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Tag: Medication

  • Feds seek to limit telehealth prescriptions for some drugs

    Feds seek to limit telehealth prescriptions for some drugs

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    WASHINGTON — The Biden administration moved Friday to require patients see a doctor in person before getting attention deficit disorder medication or addictive painkillers, toughening access to the drugs against the backdrop of a deepening opioid crisis.

    The proposal could overhaul the way millions of Americans get some prescriptions after three years of relying on telehealth for doctor’s appointments by computer or phone during the pandemic.

    The Drug Enforcement Administration said late Friday it plans to reinstate once longstanding federal requirements for powerful drugs that were waived once COVID-19 hit, enabling doctors to write millions of prescriptions for drugs such as OxyContin or Adderall without ever meeting patients in person.

    Patients will need to see a doctor in person at least once to get an initial prescription for drugs that the federal government says have the the most potential to be abused — Vicodin, OxyContin, Adderall and Ritalin, for example. Refills could be prescribed over telehealth appointments.

    The agency will also clamp down on how doctors can prescribe other, less addictive drugs to patients they’ve never physically met. Substances like codeine, taken to alleviate pain or coughing, Xanax, used to treat anxiety, Ambien, a sleep aid, and buprenorphine, a narcotic used to treat opioid addiction, can be prescribed over telehealth for an initial 30-day dose. Patients would need to see a doctor at least once in person to get a refill.

    Patients will still be able to get common prescriptions like antibiotics, skin creams, birth control and insulin prescribed through telehealth visits.

    The new rule seeks to keep expanded access to telehealth that’s important for patients like those in rural areas while also balancing safety, an approach DEA Administrator Anne Milgram referred to as “expansion of telemedicine with guardrails.”

    The ease with each Americans have accessed certain medications during the pandemic has helped many get needed treatment, but concerns have also mounted that some companies may take advantage of the lax rules and be overprescribing medications to people who don’t need them, said David Herzberg, a historian of drugs at the University of Buffalo.

    “Both sides of this tension have really good points,” said Herzberg. “You don’t want barriers in the way of getting people prescriptions they need. But anytime you remove those barriers it’s also an opportunity for profit seekers to exploit the lax rules and sell the medicines to people who may not need them.”

    U.S. overdose deaths hit a record in 2021, about three-quarters of those from opioids during a crisis that was first spun into the making by drug makers, pharmacies and doctors that pushed the drugs to patients decades ago. But the grim toll from synthetic opioids like fentanyl far outstripped deaths related to prescription drugs that year, according to Centers for Disease Control Data. Fentanyl is increasingly appearing on the illicit market, pressed into fake prescription pills or mixed into other drugs.

    The proposed rules deliver a major blow to a booming telehealth industry, with tech startups launching in recent years to treat and prescribe medications for mental health or attention deficit disorders. The industry has largely benefitted from the reprieve on in-person visits for drugs brought on by the pandemic, although some national retailers stopped filling drug orders generated by some telehealth apps over the last year.

    The DEA has grown increasingly concerned over the last two years that some of those startup telehealth companies are improperly prescribing addictive substances like opioids or attention deficit disorder medication, putting patients in danger, a DEA official told The Associated Press on Friday.

    The official said the agency plans to have the new rule in place before the COVID-19 public health emergency expires on May 11, which will effectively end the loosened rules. That could mean people who may seeking treatment from a doctor who is hundreds of miles away need to start developing plans for in-person visits with their doctors now, pointed out Boston-based attorney Jeremy Sherer, who represents telehealth companies. Patients will have six months to visit their doctor in person when the regulation is enacted.

    “Providers and their patients need to know what that treatment is going to look like moving forward and whether, once the public health emergency ends in May, if they’re going to need to figure out a way to have a visit in person before continuing treatment, and that can be a real challenge,” he said.

    Many states have already moved to restore limitations for telehealth care across state lines. By October, nearly 40 states and Washington, D.C., had ended emergency declarations that made it easier for doctors to see patients in other states.

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  • Flu vaccine worked well in season that faded fast, CDC says

    Flu vaccine worked well in season that faded fast, CDC says

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    NEW YORK — Early estimates suggest the flu vaccine performed well in a U.S. winter flu season that has already dissipated.

    The vaccines were more than 40% effective in preventing adults from getting sick enough from the flu that they had to go to a doctor’s office, clinic or hospital, health officials said during a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccines meeting Wednesday. Officials generally are pleased if a flu vaccine is 40% to 60% effective.

    One reason is the vaccine was a good match against the strains that spread over the fall and winter, officials say.

    But one expert at the meeting was underwhelmed and said it points out the need for better flu vaccines. “It is still disappointing” that the vaccine was a good match and yet effectiveness was still modest, said Dr. Sarah Long of Drexel University.

    Annual flu vaccines are recommended for everyone 6 months and older in the U.S. About half of eligible kids and just under half of adults got flu shots in the last several months, according to CDC data. Vaccination rates were up compared with 2021-2022, but below what they were before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, said the CDC’s Brendan Flannery.

    Initially, it looked like it might be a bad flu season. The virus took off in early November as COVID-19 and another respiratory virus, RSV, roiled emergency departments. Among kids, flu-related hospitalization rates in November and December were as high as any seen in recent years, Flannery said. At least 111 flu deaths have been reported in children, the most since the 199 reported in the 2019-2020 season.

    The dominant flu strain was the kind typically associated with higher rates of hospitalizations and deaths, particularly among older people. In some years, the vaccines were virtually ineffective against that strain in people 65 and older. But this season’s vaccine has done unusually well, with the best results seen in at least 10 years, said Flannery, who is responsible for the CDC’s flu vaccine effectiveness data.

    Flu also apparently made a very early exit, with the virus declining since the end of November. Some pockets of high flu activity have persisted this month, including in New Mexico and New York City. But for the vast majority of the country, it’s low.

    It’s not clear exactly why the wave crested so early, but flu seasons have been unusually mild or otherwise strange since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, Flannery said. CDC officials also caution that flu season might not really be over — late winter or spring second surges have occurred in the past.

    The CDC uses several systems to track flu vaccines. One is a network of hospitals that offer information on how well the vaccine prevented flu-related illnesses bad enough to require admission to a hospital. Another is a collection of urgent care clinics and hospital emergency departments, which produce estimates of how well the vaccine worked against in preventing those kinds of medical visits.

    Among the findings:

    —The vaccine was 44% effective in preventing adult lab-confirmed flu visits to urgent care clinics and hospital emergency rooms, and 39% effective for seniors age 65 and older.

    —It was 43% effective against flu-related hospitalizations of all adults, and 35% against flu hospitalizations of seniors.

    —In kids, the vaccine was 68% effective in preventing illnesses severe enough to require hospitalization, and 42% effective for pediatric visits to the emergency department.

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    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • FDA’s own reputation could be restraining its misinfo fight

    FDA’s own reputation could be restraining its misinfo fight

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    WASHINGTON — The government agency responsible for tracking down contaminated peanut butter and defective pacemakers is taking on a new health hazard: online misinformation.

    It’s an unlikely role for the Food and Drug Administration, a sprawling, century-old bureaucracy that for decades directed most its communications toward doctors and corporations.

    But FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf has spent the last year warning that growing “distortions and half-truths” surrounding vaccines and other medical products are now “a leading cause of death in America.”

    “Almost no one should be dying of COVID in the U.S. today,” Califf told The Associated Press, noting the government’s distribution of free vaccines and antiviral medications. “People who are denying themselves that opportunity are dying because they’re misinformed.”

    Califf, who first led the agency under President Barack Obama, said the FDA could once rely on a few communication channels to reach Americans.

    “We’re now in a 24/7 sea of information without a user guide for people out there in society,” Califf said. “So this requires us to change the way we communicate.”

    The FDA’s answer? Short YouTube videos, long Twitter threads and other online postings debunking medical misinformation, including bogus COVID-19 remedies like ivermectin, the anti-parasite drug intended for farm animals. “Hold your horses y’all. Ivermectin may be trending, but it still isn’t authorized or approved to treat COVID-19” the FDA told its 500,000 Twitter followers in April.

    On Instagram, FDA memes referencing Scooby-Doo and SpongeBob urge Americans to get boosted and ignore misinformation, alongside staid agency postings about the arrival of National Handwashing Awareness Week.

    The AP asked more than a half-dozen health communication experts about the FDA’s fledgling effort. They said it mostly reflects the latest science on combating misinformation, but they also questioned whether it’s reaching enough people to have an impact — and whether separate FDA controversies are undercutting the agency’s credibility.

    “The question I start with is, ‘Are you a trusted messenger or not?’” said Dr. Seema Yasmin, a Stanford University professor who studies medical misinformation and trains health officials in responding to it. “In the context of FDA, we can highlight multiple incidents which have damaged the credibility of the agency and deepened distrust of its scientific decisions.”

    In the last two years the FDA has come under fire for its controversial approval of an unproven Alzheimer’s drug as well as its delayed response to a contaminated baby formula plant, which contributed to a national supply shortage.

    Meanwhile, the agency’s approach to booster vaccinations has been criticized by some of its top vaccine scientists and advisers.

    “It’s not fair, but it doesn’t take too many negative stories to unravel the public’s trust,” said Georgetown University’s Leticia Bode, who studies political communication and misinformation.

    About a quarter of Americans said they have “a lot” of trust in the FDA’s handling of COVID-19, according to a survey conducted last year by University of Pennsylvania researchers, while less than half said they have “some trust.”

    “The FDA’s word is still one of the most highly regarded pieces of information people want to see,” said Califf, who was confirmed to his second stint leading the FDA last February.

    As commissioner he is trying to tackle a host of issues, including restructuring the agency’s food safety program and more aggressively deploying FDA scientists to explain vaccine decisions in the media.

    The array of challenges before the FDA raises questions about the new focus on misinformation. And Califf acknowledges the limits of what his agency can accomplish.

    “Anyone who thinks the government’s going to solve this problem alone is deluding themselves,” he said. “We need a vast network of knowledgeable people who devote part of their day to combating misinformation.”

    Georgetown’s Bode said the agency is “moving in the right direction,” on misinformation, particularly its “Just a Minute” series of factchecking videos, which feature FDA’s vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks succinctly addressing a single COVID-19 myth or topic.

