Dogs…most of the time they serve as our lovable companions, but they can misbehave from time to time. Though perhaps not as badly as this pooch who wielded a knife at his dog walker.
Today in health, a disaster was declared in New York due to the detection of polio in the state’s wastewater, bolstering ongoing vaccination efforts.
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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) declared a “disaster” in the state on Friday due to the spread of polio through wastewater.
The emergency declaration allows a larger group of medical personnel to administer polio vaccines and requires providers to send immunization data to the New York State Department of Health.
Vaccine boost: The state’s polio immunization drive will be bolstered by the New York State Immunization Information System, which will collect data on which communities need access to vaccines the most.
The vaccination rate against polio among 2-year-old children in New York is 79 percent and “significantly less than that in several counties and zip codes,” according to the governor’s office.
Polio vaccines will now be able to be distributed by first responders, midwives and pharmacists.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is launching a Phase 3 clinical trial to determine the efficacy of tecovirimat — the smallpox antiviral better known as TPOXX — for use in treating monkeypox, as current data on its effectiveness against the virus is limited.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is sponsoring the trial, which is being led by the organization’s AIDS Clinical Trials Group. The study is currently enrolling adults and children who have been infected with monkeypox in the U.S.
Off-label use: TPOXX was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2018 to treat smallpox. It was authorized for use in treating monkeypox in August based on studies treating orthopoxviruses, the family of viruses that both monkeypox and smallpox fall under.
TPOXX has not been approved for use in monkeypox but has been designated as an “investigational” drug so that it can be used to treat monkeypox.
Who’s been treated: According to federal data, nearly 2,000 patients diagnosed with monkeypox have been treated with TPOXX so far, nearly all of them men. Only 24 women have been confirmed to have received TPOXX to treat monkeypox infections.
SOUTH CAROLINA SENATE REJECTS NEAR-TOTAL ABORTION BAN
The South Carolina Senate failed to pass a ban on abortions earlier than six weeks into pregnancy on Thursday.
The controversial bill was altered over two days of debate on the floor, moving it closer to the current South Carolina abortion ban that is tied up in court.
“This is not where I wanted to be. I was hoping we’d be more aggressive, but it’s clear to me the votes are not there in the Senate for an abortion ban before six weeks,” said state Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey (R) in response to the two days of debate over the initial proposal.
The law was suspended by the South Carolina Supreme Court this summer for potentially violating the state constitution.
WOMEN ARE UNDERREPRESENTED IN AUTISM RESEARCH
Women tend to be excluded from studies on autism and this disparity can hinder accurate diagnoses and the development of useful interventions for both women and girls.
That’s according to researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who carried out an investigation on a commonly used screening test, the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS).
Because of this, female diagnoses could be missed altogether and an already small pool of study subjects is further reduced.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning for doctors and patients on Thursday after it received reports of people with breast implants being diagnosed with multiple types of cancer.
Binita Ashar, the director of the Office of Surgical and Infection Control Devices in the agency’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said in a release that the FDA received reports of squamous cell carcinoma and various lymphomas in the capsule or scar tissue near the implants.
She said these reports are separate from breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma, which the FDA started warning about more than 10 years ago.
Ashar said the agency does not have enough information to conclude if the implants cause certain cancers or if some implants pose a higher risk than others. Any instances of squamous cell carcinoma, lymphoma or any cancer near the scar tissue around breast implants should be reported to the FDA as a result.
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