Health

(ATLANTA) — Doctors are now being encouraged to consider more blood testing for PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals,” according to guidance released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The federal agency is recommending providers have a discussion with their patients regarding consumer and environmental exposures to large levels of the chemicals, and if blood testing may be of benefit.

“This information is intended for individuals and communities around the country, who are concerned about exposure to PFAS to have productive conversations with their medical providers” Dr. Aaron Bernstein, Director of CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), told ABC News.

“Over 90% of people in this country have been exposed to PFAS and many, many communities around the country…there have been very high exposures. And we’ve learned more and more in recent years about how exposures to PFAS may increase risk for many disease” he added.

Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, are a group of chemicals used in consumer products including clothing, furniture, adhesives, food packaging, heat-resistant non-stick cooking surfaces, and electrical wire insulation, according to the CDC. They typically are used to resist heat, oil, stains, grease, and water.

Potential health effects associated with PFAS exposure include higher cholesterol, lower birth weight, kidney and testicular cancer, pregnancy-induced hypertension and preeclampsia, and elevated liver enzymes, according to the CDC.

The new guidance advises providers to consider an individual’s exposure history; the results of PFAS testing from a patient’s water supply, food sources, or other exposures; and whether those results can inform regarding ways to reduce future exposures.

Most Americans are exposed to PFAS through drinking water, according to Bernstein, who also notes that many municipal water agencies are already testing for PFAS, and those test results are typically publicly available.

People can reach out to their local water supply to learn about if and how they may be addressing PFAS, as well as ask them to test the water for PFAS, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Those who use a personal well for drinking water should contact their state environmental or health agency for detailed advice on testing methods.

While blood tests for PFAS may help guide exposure reduction or provide psychological relief to patients, such tests do not help identify the source of exposure, nor can they be directly linked to a health condition. There are also currently no approved medical treatments available to reduce PFAS in the body, according to the CDC.

“A PFAS level is one piece of data that needs to be taken in a broader context. We need to understand the individual’s health history, their family history, what other exposures they may have that might increase the risk of diseases that can also be associated with PFAS,” Bernstein said.

Blood testing may also not be widely available across the country, with some laboratories offering tests that are covered by insurance and others potentially requiring out-of-pocket payments. The tests can be expensive, costing hundreds of dollars, and may not be able to test for all of the thousands of PFAS.

“What is clear is that this is an evolving landscape…we are at a point in time that both the science around PFAS, the accessibility of testing, and what is being tested for is changing,” Bernstein said.

“We are committed at CDC to stay on top of it and update this information as needed,” he added.

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(NEW YORK) — As many as 30 million people see a doctor each year due to a cough, according to statistics from the National Library of Medicine.

If you’re one of the many this winter who either has a lingering cough or knows someone who has one, emergency medicine physician and ABC News medical correspondent Dr. Darien Sutton has the tips you need to get on the road to a full recovery or know when to seek medical help.

I think I’m over a cold or flu but I’m still coughing. What is going on?

Even though someone may be in the tail end of a cold or flu infection, the airways may still be irritated, leading to a lingering cough.

“We have small air sacs in our lungs. They help exchange oxygen to our blood so that we can get the air that we need but during this cough season, you have a buildup of mucus and irritants and that stimulates what we have, cough receptors in our chest and that causes the cough reflex,” Sutton explained on “Good Morning America” Thursday.

In addition, multiple factors can lead to the development of mucus.

“Many things can cause that buildup of mucus. Common things being viral illnesses but also acid reflux, allergies, asthma, things of that sort can all increase your buildup of mucus, so it’s about figuring out what’s the cause,” Sutton continued.

How long does a cough typically last? Some people have been dealing with coughs that last for weeks on end. Is this normal?

Different types of infections and illnesses can trigger a cough so it may be necessary to see a doctor to rule out what is or isn’t a cause.

“A lot of the causes are the viral illnesses that we’re seeing. We’re seeing increases in flu, RSV and COVID,” Sutton said.

“That’s the typical time where you’re going to have that cough,” Sutton explained.

“After that, the three to six-week mark, that’s what we call subacute,” he continued. “That’s the time when we’re a little bit more investigative. We’re doing imaging, we’re trying to figure out what else could also be the cause, but it can also be something called post infectious, which is just your lungs healing.”

