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CDC Says Close Contact of Missouri Bird Flu Patient Showed Symptoms
A day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it had yet to identify “a clear source” of infection in a Missouri patient who tested positive for the bird flu virus, the agency quietly disclosed in its weekly influenza report that a close contact was sick around the same time as the Missouri patient but was not tested for influenza.
The Missouri patient, who was hospitalized in August, had no known contact with poultry or dairy cows.
“One close contact of the patient was also ill at the same time, was not tested, and has since recovered,” the agency wrote in its FluView report Friday.
A CDC spokesperson said in an email Friday the close contact was within the household of the Missouri patient and developed symptoms that weren’t typical of flu. The simultaneous development of symptoms, the spokesperson said, doesn’t provide evidence of person-to-person spread.
Additionally, a second close contact — a health care worker — subsequently developed mild symptoms and tested negative for influenza.
UK Orders 150,000 Mpox Vaccine Doses Amid Spread of New Strain in Africa
The U.K. has ordered more than 150,000 doses of vaccine against mpox to bolster its preparedness after the World Health Organization declared a surge in cases in Africa to be a global emergency.
No cases of clade Ib mpox, the new strain that has spread rapidly in Africa after an initial outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, have yet been detected in the U.K.
However, U.K. health officials said at a briefing on Monday that ordering more vaccine was necessary to bolster the country’s resilience against the virus, formerly known as monkeypox.
They also set out three scenarios illustrating the possible impact of a U.K. outbreak.
Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus: Are We Losing Sight of Overall Health? Here’s What the Science Says
The craze for new drugs in the GLP-1 (Glucagon-like peptide 1) and GIP (Gastric inhibitory polypeptide) analog class, better known under the trade names Ozempic and Wegovy, is remarkable, but it’s not totally unprecedented in the history of pharmaceutical blockbusters.
The volume of prescriptions and the budget allocated to them by public health insurance schemes are exploding, as are the profits of the companies that manufacture them.
Part of the popularity of these drugs owes to social networks, but these are not always the best source for health information.
When it comes to the subject of weight loss, both fantasy and prejudice come into play.
This works to the detriment of everyone’s well-being, but particularly those who are already stigmatized.
Sanofi Readies to Meet US Demand for RSV Antibody
Sanofi said it’s ready to meet demand for its RSV shot Beyfortus this year, announcing Monday the clearance by the Food and Drug Administration of a new manufacturing line.
The French pharmaceutical company and partner AstraZeneca are shipping 50 milligram and 100 milligram doses of the antibody drug to private healthcare providers and the U.S. government, ahead of the start of this year’s season for respiratory syncytial virus infections in the Northern Hemisphere.
The companies also expect another production line to provide doses of Beyfortus this year, and are continuing to build inventory.
Beyfortus gained U.S. approval last July to prevent RSV in newborns during or entering their first RSV season, as well as in children up to 24 months who are at risk of severe disease.
California May Regulate and Restrict Pharmaceutical Brokers
California Gov. Gavin Newsom will soon decide whether the most populous U.S. state will join 25 others in regulating the middlemen known as pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, whom many policymakers blame for the soaring cost of prescription drugs.
PBMs have been under fire for years for alleged profiteering and anticompetitive conduct, but efforts to regulate the industry at the federal level have stalled in Congress.
The three largest PBMs are owned by insurers and retail pharmacy chains, and about 80% of prescription drug sales in the U.S. are controlled by them: OptumRx, owned by UnitedHealth Group; CVS Caremark, owned by CVS Health, which also owns the insurer Aetna; and Express Scripts, owned by the Cigna Group.
