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The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the first pill to treat postpartum depression, a condition that data shows affects around 1 in 7 women in the United States. Health experts say zuranolone, under the brand name Zurzuvae, could be a gamechanger for treating postpartum depression (PPD) and other depressive disorders after clinical trials found the 14-day daily pill began alleviating symptoms in a matter of days. (Rodriguez, 8/4)

The medication was jointly developed by pharmaceutical companies Biogen and Sage Therapeutics. With the FDA approval, it is the first treatment for postpartum depression that can be taken at home. The only other available treatment is an intravenous injection that the FDA approved in 2019. It requires patients to stay in a hospital for two-and-a-half days. (Bendix and Kopf, 8/4)

Missouri saw more deaths during or after pregnancy per capita between 2018 and 2020 than in the previous three-year period that ended in 2019, according to a report published this week by the state Department of Health and Senior Services. The report from the Pregnancy Mortality-Associated Review Board found 32 people died per 100,000 live births, up from about 25 per 100,000 from 2017 to 2019.About one-third of the 210 deaths were attributed to hypertension, cardiac issues or other pregnancy-related health problems, said Ashlie Otto, who oversees maternal health at the department. (Fentem, 8/4)

Texas will eliminate sales tax on menstrual products, as well as a handful of maternity products, this September, joining a growing number of states removing "period" or "pink" taxes. Senate Bill 379, which passed in the 2023 legislative session, will end the sales tax of baby wipes, diapers, bottles, menstrual products, nursing bras and maternity clothes. The bill will go into effect next month. (Butera, 8/6)

The state of Michigan must return or destroy dried blood samples from nine newborns or get approval from parents to keep them, according to the latest scathing opinion from a federal judge who found parts of a routine testing program unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Thomas Ludington is not interfering with the practice of pricking the heels of babies to draw blood to screen for more than 50 diseases, a longstanding procedure in hospitals across the United States. (White, 8/4)

A late-night appeal from the Texas Attorney General’s office has paused an injunction that exempted people with medically complicated pregnancies from the state’s abortion ban. The state appealed directly to the Texas Supreme Court to stop “an activist Austin judge’s attempt to override Texas abortion laws,” First Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster said in a statement. The stay of the injunction will remain in effect until the Texas Supreme Court makes a decision on the appeal. (Wolf, 8/5)

"Texas pro-life laws are in full effect," the attorney general's office said in a press release on Saturday. "This judge's ruling is not." (McCammon and Bowman, 8/5)

A hastily called summer special election over a Republican-pushed measure that would make it harder for Ohio voters to pass future constitutional amendments, including one on the November ballot to guarantee abortion rights, has driven off-the-charts early turnout before Tuesday’s final day of voting. Early turnout has been so heavy that some election offices are straining to manage the load and trying to recruit additional poll workers. (Hendrickson, 8/4)

The battle over abortion rights looms over an Ohio ballot measure that will be put to voters statewide on Tuesday. Known simply as Issue 1, the proposal would raise the threshold needed to amend the state’s constitution from a simple majority of the state’s voters to 60%. It would also increase the petitioning requirements to get a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot. Although the text of the proposal does not specifically address abortion, the issue has quickly become a proxy for the nationwide debate over reproductive rights that was reignited last summer after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision. (Yoon, 8/4)

A federal judge Thursday temporarily blocked a new Illinois law that targeted crisis pregnancy centers, saying it violated free speech. U.S. District Judge Iain Johnston, who was appointed by former President Trump, called the law "painfully and blatantly a violation of the First Amendment." (Stimson, 8/5)

It was 10 hours before the Maine House of Representatives held its first vote on a key abortion bill, and uncertainty was creeping in for Democrats. “I am conflicted on 1619,” Rep. Deqa Dhalac, D-South Portland, texted Assistant House Majority Leader Kristen Cloutier, D-Lewiston, referencing the number of a bill that would allow doctors to perform abortions they deem necessary after the state’s viability cutoff around 24 weeks. “OK, what do you need?” Cloutier asked Dhalac. (Kobin, 8/7)