If you have had a cough for two months, Sutton said that’s when you should see a medical provider and will likely get tests and imaging to determine why you have a chronic cough.

“After eight weeks, that’s something called chronic cough and that’s what needs an additional workup, including imaging and sputum testing and just trying to figure out exactly what could be the cause,” Sutton said.

What are some things I can do to take care of a cough and get rid of it as fast as possible?

When you’re at home, there are simple remedies you can turn to in the kitchen to feel better more quickly.

“We all have been taught from a young age that soups and broths are helpful from our parents, our grandparents. It’s true. It’s absolutely true,” Sutton said.

“You have your teas, your honey, even eucalyptus oil. If you put it in warm water, it smells fantastic or you put it in your vaporizer, a few drops to help clear your airway. It can be an anti-inflammatory,” Sutton added.

While doctors say honey is a common and helpful remedy for a cough, it is not safe for children less than a year old.

When it comes to kids, doctors say parents should talk to their child’s pediatrician about what to do for their child’s specific symptoms and before giving them any over-the-counter medications to make sure it’s the right option or dose.

“Many patients have that question. They come in and their cough is sometimes lasting more than four or five weeks, which is definitely a concern and should be worked up,” Sutton said.

“After three weeks, you should get an exam. You should get some type of imaging and then after that, that dictates what the intervention is,” Sutton recommended. “Some people find benefit in over-the-counter medications. These medications, although they may help your symptoms, they’re not going to change your outcome. And so you might need additional interventions like steroids or albuterol inhalers and that only comes after a formal exam and a workup.”

 

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(NEW YORK) — Despite having a very effective and easily available vaccine, measles outbreaks have continued to pop up in the United States over the last two decades.

Most recently, there have been eight cases confirmed in Philadelphia since December 2023, all among unvaccinated individuals. Additionally, a person with measles traveled through D.C.-area airports and cases have been identified in Delaware, New Jersey and Washington state, according to local reports.

In 2023, there were 41 confirmed cases of measles, according to incomplete data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

While the number of measles cases in the past few years are not at record highs and the 2023 numbers are lower than recent years, the fact that outbreaks are still occurring is a trend that concerns health officials and experts.

Measles was declared eliminated in 2000 — meaning the disease “is no longer constantly present in this country.” However, the dip in routine childhood vaccinations in recent years as well as travelers bringing measles into the country has resulted in outbreaks.

“The fact that we’re seeing sporadic measles cases, to me, says that we probably have pockets in the United States where we’re not doing a good job vaccinating and I’m worried that this is a trend that’s been getting worse over the years,” Dr. Peter Hotez, professor of pediatrics and molecular virology at Baylor College of Medicine, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, told ABC News.

Lagging vaccination rates

A CDC report in November found that exemptions for routine childhood vaccination among U.S. kindergartners are at their highest levels ever.

About 93% of kindergarteners received select routine childhood vaccines, including the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine, which protects against measles, for the 2022-23 school year, according to the CDC report.

This is about the same as the previous school year but lower than the 94% seen in 2020-21 school year and the 95% seen in the 2019-20, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The latter percentage had been the standard for about 10 years.

Hotez said there may be areas of the U.S. where the vaccination exemption rates, both for medical and non-medical reasons, are higher.

“For instance, when we studied this in 2018, looking at the states that allow vaccine exemptions for non-medical reasons, we would find counties that maybe 10 to 20% of the kids were not getting their childhood immunizations and that’s what measles exploits,” Hotez said. “So, if were uniformly 93%, it’s not ideal, but probably that wouldn’t be enough to stimulate measles outbreaks.”

About one in five people in the U.S. who get measles will be hospitalized. Measles can cause serious health complications especially in children younger than age 5 including ear infections, diarrhea, pneumonia, encephalitis (swelling of the brain) and even death, according to the CDC.

The first measles vaccine, a single-dose vaccine, was introduced in the U.S. in 1963. In the decade prior, there were three to four million cases annually, which led to 48,000 hospitalizations and 400 to 500 deaths.

The CDC recommends that people get two doses with the first dose at 12 to 15 months old and the second dose between ages 4 and 6. One dose is 93% effective and two doses are 97% effective.

