Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Different Takes On Zika And Other Public Health Crises
We shouldn鈥檛 be politicizing the Zika threat. We should be fighting it. From the start, the Republican-led Congress has made it a priority to enact smart measures and secure resources to protect the public. (House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., 8/3)
With every House member and one-third of the Senate up for re-election, it鈥檚 time for lawmakers to take a break from asking voters to send them back to Washington and actually come back to Washington to do their jobs. Reconvening Congress in the midst of this recess requires action by the Republican leaders of the House and Senate, and so far neither has shown much inclination to do so. (8/3)
When the summer games open in Rio de Janeiro on Friday night, concerns about Zika could be getting as much attention as the events themselves. That's because Zika erupted in Brazil last year and has caused some pregnant women to give births to babies with undersized heads. ... Whatever its effects on the Olympics, Zika has spread to other warmer climates inhabited by mosquitoes -- like the Gulf Coast in America. (8/4)
Awareness of antibiotic resistance is increasing, and the recent finding of colistin-resistant E. coli in a Pennsylvania woman brought the urgency of the situation to new heights. Indeed, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claims that 23,000 Americans a year die from drug-resistant bacteria. I believe the number is more likely around 40,000. That's about the same number of people who die in car crashes each year. But unlike car crash deaths, infection deaths are on the rise. (Andrew F. Reed, 8/4)
Tuberculosis was previously a fatal disease that until recently had become well controlled in the U.S. It is now making a comeback, and much of this rests on the shoulders of our present immigration policy. Recent data indicates that tuberculosis cases rose last year for the first time in 23 years. The health of the nation is something that should concern each and every one of us. But lost in the arguments for and against immigration is the threat that TB and other 鈥渃ontrolled鈥 diseases pose and the amazing financial burden they place on all of us. (Reed Wilson, 8/3)