Hospitals and outpatient facilities in at least three states are still working to restore their computer systems after a cyberattack hit their parent company, forcing some locations to shut down for days. Prospect Medical Holdings, a Los Angeles-based private equity company, which operates 16 hospitals and 165 outpatient facilities across California, Texas, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania, announced it sustained an attack on Thursday evening, the Associated Press reported. (Reed, 8/7)

The shooting at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center in Portland was part of a wave of gun violence sweeping through U.S. hospitals and medical centers, which have struggled to adapt to the growing threats. Such attacks have helped make health care one of the nation’s most violent fields. Data shows American health care workers now suffer more nonfatal injuries from workplace violence than workers in any other profession, including law enforcement. (Boone, 8/7)

rural eastern North Carolina hospital has closed its doors, largely the result of what its operators described as a declining surrounding population that was going elsewhere for medical care. Martin General Hospital in Williamston suspended operations on Thursday and is filing for bankruptcy, according to a hospital news release. (8/4)

Mass General Brigham sees hospital-at-home care as a big part of its long-term future. In the short term, the nonprofit health system's plan depends on a favorable ruling from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The Boston-based provider says it is on track to shift 10% of inpatient care to hospital-at-home—through which acute care is delivered in-home and virtually and patients are connected to remote monitoring—within five years. In the coming weeks, Mass General Brigham anticipates word from CMS about regulatory waivers that would enable that expansion by OK'ing Medicare reimbursements for these services that match payments for inpatient care. (Eastabrook, 8/7)

Nearly 2,000 nurses at one of New Jersey’s biggest hospitals have gone on a labor strike. Nurses at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital picketed the New Brunswick hospital on Friday. (8/4)

A nurse supervisor at Montefiore Comprehensive Health Care Center in the Bronx was delivering her start-of-shift updates and mantras — “Covid is not finished with us … clean, clean, clean!”— to the clinicians and administrative staff bunched up nearby. Hawa Abraham, not one or the other, stood among them. It was going to be another busy day at the clinic, with 150 patients expected, and Abraham, a community health worker, would be seeing several herself. (Castillo, 8/7)

Reed Jobs, the son of deceased Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, is starting an investment fund that will focus on cancer care. The fund, named Yosemite, will invest in therapeutics, diagnostics and digital health around the oncology ecosystem. The company will fund early-stage companies and provide grants to emerging research. (Turner, 8/4)

Ariel Brigham was drowning. Hurricane Harvey had dumped over 50 inches of rain across Houston and coastal Texas, leaving the then-26-year-old Texan stranded in her flooded apartment. But what was killing Brigham wasn’t water from the hurricane. It was the excess fluid and toxins building up in her own body. Brigham had kidney failure, and she relied on dialysis three times each week to remove waste from her blood. Without regular dialysis treatments, she could die. But the extreme flooding from Harvey in August 2017 had closed most of the region’s dialysis clinics and made travel to other clinics and emergency rooms impossible, even by ambulance. All Brigham could do was wait for the water to recede. (Arnold, 8/7)

A mechanical malfunction caused a heart operation to be aborted, according to a new medical malpractice lawsuit filed on behalf of the patient who later died from related complications. On July 25, 2022, Francisco Echeverri was admitted to MountainView Hospital for an aortic valve replacement operation. About an hour and a half after Echeverri was intubated, a surgical drape got caught in a piece of equipment which caused it to malfunction, according to a lawsuit filed in District Court late last month. (Wilson, 8/5)

Clover Health's financial position took a turn for the better this week after the insurance company said it had regained compliance with the Nasdaq Stock Market's listing standards. The insurance company announced in April that it needed to raise its share prices to $1 and hold that value for 10 consecutive days by Oct. 17 in order to remain listed on the exchange. Clover Health, which sells Medicare Advantage plans and physician enablement technology, had been mulling a reverse stock split and share reduction proposal and had scheduled a shareholder vote on the matter for Aug. 30. The carrier will now reevaluate the proposals, the insurance company said in a news release issued after Thursday's market close. (Tepper, 8/4)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: As Many American Cities Get Hotter, Health Systems Face Off Against Heatstroke 

As the hour crept past three in the afternoon, New Orleans’ French Quarter was devoid of tourists and locals alike. The heat index was over 105 degrees. New Orleans Emergency Medical Services has been busy this summer, responding to heat-related emergency calls and transporting patients to nearby hospitals. (Hawkins, 8/7)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: The NIH Ices A Research Project. Is It Self-Censorship?

