Brown rats found and analyzed near Atlanta now carry rat lungworm, researchers report. It’s a parasite that can trigger a dangerous brain encephalitis in both people and pets, and which now threatens a wide area of the U.S. Southeast. Researchers in Georgia say the microscopic rat lungworm, known scientifically as Angiostrongylus cantonensis, typically begins its life cycle in native and exotic snails — rats probably contract the parasite after eating snails. A. cantonensis was first identified in Asia and was for many years not endemic to the United States. It first appeared in Hawaii before being spotted in Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida, “likely introduced by infected rats and gastropods [snails] through trade routes, such as on merchant ships,” explained a team led by Nicole Gottdenker. She’s associate professor of anatomic pathology at the University of Georgia in Athens. Infected rats excrete the parasite in their feces. In rare cases, people who accidentally come into contact with A. cantonensis can also become infected. The worm can trigger a dangerous inflammation of the brain or its surrounding membrane, the meninges — a condition called meningoencephalitis. Concerned that rat lungworm might have continued its spread throughout the Southeast, Gottdenker’s team collected samples of tissues “from 33 wild brown rats found dead during 2019-2022 on the grounds of a zoological facility located in Atlanta,” they reported. About one-fifth…  read on >  read on >

Nearly one in five counties across the United States lack psychiatrists or internet service, making it difficult for around 10.5 million Americans to find mental health care, a new study shows. The counties examined in the study were more likely to be in rural areas, have higher unemployment rates, and have populations that were more likely to be uninsured and lack a bachelor’s degree. What’s worse, individuals who fall into any one of these categories are also more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety. So, the need for mental health services is especially critical in areas with the greatest barriers to access, the researchers noted. And while the pandemic created a rapid demand for telehealth, the medium has yet to reach the areas that need it most. “Telehealth was originally developed to mitigate the adverse effects of physician shortage. But unfortunately for many people in shortage areas, they don’t have access to broadband coverage,” said study author Dr. Hao Yu, an associate professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School, in Boston. “We found those counties have negative health effects, like higher overdose mortality, higher suicide mortality. That’s kind of staggering,” he added. In July, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was passed by federal legislators and included a $65 billion investment to expand affordable and reliable high-speed internet access across the United States. While…  read on >  read on >

How big is a hospital bed’s carbon footprint? Pretty big, new research shows. One hospital bed alone was roughly equivalent to the carbon footprint of five Canadian households, according to researchers studying a British Columbia hospital during 2019. They identified energy and water use and the purchasing of medical products as the hospital’s primary energy hotspots, accounting for over half of the hospital’s yearly carbon footprint. “In our work, we often find that the biggest environmental footprints are where you least expect them to be. As the adage goes: ‘Out of sight, out of mind,’” said researcher Alex Cimprich. He is a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development at the University of Waterloo. “The goal is to make hidden environmental footprints more visible so that we can start to manage them.” For the study, the researchers assessed thousands of products purchased by hospitals, using a combination of statistical sampling and calculations of carbon intensity — CO2 equivalent per dollar spent — to calculate carbon footprints. “The results suggest that hospital sustainability initiatives need to look further to achieve deeper emissions reductions,” Cimprich said in a university news release. “While transportation of patients and products supplied to hospitals and hospital waste are visible areas of environmental concern, other more hidden areas like the supply-chains of medical products could have much bigger environmental…  read on >  read on >

A job that’s demanding but less than rewarding may take a big toll on a man’s heart health, a large new study suggests. The study, of nearly 6,500 white-collar workers, found that men who habitually felt stressed on the job had up to double the risk of developing heart disease as their peers who were more content at work. In some cases, that stress took the form of “job strain,” which meant that workers felt pressure to perform but had little power over how to get their work done. In other cases, the central problem was “effort-reward imbalance.” That’s when employees feel their diligence is not winning adequate returns — whether through pay, promotion, recognition or a sense of fulfillment. Men who reported either kind of job stress were about 50% more likely to develop coronary heart disease over the next 18 years, versus men who were happier on the job. Then there were the men who cited both types of job stress: Their risk of heart disease was double that of their male counterparts who reported neither work issue. There was no similar effect, however, seen among women. Researchers said the findings do not prove that job stress exacts a toll on men’s hearts, or that it doesn’t harm women. But there are plenty of reasons that stress at work — where adults spend…  read on >  read on >

Patients with Parkinson’s disease already face poorer mental and physical health, but now a new study shows they also suffer from decreased levels of hope and self-esteem due to the stigma associated with their disease. “There are patients who don’t even disclose the disease to family members because they’re afraid that the children may change their opinion of them or start making plans to put them in a nursing home or take over their finances or freedom to some degree,” said Dr. Alessandro Di Rocco, a professor of neurology at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell in Hempstead, N.Y. The study found that when most people think of Parkinson’s, they imagine older white men who are drooling, shaking and hunched over. This singular image can be damaging to people with Parkinson’s who differ in race, gender or age, and can lead to misdiagnosis or a delay in diagnosis. Furthermore, those who have several visible, physical symptoms of the disease can face greater stigma and even discrimination. And those fears are illustrated in the research, which found that more than half of people with Parkinson’s conceal their diagnosis for fear of stigma. For example, actor Michael J. Fox, who has Parkinson’s and spearheads The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, kept his illness hidden for years before coming out to the public. Having symptoms…  read on >  read on >