Since then, hospitalizations and deaths have dropped dramatically. There were three deaths in the Americas in 2000 and just one in 2022, according to a November 2023 CDC report.

“We can prevent this, we can stop this. Parents should be scared of measles,” Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center and an attending physician in the division of infectious diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told ABC News. “They should be scared of this virus as my parents were. The difference was [my parents] couldn’t do anything about it.”

“Now you can do something about it, which makes it all the more unconscionable when you see children come into our hospital who could have gotten vaccinated and didn’t,” he added.

Rise in vaccine misinformation

There are a few reasons for a drop in vaccination rates, according to experts. One is a 1998 paper published in The Lancet by Andrew Wakefield claiming the MMR shot caused autism. The paper has since been debunked, subsequent studies have found no link and the journal retracted the paper, but fears still exist.

During an outbreak in Columbus, Ohio that lasted from November 2022 to February 2023, public health officials said many parents of the unvaccinated children infected with measles had chosen not to have their kids receive the MMR shot due to misconceptions that it causes autism.

“Ever since that Anfrew Wakefield article, people have developed important misconceptions from that misinformation and continuing disinformation about the MMR vaccine,” Dr. Gregory Poland, head of the Mayo Clinic’s Vaccine Research Group, told ABC News. “He claimed there was an association with autism. Some 24 studies have subsequently found none. Not one indicate a hint of autism risk.”

“Once you scare people, it’s hard to unscare them, so people then then sort of started to back away from that vaccine,” Offit added. “So we saw cases again.”

Experts said the COVID pandemic caused another problem. Firstly, during the early days of the pandemic, people were scared to go to doctor’s’ offices, which led to a delay in children being up to date on vaccinations.

Then, after COVID vaccines became politicized, this may have caused a decrease in confidence in vaccination overall.

There has been “an acceleration of anti-vaccine sentiments that we’ve seen during the COVID 19 pandemic,” Hotez said, “And I think what we may be seeing also was a spillover that extended beyond COVID vaccines to all childhood immunizations.”

Another reason for the decline in vaccination rates may be that, because the diseases have been circulating at low rates due to vaccines, people have forgotten how serious they were before the advent of vaccines, according to the experts.

It’s not just a problem in the U.S. Global cases of measles have been on the rise in recent years, increasing 18% from 2021 to 2022, following a drop in vaccinations over the past few years, according to a report from the WHO and CDC released last year.

Deaths also increased globally by 43% from during the same period with a total of 37 countries experiencing large outbreaks in 2022 compared to 22 countries in 2021.

Experts say they are continuing to educate parents about the safety of vaccines and even advocate for starting vaccine education in adolescence.

“It’s a dangerous game we’re playing by leaving a critical percentage of children unvaccinated,” Offit said. “It is a dangerous and unnecessary game we’re playing. This is a safe and effective vaccine. This is a virus that can cause considerable suffering and hospitalization and occasional death. Don’t play around with this virus or we will pay an even bigger price than we’re paying now.”

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(NEW YORK) — A new meta-analysis of more than a dozen studies found that drinking 100% fruit juice is linked to weight gain in children.

ABC News medical correspondent Dr. Darien Sutton joined ABC News’ Good Morning America to explain the key findings from the new study, published Tuesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics, and shared some helpful insights for parents and caregivers to reduce their kids’ sugar consumption.

“What they found is just one glass of that 100% juice is associated with an increase in weight gain and increase in BMI (body mass index),” Sutton said. “This is important because more than almost 15 million children live with childhood obesity in this country and that’s correlated to other types of diseases, such as metabolic disease [and] liver disease, aside from obesity-related cancers.”

“It’s about controlling these habits now so we can have a better future,” Sutton added.

How much sugar is hiding in 100% fruit juice?

Juice labels may state “no added sugar,” but Dr. Sutton explained that because in 100% fruit juice, “there’s already enough sugar in it.”

“Orange juice has 4.5 teaspoons of sugar and one gram of fiber, as opposed to a whole orange which has three teaspoons of sugar and three grams of fiber,” he said, illustrating that the whole fruit would be a more nutritious choice than juice.

A cup of apple juice, Dr. Sutton further said, contains six teaspoons of sugar and zero grams of fiber, whereas a whole apple has three grams of fiber.

