(NEW YORK) — At least 22 people were hospitalized after suffering carbon monoxide poisoning at a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints building in Utah on New Year’s Eve, officials said.
The Sevier County Sherriff’s Office (SCSO) said it received two medical calls from the building in Monroe East, about 170 miles south of Salt Lake City. The first was about a 4-year-old girl having breathing problems. She had been sick earlier in the week, so it was believed she was having further symptoms of that illness, SCSO said in a Monday press release.
EMS services, however, were called back to the same building after an adult man reported feeling unwell. At the time, the man believed he was suffering from low blood sugar levels, officials said.
When another family reported headaches after arriving home from church, the Monroe City Fire Department was called to check the building for potential carbon monoxide poisoning.
Firefighters found high levels of carbon monoxide and the building was evacuated.
Some of the 22 individuals sought treatment at Sevier Hospital while others had to be transported to area hospitals.
“This required 10 ambulance transports to get everyone to a hospital that had a hyperbaric chamber that could treat the patients,” the SCSO said. “Sevier County EMS did not have enough ambulances or personnel for this many transports so other agencies were contacted for assistance. The last ambulance was back from the final transfer at 10:00 a.m. [Monday] morning. Some of the Ambulance crews made more than one trip.”
The patients’ symptoms and their conditions are currently unclear. The SCSO did not immediately reply to ABC News’ request for comment.
The cause of the carbon monoxide poisoning is currently unknown, but church officials said they are investigating and working to resolve the problem, according to the sheriff’s office.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints did not immediately reply to ABC News’ request for comment.
Carbon monoxide poisoning occurs when someone breathes a large amount of the gas, which replaces oxygen for carbon monoxide.
Carbon monoxide is particularly dangerous because it is odorless and tasteless and ingesting too much of it can lead to serious damage and death.
The most common symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning are headache, weakness, dizziness, chest pain, nausea, vomiting and confusion, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Everyone is at risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, although elderly people and infants, as well as those with chronic heart disease, breathing problems or anemia, are more likely to get sick, the federal health agency said.
More than 400 people die due to carbon monoxide poisoning each year, according to the CDC.
To prevent poisoning, the CDC recommends installing a battery-operated or battery-backup carbon monoxide detector and replacing the batteries each spring and fall.
Additionally, it’s recommended to have heating systems and water heaters serviced every year and, if you have a chimney, make sure it’s checked or cleaned every year.
If you believe you’re experiencing the signs and symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, seek further medical evaluation.
(NEW YORK) — Some hospitals across the United States are reinstating indoor masking rules amid rising cases and hospitalizations of respiratory illnesses including COVID-19 and influenza.
Hospitals in at least six states — California, Illinois, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Washington and Wisconsin — have put masking guidelines in place, according to an ABC News count.
Over the weekend, Mass General Brigham, which is the largest health system in Massachusetts, told ABC News it issued guidelines requiring employee caregivers and those working in patient care areas to wear masks.
Another Massachusetts hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, told ABC News it reinstated its masking requirement on Dec. 18 due to higher rates of respiratory illnesses.
Additionally, Cook County Health, which has hospitals and community health centers in and around Chicago, wrote on its website that it began requiring masks for all staff, patients and visitors aged 2 and older in waiting rooms and patient exam rooms on Dec. 26
What’s more, a Los Angeles County Public Health order, requiring all health care personnel to wear masks while in contact with patients or working in patient care areas, went into effect after the county’s COVID-19 hospital admission level hit the “medium” threshold, meaning between 10 and 19.9 new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000.
Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor, said hospitals are full of patients and staff at risk of severe illness, which is why mask guidelines have been reintroduced as cases rise.
“Ultimately, health systems, hospitals, places that deliver care are going to see some of the most vulnerable and at-risk individuals — many, with underlying conditions,” he said. “Those are especially the places where we want to protect individuals and so when we have this rapid rise in respiratory illness, those are going to be the first places to try to use measures to reduce chances of transmission, both to protect patients, those receiving care, as well as workforce.”
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows 31 states, plus Washington, D.C., are experiencing ‘”high” or “very high” levels of respiratory illness activity, described as people visiting their primary care office or the emergency departments with respiratory complaints such as fever, sore throat or cough
During the week ending Dec. 23, the latest date for which data is available, there were 29,059 new weekly hospital admissions due to COVID-19, according to the CDC. It marks the seventh consecutive week of increases and the highest figure reported since late January 2023.
Meanwhile, there were 14,732 new hospital admissions linked to influenza for the week ending Dec. 23 compared to 9,930 the previous week, CDC data shows.
Brownstein said the increase is not surprising given that the U.S. is in the middle of respiratory virus season in combination with recent holiday travel and gatherings.
