but can also attack other parts of the body including kidneys, spine and brain.
Not everyone infected with TB bacteria becomes sick, resulting in two TB-related conditions: latent TB infection and TB disease.
People with latent TB infections will usually test positive for TB via a skin test or blood test but will not feel sick or have symptoms and will not spread TB bacteria to others.
Meanwhile, those with TB disease fall sick often have symptoms including chest pain, coughing up blood, fatigue, weakness, fever, chills, sweating, lack of appetite and weight loss, the CDC said. Additionally, someone with TB disease can spread the bacteria to others.
How does TB spread?
When a person with TB disease coughs, sneezes, speaks or sings, bacteria can spread through the air and a non-infected patient can breathe in the bacteria. These bacteria can settle in the lungs and then move throughout the body.
The disease is not spread by shaking hands, sharing food or drinks, touching clothes, touching bed linens, sharing toothbrushes or kissing, according to the CDC.
The CDC said people with TB disease are most likely to spread the illness to close contacts including family, friends, coworkers and classmates.
Those who are exposed to TB bacteria but not infected cannot immediately spread the disease to people; only people with active disease can do so, according to the CDC.
“Before you would be able to spread TB to others, you would have to breathe in TB bacteria and become infected,” the CDC says on its website. “Then the active bacteria would have to multiply in your body and cause active TB disease. At this point, you could possibly spread TB bacteria to others.”
What treatments are available for TB?
There are several treatment regimens for TB disease that may last anywhere from four months to nine months depending on the course of treatment. Health care providers may consider specific regimens for patients with co-existing medical conditions such as diabetes or HIV.
Those with latent TB infections, should consult a health care provider for a specific treatment regimen.
About 5% to 10% of people who don’t receive treatment for latent TB infection will develop TB disease at some point, according to the CDC.
How to prevent TB
In the U.S., the TB vaccine exists, but it is only for people who meet specific criteria, and should be given in consultation with a TB expert, according to the CDC.
In other countries where TB is common, the vaccine is often given to infants and small children.
The CDC recommends that Americans who visit other countries where TB is more common should avoid close contact or prolonged time with known TB patients in crowded, enclosed environments, and to have a TB skin or blood test upon return to the U.S.
What is the latest on the outbreak in California?
Long Beach City Health Officer Dr. Anissa Davis declared a local public health emergency last week before it was ratified by the City Council on Tuesday.
This allows the city to mobilize resources, accelerate emergency plans, coordinate with other agencies and allow the city to expedite the purchase of necessarily supplies to identify and treat TB.
Long Beach public health officials, however, say the risk of TB for people who live, work, study or visit in Long Beach remains very low.
In 2022, there were 8,331 TB cases reported in the U.S., an increase from 2021 but lower than 2019, CDC data shows. There were 602 deaths in 2021, the latest date for which data is available.
(NEW YORK) — From vegetables and legumes to fish and fresh herbs, Mediterranean ingredients provide a wide array of health benefits, and the Mediterranean diet is consistently ranked the top overall diet.
Now, researchers have found new health associations between consuming more than 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil a day and lower risk of dementia-related death.
According to a new study published Monday in the journal JAMA Network Open, researchers from Harvard School of Public Health followed the dietary decisions of 92,383 health care professionals over 28 years and found that those who incorporated more olive oil of any kind into their diet lowered their probability of dying from dementia.
The risk of disease-related death was also lowered when participants replaced 1/4 teaspoon of mayonnaise or a teaspoon of margarine with olive oil, and after other lifestyle factors were accounted for, such as eliminating smoking.
Researchers found that consumption of more olive oil, at least 7 grams per day, was associated with a 28% lower risk of dementia-related death.
The American Heart Association has said that consuming virgin olive oil, in particular, may help the body “remove excess cholesterol from arteries and keep blood vessels open.”
When looking at substitutions, the research showed swapping 5 grams per day of margarine and mayonnaise with olive oil lowered the risk of dementia-related death by 8% and 14%, respectively. Other vegetable oil substitutes did not show a significant reduction in this risk.
The study population did not have heart disease at the beginning of the study, so the results may not reflect groups who could be at the highest risk for dementia and dementia-related death.
Because this was an observational study, it does not show direct cause and effect, and the self-reported participant questionnaires provided to researchers may not reflect the actual dietary patterns of the population in question.
(NEW YORK) — Brooke Nelson said she was over 200 pounds and struggling to lose weight when she decided to take part in a clinical trial of a new, minimally-invasive weight loss procedure.
Within six months of the procedure, Nelson said she had lost over 20 pounds and changed how she thinks about food.
“The constant just wanting of food has drastically decreased,” Nelson told ABC News’ Good Morning America. “There’s still moments where I want a chocolate chip cookie, but there’s a lot more moments when I find myself wanting something like greens.”
