Month: August 2022

The United States has declared monkeypox a public health emergency, the health secretary said Thursday, a move expected to free up additional funding and tools to fight the disease.  The declaration came as the tally of cases crossed 6,600 in the United States on Wednesday, almost all of them among men who have sex with men.  “We’re prepared to take our response to the next level in addressing this virus, and we urge every American to take monkeypox seriously,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said at a briefing.  The declaration will also help improve the availability of monkeypox data, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said, speaking alongside Becerra.  The World Health Organization also has designated monkeypox a “public health emergency of international concern,” its highest alert level. The WHO declaration last month was designed to trigger a coordinated international response and could unlock funding to collaborate on vaccines and treatments.  Biden earlier this month appointed two top federal officials to coordinate his administration’s response to monkeypox, following declarations of emergencies by California, Illinois and New York.  First identified in monkeys in 1958, the disease has mild symptoms including fever, aches and pus-filled skin lesions, and people tend to recover from it within two to four weeks, according to the WHO. It spreads through close physical contact and is rarely fatal.  Anthony Fauci, Biden’s chief medical adviser, told Reuters on Thursday that it was critical to engage leaders from the gay community as part …

Life expectancy in Africa rose by nearly 10 years between 2000 and 2019, from 46 years to 56 years, according to the World Health Organization’s State of Health in Africa report released Thursday. However, WHO officials note that is still well below the global average of 64 years. WHO Assistant Regional Director for Africa Lindiwe Makubalo warned the life expectancy gains could easily be lost unless countries strengthen and make greater investments in the development of health care systems. Speaking from the Republic of Congo’s capital, Brazzaville, she said Africa has made a good start in that direction over the past two decades. On average, she noted, access to essential services like basic primary health care improved to 46% in 2019 compared with 24% in 2000. “Other factors include improvements in reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health,” Makubalo said. “Additionally, the rapid scale-up of health services to tackle infectious diseases such as HIV and TB, as well as malaria, over the past 15 years has been a strong catalyst for improved health life expectancy.” While progress has been made in preventing and treating infectious diseases, the report found health services for noncommunicable diseases are lagging. It says the dramatic rise in hypertension, diabetes, cancer and other noncommunicable diseases could jeopardize health gains if those conditions continue to be neglected. The report says the COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed greater disruptions to essential health services on the African continent compared to other regions of the world. Makubalo said those disruptions might affect …

President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order that the White House said would protect access to abortion care, part of the continuing fallout from a June Supreme Court reversal of its landmark 1973 ruling establishing a right to abortion. With each of the 50 states now free to write abortion laws as it sees fit, an early test came Tuesday when voters in the Midwestern state of Kansas voted decisively to keep that state’s right to abortion. But several states now outlaw the practice, sometimes even in the case of rape or incest. “This is just extreme,” Biden said before signing the order, which aims to help people seeking abortions travel to a state where it remains legal. “You know, even the life of the mother is in question in some case — in some states. “Republicans in Congress and their extreme MAGA ideology are determined to go even further, talking about nationwide bans that would outlaw abortion in every state, under every circumstance, going after the broader right to privacy as well. But as I said before, this fight is not over. And we saw that last night in Kansas.” This was the second abortion-related executive order that Biden had signed since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision. The first executive order, last month, aimed to guarantee access to emergency contraception and abortion medication. Critics said these White House actions were too vague, and too slow. “What we’re seeing is the federal government …

Two invasive species — the brown tree snake and the American bullfrog — cost the world more than $16 billion between 1986 and 2020, according to a study.  Researchers say the already-hefty price tag should be seen as a lower limit on the true cost of invasive reptiles and amphibians, especially in under-studied regions such as Africa and South America. The study results were published in the online journal Scientific Reports.  Invasive species are animals, plants or other living things that aren’t native to the places where they live and damage their new environments. Humans spread many of the more than 340 invasive reptile and amphibian species — as stowaways in cargo or through the exotic pet trade, for instance.  Invasive reptiles and amphibians can damage crops, destroy infrastructure, spread disease and upset ecosystems. The damage is costly, but scientists still don’t fully understand the extent of the economic impact wrought by invasive species.  For the study, biologist and study author Ismael Soto of the University of South Bohemia, and Ceske Budejovice in the Czech Republic, and his colleagues, estimated the global cost of invasive reptiles and amphibians using a database called InvaCost. The database collects the results of thousands of studies, reports and other documents produced by scientists, governments and non-governmental organizations.  The data revealed that invasive reptiles and amphibians have cost at least $17 billion worldwide between 1986 and 2020.   “But this cost mostly focused on two species — the brown tree snake [and] the American bullfrog,” Soto …

