Weekly Medical News

September 8, 2022

General

The CDC reminds us that, a Newsroutine annual influenza vaccination is recommended for all persons aged 6 months and older who do not have contraindications. For each recipient, a licensed and age-appropriate vaccine should be used. With the exception of vaccination for adults aged 65 years and older, Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) makes no preferential recommendation for a specific vaccine when more than one licensed, recommended, and age-appropriate vaccine is available. All seasonal influenza vaccines expected to be available in the United States for the 2022–23 season are quadrivalent, that is contain vaccine for four different strains of flu. COVID and flu vaccines can be delivered concurrently

—Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of the CDC

National Education Performance Levels Dropping

National education test results show that the performance of 9-year-olds in math and reading dropping to the levels from two decades ago.This year, for the first time since the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests began tracking student achievement in the 1970s, 9-year-olds lost ground in math, and scores in reading fell by the largest margin in more than 30 years. This is primarily attributed to lock downs and distance learning

—Washington Post

Doctors’ Hours

In a new study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, researchers found that in order to provide guideline-recommended care, a primary care physician would require nearly 26.7 hours per day. The study looked at a hypothetical panel of 2500 patients, and what it would take to provide them guideline directed care (e.g. per The US Preventative Services Task Force guidelines). The studied categories included preventative care, in addition to chronic disease and acute care. The results were jarring, indicating that there are literally not enough hours in the day for physicians to abide by all the recommendations that have been stipulated for “ideal patient care,” especially with the significant time challenges that actually exist in a real practice setting. “There is this sort of disconnect between the care we’ve been trained to give and the constraints of a clinic workday We have an ever-increasing set of guidelines, but clinic slots have not increased proportionately.”

U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Again in ‘Historic’ Setback

After falling precipitously in 2020 (see this column last week) the U.S. life expectancy seriously again fell in 2021; native American/Indian Alaskan natives were hardest hit. Again this is attributed to COVID and drug overdoses. Overall drop has been 3.0 years since 2019.

—The New York Times

Ivermectin Not Effective Against COVID

Ivermectin is an anti-parasitic drug that is used to treat river blindness and intestinal roundworm infection in humans and to deworm pets and livestock.
Even the drug company Merck, which manufactures ivermectin, has issued a statement saying there’s no scientific basis for a potential therapeutic effect against COVID. The CDC is warning physicians to be on the lookout for cases of invermectin toxicity and overdose as people are self-prescribing it to treat and prevent COVID as the rate of prescribing of invermectin has increased 400% recently.
COVID-19 vaccines do not raise the risk for acute arterial ischemic stroke (AIS) new research suggests. Pooled data from a systematic review and meta-analysis showed that post-vaccine AIS events were about 20 times less frequent than were strokes occurring in the general population and roughly 200 times less frequent than were strokes occurring in patients hospitalized with COVID. The risk benefit ratio as it regarded strokes was heavily in favor of vaccination.

—Journal Neurology

Monkeypox Death Reported

Texas officials have reported the first death of a person with monkeypox in the United States, according to a news release from the Texas Department of State Health Services. The patient had a very weak immune system. The death is under investigation to determine what role monkeypox played.
The U.S. government said on Monday it would provide about $11 million to support the packaging of Jynneos monkeypox vaccine at a U.S.-based manufacturer’s facility. The production is expected to begin later this year. The funding will help the manufacturer recruit more staff and buy additional equipment. Globally, the number of confirmed monkeypox cases have crossed 47,600 with over 17,000 cases reported in the United States so far.

—Reuters