    But how many people are seeing them?

    “FDA’s YouTube videos have a minuscule audience,” said Brandon Nyhan, who studies medical misinformation at Dartmouth College. The people watching FDA videos ”are not the people we typically think about when we think about misinformation.”

    Research by Nyhan and his colleagues suggests that fact-checking COVID-19 myths briefly dispels false beliefs, but the effects are “ephemeral.” Nyhan and other researchers noted the most trusted medical information source for most Americans is their doctor, not the government.

    Even if the audience for FDA’s work is small, experts in online analytics say it may be having a bigger impact.

    An FDA page dubbed “Rumor Control” debunks a long list of false claims about vaccines, such as that they contain pesticides. A Google search for “vaccines” and “pesticides” brings up the FDA’s response as a top response, because the search engine prioritizes credible websites.

    “Because the FDA puts that information on its website, it will actually crowd out the misinformation from the top 10 or 20 Google results,” said David Lazer, a political and computer scientist at Northeastern University.

    Perhaps the most promising approach to fighting misinformation is also the toughest to execute: introduce people to emerging misinformation and explain why it’s false before they encounter it elsewhere.

    That technique, called “pre-bunking,” presents challenges for large government agencies.

    “Is the FDA nimble enough to have a detection system for misinformation and then quickly put out pre-bunking information within hours or days?” Lazer asked.

    Califf said the FDA tracks new misinformation trends online and quickly decides whether — and when — to intervene.

    “Sometimes calling attention to an issue can make it worse,” he notes.

    Other communication challenges are baked into how the FDA operates. For instance, the agency consults an independent panel of vaccine specialists on major decisions about COVID-19 shots, considered a key step in fostering trust in the process.

    But some of those experts have disagreed on who should receive COVID-19 vaccine boosters or how strong the evidence is for their use, particularly among younger people.

    The FDA then largely relies on news media to translate those debates and its final decisions, which are often laden with scientific jargon.

    The result has been “utter confusion,” about the latest round of COVID-19 boosters, says Lawrence Gostin, a public health specialist at Georgetown.

    “If you’re trying to counteract misinformation on social media your first job is to clarify, simplify and explain things in an understandable way to the lay public,” said Gostin. “I don’t think anyone could say that FDA has done a good job with that.”

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    Follow Matthew Perrone on Twitter: @AP_FDAwriter

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    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Health care vaccine mandate remains as some push for an end

    Health care vaccine mandate remains as some push for an end

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    LOWRY CITY, Mo. — At Truman Lake Manor in rural Missouri, every day begins the same way for every employee entering the nursing home’s doors — with a swab up the nose, a swirl of testing solution and a brief wait to see whether a thin red line appears indicating a positive COVID-19 case.

    Only the healthy are allowed in to care for virus-free residents.

    Despite those precautions, a coronavirus outbreak swept through the facility late last year. An inspector subsequently cited it for violating the federal government’s COVID-19 vaccination requirement for health care facilities.

    Truman Lake Manor is one of about 750 nursing homes and 110 hospitals nationwide written up for violating federal staff vaccination rules during the past year, according to an Associated Press analysis of data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Most were given a bureaucratic nudge to do better — though some nursing homes also received fines, especially when they had multiple other problems.

    One year after it began being enforced nationwide on Feb. 20, 2022, the vaccination requirement affecting an estimated 10 million health care workers is the last remaining major mandate from President Joe Biden’s sweeping attempt to boost national vaccination rates. Similar requirements for large employers, military members and federal contractors all have been struck down, repealed or partially blocked.

    The health care vaccination mandate is scheduled to run until November 2024. But some contend it’s time to stop now, citing fewer severe COVID-19 cases, health care staffing shortages and the impending May 11 expiration of a national public health emergency that has been in place since January 2020.

    “Their regulations are making it harder to give care – not easier,” said Tim Corbin, the administrator of Truman Lake Manor who also doubles as a nurse, adding that “the mandates need to end.”

    CMS said in a statement to the AP that “the requirement for staff to be fully vaccinated has been a critical step in responding to the pandemic” and “has saved Americans from countless infections, hospitalizations, and death.”

    The policy requires workers, contractors and volunteers at facilities receiving Medicare or Medicaid payments to have the full primary dosage of an original COVID-19 vaccine, with exemptions for medical or religious reasons. Though nursing homes can be fined for violations, CMS generally gave violating facilities additional time to update their policies and come into compliance.

    The Republican-led U.S. House recently passed legislation that would halt the mandate, but the bill is unlikely to pass in the Democratic-led Senate.

    Meanwhile, the requirement continues with mixed results and — in some cases — widespread exceptions.

    When a state inspector visited Truman Lake Manor in December, a coronavirus outbreak had infected 26 of the 60 residents and about a quarter of the staff within the previous few weeks. Corbin said the outbreak originated from an unvaccinated employee with a religious exemption who tested negative for COVID-19 before working a shift and wore a mask. The employee didn’t feel well and tested positive after arriving home.

    The inspector found that more than 40% of staff had been granted religious exemptions from getting vaccinated. But the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services does not scrutinize the rationale for such exemptions. The reason the facility was cited for a vaccination deficiency was because three employees had failed to receive their second dose of the vaccine and had no exemption on record. After the citation, they each got the second shot, and regulators OK’d the corrections in January.

    It’s hard to find workers willing to be vaccinated, Corbin said, because many local residents remain opposed to the vaccine or doubt its effectiveness. Just 42% of adults in St. Clair County are vaccinated against COVID-19 — a rate barely half the national average.

    Workforce shortages are causing more than half of nursing homes nationally to limit resident admissions, according to the American Health Care Association, which represents long-term care facilities. Though most other health care sectors have rebounded, nursing home employment was down 13% in 2022 comparedto pre-pandemic levels and reached lows not seen since the 1990s.

    LeadingAge, an association of nonprofit nursing homes and other aging service providers, originally supported the mandate and still encourages vaccinations. But it now says a federal requirement no longer is needed.

    Though deaths are down significantly from their peak in January 2021, older adults and people with underlying health problems remain more susceptible to serious cases of COVID-19. Because of that, some medical professionals believe the vaccine mandate should continue at nursing homes and hospitals.

    “This is an important requirement,” said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. “Not only does it protect the health care worker themself, but it also protects the patients.”

    Nationwide, about 5% of the over 15,000 nursing homes caring for Medicare or Medicaid patients have been cited for violating the COVID-19 vaccination requirement, and about 2% of the 4,900 hospitals, according to the AP’s analysis. But those citations haven’t been evenly spread among states and occurred less often during the latter half of 2022.

    Twenty-four states cited no hospitals for COVID-19 vaccination violations.

    Texas, which has the most nursing homes nationally participating in Medicare or Medicaid, had just one nursing home cited for violating the vaccination rule.

    Kansas, Florida and Texas each declined to check for vaccination violations, instead leaving that process to CMS, which hired contractors. As a result, CMS said Texas was docked more than $2.5 million in federal funding, Florida more than $1.2 million and Kansas nearly $350,000.

    Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat who faced reelection in a Republican-leaning state, said last year that the vaccine mandate conflicted with state law and could worsen workforce shortages.

    Nationally, the number of nursing homes cited for vaccination violations declined noticeably after CMS last June stopped requiring state inspectors to check for compliance when responding to complaints about unrelated allegations, such as neglect of patients. CMS cited substantial compliance with the vaccination requirement while making the change.

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    Harjai reported from Los Angeles and is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

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  • Prosecution: Woman planned the killings of her 3 children

    Prosecution: Woman planned the killings of her 3 children

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    PLYMOUTH, Mass. — A Massachusetts woman used exercise bands to strangle her three children in the family home in a well-planned assault while her husband was out for about 20 minutes picking up medicine at a pharmacy and takeout, a prosecutor said at her arraignment Tuesday.

    Not guilty pleas were entered on behalf of Lindsay Clancy, 32, to charges including two counts of murder, three counts of strangulation and three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

    Clancy, with a surgical mask over her face, was arraigned in Plymouth District Court remotely from the hospital, where she is recovering from spinal injuries suffered when she jumped out the window of the home. She will likely never walk again, her defense attorney said.

    Judge John Canavan III did not set monetary bail or send her to jail, but ordered she remain in the hospital until she is well enough to be moved to a rehabilitation facility.

    She did not speak except to say “Yes, your honor” when the judge asked if she could hear the proceedings.

    The prosecution and the defense painted widely divergent pictures of Clancy, a labor and delivery nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, in the weeks and days before she allegedly assaulted her children in the family home in Duxbury.

    The children were found by their father with the exercise bands still around their necks. Cora, 5, and Dawson, 3, were pronounced dead at the hospital. Callan, 7 months, was also taken to the hospital where doctors restored his pulse but could not restore brain activity. He died several days later, prosecutors said.

    The deaths have shocked the coastal town about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Boston.

    The prosecution said Clancy behaved and appeared normal to everyone she interacted with, including her mother and husband.

    On the day of the killings, she asked her husband if he wanted takeout and went online to measure how much time it would take him to get to the restaurant and pick up some medicine for the children at the pharmacy, prosecutor Jennifer Sprague said.

    “She planned these murders, gave herself the time and privacy needed to commit the murders, and then she strangled each child in the place where they should have felt the safest — at home with their Mom,” Sprague said. “She did so with deliberate premeditation, extreme atrocity and cruelty.”

    Defense attorney Kevin Reddington, who has indicated that he plans an insanity defense, painted a picture of a woman struggling with mental illness, who had been prescribed about a dozen medications to try and control it.

    “This is not a situation, your honor, that was planned by any means,” he said. “This was a situation that was clearly the product of mental illness.” Clancy may have been suffering from post-partum depression or post-partum psychosis, he said.

    Reddington has hired a psychologist to evaluate her.

    The prosecution countered that Clancy had been evaluated by mental health professionals before and was told she did not have post-partum depression and no symptoms of post-partum depression.

    Clancy’s husband, Patrick, forgave his wife in a post on a fundraising site to assist with medical bills, funeral services and legal help.

    “She’s recently been portrayed largely by people who have never met her and never knew who the real Lindsay was,” he wrote. “Our marriage was wonderful and diametrically grew stronger as her condition rapidly worsened. I took as much pride in being her husband as I did in being a father and felt persistently lucky to have her in my life.”