“While there’s nothing unusual about what we’re seeing, the data still reflects an increase in illness and, as we know, masking will be helpful, regardless of the respiratory pathogen: RSV, COVID, flu, and the other respiratory pathogens that are circulating,” he said. “So, it’s sort of a one size fits all strategy.”
Because an increase in respiratory illnesses risks putting a strain on the health care system, Brownstein recommends staying home when sick and seeking care if symptoms worsen or do not improve.
“Of course, we’re in a situation where there’s a lot of illness out in the population, but we want to make sure that we limit the impact on hospitals and save care for those who especially need it,” he said. “If people need to use emergency department, they absolutely should, but we’re in a moment now where capacity definitely is a big topic of focus for hospitals that are trying to both maintain their ability to take care of patients with severe illness as a result of these pathogens, but also be able to manage routine care as well.”
(NEW YORK) — Dr. Sean Cullen, of New York, was 9 years old when his 9-month-old brother Kevin died due to respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, a common respiratory virus.
Today, nearly 30 years later, Cullen works as both a laboratory researcher and neonatologist at New York-Presbyterian Alexandra Cohen Hospital for Women and Newborns at Weill Cornell, the same neo-natal intensive care unit, NICU, where Kevin was treated.
Cullen, one of six siblings, said his youngest sibling Kevin was born with a congenital heart defect that required emergency surgery shortly after he was born.
Kevin went on to become a healthy infant, according to Cullen, until one day he became “very sick, very quickly” with RSV, a respiratory virus that circulates in the winter months and is the most dangerous for infants under six months of age and children who were born prematurely or with weakened immune systems and/or underlying heart, lung or neuromuscular problems, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Because of how quickly everything had happened, [my siblings and I] had all gone to sleep the night before not really knowing that anything major, from a medical perspective, was going on with my brother,” Cullen told ABC News’ Good Morning America. “One by one, we all woke up in the morning, just thinking it was a regular, you know, Thursday morning, going to school, and just coming down and seeing my kitchen filled with basically all the members of my extended family.”
Cullen said he still remembers to this day the “profound shock” he felt when his parents told him his brother had died, a sense of grief that he said his family still feels to this day.
In his role now as both a neonatologist and researcher, Cullen said he wants parents and caregivers to know the advancements that have been made over the last three decades when it comes to treating and preventing RSV, a virus that is so common that nearly all children are infected with it before their second birthday, according to the CDC.
“For me personally and for my family, it’s still a devastation that I wouldn’t ever want another family to experience,” Cullen said of losing his brother to RSV, adding that people in today’s world are, “incredibly blessed to live in the time of the scientific advancements that we do.”
Although most cases of RSV infection are mild, the virus can be dangerous among infants and young children as well as senior citizens. RSV can also spread rapidly, with people becoming infected by simply coming into contact with the droplets of an infected person or by touching a surface that has the virus on it and then touching their faces before washing their hands.
Currently, there are no medications developed specifically to treat RSV, but there are new vaccines and medications available to help prevent the viral spread.
Here are six things Cullen said he wants parents and caregivers to do to help protect infants and children from RSV:
1. Take advantage of available medications.
Pregnant women are now eligible for an RSV vaccine, known as Abrysvo, that provides antibodies to the fetus to protect from RSV. The vaccine is given to pregnant mothers in the third trimester between 32 and 36 weeks’ gestational age.
If your infant is under 8 months old, they can receive a new preventive RSV shot, nirsevimab, that is designed to help fight off the virus and prevent complications from RSV. The shot, given as one dose in a child’s first or second RSV season, was recently recommended by the CDC for all infants younger than 8 months old and children between 8 and 19 months of age who are at increased risk for severe RSV infection..
If your child is older than 8 months but has a history of congenital heart disease, being born prematurely, or has chronic lung disease, ask your pediatrician if they are eligible to receive nirsevimab.
2. Avoid heavily attended events in enclosed spaces as much as possible, with the caveat that it is also important to see family and friends acting as support systems, visit grocery stores and other necessities, and to continue check-ups with pediatricians and health professionals as needed.
3. Encourage good handwashing practices, especially prior to holding your infant.
4. Recommend those who visit your family be up to date on vaccinations including vaccines against RSV (if aged 60 years or older), influenza and COVID-19.
For adults over age 60, two RSV vaccines are currently available.
5. Discourage a visit from anyone who is showing any signs of a respiratory viral illness, like a fever, runny nose or cough.
6. Speak with your pediatrician about worrisome signs and symptoms of a respiratory viral illness that would require evaluation by a healthcare provider such as dehydration (i.e. poor feeding, vomiting, diarrhea, decreased wet diaper counts) and respiratory distress (i.e. breathing too fast, using extra muscles to breathe).
(NEW YORK) — Goal-setting is top of mind when the new year rolls around, and vision boards are an increasingly popular tool for clarifying those goals and providing a boost of inspiration.
