- Top health official warns monkeypox needs to be taken more seriously
- What is monkeypox, and how can you stay safe as it spreads?
- Fauci says he plans to retire by end of Biden's current term
- 988: National Suicide Prevention Lifeline launches new 3-digit number
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Top health official warns monkeypox needs to be taken more seriously |
As cases of monkeypox continue to rise in the United States, a top health official is stressing the outbreak needs to be handled in a more rigorous manner. "This is something we definitely need to take seriously. We don't know the scope and the potential of it yet, but we have to act like it will have the capability of spreading much more widely than it's spreading right now," Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN on Saturday. Monkeypox has been detected throughout most of the United States, except for a handful of states, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The states with the most cases include New York, California, Illinois and Florida. The latest data shows the CDC has tracked over 1,900 probable or confirmed cases in the US as of Monday. Former US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb warned Sunday that it may be too late to control and contain the virus, saying the US is making "a lot of the same mistakes" as early in the Covid-19 pandemic, such as a lack of testing early on and not enough vaccines distributed to the community. "I think the window for getting control of this and containing it probably has closed. If it hasn't closed, it's certainly starting to close," Gottlieb told CBS' Margaret Brennan on Sunday on "Face the Nation." CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky responded that Gottlieb's criticism was "misinformed and off base." Walensky defended her agency's work Monday. "It is true that we have work to do -- here and internationally -- and are likely to see more monkeypox cases in the near term, but it is possible to significantly decrease the number of cases and contain the current monkeypox outbreak through education and increased testing and access to vaccines -- all priorities we've made dramatic progress on," she said in a statement to CNN. Fauci said Saturday that he expects up to 700,000 vaccines will be distributed to communities by the end of July. "Because you want to protect the people at risk, not only the people who might have had an exposure that they know of but also people, by the virtue of the fact that they're in a risk situation, that they need to get vaccinated," he noted. The US has more than tripled its monkeypox vaccine doses since last week, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services. |
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What is monkeypox, and how can you stay safe as it spreads? |
As a global outbreak of monkeypox continues to grow, public health officials are stressing the importance of education in fighting the virus. "I am concerned by the scale and spread of the virus," World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday. Anyone can get monkeypox, but in the latest outbreak, the virus is predominantly spreading among gay and bisexual men. Officials noted Monday that most of the people affected reported some level of sexual activity. That doesn't mean the virus is sexually transmitted, but officials say it shows that prolonged skin-to-skin contact is one of the major ways monkeypox is now spreading. Monkeypox is a poxvirus related to smallpox and cowpox. It generally causes pimple- or blister-like lesions and flu-like symptoms such as fever, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The lesions typically concentrate on the arms and legs, but in the latest outbreak, they're showing up more frequently on the genital and perianal area, which has raised some concerns that monkeypox lesions may be confused with STDs. The rash is "showing up in different parts of the body than we typically expect to see it," Dr. John Brooks, the CDC's chief medical officer of HIV prevention, said in late May. He and other experts have been emphasizing that fact "to remind people that people may come in for an evaluation of what they think is an STD, but we'd like the provider to think 'Could it be monkeypox as well?' if the circumstances fit the story," he said. Monkeypox spreads through close contact, according to the CDC. That includes direct physical contact with lesions as well as "respiratory secretions" shared through face-to-face interaction, and touching objects that have been contaminated by monkeypox lesions or fluids. The virus may also pass to a fetus through the placenta. Scientists are still studying how monkeypox is spreading in this outbreak, but they say people don't seem to be getting sick after, say, walking past someone or giving them a hug and brushing past a lesion on their skin. "If it's a hug that doesn't necessarily include a shirt, there's a theoretical risk of transmission there, but that's not what we're hearing in terms of what's happening with our cases, so it's lower risk. I can't say zero risk," says Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, director of the CDC's Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention. Rather, it's longer contact that seems to be responsible for most cases now. Anyone who has had contact with someone with a monkeypox-like rash, or who has had contact with someone who has a probable or confirmed case of monkeypox, is at high risk for infection. If you're diagnosed with monkeypox, the agency recommends isolation at home and away from family members for as long as you have an active rash. The CDC says people might want to reduce skin contact as much as possible by having sex with clothes on or after covering areas where the rash is present. If you choose to have sex with someone who has monkeypox or who might have been exposed to it, talk about the virus ahead of time. Officials also say to keep in mind that their advice could change as scientists learn more. It may change if monkeypox starts to spread through other contact, such as when people live closely together in places like homeless shelters, or when people play full-contact sports. "I think the most important thing is that it's good to have awareness and some level of worry about some of these things, but it's not paralysis," Daskalakis said. "Realistically speaking, skin-on-skin contact of any variety theoretically can transmit monkeypox, but what we're seeing is, you kind of have to work at it a bit." |