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  • ‘Died suddenly’ posts twist tragedies to push vaccine lies

    ‘Died suddenly’ posts twist tragedies to push vaccine lies

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    Results from 6-year-old Anastasia Weaver’s autopsy may take weeks. But online anti-vaccine activists needed only hours after her funeral this week to baselessly blame the COVID-19 vaccine.

    A prolific Twitter account posted Anastasia’s name and smiling dance portrait in a tweet with a syringe emoji. A Facebook user messaged her mother, Jessica Day-Weaver, to call her a “murderer” for having her child vaccinated.

    In reality, the Ohio kindergartner had experienced lifelong health problems since her premature birth, including epilepsy, asthma and frequent hospitalizations with respiratory viruses. “The doctors haven’t given us any information other than it was due to all of her chronic conditions. … There was never a thought that it could be from the vaccine,” Day-Weaver said of her daughter’s death.

    But those facts didn’t matter online, where Anastasia was swiftly added to a growing list of hundreds of children, teens, athletes and celebrities whose unexpected deaths and injuries have been incorrectly blamed on COVID-19 shots. Using the hashtag #diedsuddenly, online conspiracy theorists have flooded social media with news reports, obituaries and GoFundMe pages in recent months, leaving grieving families to wrestle with the lies.

    There’s the 37-year-old Brazilian television host who collapsed live on air because of a congenital heart problem. The 18-year-old unvaccinated bull rider who died from a rare disease. The 32-year-old actress who died from bacterial infection complications.

    The use of “died suddenly” — or a misspelled version of it — has surged more than 740% in tweets about vaccines over the past two months compared with the two previous months, the media intelligence firm Zignal Labs found in an analysis conducted for The Associated Press. The phrase’s explosion began with the late November debut of an online “documentary” by the same name, giving power to what experts say is a new and damaging shorthand.

    “It’s kind of in-group language, kind of a wink wink, nudge nudge,” said Renee DiResta, technical research manager at the Stanford Internet Observatory. “They’re taking something that is a relatively routine way of describing something — people do, in fact, die unexpectedly — and then by assigning a hashtag to it, they aggregate all of these incidents in one place.”

    The campaign causes harm beyond just the internet, epidemiologist Dr. Katelyn Jetelina said.

    “The real danger is that it ultimately leads to real world actions such as not vaccinating,” said Jetelina, who tracks and breaks down COVID data for her blog, “Your Local Epidemiologist.”

    Rigorous study and real-world evidence from hundreds of millions of administered shots prove that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective. Deaths caused by vaccination are extremely rare and the risks associated with not getting vaccinated are far higher than the risks of vaccination. But that hasn’t stopped conspiracy theorists from lobbing a variety of untrue accusations at the vaccines.

    The “Died Suddenly” film features a montage of headlines found on Google to falsely suggest they prove that sudden deaths have “never happened like this until now.” The film has amassed more than 20 million views on an alternative video sharing website, and its companion Twitter account posts about more deaths and injuries daily.

    An AP review of more than 100 tweets from the account in December and January found that claims about the cases being vaccine related were largely unsubstantiated and, in some cases, contradicted by public information. Some of the people featured died of genetic disorders, drug overdoses, flu complications or suicide. One died in a surfing accident.

    The filmmakers did not respond to specific questions from the AP, but instead issued a statement that referenced a “surge in sudden deaths” and a “PROVEN rate of excess deaths,” without providing data.

    The number of overall deaths in the U.S. has been higher than what would be expected since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, in part because of the virus, overdoses and other causes. COVID-19 vaccines prevented nearly 2 million U.S. deaths in just their first year of use.

    Some deaths exploited in the film predate the pandemic. California writer Dolores Cruz published an essay in 2022 about grieving for her son, who died in a car crash in 2017. “Died Suddenly” used a screenshot of the headline in the film, portraying his death as vaccine related.

    “Without my permission, someone has taken his story to show one side, and I don’t appreciate that,” Cruz said in an interview. “His legacy and memory are being tarnished.”

    Others featured in the film survived — but have been forced to watch clips of their medical emergencies misrepresented around the world. For Brazilian TV presenter Rafael Silva, who collapsed while reporting on air because of a congenital heart abnormality, online disinformation prompted a wave of harassment even before the “Died Suddenly” film used the footage.

    “I received messages saying that I should have died to serve as an example for other people who were still thinking about getting the vaccine,” Silva said.

    Many of the posts online cite no evidence except that the person who died had been vaccinated at some point in the past, using a common disinformation strategy known as post hoc fallacy, according to Jetelina.

    “People assume that one thing caused another merely because the first thing preceded the other,” she said.

    Some claims about those who’ve suffered heart issues also weaponize a kernel of truth — that COVID-19 vaccines can cause rare heart inflammation issues, myocarditis or pericarditis, especially in young men. Medical experts say these cases are typically mild and the benefits of immunization far outweigh the risks.

    The narrative also has leveraged high-profile moments like the collapse of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin as he suffered cardiac arrest during a game last month after a fierce blow to his chest. But sudden cardiac arrest has long been a prominent cause of death in the U.S. — and medical experts agree the vaccine didn’t cause Hamlin’s injury.

    For some families, the misinformation represents a sideshow to their real focus: understanding why their loved ones died and preventing similar tragedies.

    Clint Erickson’s son, Tyler, died in September just before his 18th birthday while golfing near their home in Florida. The family knows his heart stopped but still doesn’t know exactly why. Tyler wasn’t vaccinated, but his story appeared in the “Died Suddenly” film nonetheless.

    “It bothers me, him being used in that way,” Erickson said. But “the biggest personal issue I have is trying to find an answer or a closure to what caused this.”

    Day-Weaver said it was upsetting to see people exploiting her daughter’s death when they knew nothing about her. They didn’t know that she loved people so much she would hug strangers at Walmart, or that she had just learned how to snap.

    Still, Day-Weaver said, “I wouldn’t wish the loss of a child on anybody. Even them.”

    ___

    Natália Scarabotto in Río de Janeiro contributed to this report.

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  • ‘Died suddenly’ posts twist tragedies to push vaccine lies

    ‘Died suddenly’ posts twist tragedies to push vaccine lies

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    Results from 6-year-old Anastasia Weaver’s autopsy may take weeks. But online anti-vaccine activists needed only hours after her funeral this week to baselessly blame the COVID-19 vaccine.

    A prolific Twitter account posted Anastasia’s name and smiling dance portrait in a tweet with a syringe emoji. A Facebook user messaged her mother, Jessica Day-Weaver, to call her a “murderer” for having her child vaccinated.

    In reality, the Ohio kindergartner had experienced lifelong health problems since her premature birth, including epilepsy, asthma and frequent hospitalizations with respiratory viruses. “The doctors haven’t given us any information other than it was due to all of her chronic conditions. … There was never a thought that it could be from the vaccine,” Day-Weaver said of her daughter’s death.

    But those facts didn’t matter online, where Anastasia was swiftly added to a growing list of hundreds of children, teens, athletes and celebrities whose unexpected deaths and injuries have been incorrectly blamed on COVID-19 shots. Using the hashtag #diedsuddenly, online conspiracy theorists have flooded social media with news reports, obituaries and GoFundMe pages in recent months, leaving grieving families to wrestle with the lies.

    There’s the 37-year-old Brazilian television host who collapsed live on air because of a congenital heart problem. The 18-year-old unvaccinated bull rider who died from a rare disease. The 32-year-old actress who died from bacterial infection complications.

    The use of “died suddenly” — or a misspelled version of it — has surged more than 740% in tweets about vaccines over the past two months compared with the two previous months, the media intelligence firm Zignal Labs found in an analysis conducted for The Associated Press. The phrase’s explosion began with the late November debut of an online “documentary” by the same name, giving power to what experts say is a new and damaging shorthand.

    “It’s kind of in-group language, kind of a wink wink, nudge nudge,” said Renee DiResta, technical research manager at the Stanford Internet Observatory. “They’re taking something that is a relatively routine way of describing something — people do, in fact, die unexpectedly — and then by assigning a hashtag to it, they aggregate all of these incidents in one place.”

    The campaign causes harm beyond just the internet, epidemiologist Dr. Katelyn Jetelina said.

    “The real danger is that it ultimately leads to real world actions such as not vaccinating,” said Jetelina, who tracks and breaks down COVID data for her blog, “Your Local Epidemiologist.”

    Rigorous study and real-world evidence from hundreds of millions of administered shots prove that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective. Deaths caused by vaccination are extremely rare and the risks associated with not getting vaccinated are far higher than the risks of vaccination. But that hasn’t stopped conspiracy theorists from lobbing a variety of untrue accusations at the vaccines.

    The “Died Suddenly” film features a montage of headlines found on Google to falsely suggest they prove that sudden deaths have “never happened like this until now.” The film has amassed more than 20 million views on an alternative video sharing website, and its companion Twitter account posts about more deaths and injuries daily.

    An AP review of more than 100 tweets from the account in December and January found that claims about the cases being vaccine related were largely unsubstantiated and, in some cases, contradicted by public information. Some of the people featured died of genetic disorders, drug overdoses, flu complications or suicide. One died in a surfing accident.

    The filmmakers did not respond to specific questions from the AP, but instead issued a statement that referenced a “surge in sudden deaths” and a “PROVEN rate of excess deaths,” without providing data.

    The number of overall deaths in the U.S. has been higher than what would be expected since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, in part because of the virus, overdoses and other causes. COVID-19 vaccines prevented nearly 2 million U.S. deaths in just their first year of use.

    Some deaths exploited in the film predate the pandemic. California writer Dolores Cruz published an essay in 2022 about grieving for her son, who died in a car crash in 2017. “Died Suddenly” used a screenshot of the headline in the film, portraying his death as vaccine related.

    “Without my permission, someone has taken his story to show one side, and I don’t appreciate that,” Cruz said in an interview. “His legacy and memory are being tarnished.”

    Others featured in the film survived — but have been forced to watch clips of their medical emergencies misrepresented around the world. For Brazilian TV presenter Rafael Silva, who collapsed while reporting on air because of a congenital heart abnormality, online disinformation prompted a wave of harassment even before the “Died Suddenly” film used the footage.

