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Americans with well-treated HIV can no longer be barred from enlisting in the U.S. military, a federal judge ruled Thursday, striking down the Pentagon’s last remaining policy limiting the service of those with the virus. “Defendants’ policies prohibiting the accession of asymptomatic HIV-positive individuals with undetectable viral loads into the military are irrational, arbitrary, and capricious.” ... wrote Judge Leonie Brinkema of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. (Sopelsa and Ryan, 8/21)

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announced $1.4 billion in additional federal funding to combat the national HIV/AIDS epidemic, which the Biden White House has set out to end by 2030. The Biden-Harris administration set lofty strategic goals in its 2022-2025 National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States to achieve a 75% reduction in new HIV infections by 2025 and a 90% reduction by 2030. (Beavins, 8/20)

An infant in Maine has tested positive for HIV, which is something that hasn't happened in the state in about five years. The Maine CDC put out an alert in June that an infant got HIV either through pregnancy, childbirth, or breast feeding. (8/19)

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz formally accepted the Democratic vice-presidential nomination on Wednesday. ... Riffing on a Harris campaign theme, Walz said Democrats and Republicans mean different things when they say “freedom.” “When we Democrats talk about freedom, we mean the freedom to make a better life for yourself and the people that you love,” he said. “Freedom to make your own health-care decisions. And, yeah, your kids. Freedom to go to school without worrying about being shot dead in the hall.” (Viser and Wootson Jr., 8/22)

When Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris picked her running mate earlier this month, she chose a politician many undecided voters are used to seeing: a white-haired, Midwestern man with typical American values. But in Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, she’s found something different: a male politician who frequently speaks about fertility treatments as a men’s issue. (DeGroot, Raman and Cohen, 8/21)

Oprah Winfrey took time in her speech to champion reproductive rights and the right for women to decide when, or if, they have children. (Winfrey herself chose to forgo motherhood.) “If you cannot control when and how you choose to bring your children into this world and how they are raised and supported, there is no American dream,” said Winfrey as the crowd clapped. (Quarshie, 8/21)

Alicia Hurtado of Chicago got the alert Tuesday morning: A person in the region needed an abortion. Could they help? As a staff member for the Chicago Abortion Fund, an organization that provides resources to people facing barriers to abortion services, Hurtado got to work. Within hours, they and a case manager had plans in motion for the person to get a medication abortion that same day. (Rodriguez, 8/21)

For weeks, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s campaign has floated his interest in a Cabinet position in a future Trump White House while publicly denying he would accept it. On Tuesday, Kennedy’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, told an interviewer the campaign was weighing whether to “join forces” with Trump and suggested that Kennedy would do an “incredible job” as secretary of health and human services. Trump later told CNN that he “probably would” appoint Kennedy to some role. (Zadrozny, 8/22)

Former President Trump appeared on an episode of "This Past Weekend" with comedian Theo Von for an interview that at times veered far outside the normal campaign trail conversations. Among the longest segments of the hourlong conversation was their discussion of alcoholism, substance abuse and the over-prescription of pharmaceuticals. (Nerozzi, 8/21)

At his first outdoor rally since last month’s attempted assassination, Donald Trump spoke from behind bulletproof glass Wednesday in North Carolina at an event focused on national security. Storage containers were stacked around the perimeter to create additional walls and block sight lines. (Price and Colvin, 8/21)

In a defeat for supporters of a proposal aimed at enshrining abortion rights in the state Constitution, the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday cleared the way for a revised "financial impact statement" to appear on the November ballot. Financial impact statements, which usually draw little attention, provide estimated effects of proposed constitutional amendments on government revenues and the state budget. ... The revised statement that will appear on the ballot says, in part, that there is "uncertainty about whether the amendment will require the state to subsidize abortions with public funds. Litigation to resolve those and other uncertainties will result in additional costs to the state government and state courts that will negatively impact the state budget. An increase in abortions may negatively affect the growth of state and local revenues over time." (8/21)