The procedure Nelson underwent is called endoscopic ablation, which the lead author of the clinical trial, Dr. Christopher McGowan, says targets ghrelin, the so-called “hunger hormone.”
According to McGowan, an obesity medicine, internal medicine, and gastroenterology specialist, the procedure involves inserting a camera into the patient’s stomach while fluids are administered to protect the underlying stomach tissue.
Then, a tiny device ablates, or burns, the lining of the upper portion of the stomach that produces ghrelin, a hormone that plays a role in everything from telling your brain you are hungry to inhibiting insulin secretion and helping your body store fat.
The clinical trial of the procedure that Nelson took part in has shown sustained weight loss and decreased appetite for patients, according to McGowan, founder of True You Weight Loss in Cary, North Carolina.
“We do have patients who are a year or more beyond their initial procedure, and what we are seeing is that they continue to have a diminishment, decrease in hunger [and] continue to report greater control over eating,” McGowan told GMA, adding that trial participants, on average, reduced their overall weight by 7%.
McGowan said one benefit of endoscopic ablation is that it is a minimally invasive procedure.
Currently, patients who need surgical intervention for obesity have the option of bariatric surgery, different types of which work by making changes to the digestive system, including reducing the size of the stomach, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
Bariatric surgery is typically considered an option for adults who “have a body mass index of 40 or more or a BMI of 35 or more with a serious health problem linked to obesity,” according to the NIDDK.
Obesity is a medical condition that affects nearly 42% of people in the U.S., according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Obesity has been associated with conditions including stroke and heart disease, hypertension and breathing problems such as sleep apnea.
“For patients who might be afraid of surgery, this may be more acceptable,” McGowan said of endoscopic ablation.
Risks of the procedure include ulcers and bleeding, according to McGowan.
“Risks of this technology could include things like ulcers, bleeding, somehow injuring the stomach. These were things we were really careful about,” he said. “In this case, everything was mild and that was the cramping and gas and nausea, things you’d expect when you’d perform a procedure on the stomach. But there were no complications whatsoever.”
The clinical trial led by McGowan included just 10 female patients and was the first time endoscopic ablation targeting ghrelin had been tested in humans.
McGowan will present the results of the trial formally later this month at a medical conference, known as Digestive Disease Week, in Washington, D.C.
From there, the procedure will need to undergo additional testing to determine safety and long-term outcomes before it could eventually be made available to the general public.
The Jarvik 2015 15mm VAD, a miniature heart assist device, is shown. (Jarvik Heart, Inc.)
(NEW YORK) — New promising data finds that a small heart pump device the size of a AA battery could help keep children in need of a heart transplant alive and at home as they wait for a new heart.
With this small implantable device, children can go home until their transplant date instead of waiting weeks or months in a hospital.
The device is not yet approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and will need more study. But experts say it’s a real medical advancement for hundreds of children with heart failure.
Every year, between 200 and 400 infants and children waiting for heart transplants are faced with a grueling option as they wait for a transplant, getting a surgically-implanted mechanical heart pump weighing up to 200 pounds with garden-hose sized tubing attached to their bodies, potentially for weeks or months until they receive a heart transplant.
Results published Tuesday in the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation have demonstrated that a miniature heart pump device called the Jarvik 2015 Ventricular Assist Device can be feasibly implanted in infants and children.
This feasibility study included seven children ages 8 months to 7 years old. The device is surgically implanted onto the heart, exits the body through a cable and is powered by a battery pack that is essentially worn as a belt.
Many of the children in the study spent many months using the device before their transplants. All seven children survived, however one child experienced a stroke on day 53 following device implantation.
Five children went on to receive heart transplants, one recovered without the need for heart transplant, and one required a different support device.
Notably, the children were able to participate in normal play activities, and most did not report feeling bothered by the device while sleeping or awake. This raises the potential for the implantable device, if approved for wider use, to be managed by patients and their family members at home while awaiting heart transplant news.
Currently, the only ventricular assist device for children whose hearts are failing is the Berlin Heart, which can weigh up to 200 pounds depending on the model and connects to a child using two large blood tubes the size of garden hoses.
As such, it requires complex care considering all its potential complications, including stroke, infection and blood clots, and patients are unable to go home with the device.
In these cases, children may endure weekslong to monthslong hospital stays with the Berlin Heart ventricular assist device attached to them while waiting for news of a donor heart.
“This is a huge step forward for implantable ventricular assist devices for young children,” Dr. Bradley Marino, executive co-director of the Pediatric and Adult Congenital Heart Center and division chief of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine at Cleveland Clinic Children’s, who was not involved in the study, told ABC News.
“[The device] is a novel opportunity where we could have a new ventricular assist device that would allow infants and young children to potentially go home,” Marino said, adding that it could “potentially de-compress our cardiac intensive care units, which will allow for increased capacity, as well as provide an improved quality of life for the children and their families while they are waiting for heart transplantation at home.”