Many Americans don’t understand a lot about their health. Whether due to people believing conspiracy theories or simply walking out of their doctor’s offices without a good idea of what was said, communicating what scientists know has been a long-standing challenge. The problem has gotten particularly acute with a recent wave of misinformation. And when Francis Collins led the National Institutes of Health, the world’s premier medical research agency, he thought he had a solution: to study health communications broadly. “We basically have seen the accurate medical information overtaken, all too often, by the inaccurate conspiracies and false information on social media. It’s a whole other world out there,” he said in 2021 as part of a farewell media tour. (Tahir, 8/7)

Childhood vaccine coverage across the U.S. has hit a measurable decline once again as health authorities hope to avert major surges in diseases such as RSV and COVID-19 this winter. Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that the rate of vaccinations against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) for kindergarteners has fallen below the healthy target rate of 95 percent for the second year in a row to 93 percent. (8/6)

Most early-childhood vaccinations require multiple doses, but about 1 in 6 toddlers — 17 percent — are not getting all of the needed doses, according to a study published in the journal Pediatrics. Incomplete vaccination leaves children vulnerable to preventable diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, mumps, measles, rubella, hepatitis and more. Full vaccination, however, also protects others in their communities and is needed “to develop and maintain herd immunity at a population level,” the researchers wrote. (Searing, 8/7)

Assistant Secretary of Health Rachel Levine this week called on parents across the country to speak up in favor of vaccines in school board meetings and other public settings, and said failing to do so will make it easier for "misinformation" about vaccines to spread. "Misinformation is eroding public confidence in them," Levine said in a Friday blog post on the Department of Health and Human Services’ website. "If we want vaccines to continue to protect our children, we need to speak up and protect vaccines." (Kasperowicz, 8/5)

A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a 2021 Connecticut law that eliminated the state’s longstanding religious exemption from childhood immunization requirements for schools, colleges and day care facilities. The decision comes about a year and a half after a lower court judge dismissed the lawsuit challenging the contentious law, which drew protests at the state Capitol. (8/4)

New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show a significant increase in antibiotic use in US hospitals early in the COVID-19 pandemic, with smaller upticks observed during subsequent COVID-19 surges. ... Faced with severely ill patients with pneumonia-like illness, limited diagnostic tests and treatment options, and concerns about secondary bacterial infections, healthcare providers frequently turned to antibiotics. (Dall, 8/4)

A growing number of Americans are building immunity to antibiotics, which can make them more vulnerable to illnesses and infections. There are about 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections per year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which cause at least 35,000 annual deaths. (Rudy, 8/5)

The decadelong friendship between Reps. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.) and Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) survived elections, impeachments and the Jan. 6 insurrection. But the battle over where to place blame for the last pandemic, and how to confront the next one, is testing its limits. Ruiz, Wenstrup and their staffs began the year with high hopes that the lawmakers — fellow doctors who both entered Congress in 2013, had neighboring offices, regularly went out to dinner together and co-wrote several wonky health care bills — could meaningfully collaborate as chair and ranking member of Congress’ sole committee dedicated to investigating the government response to Covid-19. (Ollstein, 8/6)

Public health experts said tracking reinfections is important for understanding long-term complications and immunity from vaccination. Resources at health departments, however, are now being diverted to other areas that are in need. It comes even as COVID-19 hospitalizations tick up across the U.S., though experts say it's no reason for concern yet. (Kekatos, 8/6)

Massachusetts State Police must reinstate seven troopers who refused to be vaccinated for COVID-19, an independent arbitrator has ruled. The troopers have been on unpaid leave, but the arbitrator’s decision means they can return to work with retroactive pay if they choose. (8/6)

Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo recently posted on X, previously known as Twitter, that two USC basketball players who suffered cardiac arrests "almost certainly were forced or misled" into taking the COVID-19 vaccine. One of those players was Bronny James, son of NBA star Lebron James. In a follow-up post, Ladapo cited a Swiss study, and said data from the state supported his claim. (Bowman, 8/4)

The organization that runs ProMed, an early warning system on disease outbreaks, defended its plans to charge a subscription for its service on Friday, calling it “the only viable path forward” given the resources required to run it. In a lengthy statement, the head of the International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID) apologized for “any confusion and distress” caused by communication of the group’s plans. But she also said there was little choice but to move to a subscription-based model. (Branswell, 8/4)

Early-stage cancer diagnoses decreased by nearly 20% in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. A new study published in Lancet Oncology emphasizes how, because of disruptions in care, patients were more likely to get diagnosed with deadly metastatic disease — across nearly all cancer types. This study is the most comprehensive analysis of cancer diagnoses during the pandemic, using a nationwide registry that captures over 70% of all cancers in the United States. The starkest decline was observed after the initial shutdowns, with the regular 70,000 monthly cancer diagnoses (captured by the study’s inclusion criteria) being cut in half in April 2020. (Bajaj, 8/4)

In nearly half of the United States, all three are legal for those over 21: alcohol, tobacco and marijuana. However, the three substances come with different rules, taxes and - of course - health effects. We posed the question to three doctors around the country: How do alcohol, weed and cigarettes rank when it comes to your health? All three doctors agreed on which is best. (Martichoux, 8/5)

A Hindu cleric this week sought an apology from ice cream maker Baskin-Robbins, saying that the company did not make clear that the ingredient used in the marshmallow component of its Rocky Road flavor could be derived from beef. “It was shocking for Hindus to learn that popular ‘Rocky Road,’ which they had been eating for years, contained beef; while beef was not explicitly mentioned under the ingredients listed on the packages/boxes,” said Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, in a news release. (Heil, 8/4)

Castor oil has long been considered a jack-of-all-trades home remedy, used as a laxative, a moisturizer and as a chest rub to ease lung congestion. Now some people on TikTok claim they're using castor oil as a way to treat vision problems. Doctors warn that's a way to ruin your eyes. (Camero, 8/5)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Journalists Zero In On Opioid Settlement Cash, Congress, And The Medicaid Unwinding

�鶹Ů�� Health News senior correspondent Aneri Pattani discussed the spending of opioid settlement money with NPR’s “Morning Edition” on Aug. 2. The PBS NewsHour also featured Pattani on July 31 and Aug. 1 as it reported on how the debate around the spending is playing out in North Carolina and Ohio. (8/5)

Ahead of the school year, AdventHealth is seeing an uptick in children and teens seeking help for anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and self-harm behavior. Most of the kids seeking help are 10 and older. Dr. Tina Gurnani, a board-certified pediatric and adolescent psychiatrist at AdventHealth for Children, said the stress of a new school year can make some of these conditions worse, so it’s crucial to do a mental health check-in with your kid for at least five minutes a day. Start with something as easy as: 'Tell me one good thing and one bad thing about your day today.' (Prieur, 8/4)

About half of the world's population "can expect to develop" at least one type of mental disorder by the time they are 75 years old, according to a new study published in the scientific journal The Lancet Psychiatry. The number of Americans experiencing mental health challenges has risen in recent years, particularly during the pandemic. The study finds evidence that certain disorders — such as depression and addiction — are also on the rise at the global level. (Ravipati, 8/5)

The first two U.S. cases of swine flu in humans this year are linked to infected pigs at county fairs in Michigan, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Friday. The first case involved a Lapeer County child who was an exhibitor at the Oakland County Fair, which took place July 7-16 at Springfield Oaks County Park in Davisburg. The child, who was identified by state health officials only as younger than 18, was exposed to infected pigs within 10 days of developing symptoms. (Jordan Shamus, 8/4)

Contra Costa county health officials are investigating two recent deaths associated with Legionnaires’ disease, a serious lung infection, possibly linked to visits to a Richmond spa. Health officials so far have determined that both deaths, which were reported to county health officials Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, came after the patients visited the spa just days prior to the onset of their illnesses. (Watanabe, 8/5)