Although vision boards often come up in more mystical conversations around manifestation or the law of attraction, it turns out there is real science to back them up — if you use them correctly.
A vision board is a virtual or brick-and-mortar collage of images that represent your goals.
It translates your dreams and aspirations into tangible images, fostering motivation to work towards them.
In fact, vision boards can complement your brain’s processing patterns to help you bring your ambitions to fruition.
Vision boards can help you set the right goals
First, it’s important to understand that the neuroscience of vision boarding is much more likely to work for you if you set clear, specific, realistic goals. For example, “run a 5K” will give your brain much more to work with than a loftier, more vague goal like “get in shape.” Setting the right goals can be intimidating, but the process of creating your vision board will be a huge help.
By selecting visual representations of your aspirations, you are already getting more specific. Paying attention to the images that resonate the most with you may provide valuable hints as to what your individual goals are, and that’s where your brain physiology starts to come into play.
Vision boards enhance your openness to opportunity
Vision boards tap into a cognitive process known as value-tagging, which is related to selective attention.
The brain instantly assigns value to everything it sees. Because our brains tend to assign higher value to images than written words, using images (as opposed to a written list, for example) to represent your goals results in a subconscious prioritization of them over your other thoughts.
As a result, the brain is primed to be on high-alert for opportunities that serve your goal, and notices things it otherwise may not have. This also helps the brain to filter out unnecessary or unhelpful information that will not be useful for realizing your dreams.
Vision boards promote visualization
Looking at your vision board encourages you to visualize what it feels like to go after your goals. This is especially powerful because the brain doesn’t distinguish between a strong vision and an actual experience.
Visualizing a desired outcome can activate the same neural pathways as actually experiencing it, according to research in the journal Frontiers in Public Health.
The exercise of visualization can therefore strengthen those neural pathways, allowing your brain to “practice” going through the motions it needs to perform to achieve your goals. That means it’s important to visualize yourself doing what it takes to achieve your goal, in addition to visualizing the actual outcome.
Visualization works best when you are focusing on the actions it takes to get to a desired outcome, according to research in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. This is why elite athletes often visualize themselves executing important skills or plays before a big game or competition.
With the science behind vision boards in mind, here are five expert tips for using your vision board to stay on track all year long:
1. Keep the vision board somewhere you will see it regularly so that you stay inspired to act on your goals. You could consider putting a physical board near your bedside table or on the refrigerator, for example. Digital boards could be used to create the wallpaper for your computer or cellphone.
2. Look at your vision board frequently. The more you look at the pictorial representation of your goals, the more deeply embedded they will be within your subconscious.
3. Stay intentional. Be consistent in using your vision board as an instrument for visualization and as an inspiration for the actions you will take to achieve them.
4. Celebrate your achievements on the board. Don’t be afraid to update your vision board as time passes — think of it as an ever-evolving organism. Rip things off once you’ve achieved them, and make sure to celebrate all the wins to keep yourself motivated.
5. Allow your vision to change. Edit and rework the board as much as you like. Add new goals as they come up, revise goals if things change for you. Keeping your vision board current will increase the likelihood that you continue to use it.
(NEW YORK) — After setting New Year’s resolutions, it is those days and weeks after January that can catch up with even the best of intentions.
So how do you make your New Year’s resolution stick?
Experts say it is important to remember it is a journey, not an overnight fix, especially when it comes to the most common of resolutions, weight loss and exercise.
“The reason why people make resolutions every year is because it’s really hard,” said Maya Feller, a New York-based registered dietitian nutritionist. “You first started eating when you were 6 months old, so that’s many years of learned food behavior. Change is not going to happen overnight.”
Feller and other experts shared their top tips for making sure your health and wellness resolutions become true lifestyle changes.
Solidify your intention
Even just a few days into January is the right time to remind yourself why you chose your resolution, according to Feller.
“Sometimes after just a few days of changing your diet you feel good and feel like you can let it go,” she said. “In the early part of January, reevaluate your motivation and say, ‘Why am I doing this again? I’m making this intentional choice again.'”
Rebecca Scritchfield, a Washington, D.C.-based dietitian and certified exercise physiologist, said it’s also important to remember your “why” multiple times daily.
“What’s going to help keep you motivated is continuing to think about the benefits you’re receiving, in both the short term and the long term,” she said. “The more you focus on the benefits every time you do it, you’ll see the good earlier. What you want to say is, ‘There’s too much good in this for me to stop.'”
‘Layer’ the changes
Feller advises her clients to pick the “low-hanging fruit” when they make a plan for their resolutions.
“If you’re eating two vegetables a day, make it four,” Feller said. “Once you’ve hit that, reevaluate again and ask yourself, ‘Why am I doing this and what do I have to add on?'”
She also compares improving eating habits to building a house, where you start by making sure you have a solid foundation and build up from there.