Though the study was suspended after the eighth patient consented to participate due to financial issues with the manufacturer, it has been given the green light to proceed onto the next steps and enroll 22 patients in a pivotal trial involving multiple major medical centers.
“If the pivotal trial shows that the Jarvik 2015 is safe and effective, this would be a huge advancement for the field, but we are likely years away from this being more widely applicable,” said Marino, noting the complexities of coordinating a multi-center pivotal trial and device manufacturing costs, among other barriers.
Marino also cautioned that it remains unclear how this device would perform in children with more complex heart anatomy, and since none of the children in the feasibility trial were discharged to home, it remains unclear if the device is safe for discharge.
(NEW YORK) — Jacque Berry and her daughter, Breanna Berry, are Black women who say they have been surrounded by cancer all their lives.
“My great-grandmother had breast cancer,” Breanna Berry, 30, told ABC News’ Good Morning America. “I remember when I was like 10 and she’d say, ‘Sweetie, go get me some tissue to stuff in my bra.’ I didn’t understand then, but she had one breast.”
Years later, Breanna Berry said she watched as a friend, also a Black woman, was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 28, and as her father died after being diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, a diagnosis she said took over one year as his symptoms were misdiagnosed.
Jacque Berry not only watched her grandmother and husband battle cancer, but she is currently a caregiver to a close friend with breast cancer and has another friend who is battling the same disease.
Now, the mother and daughter, who both live in Atlanta, are part of the effort to help save the lives of Black women and future generations.
The Berrys are some of the first participants in VOICES of Black Women, a study launched May 7, by the American Cancer Society that aims to figure out why Black women have increasingly high rates of cancer.
“I want to know why this is happening,” Breanna Berry said of her motivation to join the study, which is currently accepting participants.
“I have a granddaughter, so knowing that my voice was heard to help her generation is very huge to me,” Jacque Berry added.
VOICES of Black Women is described by the ACS as the largest-ever study of cancer risk and outcomes in Black women in the United States. The study will collect the data of 100,000 Black women ages 25 to 55 over a period of 30 years, looking at everything from their medical history to their income, environment, lifestyle and more, according to Dr. Alpa Patel, senior vice president of population science at the ACS.
“We will really build a relationship and go on a journey with these women over the next several decades, learning about their lived experiences and collecting information along the way from participants,” Patel told GMA. “And we use all of that information then to understand what is related to [the] risk of developing or dying from cancer and other health outcomes.”
Patel said current cancer data shows the need for the study. According to data from the ACS, Black women are more likely than other women to die of cancer regardless of the stage of cancer when diagnosed, and before the age of 50, Black women are twice as likely to die of a breast cancer diagnosis than white women.
“It’s an unequal burden, and it’s more pronounced at younger ages,” Patel said. “That was part of our motivation to set our enrollment age range at a younger age range of 25 to 55.”
Among all races and genders, Black people have the highest death rate from cancer, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
When it comes to Black women, they are more likely than white women to be diagnosed with breast, lung, and colorectal cancers at a late stage, according to the CDC.
Last year, a study released in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that Black women had the same risk of dying from breast cancer if they were screened starting at age 42 as the general population had with screenings starting at the recommended age of 50.
And Black women are now being told more about the cancer risks associated with the beauty products they may use, specifically hair straighteners. Late last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it was considering issuing a proposed rule to ban hair straighteners with formaldehyde, a known carcinogen which has been found to cause an increased risk of endometrial cancers when used in chemical hair straighteners, often marketed to Black women.
Other products — including perms, hair relaxers, lotions and gels — geared towards Black women have been found to raise the risk of diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and other health risks.
Patel said many of the questions about Black women’s health remain unanswered because, for decades, they have not been the primary focus of studies, both because of their race and their sex.
“Most studies, while they have been inclusive of Black women, there has been an underrepresentation of Black and brown individuals,” she said. “Unfortunately, what that’s meant is a lot of what we’ve learned has been built off of studies of predominantly white individuals. We know a lot, but we don’t know whether the same holds true in different populations.”
Patel said inequitable access to high-quality medical care is one contributor to Black women’s health outcomes, but it’s not the only one.
Participants in the VOICES of Black Women study, according to Patel, will share information about their daily personal lives so that researchers can look into the roles that other factors like diet, income, stress, mental health, social support and more play in health risks for Black women.
She said the study — which is led by an all-Black female scientific advisory board — was built and named intentionally with the hope of giving voice to Black women.
“What we hope to accomplish through the study is to really give an opportunity for 100,000 Black women to allow their voice to be heard, to change what cancer means for their daughters and their granddaughters,” Patel said. “This is a legacy gift. What I really hope is that women will choose to participate in honor of their daughters and their granddaughters and their nieces and the generations to come.”
