Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
The Isley Brothers are in a battle over their name. Billboardreports that Rudolph Isley has filed a lawsuit in Chicago Federal Court against his brother Ronald Isley over the trademark rights to their group’s name.
Rudolph is claiming that despite the name “The Isley Brothers” being jointly owned by both of them, Ronald alone filed for a federal trademark of the name in 2021 and it was approved by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
“Counsel for defendant Ronald Isley has asserted in correspondence that defendant alone has exclusive ownership of the [trade]mark,” the complaint reads. “These assertions … are false.”
Rudolph’s suit seeks to have a judge declare the trademark rights to the name are “jointly owned” by both brothers “equally,” and he wants any revenue Ronald made from exploiting the trademark to be divided.
But in legal correspondence from before the suit was filed, lawyers for Ronald argue the trademark belongs to the person actually using the name, which is Ronald, noting Rudolph hasn’t performed with The Isley Brothers since 1986. They say for this reason, any profits Ronald made are his and shouldn’t need to be shared.
(NEW YORK) — Criminal prosecution proceedings typically start with an arrest and a court appearance, but legal experts say that on many occasions, especially in white collar crimes, suspects aren’t hit with charges or a visit from an officer until long after an official investigation is underway.
Being charged vs. indicted
Typically, if a crime is being investigated, law enforcement agents will make an arrest, file initial charges and bring a suspect to be arraigned in court, Vincent Southerland, an assistant professor of clinical law and the director of the criminal defense and reentry clinic at NYU School of Law, told ABC News.
After this arraignment, prosecutors would impanel a grand jury for a formal criminal indictment. Southerland, who has been practicing law in New York state for 19 years, said this process includes giving the jury evidence, possible testimony and other exhibits before they can officially charge a person with felonies.
New York is one of 25 states where prosecutors are required by law to have a grand jury decide on felony charges for a trial. The other half of the country does not have this requirement and such decisions can be made by the prosecutor themselves.
Southerland said in most criminal cases, “prosecutors and investigators have more than enough evidence or a case to bring that indictment in quickly.”
Why prosecutors may take long for an indictment
However, Southerland noted that prosecutors can start with the criminal indictment process in the beginning, especially if their case needs more evidence to press those charges.
Cheryl Bader, an associate clinical professor of law at Fordham University, told ABC News that such a move is common in white collar criminal investigations that involve looking at delicate nuances in the state law and require more time.
Bader said investigations into prominent figures, such as the current investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office into former President Donald Trump, also prompt prosecutors’ offices to make their case to the grand jury in the most meticulous and thorough way possible.
A Manhattan grand jury is currently investigating Trump’s possible role in the hush payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. The former president has denied any wrongdoing and having an affair with Daniels. His attorneys have framed the funds as a response to an extortion plot.
“In an investigation like this, the prosecutor isn’t in a rush and wants to put their ducks in order. They want the evidence fully organized before they go to trial,” Bader told ABC News.
Southerland said that in some cases, a defendant might be offered the opportunity to testify before a grand jury and go on the record.
Two weeks ago, the Manhattan DA’s office informed Trump of his right to testify before the grand jury in the probe, according to sources.
One of Trump’s attorneys, Joe Tacopina, however, told “Good Morning America’s” George Stephanopoulos last week that his client has “no plans” to participate.
Southerland said that anything a witness or a defendant testifies in a grand jury can be used in court.
“It hamstrings here if you want to change your defense,” he said.
What happens after an indictment
Bader said suspects who are indicted can be arrested and remanded into custody while they await trial, but in most white-collar cases, the defendant is released on their own recognizance.
Southerland said another advantage that prosecutors have when it comes to indicting a suspect first before charging them is the secrecy and confidentiality of the grand jury. He noted, however, that in Trump’s pending case, media attention and witness statements have brought the case into the public eye.
“With a lot of things Trump-related, a lot of conventions just don’t hold,” he said.
Burden of proof
Southerland said that in all grand jury indictment cases, jurors are only tasked with determining if a case is strong enough that it should go to a criminal trial.
