�鶹Ů��

The fungus behind a spate of deadly meningitis cases last year linked to medical clinics in Mexico was found to have aggressively attacked the base of patients’ brains, researchers said Wednesday in a report published in The New England Journal of Medicine. Fungal meningitis was reported in as many as 24 patients from the United States who visited two medical clinics in Matamoros, Mexico. Many came from Texas. Twelve died. All of the patients had undergone cosmetic procedures that required epidural anesthesia. It was later discovered that the epidural was contaminated with a fungus called Fusarium solani. (Mantel, 2/8)

Japanese researchers studying functional decline among patients aged 80 years and older hospitalized for SARS-CoV-2 Omicron pneumonia find significantly higher rates of decline in those also infected with bacteria than in those with primary viral pneumonia 1 year later, though both groups had substantial levels of impairment. The study, published yesterday in Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses, was conducted at five Japanese hospitals and clinics from December 2021 to August 2022. Attending physicians calculated the difference in activities-of-daily-living (ADL) scores from hospital admission to release. (Van Beusekom, 2/8)

Several major nationwide retailers, including Costco and Trader Joe’s, have issued recalls for a variety of dairy and other products due to potential contamination with the dangerous bacteria listeria. (Vaziri, 2/8)

A federal inspection service on Wednesday issued a public health alert about a frozen ready-to-eat chicken pilaf product that may be contaminated with “foreign material,” namedly rocks. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service issued the alert to ensure that consumers are aware that this product should not be eaten. A recall was not requested because the product is no longer available for purchase, a spokesman for the FSIS confirmed in a press statement. (Bammer, 2/8)

The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds), based in Florida, released a position statement on Feb. 7 stating that "social transition, puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones have no demonstrable, long-term benefit on the psychosocial well-being of adolescents with gender dysphoria." "A review of at least 60 research papers demonstrates no benefit to social affirmation, puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones or surgical interventions for these youth," lead author and vice president of ACPeds, Dr. Jane Anderson, wrote in an email to Fox News Digital. (Rudy, 2/8)

For decades, eating disorders were thought to afflict mostly, if not exclusively, women and girls. In fact, until 2013, the loss of menstruation had long been considered an official symptom of anorexia nervosa. Over the last decade, however, health experts have increasingly recognized that boys and men also suffer from eating disorders, and they have gained a better understanding of how differently the illness presents in that group. A small but growing body of scientists and physicians have dedicated themselves to identifying the problem, assessing its scope and developing treatments. (Richtel, 2/8)

A happier life after getting married may not just be in fairy tales. It’s in the data, too. Adults who are married report being far happier than those in any other relationship status, according to a Gallup Poll published Friday. “Any way you analyze those data, we see a fairly large and notable advantage to being married in terms of how people evaluate their life,” said poll author Jonathan Rothwell, principal economist at Gallup. (Holcombe, 2/9)