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Fauci says he plans to retire by end of Biden's current term |
Dr. Anthony Fauci plans to retire by the end of President Joe Biden's current term in office, the government's top infectious disease expert told CNN on Monday. Fauci, who serves as Biden's chief medical adviser and has served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for decades, said he does not currently have a specific retirement date in mind nor has he started the process of retiring. "I have said that for a long time," Fauci said of his plans to leave government before the end of Biden's current term, which ends in January 2025. "By the time we get to the end of Biden's first term, I will very likely (retire)," Fauci said. This news came as the Biden administration on Friday extended the Covid-19 public health emergency for another three months. US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra officially renewed the declaration, extending it through October 13, 2022. The emergency declaration has been in place since January 2020, and the latest renewal comes as the Omicron offshoot BA.5, the most contagious variant yet, continues to stake its claim in the US. Daily case rates, though vastly undercounted, are the highest they've been in months. Fauci said that he feels like he has established a good system at NIAID to facilitate a smooth transition at the agency and wants to pursue other career opportunities once he eventually leaves. "Everybody in a position of any influence in my institute, I handpick. So it's something that I've been working on now for four decades. So we have a good system in place," Fauci told CNN's Kate Bolduan. "Obviously, you can't go on forever. I do want to do other things in my career, even though I'm at a rather advanced age. I have the energy and the passion to continue to want to pursue other aspects of my professional career and I'm going to do that some time. I'm not exactly sure when, but I don't see myself being in this job to the point where I can't do anything else after that." At 81, Fauci has served more than five decades under seven presidents, advising every American president since Ronald Reagan. |
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988: National Suicide Prevention Lifeline launches new 3-digit number |
To reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline for mental health crises, it now takes only three digits: 988. Vibrant Emotional Health, the nonprofit that operates the lifeline on behalf of the US Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), launched the 988 dialing code available to everyone across the United States. So far, the dialing code to reach the lifeline has been 1-800-273-TALK, which will remain operational during the current expansion to 988. Text messages can be sent to the three-digit number as well. Veterans can now dial 988 and press 1 to reach the Veteran Crisis Line. "One of the goals of 988 is to ensure that people get the help that they need when they need it, where they need it. And so, when a person calls 988, they can expect to have a conversation with a trained, compassionate crisis counselor who will talk with them about what they're experiencing. If it's the case that they need further intervention, then likely the crisis counselor will connect with a local mobile crisis team," Dr. Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, the administrator of SAMHSA, said earlier this month during a call with reporters. In 2020, the US Federal Communications Commission's five leaders unanimously voted to finalize 988 as the three-digit number Americans can dial to be connected to the existing lifeline's network of trained counselors. That year, the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act of 2020 became law, amending the Communications Act of 1934 to designate 988 as "the universal telephone number for the purpose of the national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline system operating through the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and through the Veterans Crisis Line, and for other purposes." As 988 will become an easier number to remember for mental health crises -- similar to how people can dial 911 for medical emergencies -- there has been growing concern among leading mental health and suicide prevention groups that 988 call centers may not be ready to handle an anticipated influx of calls. The call line received 3.6 million calls, chats and texts in 2021, and that number is expected to double in the first full year after the 988 transition, according to SAMHSA. |
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What does life itself mean to you? That's a question I find myself asking sometimes and it had me thinking about a specific person -- Norman Lear. Yes, that Norman Lear, the creator, producer and writer of many hit television shows of the 1970s and 1980s, such as "The Jeffersons," "All in the Family," "Good Times" and "One Day at a Time." This past May, my friend Marc Hodosh and I had the privilege of welcoming Norman as a special guest at our Life Itself event, a gathering of innovative thinkers at the intersection of health and technology. Norman turns 100 at the end of this month and I was reminded of the conversation we had with him. At 99-years-old, Norman Lear remains so hopeful for each day, I find his positivity for life contagious and inspiring -- inspiration we all need at times. Some of us might be familiar with pressing that snooze button one too many times, or starting the week with the Monday blues, but this doesn't apply to Norman, who says, "In my nearly 100 years, I've never had nothing but pleasure waking up. I like waking up." And he doesn't want to just wake up, he wants to wake up and continue to create. "I like getting up in the morning with something on my mind, something I can work on … I like to have … every day working for some conclusion," he says. We all have moments when we feel discouraged but Norman answered it best: "What does life itself mean? There would be no meaning without life." |
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| | What if instead of pills to cure what ails you, you were prescribed a video game? EndeavorRX is the first ever FDA approved video game for medical treatment, in this case for ADHD in children. We dive into the science behind the treatment and how video games have the potential to be used for other cognitive dysfunctions, including autism, depression and multiple sclerosis. Link here |
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