Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
In 2019, HIV, Malaria Killed Fewer People Than Drug-Resistant Infections
Resistance to antibiotics killed more people than HIV or malaria in 2019, as common infections that could previously be treated become impervious to existing cures. Drug-resistant bacterial infections directly led to the death of 1.27 million people and played a part in almost 5 million fatalities in 2019, according to a global analysis published in The Lancet medical journal on Thursday.聽(Anghel, 1/20)
A day after hospital officials found the first two cases of the fungus Candida auris in Louisiana, health experts are predicting there are likely more cases of the drug-resistant yeast lurking in hospitals and causing mysterious, hard-to-treat infections. But despite the 鈥渟uperbug鈥 status given to C. auris because it is so hard to kill, its presence is not cause for panic in the general public, doctors and researchers said.聽C. auris doesn鈥檛 typically impact most people even if it is an issue for hospitals already taxed by COVID-19 patients and people who are hospitalized with complicated health problems. (Woodruff, 1/19)
In other public health updates 鈥
Suicide attempts in the United States showed a 鈥渟ubstantial and alarming increase鈥 over the last decade, but one number remained the same, a new study has found: Year in and year out, about 40 percent of people who had recently tried suicide said they were not receiving mental health services. The study, published in JAMA Psychiatry on Wednesday, traces a rise in the incidence of suicide attempts, defined as 鈥渟elf-reported attempts to kill one鈥檚 self in the last 12 months,鈥 from 2008 to 2019. During that period, the incidence rose to 564 in every 100,000 adults from 481. (Barry, 1/19)
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has changed its policy regarding transgender athletes, it announced Wednesday. The new approach to allowing transgender athletes will follow a sport-by-sport model similarly adopted by the U.S. and international Olympic committees, Sports Illustrated reported. "We are steadfast in our support of transgender student-athletes and the fostering of fairness across college sports," John DeGioia, Georgetown University's president and the NCAA board's chairman, said in a statement Wednesday, announcing the change. The new policy is effective immediately. (Richard, 1/20)
A group of advocates for veterans, including former Comedy Central host Jon Stewart, discussed the impact of toxic exposure affecting service members during a virtual roundtable with the House Committee on Veterans鈥 Affairs on Wednesday. Chair Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) convened the meeting to discuss H.R. 3967 (117), dubbed the Honoring Our PACT Act, a bipartisan piece of legislation that seeks to address problems arising from such exposure. (Benson, 1/19)
A Connecticut school continued to decontaminate the building after a 13-year-old student died after he reportedly ingested fentanyl at the school last week, according to multiple media reports.聽TV affiliate, FOX-61 TV in Hartford, Connecticut, reported that officials were called to The Sports and Medical Sciences Academy in Hartford last Thursday, where they found an unconscious boy. CPR was administered, and the boy was taken to the hospital where he died two days later, according to the TV outlet. (McGorry, 1/19)
Two parents who have dedicated nearly 30 years of their lives to Stanford University have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the university and the on-campus fraternity where their son died from an accidental fentanyl overdose in 2020. Julia Erwin-Weiner, the associate vice president for Stanford Medical Center Development, and her husband, Amir Weiner, a Stanford associate professor of history and director of the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, joined the university in 1995 and have considered the university a home since, sending two of their adult children there. (Hern谩ndez, 1/19)