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Stay Well
breaking health news & updates
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First Known U.S. Case Of New Type Of Mpox Found In San Mateo County | |
San Mateo County health officials have announced the nation’s first known case of a severe form of mpox that has fueled an outbreak of the disease across Eastern and Central Africa.
The county’s health department said Saturday they are working with state and local health officials in responding to the case of clade I mpox, which a person in the county contracted while traveling to Africa. The person appeared to have “mild” symptoms, and is isolating and recovering at home, the health agency said.
The case marked the first known instance of that particular mpox version appearing in the United States, adding to a relatively small but growing number of countries across the world that have discovered cases of it. A different version of the virus, called clade II, has been circulating in the U.S. since 2022 and has sickened at least 108 people in the county and more than 100,000 people worldwide over the last couple years.
The recently detected version is known to cause more severe illness, as well as a higher rate of death, than the version that had previously been found in the United States. Even so, local health officials said there was “very low risk to the public” from the virus, which can cause a painful rash, as well as a fever, chills and muscle aches. East Bay Times Read more
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“Overall, just like with RSV, influenza and other infections that diminished over the pandemic, we are seeing the emergence of these infections (such as whooping cough) as people are resuming their normal lives."
Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, Infectious Disease Expert at UCSF
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Whooping Cough Cases Surge In The Bay Area Heading Into Winter
California is experiencing a sharp rise in whooping cough cases, with several Bay Area counties reporting their highest numbers in a decade.
Nearly 1,800 cases of pertussis, the bacterial disease that causes whooping cough, have been confirmed this year by the state’s Department of Public Health as of the end of September, the month with the most recent statewide data. That marks a significant increase from the 644 cases reported for all of 2023.
San Francisco recorded 84 confirmed cases this year, compared with just one in 2023. Marin County had documented 336 cases as of September, a jump from 17 the previous year.
Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at UCSF, said the spike is likely due to a decline in vaccination during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly among young children.
“Infants and children need five doses in the first six years to get full protection, so even missing a few shots could leave folks vulnerable to infection,” he said, noting that growing vaccine hesitancy may also be contributing to a rise in cases.
Alameda County, with 84 cases so far this year, saw a particularly concerning spike in October, when the number of cases more than doubled. Among school-age children, teenagers aged 14 to 18 accounted for 74% of the cases. In 2023, the county reported just four cases.
SF Chronicle Read more
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Holiday Publishing Schedule
The Stay Well Bulletin will not be published the week of November 25 due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Warm wishes to all for a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends.
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Alameda County Detects Bird Flu In Child With Mild Symptoms
Officials in Alameda County on Tuesday identified a child with bird flu who had no known exposure to the state’s growing number of infected dairy and poultry farms. But close family members of the child, who had mild respiratory symptoms and is recovering at home, were not infected, testing showed. That news eases worry among state health experts that the virus, H5N1, could gain the ability to spread more efficiently among people. “It’s natural for people to be concerned, and we want to reinforce for parents, caregivers and families that based on the information and data we have, we don’t think the child was infectious – and no human-to-human spread of bird flu has been documented in any country for more than 15 years,” said California Department of Public Health Director and State Public Health Officer Dr. Tomás Aragón. Public health experts are investigating whether the child was exposed to wild birds, which carry the virus. East Bay Times Read more
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Bay Area Lacks Black, Latino Health Care Workers. $5M Grant Could Help
In East Oakland, Dr. Noha Aboelata founded Roots Community Health Center to serve the underserved. She particularly wanted to make sure the mostly Black residents receiving care at her clinics were treated by providers who represent them. "It's absolutely critical," Dr. Aboelata told ABC7 Mornings anchor Reggie Aqui. "From the very beginning, the whole premise of Roots Community Health Center was that you have a place to go, feel safe and be understood. And that is so much easier to do when you see someone who looks like you." Gilead Sciences is giving Roots Community Health Center, and 20 other Bay Area organizations, $250,000 each to create health care education opportunities to underrepresented students. The Foster City-based biopharmaceutical company is hoping the $5 million total donation will help bridge a gap that exists in the Bay Area. Gilead cites California Department of Healthcare Access and Information data showing Latino and Black people make up nearly 30% of the Bay Area population but only about 10% of active medical licenses. ABC7 News Read more
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Stanford Researcher Creates Musical Medicine To Comfort Palliative Care Patients