“The reason it’s important to address the fiber is because that helps children stay full,” Dr. Sutton explained. “As opposed to juices, fruits also break down more slowly in the body that leads to less spikes in your blood glucose, that leads to less spikes in your insulin. And that eventually will lead to, if you don’t treat it, insulin sensitivity which is the basis of diabetes.”

Healthy swap and alternatives to fruit juice

While it may be hard to entirely eliminate fruit juices from a child’s diet, Dr. Sutton suggests getting creative with water to reduce their intake.

For example, you can use sliced fruits — like strawberries, oranges and mangoes, for example — to provide some sweetness to water. You can also freeze sliced fruits to use as ice cubes, and add them to water or sparkling water to make it more flavorful.

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(NEW YORK) — Deaths from cancer have declined by 33% since 1991, averting 4.1 million deaths. However, more people are being diagnosed with cancer than ever before, and at an earlier age, according to a major new report from the American Cancer Society.

Experts say one big reason cancer deaths have declined is due to decreases in smoking rates, as well as improved treatments and targeted therapies. Still, experts are worried about the increase in some cancers in adults 50 and under — and say it’s urgent to understand what’s behind the troubling trend.

Especially concerning is the rising number of deaths of young people from colon cancer — the same illness that killed Marvel actor Chadwick Boseman at the age of 43.

Colon cancer is now the number one cause of death among men younger than 50, and the number two cause of death in women of the same age group. Colon and breast cancer now exceed lung cancer as leading causes of cancer death for those under the age of 50.

“It’s something that wasn’t represented in statistics yet – that there has been a creep toward younger age of onset of certain common cancers. Colorectal and breast are the dominant ones,” said Dr. Larry Norton, oncologist and researcher at Memorial Sloan Kettering, and doctors and researchers have been noticing this in their practice and research.

For the first time, the projected number of new cancer diagnoses in the United States will top two million, which is equivalent to an alarming 5,480 diagnoses each day. Although the new data shows an overall continued decline in cancer death rates, the report reveals increased rates for 6 of the 10 most common cancers, including breast, prostate, uterine, pancreas, oral, liver, kidney and melanoma, as well as colorectal and cervical cancer in young adults.

Experts still aren’t sure why certain cancer rates are increasing in younger adults, but say it could be due to rising rates of obesity, and still unknown environmental factors.

“I think we’re all grappling with what is the broadly spoken environmental factor which is changing the cancer incidence and mortality amongst the young,” said Dr. William Dahut, the chief scientific officer at the American Cancer Society.

Colon cancer and breast cancer top lung cancer as leading causes of death in those under 50

The nationwide report is consistent with prior smaller studies that have pointed to this trend.

In recent years, health officials have dropped the age for people with average risk to start screening from 50 to 45 for colon cancer, and 50 to 40 for breast cancer.

“Early diagnosis is really critically important for curing cancer. I like to find things earlier because it’s not only an opportunity to cure people who otherwise might not be cured, but it’s also an opportunity to cure them with less noxious therapy,” said Norton.

For colon cancer, oncologists say that the trends in the U.S. are matched by other high-income countries and say it’s possible the increase could be due to new lifestyles or environmental exposures for younger generations.

Environmental factors, such as exposure to chemicals in foods and in the air, and other currently unidentified factors, such as the recent legalization of cannabis and increased cannabis use, can’t be ruled out as risk factors, said Norton.

“There are studies that even show that risk factors like whether or not you were breastfed, whether or not you had antibiotics at a high rate as a child — that these factors might be predicting your chances of getting cancer when you’re an adult,” said Dr. Folasade May, gastroenterologist and researcher at UCLA Health.

Still, 30% of diagnoses for those under the age of 50 are related not to outside exposures, but rather to an underlying family history or genetic mutation, putting them more at risk, according to the American Cancer Society.

Whatever the reason, oncologists say people must get a colonoscopy when recommended, or earlier if they have symptoms such as blood in their stool, losing weight without trying, or a change in bowel habits that lasts more than a few days. There are also newer colon cancer screening tools that some patients may prefer, such as at-home stool testing.

“A lot of these younger folks that are dying from colorectal cancer, it’s because they’ve had symptoms for a year or two before they finally talk to their doctor. And by the time they’re getting into my clinic and getting a colonoscopy, that cancer is advanced to stage four. Survival for stage four is 13%,” said May.