“The burden of proof is incredibly low,” he said. “This is not like in a criminal trial where something needs to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.”
As the investigation into Trump continues, Southerland said the public needs to keep in mind that criminal indictments and charges aren’t indicative of any suspect’s guilt.
“When we talk about indictments, we’re talking about whether there is enough evidence to go forward with a trial, which is probable cause,” he said. “Defendants are still innocent until proven guilty and the indictment is just the first step of the legal process.”
(WASHINGTON) — Federal lawmakers have reintroduced a bill that would give consumers a tax break on the purchase of a new electric bike.
The Electric Bicycle Incentive Kickstart for the Environment (E-BIKE) Act would offer a refundable tax credit amounting to 30% of the e-bike’s price, capped at $1,500.
New e-bikes that cost less than $8,000 would be eligible for the refund — up from what was initially $4,000 in President Joe Biden’s original Build Back Better proposal.
The new bill also doubles the income limits to receive the maximum credit — up to $150,000 for a single filer and $300,000 for joint filers — to match the electric car credits in the Inflation Reduction Act.
California Rep. Jimmy Panetta — who reintroduced the bill on Tuesday along with California Reps. Mike Thompson and Adam Schiff and Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer, the Congressional Bike Caucus chairman — called the bill a “commonsense way to encourage” e-bike ownership, particularly for low-income earners looking to reduce their carbon footprint.
“By incentivizing Americans to own and use e-bikes, we are allowing them the chance to help improve the quality of life in our communities and tackle the climate crisis in our country,” Panetta said in a statement.
The e-bike tax credit was ultimately eliminated from the Build Back Better Act and was left out of the Inflation Reduction Act.
In reintroducing the bill, Panetta’s office pointed to the success of an e-bike rebate program implemented in Denver last year that issued more than 4,700 e-bike rebates.
“Transitioning to a clean energy economy includes changing the way we get around,” Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development who has introduced companion legislation in the Senate, said in a statement. “Our bill will make it more affordable for working people to buy an e-bike and help get cars off the road.”
Amid concerns over e-bike safety — in particular low-quality bikes equipped with shoddy, potentially dangerous and explosive batteries — the reintroduced E-Bike Act also includes language to help address battery hazards. The proposed bill defines eligible e-bikes as ones that meet battery safety standards set by Underwriters Laboratory, an industry leader in battery technology, or that “may be recognized by the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission.”
(NEW YORK) — ABC News National Correspondent Stephanie Ramos says she “never thought” the military would be in her future while growing up. But soon after the 9/11 terror attacks, Ramos joined the Army Reserve. Five years later, she was deployed to Baghdad, Iraq, and was there for a year before returning home.
Twenty years after the U.S. invasion, Ramos joined three service members who were deployed to Iraq — retired Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Israel Del Toro, retired U.S. Army Specialist Shoshana Johnson and active-duty Air Force Lt. Col. Bree Fram — to talk about their experiences and reflect on the horrors of war.
STEPHANIE RAMOS: So let’s start with introductions.
ISRAEL DEL TORO: Israel Del Toro, Jr. Retired, CMS Sergeant. Served 22 years as a special warfare fighter. I was there in Iraq from the beginning.
SHOSHANA JOHNSON: Shoshana Johnson, U.S. Army, deployed in 2003. Shot twice, captured, 22 days as a prisoner of war.
BREE FRAM: Bree Fram. I’m a lieutenant colonel in the United States Space Force. I previously served 18 years in the Air Force, where I deployed as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004, and then went back in 2017 and ’18 as an international affairs officer.
RAMOS: Thank you for being here, all of you. You all have a very unique background. You all have different paths in the military, and that’s what I love about the military. It really brings together this random group of people from all over the country, and you’re working with them, you’re in tight quarters with them, you’re deploying overseas with them. It’s very, very unique. We were all deployed to Baghdad, Iraq. We all have very different experiences. Shoshana, talk a little bit about your time when you deployed. You were a mom when you deployed to Iraq. And your daughter was how old?
