Public Health in the News – April 27, 2014

Global

• The Gates Foundation will be refocusing its global health efforts on funding strategies to find new drugs and vaccines.
• Saudi Arabia has confirmed more cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, and the outbreak has also spread to Egypt.
• High rates of mental disorders are seen in communities that continue to experience violence following war, according to a new study.
• Bleach is alive, bleach is a connection, bleach is a gift. How bleach helps one Nicaraguan community be healthy.

National

• The FDA is going to start regulating e-cigarettes – and will prohibit their sale to anyone under 18 years old.
• “Diet and cancer has turned out to be more complex and challenging than any of us expected,” said Harvard epidemiologist Dr. Walter C. Willet at the AACR meeting.
• As debate increases surrounding the ultra-powerful new painkiller Zohydro, science writer Maia Szalavitz wonders, can we build painkillers that are less likely to be addictive?
• The New York Times discusses McDowell County in West Virginia, which has a poverty rate of around 40%, where many people rely on government assistance and drug abuse is everywhere.
• How games might help patients heal and doctors find new therapies.
• You have a cold. Who did you get it from, and how long are you contagious? The answer is more complicated than most people assume.
• The target number of people signed up for the Affordable Care Act. Why didn’t some people enroll? Cost and ideological objections topped the list.
• Climate change is making it harder to produce enough food, reports NPR’s Science Friday. Compare with our post on eating sustainably.
• 30 years ago, it was discovered that the HIV virus caused AIDS. Our biggest problem today may be apathy and continued stigma.

Illinois

• Our state is experiencing a mumps outbreak in several areas, including Chicago. The number of cases so far in 2014 is double the number of cases in Illinois in a typical year.

Northwestern

• Babies who are breastfed are less likely to have disease-linked chronic inflammation as adults, a Northwestern study finds.
• Next week is National Women’s Health Week, and NU’s Women’s Health Research Institute is holding an event this Thursday.
• NMH highlights the work of Candice Krill, quality director of Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital, whose research on patient handling showed that nurses should be included in the decision process.
• Combining three medications into one pill can help fight cardiovascular disease, according to a new study from Northwestern researchers.

Cover Photo by Tookapic via Pexels: creative commons