“You have to put the foundation down and solidify the behavior,” she said. “It is behavior change. That’s the thing about nutrition.”
Say no to the quick fix
Both Feller and Scritchfield stress that going for the quick solution, like a plan promising you’ll lose 15 pounds in January, will not be sustainable and may even leave you worse off.
“You might lose 15 [pounds] but you’re not going to continue it with that approach,” she said. “It’s better to have the small success so you can continue to step forward.”
Scritchfield said taking the more moderate, long-lasting approach to healthy eating and exercise demands that you let go of the shame or fear that comes from overindulging in the holiday season.
“You’re going to be so tempted in the new year to fall for an extreme plan because you’re feeling like you want to make a change and you’re also being told there is something wrong with where you are right now,” she said. “The more important value is feeling like you have a good life and feeling happy with your habits.”
“Go down the road of, ‘It’s OK to be where I am and what’s the next goal that I think is interesting to me and will also help me create a better life,'” she said. “Walk down that road of kindness as opposed to something that is short term.”
Don’t set a ‘dead person’s goal’
Scritchfield describes this type of goal as, “Any goal a dead person can do better than you, like, ‘I’ll never eat chocolate cake.'”
“Saying you’re going to eliminate it, unless you truly believe you’ll never have it again and you’ll live a good life without it, is a waste of time,” she said. “Instead, work on a better structure so you know that it will come but a structure that is manageable to you and doesn’t feel like deprivation but feels like a positive change.”
Scritchfield used an example of a person trying to quit drinking soda. Instead of saying you will never again drink soda, develop ways to cut back on soda while increasing a better habit, like drinking water.
“Say, ‘I’m going to carry water with me and I’m going to fill it up twice before I drink a soda,” she said. “Or, ‘I want to limit my soda to one a day after lunchtime and I want to make sure I have two full waters before I do that.'”
For those who would like to increase their water intake, Scritchfield gave a tip she uses in her own life.
“I put rubber bands on my water bottle,” she said. “I add one each time I finish a bottle.”
Write down your resolution, and be flexible
Writing down your New Year’s resolutions, your motivation and your plan for action help solidify your commitment, experts say.
“Make sure it’s written down, not just in your head,” said Dr. Marcelo Campos, a practicing physician and lecturer at Harvard Medical School. “Post it on your fridge or your wall to remind yourself about the commitment you made.”
“With anything that we do in life, it’s a good idea to have things written down that we can track over time,” he said, adding that goals should be specific and measurable.
Writing down your resolutions and action plan can also help you share it with others, which experts say is another key for long-term success.
After making a plan and implementing it, also be flexible if the plan is not working for you.
“If someone is doing it on their own and struggling they may need to say, ‘I need to look at a different modality,” Feller said. “If it’s not working, there’s no reason to beat a dead horse.”
(NEW YORK) — For at least a decade, Chris Van Bibber had been prevented from donating blood.
The 35-year-old from Salt Lake City, Utah — who is openly gay — was restricted due to rules set in place by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that did not allow sexually active gay men from donating.
However, this past May, the FDA dropped all restrictions specific to gay and bisexual men donating blood, moving to a new blood donation risk assessment tool that is the same for every donor regardless of how they identify, which rolled out in August.
This meant that Van Bibber was able to make history as he donated blood at the American Red Cross Blood Donation Center in his home city.
“To sit back in that chair and to go through the questionnaire beforehand, and it was just — I felt so much excitement and so much relief that we were finally here,” Van Bibber told ABC News. “I just felt like I was finally able to do my part and it’s a small thing to do that can make such a big difference.”
The new policy is one that public health experts and gay rights activists said had been a long time coming.
Ban on gay and bisexual men donating
In the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, blood donations were not able to screen for HIV, which led to some cases of HIV via transfusion. This led to the FDA instituting a lifetime ban on gay and bisexual men from donating blood as well as women who have sex with men who have sex with men.
“That was really based not on an individual person’s risk, but more so on belonging to a particular group and some of that, at the initial onset, you could say was based on what we were seeing with regard to the impact of HIV on specific communities, namely, gay and bisexual men,” Ayako Miyashita Ochoa, an adjunct professor at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, told ABC News.
“We quickly got to a place where we were able to test all blood donations universally for HIV. That policy became outdated…and yet we did not see a change in the policies related to this permanent ban or permanent deferral,” she continued.
In 2015, the blanket ban was repealed but the FDA placed restrictions that men who have sex with men could donate if they were abstinent from sex for at least one year. In 2020, this was shortened to a period of 90 days of abstinence.
Scientists and advocates argued that not having policies that backed science was discriminating.
“I think it’s safe to say that the policy was so incredibly blunt,” Miyashita Ochoa said. “And it was so group-based, identity-based specifically, that it was a tool for furthering stigma and discrimination.”
