Read AMA Morning Rounds®’ most popular stories in medicine and public health from the week of Sept. 16, 2024–Sept. 20, 2024.
Housemate of Missouri resident infected with bird flu also became ill, raising possibility of person-to-person spread
The New York Times (9/13, Mandavilli, Anthes) reported CDC findings released on Friday show that “someone who lived with a Missouri resident infected with bird flu also became ill on the same day,” raising “the possibility that the virus, H5N1, spread from one person to another, experts said, in what would be the first known instance in the United States.” The agency “said that there was ‘no epidemiological evidence at this time to support person-to-person transmission of H5N1,’ but that additional research was needed.” While CDC officials emphasized that “the risk to the public remains low,” the Times said that “the coincidental timing of the illnesses, especially outside flu season, concerned independent experts.”
CNN (9/13, Goodman) said, “The significance of this infection is an open question.”
Editor’s note: Stay informed on highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) with the latest updates from the AMA’s bird flu (H5N1) resource center.
Patients turn to online communities to learn how to make pirated versions of drugs
According to Axios (9/16, Reed), patients increasingly are “joining online communities to learn how to make pirated versions” of medications like “GLP-1s and other prescription drugs and medical treatments.” Some patients also are organizing “into online communities and sharing what they find.” Meanwhile, “These patients are essentially reformulating or mixing their own drugs and potentially putting themselves at a great risk for harm and even death on the advice of people they’ve never met, Bruce A. Scott, MD, president of the American Medical Association, told Axios.” Dr. Scott remarked, “I don’t think I can overemphasize the fact that this is scary stuff, and that patients should consult their physicians.”
You may also be interested in: Drug availability: Fixing supply chains, medication shortages and more.
Antimicrobial resistance could cause more than 39M cumulative deaths from 2025 to 2050
CNN (9/16, Howard) reports, “Cumulatively, from 2025 to 2050, the world could see more than 39 million deaths that are directly attributable to antimicrobial resistance or AMR,” an annual increase of nearly 70%, according to a study published The Lancet. Study researchers reviewed “about 520 million individual records” and “found that from 1990 to 2021, deaths from AMR fell more than 50% among children younger than 5 but increased more than 80% among adults 70 and older – trends that are forecast to continue.” The study projects “that deaths from antimicrobial resistance will increase by 2050 if measures are not in place to improve access to quality care, powerful antibiotics and other resources to reduce and treat infections.”
Reuters (9/16, Lapid) says researchers also projected worsening AMR “will strain health systems and national economies and contribute to annual gross domestic product losses of $1 trillion to 3.4 trillion by 2030.”
HealthDay (9/17, Thompson) reports researchers identified the need for “new strategies to decrease the risk of severe infections through vaccines, new drugs, improved health care, better access to existing antibiotics and guidance on how to use them most effectively.”
House committee advances measure that would extend Medicare telehealth waivers
Bloomberg Law (9/18, Belloni, Subscription Publication) reports, “A bill that would extend several telehealth regulatory flexibilities implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic advanced through a key House committee with bipartisan support.” On Wednesday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee “voted 41-0 in favor of the Telehealth Modernization Act of 2024 (H.R. 7623).” The measure, “would extend several telehealth flexibilities in the Medicare program over the next couple years.”
STAT (9/18, Aguilar, Cohrs, Subscription Publication) reports that in 2022, lawmakers “extended pandemic-era flexibilities about where and what kinds of care Medicare enrollees could receive over telehealth.” The legislation “would temporarily make more telehealth services available to Medicare enrollees in their homes nationwide. Before the pandemic, telehealth coverage was available only to people living in rural areas with many restrictions.” The measure “also extends for five years a program that allows approved hospitals to deliver inpatient care in people’s homes.”
Editor’s note: Comprehensive telehealth reform is critical to the future of health care. Learn how the AMA is fighting for legislation to permanently fix the restrictions on telehealth coverage and payment.
Popular home blood pressure cuffs may not work for millions of U.S. adults
Healio (9/19, Buzby) reports, “Millions of U.S. adults may not fit within the range of arm sizes eligible for accurate readings with some of the most popular home blood pressure cuffs on the market, researchers” found. Healio adds, “It is estimated that a significant proportion of individuals with arm circumferences ineligible for many home BP cuffs may already be hypertensive, according to data presented at the Hypertension Scientific Sessions and...published in Hypertension.”
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Table of Contents
- Housemate of Missouri resident infected with bird flu also became ill, raising possibility of person-to-person spread
- Patients turn to online communities to learn how to make pirated versions of drugs
- Antimicrobial resistance could cause more than 39M cumulative deaths from 2025 to 2050
- House committee advances measure that would extend Medicare telehealth waivers
- Popular home blood pressure cuffs may not work for millions of U.S. adults