For breast cancer, the underlying reason for the higher death rates in younger Americans is likely due to a combination of factors. Researchers note that other trends such as a decrease in fertility and increasing obesity — are both risk factors for breast cancer.

Uterine cancer is the only cancer where survival has decreased, likely due to racial disparities

According to the new report, uterine cancer was the only cancer for which death rates across all age groups have been increasing over the past 40 years.

“There are a number of troubling statistics about this cancer,” said Dr. Ursula Matulonis, chief of the division of gynecologic oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Compared to white Americans, the risk of dying of uterine cancer is 33% higher in Black people, and 51% higher in American Indians and Alaska Natives. This is primarily due to growing racial disparities.

Specifically, Black women are less likely to get a timely diagnosis — which dramatically decreases the chance they will survive their cancer. According to the report, 56% of Black women were diagnosed in earlier stages, versus 72% of white women. Black women were half as likely to receive diagnostic procedures that were in line with current medical guidelines.

According to oncologists, primary care doctors and the general public should understand these stark racial disparities for uterine cancer, so patients and doctors alike can advocate for potentially life-saving cancer screenings.

“I think we’re poised to develop new treatment paradigms, that I’m confident will impact how patients are treated – from a prevention standpoint, early detection standpoint. There’s not an early detection test for uterine cancer,” said Matulonis.

“Equity research and equity outreach is a very, very important part of our entire approach towards screening for cancer,” said Norton.

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(PHILADELPHIA) — A group of doctors in Philadelphia is offering free measles vaccines on the heels of an outbreak in the city.

There have been eight confirmed cases of the disease since late December, all among unvaccinated people, according to the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.

The first case occurred among a child who was admitted to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in December. At least three other unvaccinated children were exposed at the hospital and contracted measles, according to the city’s Department of Public Health.

Some of the initial patients went to day care instead of following quarantine instructions and exposed other children, health officials said.

In response, The Black Doctors Consortium is holding a pop-up clinic in northern Philadelphia to administer the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, free of charge.

The vaccine will be “provided to unvaccinated children and adults. We will also test you if you’ve been exposed to measles & you’re not sure if you’re protected (immune),” the group wrote in a post on Facebook.

Vaccines will be distributed at the Dr. Ala Stanford Center for Health Equity. No identification is required and there will no out-of-pocket cost, the group said.

The city’s health department is also hosting additional free vaccination sites for residents, but requires participants to provide either an ID or a piece of mail with an address to qualify them as proof of residency.

Measles is a very contagious disease, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) saying every individual infected by the virus can spread it to “up to 9 out of 10 people around him or her” if they are unprotected, including not wearing a mask or not being vaccinated.

Complications from measles can be relatively benign, such as rashes, or they can be much more severe, including viral sepsis, pneumonia and brain swelling.

In the decade before the MMR vaccine became available, approximately three to four million Americans fell ill every year, 48,000 people were hospitalized, and between 400 and 500 people died each year among reported cases, according to the CDC.

The CDC says anybody who either had measles at some point in their life, or who has received two doses of the MMR vaccine, is protected against measles.

One dose of the measles vaccine is 93% effective at preventing infection if the recipient is exposed to the virus and two doses are 97% effective, according to the CDC.

In Philadelphia, at least 93% of children are fully vaccinated against measles by age six, according to the health department. However, experts say 95% of children are required to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity, meaning enough people are protected against a disease to the degree that it is unlikely to spread.

In 2000, measles was declared eliminated from the U.S., thanks to a highly effective vaccination campaign, but outbreaks have popped over the last few years in unvaccinated pockets of the country.

Between November 2022 and February 2023, 85 children were sickened with measles in Ohio, 80 of whom were unvaccinated.

In California, an unidentified person with measles who visited Disneyland caused an outbreak, infecting 125 people between December 2014 and February 2015.

 

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(NEW YORK) — Run down, depressed, or trying to stay positive?

Don’t reach for a tub of ice cream or a big bag of chips. There’s growing evidence that you can boost your mood with food, but it has to be the right food.

Diet decisions that improve the rest of the body may also improve the brain’s outlook on the world.