‘It felt very invasive’
For Van Bibber, the desire to donate blood is partly due to family history. His mother, Sheri, suffered a life-threatening medical complication when he was born and needed a blood donation to save her life.
Van Bibber said he grew up understanding the significance of blood donation, especially because his blood type is O-negative and can be used in transfusions for any blood type.
Sheri works for the Red Cross organizing blood drives so his family would donate regularly. However, he said he felt like an outsider compared to the rest of his family who was able to donate while he wasn’t.
“It felt very limiting and very invasive of my personal life that I wouldn’t be able to donate or give back in the way that I wanted to,” Van Bibber said. “Donating blood and knowing the importance of that has been a part of our family for since I’ve been alive and so to not be able to participate, not be able to do my right in giving back, it was certainly discerning.”
Blood donation rule change
This year, the FDA announced it would no longer be issuing blanket bans due to sexual orientation and instead screen potential donors on their risk of contracting and transmitting HIV, with the policy going into effect in August.
At the time, the federal health agency said it would use “gender-inclusive, individual risk-based questions” without compromising “the safety or availability of the blood supply.”
Questionnaires ask all donors about new or multiple sexual partners in the past three months. Those who have had a new sexual partner or multiple partners in the past three months and a history of anal sex during that time period will be deferred. Those taking medications to treat or prevent HIV infection will also be deferred. The new blood donation risk assessment is the same for every donor regardless of how they identify.
It follows several other Western countries that have recently dropped bans or eased restrictions including the United Kingdom, France, Greece and the Netherlands.
Van Bibber said when he first heard the FDA was considering making the policy change, he was initially wary, but he was excited when it was made official.
“I was a little leery just because I wanted to know, how are they going to make that change and is it truly going to be inclusive and how are they going to involve everybody?” he said. “And as it finally rolled out, and I read the requirements before I went to go donate, I sat there, and I’m like, ‘This is how we do it. This is absolutely the first step to take, and science is going to keep working with us and it’s only going to go up from here.'”
Experts said this new policy focuses on individual risk, taking into account that many donors are monogamous, test HIV negative and practice safe sex.
“I think that the individual risk-based assessment now gives us a chance to step away from sort of blanket decisions around the risks related to donation,” Miyashita Ochoa said. “I think that we are moving to a place where our policies are reflecting better the science and certainly our expectations as a society to not discriminate.”
Experts are also hopeful that more donors will help address the blood supply. On Sept. 11 of this year, the American Red Cross declared a national blood shortage, stating the blood supply level had dropped nearly 25% since early August.
While blood donations have increased since then, it can take weeks for levels to rebound, the Red Cross said.
More work to be done
Van Bibber said the response from the LGBTQ community has been positive with people coming forward to donate who didn’t realize they were now eligible or sharing their own first-time donation experience.
However, he and others say there is more work to be done. One way to make blood donation even more inclusive would be to expand eligibility to those on a medication called PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis, which is a daily pill containing two medications that prevent HIV-negative patients from being infected, they said.
“While we definitely don’t want any donors to stop taking their medication because it’s important for HIV prevention and treatment, but more data is needed to understand how these medications impact testing and eligibility,” Dr. Baia Lasky, a divisional chief medical officer with the American Red Cross, told ABC News.
Miyashita Ochoa said she hopes the risk assessment convinces more people not only to reduce stigma but encourage more people to donate.
“These questionnaires are intended to keep our blood supply safe and so while you may feel some discomfort being asked about your sexual health risks, we have to maintain the safety of our blood supply,” she said.
“So please support this effort to move towards this individual risk-based assessment and understand that beyond just addressing stigma and discrimination, this is about education. And this is about an opportunity to participate in a more just in a more right scientific assessment of risk. We can all do our part,” she added.
ABC News’ Sony Salzman contributed to this report.
(LOS ANGELES)– California will welcome the new year by becoming the first state to offer health insurance for all undocumented immigrants.
Starting Jan. 1, all undocumented immigrants, regardless of age, will qualify for Medi-Cal, California’s version of the federal Medicaid program for people with low incomes.
Previously, undocumented immigrants were not qualified to receive comprehensive health insurance but were allowed to receive emergency and pregnancy-related services under Medi-Cal as long as they met eligibility requirements, including income limits and California residency in 2014.
In 2015, undocumented children were able to join Medi-Cal under a bill signed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown. In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law an expansion of full-scope Medi-Cal access for young adults ages 19 through 25, regardless of citizenship or immigration status. Access was then further expanded to allow older adults aged 50 and older to receive full benefits, also regardless of immigration status.
The final expansion going into effect Jan. 1 will make approximately 700,000 undocumented residents between ages 26 and 49 eligible for full coverage, according to California State Sen. María Elena Durazo.
“This historic investment speaks to California’s commitment to health care as a human right,” Durazo said in a statement in May.