The power of music is comforting patients undergoing palliative care, helping them and their loved ones through an extremely emotional and difficult time. Stanford University medical student and musician Melanie Ambler is doing a research project to study how music can alleviate some of that stress. Ambler is taking a year off school to interview 100 patients and play music for them. Ambler visits each one in their hospital room, asks them a question, and then composes an original song on her cello for them during their visit together. "I like to tell my patients that I play music that is improvised and inspired by whatever they tell me," said Ambler. "It's my most active form of listening." CBS News Read more
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Oakland Clinic Gets Medical Device Maker To Disclose Risk Of False Blood-Oxygen Reading
The pulse oximeter, a device that measures the degree to which red blood cells are saturated with oxygen, is one of healthcare’s most fundamental tools. So when Dr. Noha Aboelata learned that research stretching back decades showed that the devices routinely failed patients with darker skin tones, she took action. Aboelata, the founder and chief executive of East Oakland’s Roots Community Health Center, urged the Food and Drug Administration to require makers of pulse oximeters to test their devices on people of color, and to warn consumers about the risk of false readings. Attorneys for Roots wrote to companies that made or sold pulse oximeters in California, asking them to improve their products and disclose their limitations. When none responded, the clinic filed a lawsuit to force a change in practices. A year later, Roots and Aboelata are celebrating their first wins. LA Times Read more
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S.F. Hospital Uses Cutting-Edge AI Tool To Help Doctors Identify Stroke Risks Earlier
Doctors at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital are using a cutting-edge AI tool to analyze medical scans, helping them diagnose when a patient is at risk of having a stroke, a Chronicle review of public records reveals. The previously unreported contract with Menlo Park software company RapidAI is worth about $400,000 over five years. The software has been in use since last year and can examine CT scans and MRI images. RapidAI says it uses an algorithm trained on millions of scans that can spot suspected large vessel blockages within minutes after a scan, flagging increased possibility of strokes or aneurysms. SF Chronicle
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Many More Seniors Are Getting COVID Shots This Year, CDC Reports
Nearly 4 in 10 seniors have gotten a COVID-19 vaccine so far this year, new survey data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests, marking a steep increase in vaccination rates compared with the same time last year. The data from the CDC's National Immunization Survey estimates that 37.6% of Americans ages 65 and older had gotten a shot of this season's updated COVID-19 vaccine by Nov. 2, compared with 22.6% of older adults by the same week in 2023. Younger adults are also outpacing last year's rollout of COVID-19 shots, though not by the same large margin. By contrast, uptake of influenza vaccines this fall among seniors – 55.3% by Nov. 2 – is almost the same as at this time last year. CBS News Read more
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COVID-Era Telehealth Prescribing Extended Again
The Drug Enforcement Administration and Health and Human Services ended an impasse
over the virtual prescribing of controlled substances that threatened access to drugs like
Adderall by extending pandemic-era flexibilities through the end of 2025. Keeping the status quo leaves the question of whether to make controlled substances available without an in-person doctor's visit for the Trump administration to decide. The agencies on Friday issued a final rule that marks the third temporary extension of telemedicine prescribing flexibilities that date to the COVID-19 pandemic and were due to expire at the end of this year. Some patients have been grappling with shortages of Adderall and other amphetamines like Vyvanse used for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Behavioral health providers say access would be even tighter if old limits on telehealth prescribing were restored. Axios Read more
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Trust In Science Hasn’t Fully Recovered From Pandemic Controversies
The pandemic and the chaos and controversies that came with it led to an erosion of trust in scientists, and it may be a while before that trust returns to levels that preceded the contagion. That’s the implication of a survey published Thursday by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center. The organization asked adults in the United States if they have confidence in scientists to “act in the best interests of the public.” The vast majority of people still do, saying they have “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of confidence. Although the new numbers show a small uptick in trust in scientists over the past year, the public’s confidence in that community remains significantly eroded. Washington Post Read more
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State/National/International News | | |
Why the U.S. Healthcare System Is So Much Worse Than Its Peers
The United States has the worst-performing health system among all high-income countries. Even the best-performing U.S. states lag international peers like France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Australia. To move the United States from laggard to leader will require significant — but doable — changes in its healthcare system, including closing remaining gaps in insurance coverage, limiting debilitating out-of-pocket-expenditures, and reviving its failing primary care capabilities. These are the conclusions of a comprehensive study from the Commonwealth Fund that compared the U.S. healthcare system to nine other nations: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Based on 70 performance measures across five domains — access to care, health outcomes, administrative efficiency, care process, and equity — the United States came in last overall and last or next to last in four of these five broad areas of performance. This is despite the fact that America spends far more per capita than other high-income countries.