Overall healthy eating — fruits, vegetables, healthy fats and whole grains — has been linked in studies to lower risks of depression and even suicide.

Nutrition also influences the immune system, which has been shown to affect the risk of depression as well.

Try adding these five mood-boosting foods to your daily diet:

1. Salmon

Salmon is a nutritional powerhouse full of omega-3 fatty acids, a key nutrient that our bodies don’t produce on their own.

Omega-3 fatty acids are part of the membranes that surround cells in the body, particularly in the brain. Research has shown that consuming fish like salmon with omega-3 fatty acids may ease depression.

Salmon is also an inflammation-fighting food.

Increased inflammation in the body could play a role in depression, according to new research released in January.

2. Dark chocolate

A candy bar may leave you feeling blah after you eat it, but a piece of dark chocolate could give you a mood boost.

Dark chocolate may be giving not only your brain but also your immune system and eyes a real boost, research shows.

Be careful, though, with the chocolate you choose.

In their studies, researchers used dark chocolate with 70% cacao, a recipe reserved for the darkest of dark chocolate. This usually means the chocolate tastes more bitter than sweet because only 30% of the candy bar is sugar and milk.

3. Berries

Fruits are all good for you as part of a balanced diet, but berries are particularly powerful for the brain.

Berries are rich in flavonoid, which helps regulate mood and improve memory and reduces inflammation.

4. Spinach and kale

Dark, leafy greens like spinach and kale are full of omega-3 fatty acids and are inflammation-fighting foods too.

Greens are also rich in magnesium, which plays a major role in brain function and mood.

5. Almonds

Almonds are a healthy fat, which boosts brain health.

They are also rich in a compound called tyrosine, which has been found to prevent a decline in cognitive function, especially in response to stress.

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(NEW YORK) — Respiratory virus activity continues to remain elevated across the United States but there may be some signs that a peak has been reached for at least one virus, newly updated federal data shows.

As of Friday, “high” or “very high” levels of respiratory illness activity — defined as people visiting a health care provider with symptoms including cough and fever — were seen in 35 states in addition to New York City and the District of Columbia, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, down from 38 earlier this week.

Emergency department visits with diagnosed influenza, COVID-19 and RSV remain high, but all three conditions saw a decrease over the last week. The CDC, however, said this is may due to “holiday-related healthcare seeking behavior and will be monitored.”

For the week ending Jan. 6, weekly COVID hospitalizations rose to 35,801. This marks the ninth straight week of increases, but remains lower than hospitalizations recorded at the same time last year.

Nearly 40% of all counties in the U.S. are in the medium category for hospital admission levels, meaning hospitals are seeing 10.0 to 19.9 new admissions for COVID-19 per 100,000 people in the past week.

Those aged 65 and older have the highest rate of weekly COVID hospitalizations by age group followed by those between ages 50 and 64, according to the CDC.

The rise of COVID-19 hospitalizations may be partly due to the spread of the JN.1 variant, which makes up an estimated 61.6% of cases in the U.S. as of Jan. 6.

JN.1 has mutations that may make it either more transmissible or more likely to evade the immune system, the CDC says, but there is no evidence that it causes different symptoms or more severe cases.

Nationally, COVID-19 wastewater viral activity levels are very high, typically an early sign of an increase in cases. There are indications, however, that wastewater activity levels may be slowing in the Midwest and Northeast, the CDC says.

Although influenza activity remains high and key indicators have been increasing for several weeks, the number of weekly new hospital admissions slightly decreased to 18,506, according to CDC data.

“CDC will continue to monitor for a second period of increased influenza activity that often occurs after the winter holidays,” the federal health agency wrote on its website.

The CDC estimates that there have been at least 14 million illnesses, 150,000 hospitalizations and 9,400 deaths from flu so far this season. Adults over 65 have the highest rates of flu hospitalizations.

Meanwhile RSV hospitalizations appear to be remaining stable, with a very slight increase in the weekly hospitalization rate from 3.6 per 100,000 the week ending Dec. 16 to 3.7 per 100,000 for the week ending Dec. 23, the last week of complete CDC data.

Unlike with COVID and flu, RSV hospitalizations are highest among children aged 4 and younger followed by adults aged 65 and older.