    “I received messages saying that I should have died to serve as an example for other people who were still thinking about getting the vaccine,” Silva said.

    Many of the posts online cite no evidence except that the person who died had been vaccinated at some point in the past, using a common disinformation strategy known as post hoc fallacy, according to Jetelina.

    “People assume that one thing caused another merely because the first thing preceded the other,” she said.

    Some claims about those who’ve suffered heart issues also weaponize a kernel of truth — that COVID-19 vaccines can cause rare heart inflammation issues, myocarditis or pericarditis, especially in young men. Medical experts say these cases are typically mild and the benefits of immunization far outweigh the risks.

    The narrative also has leveraged high-profile moments like the collapse of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin as he suffered cardiac arrest during a game last month after a fierce blow to his chest. But sudden cardiac arrest has long been a prominent cause of death in the U.S. — and medical experts agree the vaccine didn’t cause Hamlin’s injury.

    For some families, the misinformation represents a sideshow to their real focus: understanding why their loved ones died and preventing similar tragedies.

    Clint Erickson’s son, Tyler, died in September just before his 18th birthday while golfing near their home in Florida. The family knows his heart stopped but still doesn’t know exactly why. Tyler wasn’t vaccinated, but his story appeared in the “Died Suddenly” film nonetheless.

    “It bothers me, him being used in that way,” Erickson said. But “the biggest personal issue I have is trying to find an answer or a closure to what caused this.”

    Day-Weaver said it was upsetting to see people exploiting her daughter’s death when they knew nothing about her. They didn’t know that she loved people so much she would hug strangers at Walmart, or that she had just learned how to snap.

    Still, Day-Weaver said, “I wouldn’t wish the loss of a child on anybody. Even them.”

    ___

    Natália Scarabotto in Río de Janeiro contributed to this report.

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  • Eye drops linked to US drug-resistant bacteria outbreak

    Eye drops linked to US drug-resistant bacteria outbreak

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    NEW YORK — U.S. health officials are advising people to stop using over-the-counter eye drops that have been linked to an outbreak of drug-resistant infections.

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday night sent a health alert to physicians, saying the outbreak includes at least 55 people in 12 states. One died.

    Disease investigators have linked the infections, including some found in blood, urine and lungs, to EzriCare Artificial Tears. Many of the patients said they had used the product, which is a lubricant used to treat irritation and dryness.

    The infections were all caused by a bacteria called Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Investigators detected that kind of bacteria in open EzriCare bottles, but further testing was underway to see if the strains matched.

    EzriCare said it is not aware of any evidence definitively linking the outbreak to the product, but that it has stopped distributing the eye drops. It also has a notice on its website urging consumers to stop using the drops.

    “To the greatest extent possible, we have been contacting customers to advise them against continued use of the product. We also immediately reached out to both CDC and FDA and indicated our willingness to cooperate with any requests they may have of us,” the company said.

    Two weeks ago, the CDC warned medical professional societies about the possible connection between the drops and the infections. The Wednesday alert was a broader, more public warning.

    Infections were diagnosed in patients in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin. One patient — in Washington — died with a blood infection. At least three others suffered permanent vision loss. They were in California and New Jersey.

    The outbreak is considered particularly worrisome because the bacteria driving it are resistant to standard antibiotics.

    Investigators found the bacteria were not susceptible to any antibiotics routinely tested at public health laboratories. However, a newer antibiotic named cefiderocol did seem to work.

    How could eye drops cause infections in the blood or lungs? The eye connects to the nasal cavity through the tear ducts. Bacteria can move from the nasal cavity into the lungs. Also, bacteria in these parts of the body can seed infections at other sites such as in the blood or wounds, CDC officials said.

    The product is manufactured in India by Global Pharma Healthcare Pvt Ltd., EzriCare said.

    ___

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Experts urge better opioid rescue drug access to save lives

    Experts urge better opioid rescue drug access to save lives

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    By GEOFF MULVIHILL and SHARON JOHNSON

    January 29, 2023 GMT

    ALBANY, Ga. (AP) — Jessie Blanchard started small nearly five years ago, just trying to get enough of the rescue drug naloxone that reverses opioid overdoses to keep her daughter from dying from an overdose.

    She pleaded with colleagues at the college where she’s an adjunct teacher in Albany, Georgia, to use their prescription benefits to get two doses every six months.

    Now she loads her Jeep every week and heads out with a few other volunteers to bring the antidote — commonly known by its brand name Narcan — to hundreds of others in the town of 70,000.

    At parking lots and intersections she also supplies clean needles, fentanyl test strips and a nonjudgmental sounding board — an effort now partly funded by a state government grant. At least nine times in December alone, Blanchard said, rescue drugs she provided were used to reverse overdoses.

    “I’ve got story-after-story, story-after-story of people coming up to me,” said Blanchard, a nurse whose organization is called 229 Safer Living Access, a reference to the Albany area code the group’s work covers. “They say, ‘Miss Jessie, they had to Narcan me the other day and I’d have died if it wasn’t for you.’”

    Naloxone, available as a nasal spray and in an injectable form, is a key tool in the battle against a nationwide overdose crisis linked to the deaths of more than 100,000 people annually in the U.S. State and federal policy changes have removed some major obstacles to getting it into the hands of police, firefighters, people who use drugs and their loved ones. But it’s still often frustratingly inaccessible in the moments when overdoses happen.

    Stephen Murray, an overdose survivor and former paramedic who researches overdoses at Boston Medical Center, is so committed to naloxone access that he proclaims it on his personalized license plate: NARCAN.

    “My vision for it is to be in every 24-hour gas station in the state, free or 25 cents a dose,” he said. “It’ll be between the Tylenol and the condoms. … It has to be just as easy as buying heroin, basically.”

    There’s more naloxone than ever thanks to federal and state policies, and groups like Blanchard’s that distribute it in their communities. It’s available free in old newspaper vending boxes in Michigan, which now hold naloxone kits, and in a vending machine in Philadelphia. One group, NEXT Distro, mails it nationwide for free. But Murray’s vision is not close to being realized in most places.

    An influx of money is on the way, intended to help deal with the national overdose crisis that killed 107,000 people in 2021 — the highest tally ever — most involving fentanyl and other powerful illicit synthetic opioids.

    Drug makers, distribution companies and pharmacies have settled lawsuits with state and local governments, and the first funding totaling more than $50 billion is going out. Most of it must be used to address the opioid epidemic, though exactly how will be up to governments receiving the money. Some settlements are being delivered partly in doses of naloxone.

    In a 2021 report, public health experts convened by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health listed expanding naloxone access as the first strategy for using settlement funds, noting that 40% of overdose deaths happen when someone else is present and possibly able to administer the life-saving drug.

    As with other harm-reduction strategies, there’s been pushback from those who believe making naloxone available enables drug use. But Jeff Breedlove, policy chief for the Georgia Council for Recovery, said he no longer sees that as much of an issue.

    Instead, he said, funding and distribution programs remain spotty because they don’t have enough support from government and private groups such as chambers of commerce. “Until they treat it like an epidemic,” Breedlove said, “we will continue to have more and more funerals.”

    Since 2016, the federal government has allowed and encouraged federal funds to be used to buy naloxone.

    Access has improved across the U.S. to a rescue drug that reverses opioid overdoses, but advocates say naloxone — commonly known by its brand name Narcan — still isn’t getting to everyone who needs it. (AP Video)

    Officials in every state have given standing orders to pharmacies allowing people to buy it, even without prescriptions.

    That’s a major factor for the massive increase in how much has been distributed through retail pharmacies. A report by the American Medical Association and IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science found there were just over 1,000 orders filled in 2012. By 2021, it was nearly 1.2 million.

    But not all pharmacies carry it. And it comes at a cost: For those without insurance coverage, it can be around $50 for two doses.

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering allowing some forms of naloxone to be sold over-the-counter without a prescription, a move that could lower the cost.

    Randy Anderson, who is in recovery himself and works as a recovery consultant, said he’s handed out some 100,000 doses of naloxone in Minnesota. He believes from his time using drugs that pharmacy availability doesn’t do much to help people who need it most.

    “There was no way I would spend $10 for something to save my life when I needed that money to buy drugs,” he said.

    Aside from cost, there are other barriers to getting naloxone to drug users.

    In Alabama, for instance, a pharmacist, physician or public health nurse must be involved in the distribution. But the state does have a program to mail the antidote to anyone who requests it.

    Maya Doe-Simkins, a co-director of Remedy Alliance/For The People, which helps provide naloxone to groups working to prevent overdose deaths, said programs don’t always prioritize getting the antidote to people who use drugs.

    “If they’re not matched up and directed where they should be, we’re going to see more and more naloxone sitting on the shelves of church basements, expiring,” she said.

    Colin Dwyer, a former social entrepreneur-in-residence at the Stanford School of Business, founded the Overdose Crisis Response Fund to try to boost small distribution efforts across the country, including Blanchard’s in Albany.

    “She’s so beautiful and so perfect, and because of harm reduction, she’s still alive and she’s healthy and she’s thriving.”

    Jessie Blanchard, talking about her daughter, who uses drugs

    “All I actually care about is what has the probability of saving the most lives the fastest,” Dwyer said.

    One of his grantees, Talia Rogers, distributes naloxone and other supplies in Kirksville, Missouri, through a one-person operation, Show Me Harm Reduction, which she initially funded with money she made working as a nanny.

    She’s now a consultant for the Missouri Institute of Mental Health and gets naloxone through the state’s use of a federal grant.

    “If they’re not getting Narcan or naloxone through me, they’re not getting it,” Rogers said.

    Ron Stewart, an emergency preparedness planner for Adair County, which includes Kirksville, said it provides naloxone only to first responders now, but he’s hopeful a state program will soon make it available to the public, too.

    In Albany, Blanchard gets naloxone through Georgia Opioid Prevention, which receives a state grant.

    In 2022, she handed out more than 1,800 doses — far more than the public health district for Southwest Georgia, which gave out 280 doses to people who showed up at health department offices in an isolated corner of Albany and to community organizations.

    One of her clients, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Jomo, because he uses illegal drugs, said he’s glad for the supplies. “Because this is something we’re going to do anyway,” he said.