Hospitals left waiting for the Supreme Court to untangle contradictory federal and state laws on abortion and emergency medicine are coming under fire. Experts warned that providers in the 26 states with near-total abortion bans could become targets for scrutiny and financial repercussions after the Supreme Court declined to rule on a key abortion case in June. In the meantime, providers in those states face a fraught choice between risking state prison sentences for their employees or federal monetary repercussions. (Early, 8/21)

President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris' secretary of Health and Human Services refused to say whether he would back any limits at all on late-term abortions, even with exceptions, instead deferring to Harris. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra was asked by Fox News Digital on Tuesday at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago if he would support any limits on late-term abortion, with exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother. "I think the president – the vice president may answer those questions really well," he said. (Johnson, 8/21) 

Orlando’s Planned Parenthood clinic is offering pain-relieving medication for those seeking placement of an intrauterine device for contraception. The clinic is offering IV sedation to encourage more women looking for protection to receive the procedure, as the state restricts access to abortions. IV sedation is also accessible in Sarasota, Tampa and Fort Myers clinics. (Pedersen, 8/21)

Many relatively quick outpatient procedures can cause pain, including biopsies and examinations of the uterus and cervix. Gynecologists and patients say there need to be more conversations about options for local anesthetics — as well as other pain-relief options for these procedures. (Shastri, Bose and Hunter, 8/21)

Megan Hanson was eight weeks pregnant in 2019 when she experienced a miscarriage — her sixth consecutive loss in as many years. It felt particularly cruel after a second IVF transfer. She and her husband, Ben Burnham, were devastated, physically and financially drained — and deeply frustrated by the lack of answers or support for people like them who had experienced recurrent miscarriages. (Rafiquddin, 8/21)

A U.S. government report expected to stir debate concluded that fluoride in drinking water at twice the recommended limit is linked with lower IQ in children. The report, based on an analysis of previously published research, marks the first time a federal agency has determined — “with moderate confidence” — that there is a link between higher levels of fluoride exposure and lower IQ in kids. While the report was not designed to evaluate the health effects of fluoride in drinking water alone, it is a striking acknowledgment of a potential neurological risk from high levels of fluoride. (Stobbe, 8/21)

The U.S. Navy has received more than 546,500 claims for compensation from people impacted by decades of contaminated water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, a new court filing shows, putting it squarely among the largest injury cases of all time. That number may fluctuate up or down by a few thousand, the government said in the filing. The U.S. Navy is reviewing additional claims received up to the Aug. 10 deadline and removing claims that are found to be duplicates. (Jones, 8/21)

Health officials in Oxford are recommending residents stay indoors after 6 p.m. and protect themselves from mosquitoes after an elderly man was infected with Eastern equine encephalitis from a mosquito bite. The state last week raised the risk level for EEE in Oxford and neighboring Douglas, Sutton and Webster, after determining the man was exposed to the virus in Worcester County. ... In light of the increased risk, the four communities issued a joint public health advisory calling for the voluntary curfew and other safety measures. (McDonald, 8/21)

There's as much as a nearly 10-year difference in life expectancy between U.S. states, a new report finds. Hawaii (79.9 years), Massachusetts (79.6) and Connecticut (79.2) have the longest life expectancy at birth as of 2021, per a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis. Mississippi (70.9 years), West Virginia (71.0) and Alabama (72.0) have the shortest. (Fitzpatrick, 8/21)

In the midst of yet another hazy summer, as over 50 large fires burn in the West, a new report published today by Human Rights Watch examines the growing risk that fire season poses to pregnant people and lays out recommendations for how to address the threat. (Kutz, 8/21)

Without a sharp pivot in state and federal policies, the bird flu virus that has bedeviled American farms is likely to find a firm foothold among dairy cattle, scientists are warning. And that means bird flu may soon pose a permanent threat to other animals and to people. (Mandavilli, 8/21)

A new study funded by the National Institutes of Health identified the most common long COVID symptoms in school-aged children and teenagers. Researchers found teenagers between 12 and 17 were more likely to report fatigue, pain and changes in taste and smell, whereas, younger schoolchildren between 6 and 11 were more likely to have difficulty focusing, sleep problems and stomach issues, according to the report published Wednesday in JAMA. (Rodriguez, 8/21)

The Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve the new Covid vaccine as early as Thursday, according to two sources familiar with the agency’s planning. It’s the third time the vaccines have been updated to match circulating strains since the original series. The shots should be available within days. The FDA and HHS declined to comment on the expected update. (Lovelace Jr. and Syal, 8/21)

Nearly one-third of Americans see COVID as a threat to their health, but the summertime wave of infections hasn't changed the widespread belief that the virus is no worse than seasonal flu, according to the latest Axios-Ipsos American Health Index. (Bettelheim, 8/22)

Having a severe case of Covid-19 appears to be linked with an increased risk of subsequent mental illness, including depression and anxiety disorders, and a new study finds that the association is strongest among people who were not vaccinated against the disease. (Howard, 8/21)

COVID-19 infection during the first 21 weeks of pregnancy is associated with a slightly higher risk of gestational diabetes, according to an analysis of insurance claims by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers. The team published its findings this week in Clinical Infectious Diseases. (Schnirring, 8/21)

Covid-19 vaccines may be less effective in people who have intestinal parasite infections, or roughly a quarter of the world’s population. This is suggested by experiments in mice infected with parasitic worms, who developed significantly weaker immunity after covid-19 vaccines than mice without parasitic infections. Previous research has shown that people with intestinal parasites have impaired immune responses to some vaccines, such as those for tuberculosis or measles. This is because the parasites suppress processes that vaccines trigger to confer immunity, such as the activation of pathogen-killing cells. Intestinal parasite infections are most prevalent in tropical and subtropical regions and often occur due to limited access to clean water and sanitation. (Wade, 8/21)

A healthy diet has long been hailed by some experts as one potentially important factor influencing the risk of Covid-19, or how bad someone’s case gets. But a team of researchers in Indonesia looked into how a specific lifestyle might affect these odds — finding that following the Mediterranean diet may reduce your risk of getting Covid-19, according to a review published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One. (Rogers, 8/21)

Wayne County Public Health confirmed a case of mpox, the county's first since the global outbreak in 2022. Officials say the risk to the public remains low and urge anyone who is at risk to get vaccinated. This is the 19th case reported in Michigan. "Though we are awaiting the specific virus type, there have been no U.S. cases of the new strain of mpox (Clade 1 type) connected to the current outbreak in sub-Saharan Africa," the county said in a statement. (Booth-Singleton, 8/21)

Mpox reached the U.S. as part of a global outbreak in 2022, resulting in 32,000 known infections and 58 deaths domestically. All those cases have been linked to the less virulent and contagious clade II type. The CDC says no clade I infections have been found in the U.S., and that the U.S. is at low risk of this strain arriving. The CDC says mpox infections usually last two and four weeks, and most cases resolve themselves without treatment. There’s no specific medication for mpox, but the CDC says symptoms can be managed with over-the-counter medicines and prescription mouthwashes. The agency strongly advises patients not to touch or scratch the rash. (Ortiz, 8/21)

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) yesterday announced an additional $35 million in emergency health assistance for the clade 1 mpox outbreak in Central and East Africa. In a statement, USAID said the announcement brings the total help for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and other affected countries to $55 million and that the new funding is pending congressional notification. (Schnirring, 8/21)

As disease detectives rush to central Africa to quell a mushrooming mpox contagion, they’re finding a complex mosaic of infection patterns involving different viral strains and vastly different routes of infection. In the Democratic Republic of Congo’s gold-rich eastern region, a newly mutated virus is spreading mostly among adults through sexual contact. In other areas of the country, an older strain is spilling from infected wildlife to humans who hunt and handle the animals, leading to a deadly explosion of cases among children. (Gale and Kew, 8/22)

Health officials in Argentina said on Wednesday that a test to determine if a crew member on a quarantined grains cargo ship was infected with the mpox virus had come back negative, according to a statement from the health ministry. In its statement, the health ministry said the individual tested negative for mpox, but positive for chicken pox. (8/21)

Merck’s Ebola vaccine offered substantial protection to people vaccinated during the 2018-2020 outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with an effectiveness of 84% in those who had been vaccinated at least 10 days before being exposed to the virus, a new study reports. An earlier study had shown that people who were vaccinated but went on to develop the disease were more likely to survive the infection. (Branswell, 8/21)