Vaccines are available for COVID, flu and RSV, but the CDC says “the percent of the population reporting receipt of COVID-19, influenza, and RSV vaccines remains low for adults.”

As of Friday, just 21.4% of adults aged 18 and older and have received the updated COVID vaccine, CDC data shows. Additionally, 46.8% of adults have received the flu vaccine. Meanwhile, just 20.1% of adults aged 60 and older have received the RSV vaccine, which was rolled out for the first time this season.

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(NEW YORK) — Cindy Mullins was a healthy 41-year-old mom of two when she went into the hospital nearly six weeks ago for surgery on kidney stones.

On Friday, Mullins is finally going home after a life-changing experience that resulted in both of her legs being amputated, and both of her hands scheduled to be amputated soon.

“The hardest part about this is I miss my children, of course,” Mullins told “Good Morning America.” “Without my faith, I don’t think I could be where I’m at today. The plan is on Sunday morning, I’m going to church, and I cannot wait for that.”

Mullins, who lives in Kentucky with her husband and their 7-year-old and 12-year-old sons, said she went to the hospital on Dec. 1 for an elective procedure to remove kidney stones. The doctor left a temporary stent in her body following the surgery to prevent blockage, as is common in kidney stone procedures, according to the American Urological Association.

In Mullins’ case, she said she removed the stent at home, per medical orders, and soon after began to feel sick. When her husband found her collapsed on the bathroom floor, she said he rushed her to their local hospital.

“They checked my blood pressure and it was 50 over 31, and in my mind, I knew that was not good,” said Mullins, a nurse who has worked for a family medicine practice for nearly 20 years. “They started IVs on both arms, and I don’t remember anything after that.”

When doctors performed tests on Mullins, they discovered she had a kidney stone surrounded by infection, and that she was in septic shock, with her organs starting to fail.

Septic shock is the most dangerous stage of sepsis, when your body has an extreme response to infection. If it is not treated quickly, septic shock can lead to “tissue damage, organ failure, and even death,” according to the National Institutes of Health.

In septic shock, the body has dangerously low blood pressure. Risk factors include a recent infection or surgical procedure.

Mullins had to be stabilized and placed on a ventilator before she was able to be transferred to a larger hospital in Lexington, where she said doctors warned her family she was in dire condition.

“My husband and sister were there and they told them that I was on the edge of a cliff and it was about to get worse before it got better,” Mullins recalled. “After the surgery, I was put on ECMO and dialysis, and was still on the ventilator.”

Mullins was put on dialysis to help her kidneys, and an ECMO machine — a lifesaving device that removes carbon dioxide from the blood and sends back blood with oxygen to the body — to give her heart and lungs time to rest and heal.

Over the next several days, Mullins said her organ function began to improve, but she developed blisters on her legs and arms. When she was taken off the ventilator and conscious again, Mullins said she was told both her legs and hands had deteriorated to the point they would require amputation.

“When they told me that was going to happen, that I was going to lose my hands and my feet, I wasn’t angry,” Mullins said. “I had a peace about me. I just felt God’s presence saying, ‘It’s going to be OK. You’re alive. This is what has happened,’ and I wasn’t upset about it.”

The following day, Mullins underwent surgery to amputate both her legs above the knee.

She said she expects to undergo another surgery to amputate both hands in the coming weeks. Her doctor, according to Mullins, is working to try to preserve as much of her arm as possible and amputate below her elbow joints.

Despite all that she has endured, Mullins said she is doing well medically, and is now just coping with the amputations and moving forward in what she calls her “new normal.”

“Doctors tell me they can’t put a percentage on how close I was to actually dying, and then me doing as well as I am after being on ventilator, ECMO and dialysis… for me to be doing that well, as fast I did, is yet another miracle,” Mullins said.

Mullins said she had no preexisting medical conditions prior to going into septic shock, adding that what happened to her is a “rare case.”

“It was just one of those things where they explain all the bad things that can happen when you have surgery, and I was that rare case,” she said. “I was really healthy.”

Mullins said her family and her community have rallied around her as she has spent the past two weeks in a rehabilitation facility, learning how to be as independent as possible. She said her husband DJ and their sons Teegan and Easton have helped care for her, from feeding her and brushing her hair to just sitting by her side.