JOHNSON: She was 2.
RAMOS: Two years old! As a mom, what was that moment like for you?
JOHNSON: It’s what we do, you know. As a military family, we’ve gone through this process so many times. Our family is military. My dad is a Desert Storm vet. Great uncles, cousins, we all served. My sister served. I was in JROTC in high school, and everything like that. We’re also immigrants from Panama. Emotionally, yes, you’re leaving your kid behind. But I was also the kid that got left behind when my dad deployed. Of course, you want to see all those milestones. I had already missed her first birthday. I missed her first words. I missed her first steps, because we’re training and stuff like that. My only thing was to get home to see her become a grown woman.
RAMOS: And talk to us a little bit about that. When you were there in Iraq, what happened?
JOHNSON: March 23rd. My company went into the city of Nasiriyah before it was secure. We were ambushed. We lost 11. Eight of us were captured, taken to Baghdad, where we spent 22 days in captivity. We heard the conflict going on constantly around us. You know, just hoping and praying that we’d be found. There were incidents where they weren’t so nice. And there were other incidents where I was surprised at the kindness I was shown. During my captivity, they actually performed the operation to clean out the wounds of my legs. I’m very grateful that they took the time to do that. I don’t know if I’d be here or if I’d have legs without that kindness.
RAMOS: And what was going through your mind during that time that you’re being held?
JOHNSON: Lots of prayer. Lots of hope of seeing my daughter and my family again. I was thinking, “Why did this happen to me?” I think now that I’ve returned home, I asked more of the questions of, “Why me?” You know? Nine people died. Why am I here? And it’s something I struggle with 20 years later, and I’ll probably struggle with it for the rest of my life.
RAMOS: Bree, you deployed to Iraq in 2004, pre-transition. It was just a year into the into the start of the war. What was that like?
FRAM: My very first night there, I tried to go to sleep in a tent with a bunch of other people, and the air raid sirens went off. And I thought, “Oh my god, what do I do? Do I roll out of bed? Do I hide under the bed? Do I put my body armor on? Do I get out? Do I go somewhere?” And I look around the tent, and everyone who had been there a lot longer is just either sound asleep, or they looked around and they went right back to sleep.
And when I asked in the morning, “Well, what do we do?” And they said, “By the time the air raid siren goes off, either you’re dead or you’re fine. So just go back to sleep.” OK, that’s gonna be hard to do for a while. But eventually, you just pick up that attitude, and you’re like, “I’m fine. I’m going to be okay. And I’m going to carry on with the mission.”
RAMOS: You returned briefly to Iraq in 2018. What was that like, seeing Iraq early in the war in 2004, and then returning so many years later?
FRAM: Seeing the difference in the base, and how rundown certain aspects of it were. Yet they were still able to accomplish the mission. It was just a night and day operation. But still, to see the pride they had in their pilots. I mean, those guys were like Gods over there, with the skills that they had developed. It was just a dramatic shift in tone for what the base looked like, how it operated.
RAMOS: DT, you were deployed to Bosnia, to Afghanistan, to Iraq. Tell us about the job that you had while you were in Iraq.
DEL TORO: So my job, what we do is call in airstrikes. So we are the guys down to ground with Army, Marines, Navy, special operations as their fire element. Knowing that I had that opportunity, that ability to take care of my teammates, just by what I did, was awesome, because I knew I was going to take care of my guys. Was it dangerous? Obviously, you can see by my appearance. Yeah, it is dangerous. But I enjoyed it. I enjoyed being out there with my guys.
RAMOS: Talk a little bit about your journey and when you were in Afghanistan.