Harvard Business Review Read more
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Covered California Starts Offering Health Care To DACA Immigrants. Will Trump’s Win Deter Them?
For the first time since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children can purchase subsidized health plans through Covered California, the state’s insurance marketplace. This move is expected to provide relief to thousands of so-called Dreamers, especially those who are freelancers, self-employed or have no other means of health coverage. But the expansion is coming at an uncertain time both because of Donald Trump’s election as president and because of an ongoing lawsuit that contests the move to allow certain undocumented immigrants to buy health insurance through Affordable Care Act exchanges. Trump in his first administration unsuccessfully tried to undo both the Affordable Care Act and the Obama-era policy known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) that protects certain undocumented immigrants. CalMatters Read more
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Does This Emerging Autism Treatment Really Work? One Bay Area Family Took The Risk To Find Out
On a sunny day in July, while other Bay Area kids were playing at camps or water parks, 8-year-old Charlotte O’Neill was leaning back in a reclining chair in a small, carpeted San Jose office room. Her eyes were fixed on a television playing her favorite cartoon, “Bluey.” Maureen and Bill O’Neill, her parents, sat beside her in the room at Summit Brain Health, where a neuro-technician had placed a large, figure-eight-shaped magnetic coil on her forehead. Every 28 seconds, the coil sent a magnetic pulse to her brain, which required Charlotte’s eyes to be closed for five seconds at a time. Due to her autism diagnosis, Charlotte struggled to do that herself. Her parents took turns covering her eyes with their hands during the 30-minute treatment. For the first part of the treatment, the technician held the coil over the back of Charlotte’s head. Fifteen minutes later, he targeted the front. On that day, the O’Neills, who live in Rohnert Park, were about a third of the way through a five-week treatment course of Magnetic e-Resonance Therapy, or MeRT — an emerging autism treatment that uses magnetic fields to stimulate specific areas of the brain. SF Chronicle Read more
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New FDA Rules For TV Drug Ads: Simpler Language And No Distractions
Those ever-present TV drug ads showing patients hiking, biking or enjoying a day at the beach could soon have a different look: New rules require drugmakers to be clearer and more direct when explaining their medications’ risks and side effects. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration spent more than 15 years crafting the guidelines, which are designed to do away with industry practices that downplay or distract viewers from risk information. Many companies have already adopted the rules, which become binding Nov. 20. But while regulators were drafting them, a new trend emerged: thousands of pharma influencers pushing drugs online with little oversight. A new bill in Congress would compel the FDA to more aggressively police such promotions on social media platforms. East Bay Times Read more
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Ozempic And Wegovy May Be Beneficial In Fighting Alcohol Addiction: Study
The weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy may be beneficial for people struggling with alcohol addiction, a study published last Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry said. The study examined about 228,000 people in Sweden who had alcohol use disorder and Type 2 diabetes. The people who were taking drugs like semaglutide were less likely to be hospitalized for alcohol-related issues. Of the nearly 228,000 individuals, 58.5 percent experienced alcohol-related hospitalization. The study noted that while semaglutide drugs “substantially decreased” the risk of hospitalization, the results were not associated with suicide attempts. Still, the risk was lower for the 4,300 individuals who used semaglutide than those taking approved alcohol disorder drugs. The study found that just about 220 hospitalizations occurred for those taking semaglutide. The Hill Read more
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Premature Births In The U.S. Remain At An All-Time High, The March of Dimes Reports