A bill enhancing health care and disability benefits for millions of veterans exposed to toxic burn pits won final approval in the Senate on Tuesday, ending a brief stalemate over the measure that had infuriated advocates and inspired some to camp outside the Capitol. The Senate approved the bill by a vote of 86-11. It now goes to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law. Biden described the legislation as the biggest expansion of benefits for service-connected health issues in 30 years and the largest single bill ever to comprehensively address exposure to burn pits. “I look forward to signing this bill, so that veterans and their families and caregivers impacted by toxic exposures finally get the benefits and comprehensive health care they earned and deserve,” Biden said. The Senate had overwhelming approved the legislation back in June, but a do-over was required to make a technical fix. That process derailed when Republicans made a late attempt to change another aspect of the bill last week and blocked it from advancing. The abrupt delay outraged veterans groups and advocates, including comedian Jon Stewart. It also placed GOP senators in the uncomfortable position of delaying the top legislative priority of service organizations this session of Congress. A group of veterans and their families have been camping out at the Capitol since that vote. They had endured thunderstorms and Washington’s notorious summer humidity, but they were in the galleries as senators cast their votes. “You can go home knowing the …

The United States sued Idaho on Tuesday over a state law that it says imposes a “near-absolute ban” on abortion and also sought to block the Western state from prosecuting or disciplining doctors, according to a court filing. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for Idaho, seeks a preliminary and permanent injunction against the state prohibiting enforcement of the law and asked the court to rule that the state law violates federal statutes. The lawsuit also alleges the state law interferes with the United States’ pre-existing agreements with hospitals under Medicare, referring to the federal health care program for seniors. “Today, the Justice Department’s message is clear … if a patient comes into the emergency room with a medical emergency jeopardizing the patient’s life or health, the hospital must provide the treatment necessary to stabilize that patient,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a news conference in Washington announcing the filing. “This includes abortion, when that is the necessary treatment,” Garland added. Tuesday’s lawsuit marks the Justice Department’s first legal battle over reproductive rights since the Supreme Court in June overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that recognized women’s constitutional right to abortion. Idaho in March became the first state to enact a six-week abortion ban modeled on a Texas law that empowers private citizens to sue abortion providers. The law bans abortion before many women know they are pregnant. …

India is accelerating action against the monkeypox virus after reporting its first death due to monkeypox in the southern state of Kerala, that of a 22-year-old man who had recently returned from the United Arab Emirates. The death of the young man is the first due to monkeypox in Asia, where several countries have reported outbreaks of the viral infection that has been declared a global public health emergency by the World Health Organization. Kerala health authorities announced the death on Monday after it was confirmed that the man had monkeypox. He had died in a hospital on Saturday, about a week after returning from the UAE, where his family said he had tested positive for the infection. By the time doctors were informed, he was already critical. Samples from the man that were tested in India also detected the virus, according to Kerala Health Minister, Veena George. This is the fourth monkeypox death reported globally outside Africa. So far there have been two monkeypox related fatalities in Spain and one in Brazil. Kerala health authorities said that about 20 persons, who had been in contact with the 22-year-old, are being monitored. Passengers who were on the flight with him from UAE to Kerala have also been contacted and authorities have urged people with symptoms to inform doctors. After the death was reported in Kerala, the federal government said it is setting up a task force to monitor the outbreak in the country. Fifteen laboratories have been designated to diagnose …

The public health response to the outbreak of monkeypox in the United States has so far failed to prevent significant community spread of the disease, leading to a call for a reassessment of the strategy for containing it. Since the first reported U.S. case of the outbreak on May 17, the number of infections has soared to more than 5,000, with the majority found among men who have sex with men. Although reporting of case numbers is scattered across different agencies, the U.S. appears to account for more than 25% of global cases identified during the current outbreak, which the World Health Organization has identified as a “public health emergency of international concern.” ‘You have to act fast’ Infectious disease experts have been dismayed by what they saw as a lack of urgency on the part of U.S. public health agencies in the early weeks of the outbreak. “What I expected to see would have been a more vigorous kind of a response based on lessons that we’ve learned from … COVID-19, as well as lessons we’ve learned from the HIV response,” Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, founder and director of ICAP at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, told VOA. “When you have an outbreak, the most important thing is you have to act fast, you have to mobilize, and … you have to rally all your assets to work together really quickly to be able to do what’s needed,” El-Sadr said. Facing criticism at the end of June, the …

New York City Mayor Eric Adams declared a state of emergency Monday over the spread of monkeypox. “This order will bolster our existing efforts to educate, vaccinate, test, and treat as many New Yorkers as possible and ensure a whole-of-government response to this outbreak,” Adams said in a statement released with the executive order. The order allows Adams to suspend local laws and temporarily impose new rules to control the spread of the outbreak. Similarly, Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state disaster emergency last Friday. She previously announced that over the next four to six weeks, the federal government would distribute 110,000 vaccine doses to the state in addition to the 60,000 already distributed. As of Monday, New York City has reported 1,472 cases, according to monkeypox data on the NYC Health website. Most cases worldwide have affected men who have sex with men. In an announcement Saturday declaring a public health emergency in the city, Adams and Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan estimated that about 150,000 New Yorkers may be at risk of monkeypox infection. Cases are continuing to rise across the country. New York currently has the highest number of recorded monkeypox cases among the 50 states, followed by California with 799 cases as of Friday, the CDC reports. San Francisco Mayor London Breed declared a state of emergency on Thursday. Though California has distributed more than 25,000 vaccine doses, Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a KTVU-TV interview last week that the state is “not even close to where …