DEL TORO: I was out there with a team of scouts, when I got hit in 2005, December. You know, you hear the stories of, your life flashes in front of you. For me, I never really believed it. Then, when I got hit, going down the road, across this creek, and I feel this intense heat blast on the left side. And I was like, in my head, “We just got hit.” That’s where those flashes, things that were going to happen that were distinct that I remember was like, me and my wife had tried to get married three different times. We were finally going to get married by the church. Because every time we tried, I deployed. But lastly, was me teaching my boy how to play ball, because I was a ballplayer. And then something told me to get out of this truck and pop out of it and try to run to the creek. The flames overtook me, and I collapsed. And I’m thinking here, this is it. I was like, I’ve broken my promise to my family that I would always come back. 80% percent of my body had third degree burns. I was given a 15% chance to live.
RAMOS: You were definitely tougher than your disabilities and circumstances. What motivated you to stay in and re-enlist in 2010?
DEL TORO: I knew I could teach, get the next generation of operators ready. Sometimes people say, “Is that really the first face we want to show these young troops?” And my answer to that was like, “You know what? They’d look at me and see the reality of what this job could do and still want to do it. Those are guys I want right there.”
RAMOS: When you look back at your time there, what do you think? Was it worth it? Would you do it all over again. Would you sign up?
DEL TORO: I would in a heartbeat.
RAMOS: What about you Shoshana?
JOHNSON: It’s not about the conflict. It’s about being in service. It’s about being a soldier. I would do it all over again.
DEL TORO: That camaraderie.
JOHNSON: Yeah.
FRAM: I think the fact that I hit 20 years a few months ago and I’m still serving answers that question. Absolutely yes. Because not only do I feel that my service has been valuable, and a part of something greater than myself that I truly believe in, but it also paves the way for the next generation to continue the legacy, to continue to protect the freedoms that we cherish and the rights that we hold so dear.
DEL TORO: How about you, Stephanie?
RAMOS: How about me? Absolutely. I think it was worth it. It was a worthwhile experience. I learned a ton while I was there in Baghdad. So yes, the answer to that question is yes, I would. Thanks DT, for putting me on the spot.
Thank you all. Thank you all for your service. And you know, we hear that a lot. “Thank you for your service. Thank you for your service.” I don’t know how it is for you guys, but I appreciate it every single time that I hear that, because it is a sacrifice. It’s a sacrifice, not just for yourself, but for your entire family. And it is appreciated.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced the establishment of two new national monuments, protecting land totaling more than half a million acres.
Biden named Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in Nevada and Castner Range National Monument in Texas as the nation’s newest monuments during the White House’s Conservation in Action Summit at the Interior Department.
Biden said these areas will be protected for future generations, and is part of the administration’s goal of preserving 30% of lands and waters by 2030 in accordance with his broader climate initiatives.
“When we conserve our country’s natural gifts, we’re not just protecting the livelihoods of people who depend on them, like the family farms, outdoor recreation, businesses, rural communities welcoming visitors from all across the country and around the world,” Biden said at the White House Conservation in Action Summit at the Department of the Interior on Tuesday.
“We’re protecting the heart and the soul of our national pride.”
Avi Kwa Ame National Monument — also known as Spirit Mountain — is in a part of the state that’s been targeted for development of renewable energy, especially solar power. The Interior Department has identified 9 million acres of public land outside the monument’s borders that could be used for solar projects and the Bureau of Land Management is reviewing proposals for 13 potential projects in Nevada.
“It’s a place of reverence, it’s a place of spirituality and it’s a place of healing,” Biden said. “And now it will be recognized for the significance it holds and be preserved forever, forever.”
Biden said protecting the Castner Range in Texas as a national monument had significance for tribal nations and the military.
“It tells a story of the tribal nations who lived there, and the members of our armed forces were trained in those lands,” he said. “It’s also a place of incredible beauty.”
Biden said he’s directing Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to consider creating a new National Marine Sanctuary designation to protect U.S. waters surrounding Pacific islands. The new sanctuary would include 777,000 square miles of the Pacific Ocean southwest of Hawaii.
“That’s an area larger than the Alaskan and Colorado put together and three times the size of Texas,” he said, adding, “It would make it the largest ocean area on the planet with the highest level of protection.”
The day of conservation comes as Biden approved more drilling in Alaska for the Willow Project, a move environmental groups have slammed, and one day after the United Nations released a dire climate change report.