The Bay Area’s largest county announced plans Wednesday to buy a private hospital that had been slated for major cutbacks — a move that county officials say will preserve critical medical care for the low-income community it serves. Santa Clara County has reached a tentative agreement with the owner of Regional Medical Center, a 250-bed hospital in East San Jose, to acquire the facility for $175 million. (Ho, 8/21)

California lawmakers are debating whether to go where Congress won't and pass legislation that would give the state the ability to block private equity acquisitions of health care facilities or providers. (Goldman, 8/22)

Health systems investing in affordable community housing have seen significant decreases in inpatient and emergency department visits among patients experiencing homelessness. Hospitals are creating housing programs and partnering with local building developers, health departments and governments to connect patients to stable housing options. (Devereaux, 8/21)

Quest Diagnostics plans to acquire some outreach laboratory assets from University Hospitals. Quest and the Cleveland-based health system have entered a definitive agreement and expect the deal to close in the fourth quarter pending regulatory approval, the company said in a Wednesday news release. Financial terms were not disclosed. (DeSilva, 8/21)

Hospitals and other health providers will shift their attention to how states opt to police non-compete agreements now that a federal court has blocked a Federal Trade Commission ban on the widely used contracts. (Reed, 8/22)

North Carolina’s population of adults 65 and older is expected to grow by about 50 percent in the next couple decades — from 1.8 million in 2023 to 2.7 million in 2040, according to state data. As these residents age, they’ll have greater need for care. (Vitaglione, 8/21)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Biden Administration Blocks Two Private Sector Enrollment Sites From ACA Marketplace

Federal regulators have blocked two private sector enrollment websites from accessing consumer information through the federal Obamacare marketplace, citing “anomalous activity.” The unusual step comes as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is under the gun to curb unauthorized enrollment and switching of Affordable Care Act plans by rogue agents. The agency received more than 200,000 complaints in the first six months of the year about such actions. (Appleby, 8/22)

A new genomic sequencing technique could help hospitals better track and control the spread of multiple drug-resistant pathogens, researchers reported yesterday in The Lancet Microbe. (Dall, 8/21)

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University will be developing new tools to ensure cancer surgeries are safer and more effective. The funding for this effort is coming from an initiative from the Biden Administration -- the Cancer Moonshot Initiative -- which aims to reduce the cancer death rate by at least half before 2047. The initiative also aims to improve the experience of people touched by cancer. (Valera, 8/20)

A year ago, after much fanfare and controversy, the Food and Drug Administration approved Eisai and Biogen’s lecanemab, an anti-amyloid drug that moderately slowed cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. But doctors have been hesitant to prescribe the drug and its pharmacological cousin, Eli Lilly’s donanemab, for people with Down syndrome because of a lack of safety data. (Broderick, 8/21)

Innovative research harnessing the Zika virus to destroy certain cancers is getting a “significant” boost through a $7 million donation to Nemours Children’s Health. The gift from the Pass It on to Kids Foundation, announced Tuesday, will also support the pediatric hospital system’s music therapy program. (Mayer, 8/21)

As periods of extreme heat become more common in North Carolina and across the country, and global heat records keep getting shattered, public policymakers are paying more attention to the impact of climate change on health. A related topic that has been gaining attention only recently is the impact that extreme heat can have on prescription medications in transit — especially when those pharmaceuticals are delivered through mail-order shipments. (Blythe, 8/22)

Digital pharmacy provider Truepill has agreed to be acquired for $525 million by Ireland's LetsGetChecked, Axios has learned from multiple sources. Truepill is a telehealth pioneer, but it's no longer a unicorn. (Primack, 8/21)

An explosion at a pharmaceutical plant in India’s southern state of Andhra Pradesh has killed at least 17 people, according to a government official. A fire broke out following the blast on Wednesday at the privately held Escientia Advanced Sciences’s 40-acre manufacturing unit in the Anakapalli district. The company manufactures intermediate chemicals and active pharmaceutical ingredients, local media reports said. (8/21)