    Blanchard said 26 people have come to her group for help getting into treatment programs, and 19 are currently not using.

    She recalled her desperation in 2018, trying to help her daughter, then a teenager. Now 22, her daughter is still using.

    “She’s so beautiful and so perfect,” Blanchard said. “And because of harm reduction, she’s still alive and she’s healthy and she’s thriving.”

    .___

    Mulvihill reported from Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

    ___

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content

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  • Hamlin’s collapse spurs new wave of vaccine misinformation

    Hamlin’s collapse spurs new wave of vaccine misinformation

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Unfounded claims about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines proliferated in the hours and days after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed during Monday’s game, revealing how pervasive vaccine misinformation remains three years after the pandemic began.

    Even before Hamlin was carried off the field in Cincinnati, posts amassing thousands of shares and millions of views began circulating online claiming without evidence that complications from COVID-19 vaccines caused his health emergency.

    While cardiac specialists say it’s too soon to know what caused Hamlin’s heart to stop, they’ve offered a rare type of trauma called commotio cordis as among the possible culprits. Physicians interviewed by The Associated Press say there’s no indication Hamlin’s vaccine status played a role, and said there’s no evidence to support claims that a number of young athletes have died as a result of COVID vaccinations.

    Peter McCullough, a Dallas cardiologist and outspoken vaccine critic, amplified the theories on a Fox News segment hosted by Tucker Carlson on Tuesday, speculating that “vaccine-induced myocarditis,” may have caused Hamlin’s episode. While the Bills have not said whether Hamlin was vaccinated, about 95% of NFL players have received a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the league.

    In his Tuesday segment, Carlson claimed McCullough and another researcher found that “more than 1,500 total cardiac arrests” have occurred among European athletes “since the vax campaign began.”

    But Carlson was citing a letter in which the authors’ evidence was a dubious blog that lists news reports of people all over the world, of all ages, dying or experiencing medical emergencies. The blog proves no relationship between the incidents and COVID-19 vaccines; it also includes in its count reported deaths from cancer and emergencies of unknown causes.

    “It’s not real research, but he quotes it as if it’s real research,” said Dr. Matthew Martinez, director of sports cardiology at Atlantic Health System in Morristown Medical Center. “Anybody can write a letter to the editor and then quote an article that has no academic rigor.”

    Many social media users have also shared deceptive videos that purport to show athletes collapsing on-field because of COVID-19 vaccines. However, several of the cases shown have been proven to be from other causes.

    Though anti-vaccine influencers have insisted that sudden cardiac arrests during sports games are unprecedented, cardiologists say they’ve observed these traumatic events throughout their careers, and long before the COVID-19 pandemic.

    “There have always been cases of athletes having sudden cardiac death or cardiac arrest,” said Dr. Lawrence Phillips, sports health expert and cardiologist at NYU Langone Health. “I have not seen a change in the prevalence of them over the last couple of years versus earlier in my career.”

    In fact, Phillips said, these rare medical emergencies are the main reason that doctors and activists have spent years campaigning for defibrillators to be on standby at sporting events.

    That push, and the implementation of emergency action plans, has improved outcomes after cardiac events on the playing field, even as the number of such events has remained “remarkably stable,” Martinez said.

    Martinez, who has worked for the National Football League, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League and Major League Soccer, said he has investigated but not seen any signal that COVID-19 or vaccines are causing an increased incidence of cardiac events among athletes.

    His research shows that among professional athletes who have had COVID-19, rates of inflammatory heart disease were about 0.6% — showing no increased risk compared to other viruses.

    Online posts mentioning Hamlin and vaccines soared into the thousands within one hour of Hamlin’s collapse, according to an analysis conducted for the AP by Zignal Labs, a San Francisco-based media intelligence company.

    It’s not surprising that misleading claims about COVID-19 vaccines surged following Hamlin’s cardiac arrest, given how much vaccine misinformation has spread since the pandemic began, said Jeanine Guidry, a Virginia Commonwealth University professor who researches health misinformation and vaccine hesitancy.

    High-profile public events like Hamlin’s collapse often create new waves of misinformation as people grasp for explanations. For people concerned about vaccine safety, Hamlin’s sudden collapse served to affirm and justify their beliefs, Guidry said.

    “This happened to a person in the prime of their life, on primetime television, and the people watching didn’t immediately know why,” she said. “We like to have clear answers that make us feel safer. Especially after the last three years, I think this is coming from fear and uncertainty.”

    Similarly unfounded claims about vaccine injuries surged last month following the death of sports journalist Grant Wahl, who died of a ruptured blood vessel in his heart while covering the World Cup in Qatar. His death was not related to vaccines.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Angelo Fichera in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

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  • Oklahoma AG announces 4 new opioid settlements worth $226M

    Oklahoma AG announces 4 new opioid settlements worth $226M

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    OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma entered settlement agreements with three major pharmacy chains and an opioid manufacturer totaling more than $226 million, Attorney General John O’Connor announced Wednesday.

    Including the new settlements with drugmaker Allergan and pharmacy chains CVS, Walgreens and Walmart, Oklahoma has received more than $900 million from opioid makers and distributors to help address the state’s opioid crisis, O’Connor said.

    “The opioid crisis has inflicted unspeakable pain on Oklahoma families and caused the deaths of thousands of Oklahomans,” O’Connor said in a statement. “Between 2016 and 2020, more than 3,000 Oklahomans died from opioid overdoses.”

    Nearly all the settlement funds must be used to help remediate the affects of the opioid crisis in Oklahoma, including prevention and treatment services.

    In November, three of the largest U.S. pharmacy chains reached settlements with states over the toll of opioids worth a total of about $13 billion. Under the separate deals, CVS Health and Walgreen Co. are each paying about $5 billion and Walmart is paying more than $3 billion. None has admitted wrongdoing.

    Allergan didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment about the Oklahoma settlement.

    The settlements are the latest in a wave of deals that state and local governments have struck with companies, including drugmakers, distribution companies and even a consulting firm, even as some lawsuits over how the drugs are marketed and sold continue. The total of proposed and finalized settlements is now more than $50 billion. Unlike with tobacco company settlements in the 1990s, the bulk of the money is required to be used to address the opioid crisis, which has been linked to well over 500,000 U.S. deaths since 2000.

    In 2019, Oklahoma, under then-Attorney General Mike Hunter, was the first state to reach a settlement with Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, for $270 million. Most of that money was used to establish a National Center for Addiction Studies and Treatment at Oklahoma State University in Tulsa.

    Oklahoma was also the first state to go to trial in a lawsuit against the makers of opioids blamed for contributing to the nation’s opioid crisis. A district court judge in 2019 found that New Jersey-based drugmaker Johnson & Johnson and its Belgium-based subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals violated the state’s public nuisance statute and ultimately ordered the company to pay the state $465 million to help address the state’s opioid crisis. However that decision was later overturned by the state’s Supreme Court, which determined the trial court judge wrongly interpreted the state’s public nuisance law.

    ———

    Follow Sean Murphy at www.twitter.com/apseanmurphy

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  • Today in History: December 22, the shoe bomber fails

    Today in History: December 22, the shoe bomber fails

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    Today in History

    Today is Thursday, Dec. 22, the 356th day of 2022. There are nine days left in the year.

    Today’s Highlight in History:

    On Dec. 22, 1990, Lech Walesa (lek vah-WEN’-sah) took the oath of office as Poland’s first popularly elected president.

    On this date:

    In 1858, opera composer Giacomo Puccini was born in Lucca, Italy.

    In 1894, French army officer Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason in a court-martial that triggered worldwide charges of anti-Semitism. (Dreyfus was eventually vindicated.)

    In 1941, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrived in Washington for a wartime conference with President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

    In 1944, during the World War II Battle of the Bulge, U.S. Brig. Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe rejected a German demand for surrender, writing “Nuts!” in his official reply.

    In 1984, New York City resident Bernhard Goetz (bur-NAHRD’ gehts) shot and wounded four youths on a Manhattan subway, claiming they were about to rob him.

    In 1989, Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu (chow-SHES’-koo), the last of Eastern Europe’s hard-line Communist rulers, was toppled from power in a popular uprising.

    In 1992, a Libyan Boeing 727 jetliner crashed after a midair collision with a MiG fighter, killing all 157 aboard the jetliner, and both crew members of the fighter jet.

    In 1995, actor Butterfly McQueen, who’d played the scatterbrained slave Prissy in “Gone with the Wind,” died in Augusta, Georgia, at age 84.

    In 2001, Richard C. Reid, a passenger on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami, tried to ignite explosives in his shoes, but was subdued by flight attendants and fellow passengers. (Reid is serving a life sentence in federal prison.)

    In 2003, a federal judge ruled the Pentagon couldn’t enforce mandatory anthrax vaccinations for military personnel.

    In 2010, President Barack Obama signed a law allowing gays for the first time in history to serve openly in America’s military, repealing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

    In 2020, President Donald Trump unexpectedly released two videos, one falsely declaring that he had won the election in a “landslide,” and the other urging lawmakers to increase direct payments for most individuals to $2,000 in a COVID relief package, a move opposed by most Republicans.

    Ten years ago: The late U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye was praised as a humble leader who embodied honor, dignity and duty during a public visitation at Hawaii’s state Capitol, five days after his death at age 88. Egypt’s Islamist-backed constitution received a “yes” majority in a final round of voting on a referendum that saw a low voter turnout.

    Five years ago: The wildfire that had burned its way through communities and wilderness northwest of Los Angeles became the largest blaze ever officially recorded in California; it had scorched 273,400 acres and destroyed more than 700 homes. iPhone owners from several states sued Apple for not disclosing sooner that it issued software updates deliberately slowing older-model phones so aging batteries would last longer. President Donald Trump signed the $1.5 trillion tax overhaul into law. The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved tough new sanctions against North Korea in response to its latest launch of a ballistic missile that Pyongyang said was capable of reaching anywhere on the U.S. mainland.