Journey’s Neal Schon is giving fans a taste of his live show with a new album coming in May.
Journey Through Time, dropping May 19, is a recording of a 2018 benefit concert at The Independent in San Francisco, California. Schon was joined for the performance by his Journey and Santana bandmate Gregg Rolie, along with Journey/Bad English rocker Deen Castronovo on vocals and drums, Marco Mendoza on bass and John Varn on keyboards and vocals.
The 21-song set features songs from the entire Journey catalog including such classics as “Separate Ways,” “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin,” “Wheel in the Sky” and “Lights,” along with early Journey tracks like “Journey,” “Look into the Future,” and “Next.”
The live show, which took place February 9, 2018, raised money to help those affected by fires that hit the North Bay Area of San Francisco in October, 2017.
Journey Through Time is being released as a 3CD+DVD set and is available for preorder now.
Here’s the Journey Through Time track list:
“I’m Gonna Leave You”
“Look into the Future”
“Kohoutek
“Daydream”
“La Do La”
“Line of Fire”
“Walks Like a Lady”
“Feelin’ That Way”
“Anytime”
“Lights”
“Still They Ride”
“Separate Ways”
“Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’”
“Wheel in the Sky”
“Patiently (Medley)”
“Trial by Fire (Medley)”
“Stay Awhile (Medley)”
“Mystery Mountain”
“Of a Lifetime”
“Just the Same Way”
“Lovin’ You Is Easy”
Netflix announced Tuesday that Jon Spaihts, who wrote the 2016 Marvel Studios hit Doctor Strange, and received an Academy Award nomination for 2021’s Dune, will be behind the keyboard for its feature film adaptation of the bestselling Gears of War video game series.
The Gears of War series has sold more than 40 million copies, and centers on, “A society divided and on the brink of collapse” that “faces total extinction by the Locust, a monstrous threat from below.”
Enter Delta Squad, “a ragtag fireteam led by disgraced sergeant Marcus Fenix,” who is “charged with leading humanity’s last stand.”
Spaihts, who also wrote the script to 2023’s Dune: Part 2, noted, “Gears of War is one of the all-time great action games, with vivid characters, a beautifully designed world, and a combat system that drives home the lethality of war and the importance of standing by your squadmates. It wants to be cinema, and I’m thrilled to have the chance to help that happen.”
The Coalition, the creatives behind the games, said, “Jon is a master storyteller with a talent for creating epic science fiction universes and he truly loves Gears of War. We couldn’t ask for a better partner to honor our franchise and deliver an authentic story to our fans.”
Still no word yet on whether Dave Bautista, a superfan who once called Fenix “a dream role” — and whose face and voice could be swapped for the original star, John DiMaggio, in Gears 5 thanks to fan demand — is involved.
(NEW HAVEN, Conn.) — New Haven Chief of Police Karl Jacobson on Tuesday recommended the termination of four officers involved in an incident that left Richard “Randy” Cox paralyzed last June.
Officers Luis Rivera, Jocelyn Lavandier, Oscar Diaz and Ronald Pressley as well as Sgt. Betsy Segui were placed on paid administrative leave in June of 2022. In November, they were charged with reckless endangerment and cruelty to persons; they pleaded not guilty to those charges. Pressley retired from the New Haven Police Department in January and received a pension, despite the charges.
Jacobson recommended the terminations following the conclusion of an internal investigation and hearings for the officers.
Jacobson noted that two other officers involved in the incident – a supervisor and an officer involved in detention – would also be disciplined. Jacobson said the penalty for those officers would be less than 15 days suspension.
“This department has gone through a lot since that incident, this community has gone through a lot,” Jacobson said at a press conference. “And the message to the community is that we … will be transparent and we will be accountable.”
According to Jacobson, New Haven’s Board of Police Commissioners will make the final decision about whether the officers are fired by early May.
Jacobson said that the internal investigation yielded enough information to pursue termination, despite the criminal case being ongoing.