Connecticut public health officials are warning about the potential dangers of salt water and eating raw or undercooked seafood following a series of bacterial infections that left one person dead. Three cases of Vibrio vulnificus infections have been reported to the state Department of Public Health since July 1, the agency says. All patients were hospitalized, and one died. (Skahill, 8/5)

Cahokia Heights residents are being exposed to bacteria and parasites possibly spreading because of chronic sewage backups and flooding in their community, preliminary findings from an ongoing health study showed. It has made some people sick, and researchers want to expand their study to get a better understanding of the potential scope.“Sewage backups are a big risk factor for these infections to spread,” said Washington University professor Theresa Gildner. (Cortes, 8/6)

A team of scientists from Case Western Reserve University spent time last week at the Columbiana County Fair enrolling local residents in a clinical study to monitor the health impacts of the Feb. 3 train derailment and chemical spill in East Palestine. The research, led by Fred Schumacher an expert in genetic disease at CWRU School of Medicine, will follow participants for five years and assess how toxic chemical exposures following the train crash may impact local risks for developing cancer and other metabolic diseases as a result of chemical damage to their DNA. (Kroen, 8/7)

Six years ago, Rangineh Ralhor moved to Minnesota from Iran. She came to be near her daughter, who was pursuing an astrophysics degree at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Ralhor herself has a joint degree in physics and math. She applied for graduate school at UMD. But she didn't get in. “The problem was my English,” she explained. “Initially my English wasn't very good.” Her daughter helped arrange a group on campus for her mom to practice English with other recent immigrants. One day, while walking to campus, Ralhor decided to stop into Aftenro, a senior living center across the street, to see if they were hiring. (Kraker, 8/7)

Amy Antioho knows from personal experience what it is like to have a family member who served in the military get medical claims denied. After two rejections, her husband Peter, who was exposed to burn pits while serving in Afghanistan, finally got his disability benefits approved in 2019. Antioho lives in Berlin with her almost 8-year-old son. While she was trying to get approval from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, she was also raising her son and taking care of her husband, who was receiving treatment for brain cancer. (Hagen, 8/4)

The head of the state’s largest agency can drop the “interim” from her title. The Executive Council voted this week to confirm Lori Weaver of Concord as commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services. She has served as acting commissioner since late last year, when Commissioner Lori Shibinette stepped down. Weaver says she’s made progress on one of her top priorities: making a dent in the agency’s staff shortages. (Cuno-Booth, 8/4)

Many physicians have concluded that AI will never replace a hand at the bedside. As a former medical school dean and hospital vice president, I disagree. And this isn’t just my opinion. At an international meeting recently in Parma, Italy, attended by health policy experts and physicians, only one — a physician — argued that I was wrong. (Arthur Garson, 8/4)

An unusual special election that lawmakers have scheduled in Ohio for Aug. 8 may tell us a great deal about this moment in American politics after Roe v. Wade. (Melissa Murray and Kate Shaw, 8/7)

With its June 30 decision, the Indiana Supreme Court put into effect an abortion ban with few exceptions. This decision will have a negative effect on Hoosiers’ reproductive rights and health care. It also demonstrates a lack of understanding and respect for privacy in the patient-physician relationship. (Drs. Caitlin Bernard, Elizabeth Ferries-Rowe, Elicia Harris, Caroline Rouse and Julie Tillman, 8/5)

Lobotomies were popularized in the 1930s and were considered a viable treatment for conditions such as schizophrenia until they fell out of favor in the 1950s; the last one was performed in 1967 on a patient who died from the procedure. (Caroline Reilly, 8/2)

If we’re going to avoid the worst of another potential winter tripledemic, public health authorities need to figure out how to convince those at highest risk to get on board with whatever fall vaccine shots they are eligible for. (Lisa Jarvis, 8/6)

When faced with a new diagnosis, a patient knows that the necessary treatment may make her feel lousy. What she doesn’t always account for, though, is the effect that it will have on the rest of her life. (Elsa Pearson Sites, 8/7)