By The Defender Staff
‘We’re Working on It’: HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. On Ebola, Hantavirus Response
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told ABC News on Monday that his agency is working to address the recent hantavirus and Ebola outbreaks, marking the first time he’s commented publicly on the Ebola outbreak since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed than an American had been infected with the virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
“Yeah, we’re working on it,” Kennedy told ABC News when asked if he was worried about the outbreaks. The secretary’s comments come after the CDC said a “small number of Americans” are directly affected by the current Ebola outbreak in the DRC.
Kennedy did not respond when asked what his message might be to Americans who are concerned about the diseases potentially spreading in America. He told reporters in the Oval Office last week that the U.S. had the hantavirus outbreak “under control.”
“We have this under control and we’re not worried about it,” he said at the White House’s maternal healthcare event on May 11th. Kennedy also noted that the CDC has been working on the outbreak since day one.
Health Experts Meet in Search of Ebola Bundibugyo Vaccine Options
A panel of experts led by the World Health Organization meets on Tuesday to discuss whether there are any vaccine options to help tackle an Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The virtual meeting follows more than 130 suspected deaths and 500 cases linked to the outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, according to the WHO, which, along with the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has declared it a public health emergency.
There are no approved vaccines or treatments for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which has a fatality rate of up to 40%. However, there is a vaccine named Ervebo, manufactured by Merck, that is used for the Ebola Zaire strain but has shown evidence of providing some protection against Bundibugyo in animal studies.
The potential for testing this and other options will be on the agenda of the meeting of the WHO Technical Advisory Group, the WHO and other scientists said. But the final decision will lie with the governments of Congo and neighbouring Uganda, where two confirmed cases have also been found. Potential treatments will also be discussed.
What Is ‘Ozempic Personality’? Patient Shares Troubling GLP-1 Impact on Mental Health
Some patients taking GLP-1 drugs to lose weight or manage Type 2 diabetes are discovering an emerging potential side effect from the blockbuster class of medications: the loss of pleasure or an emotional numbness that’s been dubbed “Ozempic personality.”
It’s not common and doctors don’t know if it’s a direct reaction to the drugs, but it may be a sign to reduce the dose or stop the medication if the impact becomes severe, experts say. Dave Knapp noticed the change about three years after he started Mounjaro.
“I really started to discover that I was really not having the same amount of pleasure or seeking the same amount of pleasure in some of the activities that I once enjoyed,” Knapp, the founder of the “On The Pen” podcast, which focuses on GLP-1s and obesity medicine, told NBC’s Anne Thompson.
Where Is the Off Ramp for Psychotropic Medications?
When I first started taking an antidepressant as a teenager, no one talked to me or my parents about how I might eventually stop. Instead, the conversation was entirely centered on finding and starting the right medication.
Since then, my prescription list has quietly grown — fluoxetine (Prozac) replaced with escitalopram (Lexapro), then venlafaxine (Effexor), the dose creeping upward, and eventually the addition of aripiprazole (Abilify), an antipsychotic used as an adjunct for treatment-resistant depression.
Now, at 40, 8 years into sobriety and decades of mental health care, I’m beginning to question why my medications have only increased, never decreased. Why does psychiatric treatment rarely include an exit strategy?
Your Doctor Is Most Likely Consulting This Free AI Chatbot, Report Says
How would you like it if, when stumped or just in need of some help with an unfamiliar situation, your doctor consulted a free, ad-supported AI chatbot? That’s not actually a hypothetical. They probably are doing that, a new report from NBC News says.
It’s called OpenEvidence, and NBC says it was “used by about 65% of U.S. doctors across almost 27 million clinical encounters in April alone.” An earlier Bloomberg report on OpenEvidence from seven months ago said it had signed up 50% of American doctors at the time — so reported growth is rapid.
The OpenEvidence homepage trumpets the bot as “America’s Official Medical Knowledge Platform,” and says healthcare professionals qualify for unlimited free use, but non-doctors can try it for free without creating accounts. It gives long, detailed answers with extensive citations that superficially look — to me, a non-doctor — trustworthy and credible.
Pharma Companies Want to Block Medicare Drug Discounts. Supreme Court Weighs In
Pharmaceutical companies lost a bid to get the Supreme Court to block Medicare-negotiated price cuts, meaning a Biden administration program backed by President Donald Trump will continue.
The court on May 18 declined to hear multiple challenges by drugmakers to the program, all of which have been rejected by lower courts.
The companies raised various legal claims, including that the Constitution requires the government to pay fair compensation when taking private property for public use. Judges ruled that companies’ participation in the program is voluntary so the Fifth Amendment’s taking clause doesn’t apply.
Drugmakers argue that that program is voluntary in name only. If they don’t participate, their drugs are taxed if they want to continue to sell them to Medicare beneficiaries.
The post ‘We’re Working on It’: HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. On Ebola, Hantavirus Response + More appeared first on Children’s Health Defense.
IPAK-EDU is grateful to The Defender as this piece was originally published there and is included in this news feed with mutual agreement. Read More
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