Reports Gauge Potential Health Impact Of Climate Change

The New York Times (6/23, Tavernise, Subscription Publication) reports that “more people will be exposed to floods, droughts, heat waves and other extreme weather associated with climate change over the next century than previously thought, according to a new report in...The Lancet.”

        Bloomberg News (6/23, Landberg, Nicola) reports, “Calling for ‘a rapid phaseout of coal from the global energy mix,’ a panel of 46 health professionals and climate scientists identified the world’s rising temperature as one of the biggest threats to humans in the coming decades.”

        On its website, CBS News (6/23, Welch) reports, “Reducing the reliance on fossil fuels...should be a primary goal for governments around the world, according to the report.” Additionally, “focusing on making cities more pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly would...reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as help decrease rates of obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and respiratory disease.”

        TIME (6/23, Worland) reports, “Some of the health risks posed by climate change are more obvious, according to the report; extreme weather events like hurricanes, blizzards and tornadoes kill and injure people, and they’re expected to get more frequent.” However, “there are many secondary consequences to climate change that affect human health in unexpected ways, the study” contends. For instance, “air pollution can cause allergies and asthma, drought could lead to a decline in agriculture and subsequent food shortages and a loss of ecosystems could push pests into contact with humans and increase the number of vector-borne diseases, the authors write.”

        The Washington Post (6/23, Mooney) points out that “the report emerges just before a Tuesday White House summit on climate change and public health, to be attended by Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and EPA administrator Gina McCarthy.”

        Meanwhile, the AP (6/23, Daly) reports, “Failure to act on climate change could cause an estimated 57,000 deaths a year in the United States from poor air quality by 2100, the Obama administration argued in a report released” yesterday “that warns of dire effects of global warming.” The new report, from the Environmental Protection Agency, “says inaction on climate change could cost billions of dollars a year in damage from rising sea levels, increased wildfires and drought, as well as higher costs for electricity to cool homes and businesses in hotter temperatures.”

        According to the NBC News (6/23) website, the report “claims that acting on climate change now could save lives down the road — as many as 57,000 in the year 2100 who would otherwise die from the effects of poor air quality alone.”

        Also covering the Lancet report are AFP (6/23), The Guardian (UK) (6/23), Reuters (6/23, Kelland), and the Telegraph (UK) (6/23). The Huffington Post (6/23, Sheppard) also covers the EPA report.

US Facing Growing Shortage Of Primary Care Physicians

The Boston Globe (6/23, A1, Brown) reports in a front-page story about the growing shortage of primary care physicians in America. The Association of American Medical Colleges “predicts a shortage of 45,000 primary care doctors by 2020.” Young physicians are being “drawn to lucrative specialties,” unwilling to replace veterans physicians that are leaving primary care “faster than they can be replaced.” According to Fitzhugh Mullan, a George Washington University policy researcher, less than one-third of physicians in the US work in primary care today, “and that number is slipping.” Educators are “redoubling their efforts to win over medical students,” but primary care physicians work “long hours” and make half of what specialists make, according to a 2015 survey by Medscape. The Boston Globe notes some analysts argue there is a “bias against primary care” that begins in medical schools, which encourage the “smartest people” to go into more competitive, prestigious fields.

Blood Test May Be Used To Detect Pancreatic Cancer In Its Early Stages

On NBC Nightly News (6/24, story 8, 1:35, Holt), NBC’s Anne Thompson reported that “a study in the journal Nature says a blood test may be the answer to identifying” pancreatic cancer “in its early stages.”

        The Houston Chronicle (6/25, Hawryluk) reports that researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center “found that the presence of” a particular “protein could distinguish with 100 percent accuracy whether patients had early stage pancreatic cancer or chronic pancreatitis, a major risk factor for the cancer.” The study indicated that “levels of the protein were markedly lower after surgical removal of a patient’s tumors.”

        On its website, NBC News (6/25, Carroll) reports that the “protein turns up in tiny virus-sized particles, called exosomes, which are excreted by all of the body’s cell.” This protein, however, “turns up in exosomes only when there is cancer, so its presence could be an early, and testable, marker for the disease.”

        The Los Angeles Times (6/25, Healy) “Science Now” blog reports that “the finding ‘offers the possibility for early detection of pancreatic cancer and help in designing potential curative surgical options,’ the authors...wrote.” HealthDay (6/25, Norton) also covers the story.

FDA Clears Oral Device For Treating Sleep Apnea

MobiHealthNews (6/26, Comstock) reports the Food and Drug Administration has cleared the DentiTrac device, “an oral device for treating sleep apnea.” The device itself “is from Australian company SomnoMed and the tracker is from Braebon Medical Corporation” of Ontario, Canada. The piece notes that the device “is the first partner device to receive FDA clearance.”

One In Five MERS Cases Likely Fatal

Bloomberg News (6/26, Gale, Khan) reports that researchers in Hong Kong found that the MERS outbreak in South Korea “was fanned by three ‘superspreaders’ and followed a pattern of transmission similar to the SARS epidemic more than a decade ago.” According to the lead investigator of the study, approximately one in five MERS cases will likely be fatal.

Study: New Mutation In Flu Virus Made Last Season’s Flu Vaccines Less Effective

The Philadelphia (PA) Inquirer (6/26, Faherty) reports that last season’s influenza vaccines “were only 19 percent effective in preventing medical visits due to flu-related complications, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” Up “until now, researchers did not know why.”

        HealthDay (6/26, Preidt) reports that the vaccine’s reduced effectiveness was “due to a new mutation in the flu virus,” according to a study published in Cell Reports. A “mutation in the H3N2 virus led to a mismatch between it and the H3N2 strain used to create the vaccine, the researchers explained,” meaning that the shot “did not fully prime the immune system to recognize and attack the version of the virus that circulated during the last flu season.”

CDC Advisory Committee Approves Category B Recommendation For Meningitis B Vaccines

The AP (6/25, Stobbe) reports that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) “gave a weak endorsement Wednesday to two expensive meningitis [B] shots, declining to recommend that all teens get the vaccine,” instead leaving the decision to receive the vaccine to parents and physicians. The AP adds that “several members cited uncertainties about” the effectiveness of the vaccine and whether it required a booster shot. Meanwhile, others wanted more information on the side effects of the vaccine. The recommendation cites ages 16 to 18 as the best time to receive the vaccine.

        The New York Times (6/25, A13, Tavernise, Subscription Publication) reports that the committee voted 14 to 1 “to recommend the more limited use of the vaccine in people ages 16 to 23.” The Times adds that the vaccine “is new and relatively costly and the illness is rare,” leading the committee to its cautious approach. Still, “patient groups and the companies that make the vaccine said the decision was an improvement over current policy,” which had recommended the vaccine only for those at high risk. Director of the HHS National Vaccine Program Office Dr. Bruce Gellin said, “These recommendations are now what guides clinical practices.”

        Reuters (6/24) reports that the decision may create an avenue for broader access to the drugs, even though the CDC’s category B recommendation for the vaccine is not the agency’s most wide-ranging guidance.

        CNN (6/25, Lamotte) reports that “parents who lost their children to meningococcal disease lined up for more than an hour” to advocate for “the strongest action possible.” The “lively” discussion yesterday focused “on the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness, questions about the duration of the immunity and the cost of the vaccines, which averages $400 for the two-to-three-dose series.”

        The Seattle Times (6/25) and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (6/25) also report the story.