Many pregnant women in the U.S., particularly in the South, face inadequate prenatal care, complicated by abortion restrictions, air pollution and extreme heat, according to a new March of Dimes report. As a result, there have been no improvements in the preterm birth rate in the last 10 years. In its annual report, released Thursday, the March of Dimes gave the U.S. a dismal D+ grade based on the number of babies born too soon last year. Last year, the preterm birth rate was 10.4%. In 2022, it was 10.5%. In fact, little has changed in the past decade. In 2013, the preterm birth rate was 9.8%. NBC News Read more
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Yes, Throw Out Your Black Spatula. But The Harder Part Is What Comes Next
Do you have a black plastic serving spoon kicking around in a kitchen drawer? Toy cars with black plastic undercarriages lying around your living room? A black plastic hairbrush on your bathroom counter? Throw them in the trash — as soon as possible, scientists say. A new peer-reviewed study in Chemosphere found dangerous levels of flame retardants in black plastic kitchen implements, food servicewear, hair accessories and toys. The culprit: The items were made of recycled black plastic from TVs, computers and other electronics, which used to be routinely treated with flame retardants, including ones treated with brominated and organophosphate compounds. When that e-waste was recycled, the flame retardants hitched a ride into the new products. SF Chronicle Read more
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A.I. Chatbots Defeated Doctors At Diagnosing Illness
Dr. Adam Rodman, an expert in internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, confidently expected that chatbots built to use artificial intelligence would help doctors diagnose illnesses. He was wrong. Instead, in a study Dr. Rodman helped design, doctors who were given ChatGPT-4 along with conventional resources did only slightly better than doctors who did not have access to the bot. And, to the researchers’ surprise, ChatGPT alone outperformed the doctors. “I was shocked,” Dr. Rodman said. The chatbot, from the company OpenAI, scored an average of 90 percent when diagnosing a medical condition from a case report and explaining its reasoning. Doctors randomly assigned to use the chatbot got an average score of 76 percent. Those randomly assigned not to use it had an average score of 74 percent. NY Times Read more
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Liberal Berkeley’s Toughened Stance On Homeless Camps Is A Bellwether
Berkeley, Calif., long associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, has a reputation for erring on the side of compassion when it comes to addressing drug use and homelessness. The city is such a liberal outlier that Vice President Kamala Harris downplayed her origins there as she tried to appeal to moderate American voters this year. So it came as a shock to Californians when Berkeley joined the scores of cities that have decided to tighten enforcement on homeless camps this year. In the coming weeks, Berkeley authorities plan to target two sprawling encampments that for years have generated waves of rats, fires, complaints and police calls. “People are frustrated — even in this very progressive city that cares deeply about addressing homelessness,” Jesse Arreguín, the mayor of Berkeley, said this week. NY Times Read more
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These Bay Area Counties Will Launch Mental Health "CARE" Courts. Can They Help Solve Homelessness?
As communities across the Bay Area continue to grapple with jarring scenes of human suffering on the street, counties in the region are rolling out new state-mandated mental health courts aimed at getting people with serious psychiatric disorders into treatment and housing. Statewide, most counties must launch CARE courts — conceived of by Gov. Gavin Newsom as part of a broader update to California’s mental health system — by Dec. 1. Some counties, including San Francisco and San Mateo, already have the new civil court process up and running. But so far, relatively few people have gone before a judge. Santa Clara, Alameda and Contra Costa counties say their CARE Court programs are on track to start by the beginning of next month. Local officials say the new model can reach those with the gravest needs, even while acknowledging it’s not a solution for the vast majority of homeless people. East Bay Times Read more
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Political Stress: Can You Stay Engaged Without Sacrificing Your Mental Health?