The supermarket baby food aisle in the United States is packed with non-nutritious foods containing far too much sugar and salt and misleading marketing claims, a new study found. Sixty percent of 651 foods that are marketed for children ages 6 months to 36 months on 10 supermarkets’ shelves in the US failed to meet recommended World Health Organization nutritional guidelines for infant and toddler foods, according to the study, which was published Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal Nutrients. (LaMotte, 8/21)

Over a year after Pear Therapeutics filed for bankruptcy and shut down, its smartphone apps for people with substance use disorder and opioid use disorder are again available to patients. (Aguilar, 8/22)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: A Teen’s Murder, Mold In The Walls: Unfulfilled Promises Haunt Public Housing

Blocks from where tourists stroll along the cobblestoned riverfront in this racially divided city, Detraya Gilliard made her way down the dark, ruptured sidewalks of Yamacraw Village, looking for her missing 15-year-old daughter. Like most other people living in one of the nation’s oldest public housing projects, Gilliard endured the boarded-up buildings and mold-filled apartments because it was the only place she could afford. (Clasen-Kelly and Rayasam, 8/22)

Guidebook author and PBS personality Rick Steves will take a break in his busy travel schedule to have surgery for prostate cancer. Steves, 69, announced his diagnosis Wednesday night in a statement posted to social media, saying he will film two new TV shows in France before returning home to Washington state for a procedure in September at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle. (Hiatt, 8/21)

Maria Branyas, an American-born Spaniard considered the world’s oldest person at 117 years old, has died, her family said on Tuesday. ... At age 113, Branyas tested positive for COVID-19 during the global pandemic, but avoided developing severe symptoms that claimed tens of thousands of older Spaniards. (8/20)

Tomiko Itooka, a Japanese woman, became the world’s oldest living person at age 116, following the death of 117-year-old Maria Branyas, according to the Guinness World Records. Her age and birthdate — May 23, 1908 — were confirmed by the Gerontology Research Group, which validates details of people thought to be 110 or older, and put her at the top of its World Supercentenarian Rankings List. (McGill and Kageyama, 8/21)

The legacy of Phil Donahue, the pioneering talk show host who died on Sunday at 88, should be defined by an hour-long segment that’s both a fascinating glimpse at the fear, confusion, bigotry and blind panic that marked the early days of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and a demonstration of Donahue’s unique blend of curiosity, grace, and empathy as an interviewer. The segment, “AIDS,” is dated November 17, 1982 — just one year after the New York Times had published its first article on the disease. (EJ Dickson, 8/19)

If there’s one thing that wasn’t on my bingo card for 2024, it was this: that amid a national outbreak of bird flu among dairy cows, sales of raw milk would surge. But new data shows that’s exactly what’s happening. It’s a baffling trend that puts people at risk of getting seriously ill — especially kids. (Lisa Jarvis, 8/21)

Warren Hern is every bit as intense as you would expect of someone who has been threatened with death for most of his career. One of the few American physicians who performs late-term abortions, the 86-year-old has perhaps more than any other doctor been on the front lines of the war over reproductive rights. He has been shot at, spat at, cursed and harassed. He has been protected by federal and local law enforcement. He will not sit with his back to the door of a restaurant. (Robin Abcarian, 8/21)

The pharmaceutical industry has long operated on a one-size-fits-all model, developing drugs primarily tested on, and thus best suited for, people of European descent. This approach ignores — and potentially harms — the billions of people of color on the planet. Lack of diversity occurs at all levels of the pharmaceutical ecosystem, from the makeup of C-suite and research staffs to participation in clinical trials. It even extends to preclinical research. (Sophie Zaaijer, 8/22)

Food for Peace got its start on July 10, 1954, when former President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed Public Law 480. As Eisenhower said, Public Law 480 would enable U.S. food "surpluses to meet famine and other emergency requirements, thus enabling us to maintain our American tradition of generous help in time of need." Public Law 480 would eventually be called Food for Peace. For millions of hungry people around the world, Food for Peace has been lifesaving. It is more than just a program. Food for Peace is a movement that came about from our experiences in both World War I and II, which plunged many nations into severe food shortages. America could not win the peace during these wars without taking on the enemy of hunger. American food aid was critical to saving millions from starvation during and after world wars. (William Lambers, 8/22)