Covid Sewage Surveillance Labs Join the Hunt for Monkeypox
Wastewater testing has proved a reliable early alarm bell for covid outbreaks. U.S. researchers are now adapting the approach to track the explosive spread of monkeypox.
Public Health
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Tribe Embraces Recreational Marijuana Sales on Reservation Where Alcohol Is Banned
The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota allows people to buy and use recreational marijuana but not alcohol. Some tribal citizens say cannabis is safer than alcohol, meth, and opioids 鈥 which have wreaked havoc on the state鈥檚 Indigenous communities.
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Journalists Put Polio, Price Transparency, and a Personal Covid Battle in Perspective
KHN and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here鈥檚 a collection of their appearances.
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KHN鈥檚 鈥榃hat the Health?鈥: Kansas Makes a Statement
In the first official test vote since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, voters in Kansas鈥 primary said in no uncertain terms they want to keep a right to abortion in their state constitution. Meanwhile, the Senate is still working to reach a vote before summer recess on its health care-climate-tax measure, but progress is slow. Tami Luhby of CNN, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, and Rachel Cohrs of Stat join KHN鈥檚 Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KHN鈥檚 Bram Sable-Smith, who wrote the latest KHN-NPR 鈥淏ill of the Month鈥 installment about a very expensive ambulance trip.
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A California Man鈥檚 鈥楶ainful and Terrifying鈥 Road to a Monkeypox Diagnosis
A Bay Area man described himself as 鈥渄elirious鈥 from the pain of a quickly spreading rash, but it took six telehealth appointments, one urgent care visit, and two emergency room trips before he was finally diagnosed and treated for monkeypox.
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Music Festivals Embrace Overdose Reversal Drugs, but Fentanyl Testing Kits Remain Taboo
Music festival promoters are allowing distribution of overdose reversal medication as fentanyl deaths continue to surge. But nonprofits and volunteers are often left to do the work, and more controversial forms of harm reduction aren鈥檛 openly allowed.
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The Time Has Come for DIY Mandates on Covid
Yes, lots of us suffer from pandemic fatigue and have been getting sloppy about precautions in recent months. But with covid an ongoing menace 鈥 and governments reluctant to return to sweeping mandates 鈥 it鈥檚 time for all of us to step up our game.
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Journalists Detail the Scope of the Abortion Ruling, Monkeypox, and Public Health Powers
KHN and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here鈥檚 a collection of their appearances.
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What the Polio Case in New York Tells Us About the End of Polio
The Rockland County case isn鈥檛 expected to cause a major outbreak, but it shows how even this rare disease can pop up in undervaccinated communities.
By Arthur Allen -
KHN鈥檚 鈥榃hat the Health?鈥: Manchin Makes a Deal
In a rare surprise for official Washington, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) announced a deal to expand the planned health bill in the Senate to include provisions raising taxes and addressing climate change. The measure would include a third year of expanded subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, but not health care coverage for people left out of Medicaid in states that failed to expand the program. Meanwhile, the ACA goes back to court, and the Biden administration restores anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people that were rolled back by the Trump administration. Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KHN鈥檚 Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Dr. C茅line Gounder of KHN about the latest on the monkeypox outbreak.
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Everything You Need to Know About Paxlovid 鈥 Especially, Should You Take It?
Paxlovid has eclipsed other available therapies for preventing life-threatening covid symptoms in high-risk patients. But even as doctors praise its effectiveness, many say they have unanswered questions about prescribing the drug and want more and better data about it.
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Perspective
To Stem the Spread of Monkeypox, Health Departments Tap Into Networks of Those Most at Risk
Although the disease is currently spreading almost exclusively among men who have sex with men, some cases are turning up in other populations 鈥 and that number is likely to grow if public health officials don鈥檛 effectively nip the outbreak in the bud.
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KHN鈥檚 鈥榃hat the Health?鈥: Drug Price Bill Is a Go in the Senate
Two things happened in Washington this week that were inevitable: President Joe Biden tested positive for covid-19, and the Senate agreed to move forward on a budget bill that includes only a sliver of what Biden hoped it would. Still, the bill to allow Medicare to negotiate some drug prices, cap out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors, and extend temporary subsidies for Affordable Care Act insurance premiums would represent a major step if Democrats can get it across the finish line. Meanwhile, abortion battles continue to escalate around the country, with Texas leading the way in restrictions. Shefali Luthra of The 19th, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, and Rachel Cohrs of Stat join KHN鈥檚 Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Dr. Jack Resneck Jr., the new president of the American Medical Association.
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Critics Worry Government Surveillance of HIV May Hurt More Than It Helps
Some people living with HIV and some state health officials are raising concerns about part of the federal effort to end the HIV epidemic: a new technology that analyzes blood samples to find emerging outbreaks. The critics say it鈥檚 too invasive and stigmatizing and might not be more effective than older public health approaches.
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Fighting Monkeypox, Sexual Health Clinics Are Underfunded and Ill-Equipped
Sexual health clinics are scrambling to properly track, test, and treat hundreds of monkeypox patients. So far, it isn鈥檛 going well.
By Liz Szabo and Lauren Weber -
Conservative Blocs Unleash Litigation to Curb Public Health Powers
Spurred on by opposition to pandemic-related health mandates, a coalition of religious liberty groups, conservative think tanks, and Republican state attorneys general has filed a cascade of litigation seeking to rein in the powers of public health authorities.
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Boost Now or Wait? Many Wonder How Best to Ride Out Covid鈥檚 Next Wave
As the country faces a rise in new infections driven by the omicron BA.5 subvariant of the coronavirus, about 70% of people 50 and older who got a first covid-19 booster shot haven't received the recommended second one, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many undervaccinated Americans have lost interest, and others aren鈥檛 sure whether to get boosted again now or wait for vaccines reformulated to target newer strains of the virus.
By Sam Whitehead and Arthur Allen -
As Big Pharma Loses Interest in New Antibiotics, Infections Are Only Growing Stronger
Existing drugs still treat most infections. But that has discouraged investment in new drugs that will be needed when 鈥 not if 鈥攖he old ones fail.
By Arthur Allen -
California鈥檚 Public Health Tax Is Dead for the Year
A ballot measure that would have taxed California millionaires to boost public health funding will not be on the November ballot. But the tech titans who bankrolled the effort say they are negotiating with Gov. Gavin Newsom鈥檚 administration to get more money without imposing new taxes.
By Angela Hart