    One year ago: U.S. health regulators authorized the first pill against COVID-19, a Pfizer drug that Americans would be able to take at home to head off the worst effects of the virus. A New York man, Matthew Greene, pleaded guilty to storming the U.S. Capitol with fellow members of the far-right Proud Boys; he was the first Proud Boys member to publicly plead guilty to conspiring with other members to stop Congress from certifying the Electoral College vote. The Department of Homeland Security announced that 100 children, mostly from Central America, had been reunited with their families after being separated under President Donald Trump’s zero-tolerance border policy. The NHL announced that players would not be able to participate in the Beijing Olympics; the league would spend the previously scheduled Olympic break making up games postponed because of COVID-19 protocols.

    Today’s Birthdays: Actor Hector Elizondo is 86. Country singer Red Steagall is 84. Former World Bank Group President Paul Wolfowitz is 79. Baseball Hall of Famer Steve Carlton is 78. Former ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer is 77. Rock singer-musician Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick) is 74. Rock singer-musician Michael Bacon is 74. Baseball All-Star Steve Garvey is 74. Golfer Jan Stephenson is 71. Actor BernNadette Stanis is 69. Rapper Luther “Luke” Campbell is 62. Actor Ralph Fiennes (rayf fynz) is 60. Actor Lauralee Bell is 54. Country singer Lori McKenna is 54. Actor Dina Meyer is 54. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is 52. Actor Heather Donahue is 49. Actor Chris Carmack is 42. Actor Harry Ford is 40. Actor Greg Finley is 38. Actor Logan Huffman is 33. R&B singer Jordin Sparks is 33. Pop singer Meghan Trainor is 29. Norwegian tennis player Casper Ruud is 24.

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  • Norway’s aging king discharged from the hospital

    Norway’s aging king discharged from the hospital

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    COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Norway’s King Harald V was discharged Wednesday from an Oslo hospital where he had received treatment with intravenous antibiotics for an infection.

    ”The king is on the road to recovery, but will take it easy for a few days,” the Norwegian palace said in a brief statement. The 85-year-old monarch was hospitalized Monday at Rikshospitalet, which is part of the main hospital in Oslo.

    The heir to the throne, Crown Prince Haakon, had stepped in and taken over his father’s duties.

    Harald, who has been seen using crutches in recent years, has been hospitalized several times in recent months, including for another infection in August. He went through a successful operation to replace a heart valve in October 2020 after being hospitalized with breathing difficulties.

    Harald’s duties as Norway’s head of state are ceremonial, and he holds no political power. He ascended to the throne following the death of his father, King Olav, in 1991.

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  • Today in History: December 18, first Trump impeachment

    Today in History: December 18, first Trump impeachment

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    Today in History

    Today is Sunday, Dec. 18, the 352nd day of 2022. There are 13 days left in the year.

    Today’s Highlight in History:

    On Dec. 18, 2019, the U.S. House impeached President Donald Trump on two charges, sending his case to the Senate for trial; the articles of impeachment accused him of abusing the power of the presidency to investigate rival Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 election and then obstructing Congress’ investigation. (It was the first of two Trump impeachment trials that would end in acquittal by the Senate.)

    On this date:

    In 1865, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery, was declared in effect by Secretary of State William H. Seward.

    In 1892, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s ballet “The Nutcracker” publicly premiered in St. Petersburg, Russia; although now considered a classic, it received a generally negative reception from critics.

    In 1917, Congress passed the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibiting “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors” and sent it to the states for ratification.

    In 1940, Adolf Hitler signed a secret directive ordering preparations for a Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. (Operation Barbarossa was launched in June 1941.)

    In 1944, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the government’s wartime evacuation of people of Japanese descent from the West Coast while at the same time ruling that “concededly loyal” Americans of Japanese ancestry could not continue to be detained.

    In 1957, the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, the first nuclear facility to generate electricity in the United States, went on line. (It was taken out of service in 1982.)

    In 1958, the world’s first communications satellite, SCORE (Signal Communication by Orbiting Relay Equipment), nicknamed “Chatterbox,” was launched by the United States aboard an Atlas rocket.

    In 1969, Britain’s House of Lords joined the House of Commons in making permanent a 1965 ban on the death penalty for murder.

    In 1992, Kim Young-sam was elected South Korea’s first civilian president in three decades.

    In 2003, two federal appeals courts ruled the U.S. military could not indefinitely hold prisoners without access to lawyers or American courts.

    In 2011, the last convoy of heavily armored U.S. troops left Iraq, crossing into Kuwait in darkness in the final moments of a nine-year war. Vaclav Havel, 75, the dissident playwright who became Czechoslovakia’s first democratically elected president, died in the northern Czech Republic.

    In 2020, the U.S. added a second COVID-19 vaccine to its arsenal, as the Food and Drug Administration authorized an emergency rollout of the vaccine developed by Moderna Inc. and the National Institutes of Health; a vaccine from Pfizer Inc. and Germany’s BioNTech was already being dispensed.

    Ten years ago: Classes resumed in Newtown, Connecticut, except at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the scene of a massacre four days earlier. Two bank robbers pulled off a daring escape from downtown Chicago’s high-rise jail by scaling down 17 stories using a makeshift rope. (Kenneth Conley and Jose Banks were later recaptured.) Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel became the first freshman to be voted The Associated Press Player of the Year in college football.

    Five years ago: An Amtrak train making the first-ever run along a faster route hurtled off an overpass south of Seattle and spilled some of its cars onto the highway below; three people were killed and dozens were hurt. (Investigators found that the train was traveling 80 mph in a 30 mph zone.) A fire and blackout at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world’s busiest, forced the cancellation of more than 1,500 flights just days before the start of the Christmas rush; airlines said some of the grounded travelers would have to wait days before there would be available seats on flights. The Los Angeles Lakers retired numbers 8 and 24, both of the jersey numbers worn by Kobe Bryant, the leading scorer in franchise history.

    One year ago: Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said all of the people reported missing in Kentucky after tornadoes swept through the state a week earlier had been accounted for; more than 90 people were confirmed dead in five states, including 81 in Kentucky. Nations across Europe moved to reimpose tougher measures to stem a new wave of COVID-19 infections spurred by the highly transmissible omicron variant, with the Netherlands leading the way by imposing a nationwide lockdown. “Saturday Night Live” aired without a live audience, and with only limited cast and crew, due to a recent spike in the omicron variant.

    Today’s Birthdays: Rock musician Keith Richards is 79. Writer-director Alan Rudolph is 79. Movie producer-director Steven Spielberg is 76. Blues artist Rod Piazza is 75. Movie director Gillian Armstrong is 72. Movie reviewer Leonard Maltin is 72. Rock musician Elliot Easton is 69. Comedian Ron White is 66. R&B singer Angie Stone is 61. Actor Brad Pitt is 59. Professional wrestler-turned-actor “Stone Cold” Steve Austin is 58. Actor Shawn Christian is 57. Actor Rachel Griffiths is 54. Singer Alejandro Sanz is 54. Actor Casper Van Dien is 54. Country/rap singer Cowboy Troy is 52. International Tennis Hall of Famer Arantxa Sanchez Vicario is 51. DJ Lethal (Limp Bizkit) is 50. Pop singer Sia is 47. Country singer Randy Houser is 46. Actor Josh Dallas is 44. Actor Katie Holmes is 44. Actor Ravi Patel is 44. Singer Christina Aguilera is 42. Actor Ashley Benson is 33. NHL defenseman Victor Hedman is 32. Actor-singer Bridgit Mendler is 30. MLB outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. is 25. Electro-pop singer Billie Eilish is 21. Actor Isabella Crovetti is 18.

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  • Today in History: December 17, Wright Brothers’ first flight

    Today in History: December 17, Wright Brothers’ first flight

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    Today in History

    Today is Saturday, Dec. 17, the 351st day of 2022. There are 14 days left in the year.

    Today’s Highlight in History:

    On Dec. 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright of Dayton, Ohio, conducted the first successful manned powered-airplane flights near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, using their experimental craft, the Wright Flyer.

    On this date:

    In 1777, France recognized American independence.

    In 1933, in the inaugural NFL championship game, the Chicago Bears defeated the New York Giants, 23-21, at Wrigley Field.

    In 1944, the U.S. War Department announced it was ending its policy of excluding people of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast.

    In 1957, the United States successfully test-fired the Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time.

    In 1969, the U.S. Air Force closed its Project “Blue Book” by concluding there was no evidence of extraterrestrial spaceships behind thousands of UFO sightings.

    In 1975, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme was sentenced in Sacramento, California, to life in prison for her attempt on the life of President Gerald R. Ford. (She was paroled in Aug. 2009.)

    In 1979, Arthur McDuffie, a Black insurance executive, was beaten by police after leading them on a chase with his motorcycle in Miami. McDuffie died in a hospital four days later. (Four white police officers accused of beating McDuffie were later acquitted, sparking riots.)

    In 1992, President George H.W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (muhl-ROO’-nee) and Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari (sah-LEE’-nuhs deh gohr-TAHR’-ee) signed the North American Free Trade Agreement in separate ceremonies. (After President Donald Trump demanded a new deal, the three countries signed a replacement agreement in 2018.)

    In 2011, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il died after more than a decade of iron rule; he was 69, according to official records, but some reports indicated he was 70.

    In 2014, the United States and Cuba restored diplomatic relations, sweeping away one of the last vestiges of the Cold War.

    In 2018, a report from the Senate intelligence committee found that Russia’s political disinformation campaign on U.S. social media was more far-reaching than originally thought, with troll farms working to discourage Black voters and “blur the lines between reality and fiction” to help elect Donald Trump.

    In 2020, a government advisory panel endorsed a second COVID-19 vaccine, paving the way for the shot from Moderna and the National Institutes of Health to be added to the U.S. vaccination campaign.

    Ten years ago: Newtown, Connecticut, began laying its dead to rest, holding funerals for two 6-year-old boys, the first of the 20 children killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. A pair of NASA spacecraft, named Ebb and Flow, were deliberately crashed into a mountain near the moon’s north pole, ending a mission that peered into the lunar interior. Longtime Democratic U.S. senator and World War II hero Daniel Inouye (ih-NOH’-way) of Hawaii died in Bethesda, Maryland, at age 88.

    Five years ago: Facing an investigation of allegations of sexual misconduct and using racist language, Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson announced that he would sell the NFL team after the season. “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” took in $220 million in its debut weekend in North America, good for the second-best opening ever and behind only its predecessor, “The Force Awakens.” French sailor Francois Gabart broke the record for sailing around the world alone, circumnavigating the planet in just 42 days and 16 hours.