“I think the days of waiting for criminal cases to conclude needs to stop; that’s one of the things the community has asked us to do,” he said.
He added that Segui and Diaz would still be eligible to receive a pension despite the charges and potential termination since their conduct did not violate the “bad boy” clause of their contracts.
In June of 2022, the officers placed Cox in a police van for criminal possession of a firearm and breach of the peace. Cox was seriously injured when the van’s driver stopped abruptly at an intersection to avoid a collision, causing Cox to hit his head on a metal partition. Despite asking for repeated help, the officers did not immediately render aid to Cox. Video footage later showed the officers dragging Cox by his feet to a wheelchair.
Jacobson said his department has implemented training and policy changes since the incident, including adding seat belts to all prisoner vans, training officers on de-escalation and revising department policy on transporting suspects in police vehicles.
“I asked my officers to continue to take each situation under those guidelines and to treat members of this community with respect and dignity, whether they’re an arrestee or complaintant, or whatever the case may be,” Jacobson said.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said Cox and his family were “encouraged” by the discipline for the four officers. Crump added that Cox is still paralyzed from the chest down because of injuries sustained in the back of the police van.
“These officers were sworn to protect their community, but they inflicted unnecessary and traumatizing harm to Randy, who will pay the price for the rest of his life,” Crump wrote in a statement.
New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker Randy applauded the actions by the police department at a separate press conference on Wednesday.
“When Randy Cox was arrested, he entered a police van able to walk and now he is not able to walk. We need to ensure that this never, ever happens again,” he said.
(ATLANTA) — A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed the fungus Candida auris is spreading rapidly through U.S. health care facilities.
Also known as C. auris, reports of cases linked to the drug-resistant fungus have doubled in 2021.
In addition, the fungus is behind an outbreak in Mississippi that began in November, infecting at least 12 people and potentially responsible for about four deaths, according to figures provided by the state Department of Health to ABC News.
Although C. auris does not present a threat to most healthy people, and infections are rare, it can affect vulnerable groups of people and can be resistant to several classes of drugs.
Here’s what to know about the fungus, why these rare cases occur and how Americans can help prevent the spread:
What is Candida auris?
“C. auris is a species of Candida and Candida is the most common yeast that causes human infections,” Dr. Shira Doron, chief infection control officer for Tuft Medicine, told ABC News. “People are quite familiar with the term ‘yeast infections’ or ‘thursh’; those are caused by other species of Candida.”
According to the CDC, it’s a relatively new type of fungus, being first identified in Japan in 2009.
However, studies conducted since then have found samples of C. auris can be dated back to South Korea in 1996.
Public health experts refer to C. auris as an emerging pathogen, which means an organism that has newly appeared or been discovered but has since rapidly spread — either in terms of cases or countries where it is now reported.
Why is C. auris potentially dangerous?
Dr. Scott Roberts, associate medical director of infection prevention at Yale School of Medicine, told ABC News that C. auris can spread either from person-to-person transmission or by people coming into contact with contaminated surfaces.
“This spreads person to person and we do not think of really any other fungus as spreading person to person in a meaningful way,” he said. “And it’s really hard to kill. Standard Lysol wipes, disinfectant wipes don’t kill it. We need dedicated bleach wipes or additional products geared for Candida auris.”
The other issue is there are strains of C. auris that are drug-resistant, meaning infections caused by the yeast will not respond to multiple antifungal drugs commonly used to treat Candida infections.
How is it diagnosed?
Patients with C. auris infections are typically diagnosed after cultures of blood or other bodily fluids are analyzed.
However, experts said this can be difficult because analyzing these cultures requires updated machines or updated libraries, not all labs of which have the capability.
Additionally, it can be hard to identify C. auris on the culture results and it can be confused with other species of Candida.
“The way cultural results come back, first it’s like, ‘Okay, it looks like yeast,'” said Doron. “Then it’s like, ‘Okay, it looks like Candida’ only it could take days before it’s Candida auris and you may be using the wrong drugs.”
Who is at risk?
Most healthy people do not need to worry about C. auris infections, experts said.