Dr. Nate Thomas, the University of Kentucky-based physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist overseeing Mullins’ care, said Mullins has put in the work through near daily three-hour physical therapy sessions to get to where she is today.

“The attitude that she’s had in staying positive, staying upbeat and doing everything that she can has been something that’s been truly amazing,” Thomas told “GMA.” “I don’t think that’s something that should be taken lightly, given the situation that she’s in and having gone through a lot. I think her whole [medical] team is ready to take a lesson from her mindset and the way that she’s really gone through this.”

In addition to friends and family offering in-person help, a GoFundMe started for the family has raised over $250,000.

When she returns home, Mullins said she will rely on a power wheelchair to be able to move around independently, and will later be fitted for prosthetics so she can ultimately walk on her own. In what Mullins called a “blessing in disguise,” she said she and her husband live in her husband’s childhood home, which had been made wheelchair accessible years ago to accommodate her father-in-law.

Describing all the support she and her family have received, Mullins said she “can never say thank you enough.”

“That has kind of been hard for me to wrap my head around,” she said of the support. “I’m a normal person, and for these people to do those things for me is just, you know, that’s another God thing.”

 

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(WARREN, Ohio) — A grand jury decided Thursday not to indict an Ohio woman on allegations that she mishandled the remains of a fetus after miscarrying her pregnancy at home.

The case had alarmed reproductive rights groups and legal experts who said there is no clear guidance on how to handle an at-home miscarriage and that police and local prosecutors overreached by charging the woman, who is Black, with “abuse of a corpse.”

Brittany Watts, 34, of Warren, was arrested last October and pleaded not guilty to the charge. If convicted, she would have faced up to a year in prison. Because the grand jury decided not to indict, the case has been dropped.

Supporters has been planning a rally at the courthouse Thursday at 4:00 p.m. ET, according to local reports.

According to the Trumbull County Coroner’s Office, Watts’ water broke last September when she was 21 weeks and five days pregnant. A fetal heartbeat was present, but her doctors at Mercy Health – St. Joseph Warren Hospital recommended that Watts be induced to prevent a life-threatening infection from developing.

At the time, Ohio allowed abortions up to 22 weeks gestation unless a woman’s life was at stake.

The coroner’s report said Watts then signed herself out of the hospital against medical advice “to process the information she was told.” She returned to the hospital the next day, but again left a second time against the advice of doctors.

The hospital declined to comment, citing privacy concerns.

Two days later, Watts delivered the fetus at home over a toilet. She then returned to the hospital, where she told authorities she thought she had taken the fetal remains out of the toilet and placed them in a black bucket.

The fetal remains were found wedged inside the toilet bowl, according to the coroner’s report.

“Not wanting to destroy any evidence, the bottom portion of the toilet was removed” and taken to the local morgue “for further investigation,” the coroner’s office wrote.

A subsequent autopsy showed that the baby had died before being born due to a spontaneous miscarriage and that no illicit drugs were present. Watts was arrested two weeks later on accusations of “abusing a corpse.”

During a hearing in November, Watts’s attorneys argued that she had gone to a hospital before the miscarriage and waited for hours before leaving and miscarrying at home.

Assistant prosecutor Lewis Guarnieri argued to have the case move forward, which was agreed to by Warren Municipal Court Judge Terry Ivanchak.

Ivanchak referred the case to a grand jury, arguing there was “probable cause” of a crime. He has since retired. The case would have been tried by Judge Andrew Logan.

The local police and the city attorney of Warren, responsible for initiating charges against Watts, have not responded to requests for comment.

Watts’ attorney has also not responded to requests for comment.

Dennis Watkins, the Trumbull County prosecutor, said after receiving charges from the city attorney of Warren, it was “duty bound” to put the case before a judge, who found there was “probable cause” a crime had been committed.

In a statement released following the grand jury’s decision, Watkins said his office believed Watts “did not violate the Ohio Criminal Statue of Abuse of a Corpse as alleged in the complaint.”

“We respectively disagree with the lower court’s application of the law,” he said in the statement.

The charge against Watts occurred before Ohio voters passed an amendment in the November 2023 election to enshrine abortion rights in the state’s constitution.

The ballot measure ended an earlier effort in Ohio by Republican lawmakers to enforce a near-total abortion ban after six weeks.

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