    One year ago: A federal appeals court panel ruled that President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for larger private employers could take effect. (Weeks later, the Supreme Court rejected that mandate.) A Florida man, 54-year-old Robert Palmer, who had attacked police officers trying to hold back the angry mob at the Capitol on Jan. 6, was sentenced to more than five years behind bars. The National Labor Relations Board confirmed a vote to form a union at a Starbucks store in Buffalo; the coffee retailer, for the first time, would have to bargain with organized labor at a company-owned U.S. store. A fire that spread from a fourth-floor mental clinic in an eight-story building in downtown Osaka in western Japan left 25 dead. (A clinic patient suspected of starting the fire died two weeks later at a hospital where he was being treated for burns and smoke inhalation.)

    Today’s Birthdays: Actor Armin Mueller-Stahl is 92. Pope Francis is 86. Singer-actor Tommy Steele is 86. Actor Bernard Hill is 78. Actor Ernie Hudson is 77. Comedian-actor Eugene Levy is 76. Actor Marilyn Hassett is 75. Actor Wes Studi is 75. Pop musician Jim Bonfanti (The Raspberries) is 74. Actor Joel Brooks is 73. Rock singer Paul Rodgers is 73. R&B singer Wanda Hutchinson Vaughn (The Emotions) is 71. Actor Bill Pullman is 69. Actor Barry Livingston is 69. Country singer Sharon White is 69. Producer-director-writer Peter Farrelly is 66. Rock musician Mike Mills (R.E.M.) is 64. Pop singer Sarah Dallin (Bananarama) is 61. Country singer Tracy Byrd is 56. Country musician Duane Propes is 56. Actor Laurie Holden is 53. DJ Homicide (Sugar Ray) is 52. Actor Sean Patrick Thomas is 52. Actor Claire Forlani is 51. Pop-rock musician Eddie Fisher (OneRepublic) is 49. Actor Sarah Paulson is 48. Actor Marissa Ribisi is 48. Actor Giovanni Ribisi is 48. Actor Milla Jovovich (YO’-vuh-vich) is 47. Singer Bree Sharp is 47. Singer-songwriter Ben Goldwasser (MGMT) is 40. Rock singer Mikky Ekko is 39. Actor Shannon Woodward is 38. Actor Emma Bell is 36. Actor Vanessa Zima is 36. Rock musician Taylor York (Paramore) is 33. Actor Graham Rogers is 32. Actor-singer Nat Wolff is 28.

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  • Today in History: December 16, Battle of the Bulge begins

    Today in History: December 16, Battle of the Bulge begins

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    Today in History

    Today is Friday, Dec. 16, the 350th day of 2022. There are 15 days left in the year.

    Today’s Highlight in History:

    On Dec. 16, 1944, the World War II Battle of the Bulge began as German forces launched a surprise attack against Allied forces through the Ardennes Forest in Belgium and Luxembourg (the Allies were eventually able to turn the Germans back).

    On this date:

    In 1653, Oliver Cromwell became lord protector of England, Scotland and Ireland.

    In 1773, the Boston Tea Party took place as American colonists boarded a British ship and dumped more than 300 chests of tea into Boston Harbor to protest tea taxes.

    In 1907, 16 U.S. Navy battleships, which came to be known as the “Great White Fleet,” set sail on a 14-month round-the-world voyage to demonstrate American sea power.

    In 1950, President Harry S. Truman proclaimed a national state of emergency in order to fight “world conquest by Communist imperialism.”

    In 1960, 134 people were killed when a United Air Lines DC-8 and a TWA Super Constellation collided over New York City.

    In 1991, the U.N. General Assembly rescinded its 1975 resolution equating Zionism with racism by a vote of 111-25.

    In 2000, President-elect George W. Bush selected Colin Powell to become the first African-American secretary of state.

    In 2001, after nine weeks of fighting, Afghan militia leaders claimed control of the last mountain bastion of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida fighters, but bin Laden himself was nowhere to be seen.

    In 2011, in San Francisco, eight years of being investigated for steroid allegations ended for home run king Barry Bonds with a 30-day sentence to be served at home. (Bonds never served the sentence; his conviction for obstruction of justice was overturned.)

    In 2014, Taliban gunmen stormed a military-run school in the northwestern Pakistan city of Peshawar, killing at least 148 people, mostly children.

    In 2019, House Democrats laid out their first impeachment case against President Donald Trump; a sweeping report from the House Judiciary Committee said Trump had “betrayed the Nation by abusing his high office to enlist a foreign power in corrupting democratic elections.”

    In 2020, the first COVID-19 vaccinations were underway at U.S. nursing homes, where the virus had killed 110,000 people. Tyson Foods said it had fired seven top managers at its largest pork plant after an investigation confirmed allegations that they had wagered on how many workers at the plant in Iowa would test positive for the coronavirus. (An outbreak centered around the plant infected more than 1,000 employees, at least six of whom died.)

    Ten years ago: President Barack Obama visited Newtown, Connecticut, the scene of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre; after meeting privately with victims’ families, the president told an evening vigil he would use “whatever power” he had to prevent future shootings. A 23-year-old woman was brutally raped and beaten on a bus in New Delhi, a crime that triggered widespread protests in India. (The woman died 13 days later.)

    Five years ago: Two female couples tied the knot in Australia’s first same-sex weddings under new legislation allowing gay marriages.

    One year ago: U.S. health officials said most Americans should get the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines instead of the Johnson & Johnson shot; the decision came after government advisers reviewed new safety data about rare but potentially life-threatening blood clots linked to J&J’s shot. A federal judge rejected OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma’s sweeping deal to settle thousands of lawsuits over the toll of opioids; the judge found flaws in the way the bankruptcy settlement protected members of the Sackler family who owned the company from lawsuits. The last 12 hostages from a U.S.-based missionary group who were kidnapped and held for ransom in Haiti were freed and were flown out of the country following a two-month ordeal; five others had been released earlier. Urban Meyer’s tumultuous NFL tenure ended after just 13 games — and two victories — when the Jacksonville Jaguars fired him because of an accumulation of missteps.

    Today’s Birthdays: Civil rights attorney and co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center Morris Dees is 86. Actor Joyce Bulifant is 85. Actor Liv Ullmann is 84. CBS news correspondent Lesley Stahl is 81. Pop musician Tony Hicks (The Hollies) is 77. Pop singer Benny Andersson (ABBA) is 76. Rock singer-musician Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) is 73. Rock musician Bill Bateman (The Blasters) is 71. Actor Xander Berkeley is 67. Actor Alison LaPlaca is 63. Actor Sam Robards is 61. Actor Jon Tenney is 61. Actor Benjamin Bratt is 59. Actor-comedian JB Smoove is 57. Actor Miranda Otto is 55. Actor Daniel Cosgrove is 52. R&B singer Michael McCary is 51. Actor Jonathan Scarfe is 47. Actor Krysten Ritter is 41. Actor Zoe Jarman is 40. Country musician Chris Scruggs is 40. Actor Theo James is 38. Actor Amanda Setton is 37. Rock musician Dave Rublin (American Authors) is 36. Actor Hallee Hirsh is 35. Actor Anna Popplewell is 34. Actor Stephan James is 29.

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  • My Experience With HIV Treatment and Weight Gain

    My Experience With HIV Treatment and Weight Gain

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    By Olga Irwin, as told to Kara Mayer Robinson

    I don’t remember the exact date when I found out I was HIV positive, but I remember the first conversation I had with my doctor very well. He diagnosed me with AIDS and said I had only 3 months to live because my T-cell count was under 10. That was in 1999.

    When I finally found an infectious disease specialist at a new clinic in my area, I was told that with medication I could live a long, full life. I’m 54 now.

    In 2000, I started treatment. I’ve been on several different regimens since then, but now I have an undetectable viral load.

    My normal weight used to be about 190 or 200 pounds, but when I was diagnosed, I weighed about 160 pounds. About 6 months after I started treatment, I gained 40 pounds and was back to my normal weight. I remained at this weight until I started a different medication plan. 

    After I started that therapy, my weight went up a lot, to 230 pounds, which is where I am now. When I switched to my current regimen, I didn’t gain any more weight, but I didn’t lose any either.

    Most of the extra weight is in my stomach area. I have to wear my shirts two sizes bigger than my bottoms. I have to do a lot of mixing and matching when I buy clothes. If I get dresses, I get them altered or have someone make them for me. It’s hard to find clothes that fit me, and it always costs more to have clothes look right.

    I’ve talked to my doctor a lot about my weight gain. He always tells me to change the way I eat and to exercise more. I have other health conditions that make extra weight even more dangerous.

    My doctor recommended that I see a counselor to help control my diabetes and change my eating and exercise habits. But making changes hasn’t been easy for me.

    Diet, Exercise, and Lifestyle

    A few years ago, I went on a very strict no-carb diet and I lost 50 pounds. But my stomach stuck out even more and I looked like I was pregnant. I was told that if I could lose another 10 pounds, I’d be a candidate for liposuction. But I just couldn’t lose those 10 pounds. After that, I stopped the diet and gained all my weight back.

    I don’t think fad diets work well at all. When you start one, it seems like as soon as you don’t eat according to the plan, all the weight comes back — and even more.

    But in the last year, I’ve been doing better with exercise and small changes in how I eat.

    I have arthritis in my lower back. With all the extra weight, my back hurts more and makes it more difficult to exercise. But even though I have some mobility issues, I’m an active person.

    Last year I did water therapy to help with my arthritis. When it was over, I took up swimming. Now I go to the YMCA twice a week and do my exercise with water therapy and swim some laps. When I started, I was barely doing five laps. Now I’m up to 20.

    Even though it seems like I just can’t lose the weight I’ve gained, I do feel like swimming and exercising in the pool is good for me. This is the first time since I’ve gained the weight that I’ve actually done any type of exercise. I haven’t lost any weight but have noticed my legs and arms are more toned. Some people have asked me if I’ve lost weight because it looks like I have, but the scale says I haven’t. 

    Emotional Ups and Downs

    My weight gain has been difficult emotionally. It affects my self-esteem. I have a lot of negative thoughts about what I look like. When I see pictures of myself and see how far my stomach sticks out, I don’t feel good.