However, those with weakened immune systems or who are immunocompromised are at risk of hard-to-treat infections.
Additionally, nursing home patients or hospital patients who have or have had lines and tubes in their body — such as a catheter or a breathing tube — are also at high risk.
How are C. auris infections treated?
Despite several strains C. auris infections being multi-drug resistant, there is a class of antifungal drugs called echinocandins that can be used and are given intravenously.
According to the National Institutes of Health, echinocandins prevent a key enzyme needed to maintain the cell wall of the fungus.
In some cases, when the infection is resistant to all three main classes of drugs, multiple high doses may be required, the CDC said.
Are C. auris infections fatal?
According to the CDC, studies are limited but anywhere between 30% and 60% of people with C. auris infections have died.
However, many of these patients also had other serious illnesses that also increased their risk of death.
“Unless there’s a break in the skin or some sort of deeper systemic infection, the risk of mortality, or some deeper complication, is relatively low unless that fungus gets in a place that it should not be,” Robert said. “For example, there’s a break in the skin, it gets in the bloodstream and there’s a Candida auris blood stream infection, and that can be quite fatal.”
He continued. “Candida auris, it sticks to everything. It can stick to heart valves and stick to catheters. I do want to emphasize that’s a rare occurrence, though.”
What can we do to prevent the spread?
There’s not much that can be done on an individual level to prevent the spread of the fungus, but the experts recommend avoiding patients with C. auris infections and that people practice proper hand hygiene when visiting at-risk populations such as hospital patients or nursing home residents.
Doron said people also need to be careful about the overuse of antibiotics. While they can be helpful in treating some infections, these medications can kill off bacteria in the gut and give more room for yeasts like C. auris to grow.
Roberts said there needs to be continued focus on equipping more labs to easily identify C. auris and focus on public health infrastructure that can identify, isolate and group patients who are infected.
“There’s many examples of this but, you know, a nursing home, a patient has Candida auris,” he said. “They spread it to their roommate, for instance. It’s really critical in that standpoint to have a mechanism to test everyone else in the nursing home to see who’s infected, put them in an isolated area, like one hallway, and put those who aren’t colonized in the other hallway.”
Roberts continued, “And if that patient needs to get admitted to the hospital, we let the hospital know this patient should be in Candida auris isolation. Don’t reuse blood pressure cuffs on that patient and go to the next patient, for instance.”
ABC News’ Aerial Petty contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The Drug Enforcement Administration is warning that a powerful veterinary sedative is being combined illicitly with fentanyl, making it even more dangerous.
DEA issued a public safety alert about the widespread threat posed by a mixture of a non-opioid animal sedative called xylazine, also known as “Tranq,” and fentanyl. There has been a sharp increase in the trafficking of the drug combination, according to DEA.
The fentanyl-xylazine mix has been found in 48 states, according to DEA Administrator Anne Milgram.
“Xylazine is making the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, fentanyl, even deadlier,” Milgram said. “DEA has seized xylazine and fentanyl mixtures in 48 of 50 States. The DEA Laboratory System is reporting that in 2022 approximately 23% of fentanyl powder and 7% of fentanyl pills seized by the DEA contained xylazine.”
Xylazine is a powerful sedative approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1972 for veterinary use, but it is not approved for use in humans.
Users of the mixture can be at higher risk for deadly overdose because unlike fentanyl, xylazine is not an opioid, and so the common opioid overdose treatment naloxone (Narcan) is not known to be effective in reversing its effects, according to the federal government.
In addition to the risk of increased risk of death posed by xylazine, “people who inject drug mixtures containing xylazine also can develop severe wounds, including necrosis — the rotting of human tissue — that may lead to amputation,” the DEA said in a statement.
Xylazine is not readily detected by routine toxicology screening, making exposure to the drug difficult to diagnose, according to an FDA warning to stakeholders in the health care community last November.
Since 2020, drug overdoses have been linked to more than 100,000 deaths annually in the U.S., about two-thirds of which are fentanyl-related.