“In California, we believe everyone deserves access to quality, affordable health care coverage – regardless of income or immigration status,” Gov. Newsom’s office said in response to an ABC News request for comment. “Through this expansion, we’re making sure families and communities across California are healthier, stronger, and able to get the care they need when they need it.”
About 50% of undocumented immigrant adults in America report being uninsured, compared to just 8% of U.S.-born citizens, according to the health policy research nonprofit KFF, due to undocumented adults being more likely work jobs that don’t provide health benefits, as well as facing eligibility restrictions for federal programs.
Additionally, undocumented immigrants who are eligible may face other barriers, including confusion about eligibility, language challenges and fear, KFF said.
This is despite low-income undocumented immigrants in California being about as likely as those currently enrolled in Medi-Cal to have at least one chronic condition, according to research conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), a nonprofit research institution.
Undocumented immigrants are also about as likely to receive preventive services, such as the flu shot, and older undocumented immigrants are about as likely to receive age-appropriate health services such as cancer screenings and the shingles vaccine, at rates similar to Medi-Cal patients, the PPIC found.
The California Health and Human Services Agency has committed $835.6 million in 2023-24 and $2.6 billion annually thereafter to expand full-scope Medi-Cal eligibility to all income-eligible adults, regardless of immigration status.
California’s plan to expand coverage has not been without its detractors. The California Senate Republican Caucus criticized the move in an analysis of the 2022-23 governor’s budget.
“Medi-Cal is already strained by serving 14.6 million Californians – more than a third of the state’s population. Adding 764,000 more individuals to the system will certainly exacerbate current provider access problems,” the caucus wrote last year.
When California expanded health care coverage in 2019 to include undocumented young adults, then-President Donald Trump blasted the plan, calling it “very unfair to our citizens.”
“If you look at what they’re doing in California, how they’re treating people, they don’t treat their people as well as they treat illegal immigrants,” Trump told reporters at the time. “So, at what point does it stop? It’s crazy what they’re doing. It’s crazy. And it’s mean, and it’s very unfair to our citizens.”
However, studies have shown that undocumented immigrants use fewer healthcare resources than do non-immigrants.
Gov. Newsom’s office did not immediately reply to ABC News’ request for comment on the latest Medi-Cal eligibility expansion.
(NEW YORK) — From new vaccines to the first drugs of their kind for hard-to-treat disorders, 2023 has been a year full of medical breakthroughs.
They offer opportunities for people to protect themselves from diseases, slow down the effects of others and even incorporate artificial intelligence into cancer diagnoses.
Here are seven of the biggest innovations in the health and science space this year:
New RSV vaccines and immunizations
For the first time ever, after years of setbacks, there are multiple vaccines and shots available for several different groups to prevent RSV.
For adults over age 60, who are at higher risk for serious complications from RSV because immune systems weaken with age, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved two vaccines.
“So much focus is placed on flu and now COVID. but, each year in the U.S., we see tens of thousands of older adults hospitalized from RSV, thousands die from RSV complications,” said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor.
“It still has significant public health consequences for those that are most vulnerable, and so now having a high efficacy vaccine is really a tremendous breakthrough for the last year and I think will have significant public health benefit for years to come,” he added.
The FDA also approved a maternal RSV vaccine, which is given to pregnant mothers in the third trimester between 32 weeks’ and 36 weeks’ gestation and is designed to pass antibodies to babies in the womb. It can provide protection from severe illness through the first six months of life.
Lastly, for babies under 8 months old, there are two monoclonal antibody shots available. Monoclonal antibodies are laboratory-made proteins that mimic the body’s ability to fight off pathogens. They are different from vaccines, which stimulate the immune system.
1st CRISPR gene-editing technique to treat sickle cell
Earlier this month, the FDA approved two gene therapies to treat sickle cell disease (SCD), including the first CRISPR gene-editing therapy.
SCD is a genetic condition in which red blood cells have a crescent, or sickle, shape, causing them to be hard and sticky.
“It is a disease that really touches every organ in the body,” Dr. Shari Azar, medical director of the Comprehensive Sickle Cell Disease Treatment Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, told ABC News. “A quarter of our patients will have had a stroke by the time they’re in their 40s. Many of our patients will have had their first joint replacement by the time they’re in their 30s. Many others will have had their first heart attack in their 20s.”
“If the disease goes unchecked, it can lead to blindness, it can lead to dialysis dependence and most of our patients may not see their 45th or 50th birthday,” he continued.
One of these therapies, Lyfgenia, uses a piece of a virus to deliver a gene for fetal hemoglobin, which prevents blood cells from sticking together and constricting blood flow, which is delivered back into the patient.
“From a scientific and medical standpoint, both of these therapies aim to do the same thing, they just do it in a slightly different way,” Azar said. “So, the important thing to emphasize here is that these are not a cure for sickle cell disease. The patients will still have sickle cell disease on the other side of the intervention. The hope is that they will just have a milder form of the disease, where they can see a lot less pain and hopefully fewer complications and hopefully even a longer life.”