    But I feel optimistic about the new studies that are looking at the issue of weight gain with HIV medication. It also makes me feel better to know that the weight gain isn’t all my fault. My meds are making it harder for me to lose it.

    My advice for anyone who’s gained weight from HIV treatment is to talk with your doctors, friends, and other support systems. Don’t try to do everything by yourself. Seek out help from others, and read up on all the latest medical advances.

    Hopefully these new studies on weight gain from HIV treatment will lead to the development of new medications that won’t cause weight gain and will help us either maintain our weight or lose weight more easily.

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  • Vet’s lawsuit blaming antimalarial drug for psychosis tossed

    Vet’s lawsuit blaming antimalarial drug for psychosis tossed

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    LOS ANGELES — A federal judge threw out a lawsuit against the maker of an anti-malarial drug blamed for causing psychotic behavior and neurological damage to U.S. servicemembers, ruling that the case had no right to be filed in California.

    The proposed class-action case brought last year by an Army veteran accused Roche Laboratories Inc. and Genentech Inc. of intentionally misleading the Department of Defense and the Food and Drug Administration about the dangers of mefloquine, the generic version of the drug Lariam.

    Similar cases had been brought in Canada and Australia, but the lawsuit in federal court in Northern California was the first large-scale case of its kind in the U.S., attorneys said.

    The U.S. military, which developed the drug during the Vietnam War, was once its largest user to combat malaria. It was given to hundreds of thousands of troops sent to Afghanistan and Somalia.

    Roche, which was granted the intellectual property rights and won FDA approval for Lariam in 1989, said it manufactured its last lots for U.S. distribution in 2005. Those drugs expired in 2008 — a year before the company’s 2009 merger with Genentech.

    The Pentagon continued to distribute generic versions of the drug, though elite Army units were ordered to stop using mefloquine in 2013 after the FDA put a black box warning on it after it was found to cause permanent brain damage in rare cases. The warning said it caused side effects such as dizziness, loss of balance and ringing in the ears that could become permanent.

    The Army has mainly replaced mefloquine with drugs found to be safer.

    John Nelson of Florida brought the suit after he said he became permanently disabled from taking the drug during his Army service from 2005 to 2015. Nelson said he never experienced any neuropsychiatric symptoms until he began taking mefloquine just before being stationed in Afghanistan.

    U.S. District Court Judge Trina Thompson ruled in San Francisco on Monday that Nelson had sufficiently alleged that the manufacturer knew about dangers of the drug and did not warn the U.S. military.

    But the judge said it was a stretch to apply a California law that holds name brand manufacturers responsible for warnings on the generic version of their drugs. Nelson never lived in California and Roche and Genentech were only headquartered in the state for two months while he took the drug overseas in 2009.

    “It would be unfair for plaintiff to be able to bring his claims in California and, by virtue of the state’s innovator liability doctrine, he would be extended greater rights than he would be granted in his own state of residence, Florida,” Thompson wrote.

    The judge noted that other possible venues — New Jersey, where Roche had been based, and Florida, where Nelson lives and Kentucky, Oregon and Tennessee where he lived previously — either don’t have similar laws that would extend liability to the original manufacturer of a generic drug or have courts that have issued opinions making such a finding unlikely.

    Roche issued a one sentence statement asserting that lawyers were “forum shopping” and said it was pleased the court found the case didn’t belong in a California court.

    Nelson said his symptoms went from vivid stimulating dreams that disrupted his sleep and made him anxious to having panic attacks, paranoia, insomnia and twice tried to take his own life, the lawsuit said. He was diagnosed as depressed and later as bipolar, though medications, including antipsychotics, did not help.

    After attending a conference in 2020 about effects of anti-malarial drugs, Nelson suspected he may have experienced mefloquine toxicity and pursued testing that confirmed the diagnosis.

    The lawsuit sought unspecified damages for negligence, failure to warn users, and fraudulent misrepresentation, among other claims. It also sought to have the companies pay for medical monitoring of those who took the drug to understand the impacts.

    Attorneys for Nelson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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  • Armed guards a fixture outside pot farm before 4 were slain

    Armed guards a fixture outside pot farm before 4 were slain

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    Armed guards were a fixture outside the marijuana growing operation in rural Oklahoma where four people were slain execution-style.

    The mail carrier “was met with guns pretty much all the time,” Jack Quirk, the owner of the local paper, All About Hennessey, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “Why are there guards anyway? You know, if it’s a legit farm, what’s the deal?”

    The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation announced Tuesday that the suspect in the weekend killings, Wu Chen, was taken into custody by Miami Beach police and brought to the Miami-Dade County Detention Center.

    He was arrested “after a car tag reader flagged (the) vehicle he was driving,” the bureau said. The suspect will be charged with murder and shooting with intent to kill and faces extradition to Oklahoma. No attorney has been assigned to him yet.

    Authorities said the victims — three men and one woman, all Chinese citizens — were shot dead, “executed” on the 10-acre (4-hectare) property west of Hennessey, a town about 55 miles (90 kilometers) northwest of Oklahoma City. A fifth victim who is also a Chinese citizen was wounded and taken to an Oklahoma City hospital.

    The survivor had been shot twice, said Quirk, who showed up when crews were setting up a landing zone for a medical helicopter and watched them load up the man.

    The victims had not yet been identified publicly, and officials were still working to notify next of kin, police said.

    “The suspect was inside that building for a significant amount of time before the executions began,” OSBI said in a news release earlier Tuesday. “Based on the investigation thus far, this does not appear to be a random incident.”

    Oklahoma voters legalized medical marijuana in 2018, and the industry quickly boomed thanks to an open-ended law that put in place fewer restrictions than in other states.

    In March, voters will decide whether to legalize recreational use of the drug.

    Maryland and Missouri approved recreational marijuana in this month’s midterm elections, bringing the total number states that allow recreational use to 21. Arkansas, North Dakota and South Dakota voters rejected legalization proposals in the midterms.

    Quirk said he’s heard from residents who think the marijuana farms in Oklahoma are poorly regulated.

    “They weren’t prepared for what comes along with this stuff,” he said. “This particular facility is a great example of that … they were doing questionable things that the neighbors feel weren’t checked on.”

    He said the majority of the workers spoke no English and he never saw them off of the property. That has led locals to raise concerns about the working conditions, Quirk said.

    Porsha Riley, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority, said there is an active license for a medical marijuana grow business at the location.

    The operation was put up for sale earlier this year for just under $1 million. The listing described it as having several thousand square feet of indoor grow space, as well as two separate living quarters.

    Tami Amsler-ZumMallen, the listing agent for the property, said the listing had expired. She said the brokers had told her not to comment.

    The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control has targeted criminal growing and trafficking of marijuana for the black market in recent years. But agency spokesman Mark Woodward said Tuesday it was too soon to say that was a focus of this investigation.

    None of the 14 marijuana growing operations in the Hennessey area responded to email inquiries from The Associated Press, and officials would not identify which one operated at the site of the shootings.

    The deaths at the marijuana farm were the third mass killing in Oklahoma in a little over a month. On Oct. 27, six children were killed in a suspected murder-suicide in the Tulsa suburb of Broken Arrow, and on Oct. 14, the bodies of four men who’d gone missing were found dismembered in an Oklahoma river.

    According to a database run by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University, the United States has now had 40 mass killings so far this year. In just the past week, six were killed in the break room of a Walmart store in Virginia and five were slain at a Colorado Springs gay nightclub. The database defines a mass killing as at least four people killed, not including the killer.

    ———

    Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas. Associated Press writers Jill Bleed in Little Rock, Arkansas, Adam Kealoha Causey in Dallas and Peter Orsi in Denver contributed.

    ———

    Follow AP’s coverage of marijuana: https://apnews.com/hub/marijuana

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  • Voters in 5 states decide whether to legalize marijuana

    Voters in 5 states decide whether to legalize marijuana

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    LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Voters in five states are deciding on Election Day whether to approve recreational marijuana, a move that could signal a major shift toward legalization in even the most conservative parts of the country.

    The proposals are on the ballot in Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota and follow moves by President Joe Biden toward decriminalizing marijuana. Biden last month announced he was pardoning thousands of Americans convicted of simple possession of marijuana under federal law.

    Advocates of the marijuana initiatives have said Biden’s announcement may give a boost to their efforts.

    Recreational marijuana is legal in 19 states, and polls have shown opposition to legalization softening. All of the states with recreational marijuana on the ballot, except for Maryland, voted for Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

    The five states also currently have legal medical marijuana programs. That includes Arkansas, which in 2016 became the first Bible Belt state to approve medical marijuana. The state’s dispensaries opened in 2019, and more than 91,000 patients have cards to legally buy marijuana for medical conditions.

    The legalization campaigns have raised about $23 million in the five states, with the vast majority in Arkansas and Missouri. More than 85% of contributions in those two states have come from donors associated with companies holding medical marijuana licenses, according to an Associated Press analysis of the most recent campaign finance reports.

    In Arkansas, supporters have been running upbeat ads touting the thousands of jobs they say will be created by the measure. Opponents have run more ominous spots, warning voters to “protect Arkansas from big marijuana.”

    The initiative has drawn the criticism of traditional legalization opponents as well as some medical marijuana advocates, who say the Arkansas proposal places too many limits and would only benefit a handful of dispensaries. Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a former head of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, has also opposed the measure.

    Missouri’s proposal would legalize recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older and expunge records of past arrests and convictions for nonviolent marijuana offenses, except for selling to minors or driving under the influence. Maryland’s proposal would also make changes in criminal law and create automatic expungements of past marijuana possession convictions.

    North Dakota’s measure would allow people 21 and older to legally use marijuana at home as well as possess and cultivate restricted amounts of cannabis. It also would establish policies to regulate retail stores, cultivators, and other types of marijuana businesses.

    South Dakotans, including a sizable number of Republicans, voted to legalize marijuana possession in 2020, but that law was struck down by the state Supreme Court in part because the proposal was coupled with medical marijuana and hemp. This year, recreational pot is standing by itself as it goes before voters.

    In Colorado, where recreational marijuana has been legal for nearly a decade, voters on Tuesday are taking up a proposal that would allow the use of certain psychedelic substances. If approved, it would make Colorado the second state to take such a step.

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