It’s been two weeks since Donald Trump won the presidential election, but Stacey Lamirand’s brain hasn’t stopped churning. “I still think about the election all the time,” said the 60-year-old Bay Area resident, who wanted a Kamala Harris victory so badly that she flew to Pennsylvania and knocked on voters’ doors in the final days of the campaign. “I honestly don’t know what to do about that.” Neither do the psychologists and political scientists who have been tracking the country’s slide toward toxic levels of partisanship. Fully 69% of U.S. adults found the presidential election a significant source of stress in their lives, the American Psychological Assn. said in its latest Stress in America report. LA Times Read more
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How Students And Grandparents In Kenya Could Solve The Global Mental-Health Crisis
As the bells ring out at Archbishop Okoth Ojolla Girls’ High School, 900 students descend onto a field, carrying brightly coloured chairs. Every week for a month, the students have been gathering in small groups as local secondary-school graduates lead therapy sessions. Whitney Ndemo, a psychologist at TINADA Youth Action Africa in Kisumu, was standing nervously to one side. A supervisor for the programme, Ndemo was thinking about a student from another school, who had been referred to her after he tried to take his own life. “He has been through a number of traumas,” Ndemo says, including his father’s death and his mother’s rape and murder. His friends and teachers were of little comfort, but he opened up to these older peers, who promised to keep his secret — and to help. Nature Read more
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Fentanyl Crisis/Drug Trends | | |
San Francisco Launches New "Living Proof" Health Campaign To Encourage Drug Addiction Treatment
The fentanyl crisis has redefined drug overdoses in a way never before seen with other opioids. And, San Francisco has thrown money, resources, time and energy to - not so much solve the problem - but get a handle on the number of deaths caused by fentanyl. San Francisco's health department, at times criticized for not doing enough to encourage people to go into drug treatment programs, is focusing on a different kind of recovery campaign. On Wednesday, those who have been through treatment were featured on billboards to encourage others to seek help. The campaign features nine people in recovery who have found success in treatment. The "Living Proof" campaign coincides with the expansion of the city's treatment-on-demand program. ABC7 News Read more
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Opioid Overdose Deaths Drop For 12th Straight Month, Now Lowest Since 2020
Opioid overdose deaths have now slowed to the lowest levels nationwide since 2020, according to new estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This marks the 12th straight month of decline since a peak last year. Around 70,655 deaths linked to opioids like heroin and fentanyl were reported for the year ending June 2024, the CDC now estimates, falling 18% from the same time in 2023. Almost all states, except for a handful in the West from Alaska through Nevada, are now seeing a significant decrease in overdose death rates. Early data from Canada also suggests overdose deaths there might now be slowing off of a peak in 2023 too.
CBS News Read more
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"It Took Over Everything": Stories of Marijuana’s Little-Known Risks
As marijuana legalization spreads across the country, people are consuming more of the drug, more often and at ever-higher potencies. Most of the tens of millions of people using marijuana, for health benefits or for fun, don’t experience problems. But a growing number, mainly heavy users, have experienced addiction, psychosis and other harmful effects, The New York Times found. “Cannabis is a lot of things at once,” said Dr. Kevin Gray, a psychiatrist and specialist in bio-behavioral medicine at Medical University of South Carolina Health. “It can be medically therapeutic. It also can be highly problematic.” In interviews and surveys, hundreds of people told The Times about serious — sometimes frightening — symptoms that they were stunned to learn could be caused by cannabis. NY Times Read more
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What Makes Walking So Great For Your Health And What Else You Need To Do
Janet Rapp strode briskly down a paved path through the city zoo, waving at friends and stopping briefly to greet emus she knows by name. The 71-year-old retiree starts each morning this way with a walking club. “I’m obsessed,” she said. Not only does it ease her joint pain, “it just gives me energy … And then it calms me, too.” Medical experts agree that walking is an easy way to improve physical and mental health, bolster fitness and prevent disease. While it’s not the only sort of exercise people should do, it’s a great first step toward a healthy life. "You don’t need equipment and you don’t need a gym membership,” said Dr. Sarah Eby, a sports medicine physician with Mass General Brigham. “And the benefits are so vast.” East Bay Times
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About Eden Health District | | |
The Eden Health District Board of Directors are Chair Pam Russo, Vice Chair Ed Hernandez, Secretary/Treasurer Roxann Lewis, Mariellen Faria and Surlene Grant. The Chief Executive Officer is Mark Friedman.
The Eden Health District is committed to ensuring that policy makers and community members receive accurate and timely information to help make the best policy and personal choices to meet and overcome the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as other health issues.
We welcome your feedback on our bulletin. Please contact editor Lisa Mahoney.
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