Over-the-counter birth control pill
In July, the FDA approved the first over-the-counter birth control pill, meaning it can be sold without a prescription.
Called Opill by French drugmaker HRA Pharma and its parent company Perrigo, public health experts have said it will broaden birth control access for millions of people in the United States.
Opill is a progestin-only pill — sometimes called the “minipill”, meaning it doesn’t contain estrogen like combination birth control pills. Doctors say progestin-only pills pose fewer medical risks than combination pills.
The drug is expected to appear on shelves at convenience stores, grocery chains and online in early 2024.
Scientists pinpoint possible cause of morning sickness
Morning sickness is an extremely common early symptom of pregnancy, with up to 80% of pregnant women experiencing it in the first trimester — and now researchers believe they have discovered the cause.
A team mainly from the U.S., U.K. and Sri Lanka discovered a link between a hormone called GDF15, produced by the fetus in the placenta, and morning sickness.
Results, published earlier this month in the journal Nature, found women with severe nausea and vomiting and blood levels of GDF15 during the first trimester that were significantly higher compared to women who didn’t experience sickness.
Additionally, women who are more sensitive to the hormone become the sickest, which may explain the small percentage of women who suffer an extreme form of morning sickness hyperemesis gravidarum, which is the leading cause of hospitalization in the early stage of pregnancy and famously experienced by Catherine, Princess of Wales during all three of her pregnancies.
Researchers said the finding could help treat women with morning sickness, especially severe forms, by lowering levels of the hormone during pregnancy.
First drug fully approved by the FDA to treat Alzheimer’s
In the past, Alzheimer’s disease treatment has been marked by several drugs that have failed clinical trials but, in July, the FDA granted full approval for a new drug called Leqembi.
Manufactured by the pharmaceutical companies Eisai and Biogen, it is the first drug of its kind that has shown to slow cognitive decline in early Alzheimer’s patients.
Leqembi works by targeting amyloid beta, the main component of the amyloid plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients and affects memory and thought. It marks the plaques for clearance by the body’s immune system, which slows Alzheimer’s symptoms.
“It’s a significant milestone in Alzheimer’s disease treatment,” Brownstein said. “It is a very big step in giving individuals suffering from this disease more time, and clinical trials have shown to modestly slow cognitive decline, especially in people with early Alzheimer’s disease, and so by slowing cognitive decline, that drug could provide individuals more time to engage in activities that they enjoy.”
Brownstein noted that there are still questions surrounding the drug’s accessibility. The full approval means Medicare can start covering the cost of treatment for patients, making it more widely available, but that’s for a subset of patients.
“This drug, like many others, requires substantial investment for research and development, and so, because of that, companies use drug pricing to recover the costs associated with developing and bringing these drugs to market,” he said. “Unfortunately, that pricing, that means that this drug will be out of reach for some, and that’s really something that needs to be addressed because of course, this drug should be available to anyone suffering from this disease.”
An mRNA vaccine to treat pancreatic cancer
A research team funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has developed a personalized mRNA vaccine with partners at BioNTech, against pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest forms of cancer in the U.S.
BioNTech performed gene sequencing on more samples to identify neoantigens — proteins that are unique to cancer cells – that may stimulate an immune response.
In early clinical trials, patients received a drug that inhibits cancer cells from suppressing the immune system, then were given their personalized vaccine split in nine doses over many months.
Eighteen of the 19 patients successfully had vaccines created for them and 16 were healthy enough to receive at least some of the doses, according to the NIH.
About half of the patients saw the vaccine trigger T cells, a type of immune system cell that destroys infected cells, that targeted the specific cancer cells in each patient.
Among the patients who saw the strong immune system response, the cancer did not return after a year and a half of treatment, including chemotherapy. In those who did not have a strong immune system response, the caner retuned within a year, according to results published earlier this year in the journal Nature.
“It’s exciting to see that a personalized vaccine could enlist the immune system to fight pancreatic cancer—which urgently needs better treatments,” Dr. Vinod Balachandran, a surgical oncologist from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, said in a statement. “It’s also motivating as we may be able to use such personalized vaccines to treat other deadly cancers.”
AI boosts breast cancer detection rates
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been increasingly used in scientific trials, and a new tool developed this year is helping spot more breast cancer than human screenings.
The tool, named Mia and developed by Imperial College London and Kheiron Medical Technologies detected 13% more early breast cancers.
Across the two pilot phases and the live roll out, Mia detected 24 more cancers and led to 70 more women being recalled, according to a release from Imperial College London.
Of the women who were recalled, additional cancers were found, which raised cancer detection rates by 13%.
“These results have exceeded our expectations,” Dr Ben Glocker, a professor in machine learning for imaging at ICL, said in a statement. “These results have exceeded our expectations. Our study shows that using AI can act as an effective safety net — a tool to prevent subtler signs of cancer falling through the cracks. Seeing firsthand that the use of AI could substantially reduce the rate of missed cancers in breast screening is massive, and a major boost for our mission to transform cancer care with AI technology.”
(NEW YORK) — A health system in Michigan has experienced its second cybersecurity breach this year, affecting more than 1 million patients, according to state officials.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Tuesday there was a breach at HealthEC, a vendor that provides services to Corewell Health’s southeast Michigan properties. The breach exposed patients’ personal and medical information.
HealthEC services is helping to “identify high-risk patients, close gaps in care and recognize barriers to optimal care,” according to a release.
It’s unclear what specific information was exposed but it can include name, address, date of birth, Social Security number, medical diagnoses, mental/physical condition, health insurance information, treatment cost information and billing and claims information, the release said.
Patients affected by the breach had notice letters mailed to them on Dec. 22, according to Nessel’s office.
“Health information is some of the most personal information we have,” Nessel said in a statement. “Michigan residents have been subjected to a surge of healthcare-related data breaches and deserve robust protection. It is critical that the Michigan legislature join the many other states that require companies who experience a data breach to immediately inform the Department of Attorney General.”
Corewell Health said it contacted the attorney general’s office before making a public announcement.
Last month, Corewell Health announced that vendor Welltok, experienced a data breach that led to similar personal and medical information being exposed. More than 1 million patients were impacted.
For anyone affected by the data breach, Nessel’s office recommends steps including changing passwords, contacting one’s bank or credit union and potentially putting a fraud alert on one’s credit file to prevent identify theft.
This is the latest in a series of cyberware attacks and data breaches that have been affecting health system across the U.S.
In Oklahoma, Integris Health — which offers hospitals and primary care clinics across the state — said a data breach were accessed by an unauthorized party at the end of November, according to local ABC News affiliate KOCO 5.
The health system then announced on Christmas Eve that patients were receiving messages from a group claiming responsibility for the data breach and threatening to expose the information on the dark web unless they received payment.
Capital Health — which operates hospitals in Trenton and Pennington as well as primary care offices across New Jersey — said last month it had been experiencing network outages that it believes was a “cybersecurity incident,” but was unsure if any personal information had been exposed.
Additionally, hospitals run by Ardent Health Services — including two in New Jersey — were forced to divert ambulances to other area hospitals and cancel some non-elective procedures after the organization discovered a ransomware attack on Thanksgiving Day.
(NEW YORK) — A woman who was born with a rare condition known as double uterus gave birth to two twin girls whom she carried in each of her uteruses during her pregnancy.
Kelsey Hatcher of Dora, Alabama, delivered one girl on Tuesday, and another on Wednesday following 20 hours of labor, according to the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
“Our miracle babies were born! They decided they were rare enough statistically that they should just go ahead and have their own birthdays too,” Hatcher wrote on Instagram.
Her first baby, named Roxi, was delivered vaginally at 7:45 p.m. on Dec. 19, weighing 7 pounds 7 ounces, the press release said. Meanwhile, her second baby named Rebel was delivered via c-section a little over 10 hours after her sister was born, on Dec. 20, at 6:10 a.m. weighing 7 pounds 3.5 ounces.
In a press release, Hatcher, who was already a mother of three before her fourth pregnancy with the twins, credited the assistance from UAB while announcing the birth of her two girls.
“Bringing our two healthy baby girls into this world safely was always the goal, and UAB helped us accomplish that,” Hatcher said in the release. “It seems appropriate that they had two birthdays, though. They both had their own ‘houses,’ and now both have their own unique birth stories.”
“After such a long and crazy journey, it meant the world to see both of my girls together for the first time,” Hatcher said, according to the release.
Hatcher was born with two uteruses and two cervixes, a rare condition also known as uterine didelphys, or double uterus. This condition, present in only 0.3 percent of people with uteruses, develops when the reproductive organs form differently in an embryo. People with double uteruses can experience pain, fertility issues, or sometimes no symptoms at all.
The odds of being pregnant at the same time in each uterus are about “1 in a million,” according to Dr. Richard Davis, a maternal and fetal medicine specialist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Women & Infants Center, where Hatcher was being treated.
This was the first of her four pregnancies with her husband Caleb in which she carried one baby in each uterus. Speaking to “Good Morning America” last month, Hatcher said she had a single baby carried in one uterus in her previous pregnancies with her kids – now ages 7, 4, and 2 that also went full-term, with no complications.
While Hatcher did not carry both babies in one uterus like a typical twin pregnancy, Davis said in a press release, “it is safe to call the girls fraternal twins.”
“At the end of the day, it was two babies in one belly at the same time. They just had different apartments,” Davis added.
