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Facebook chatter from the anti-vaccination movement now frames the issue as one of civil liberties, a new study finds. As a COVID-19 vaccine gets closer to becoming a reality, opposition from so-called anti-vaxxer groups could become a political movement, researchers warn. For the study, the investigators looked at more than 250,000 posts on 204 Facebook pages opposing vaccines between October 2009 and October 2019. Opposition has traditionally centered on medical safety and government conspiracy theories. But vaccine opponents have recast their objections, saying it is a civil right to refuse vaccination. The latest recent spike in the anti-vaxxer movement was a 2019 Facebook campaign with posts that included a U.S. state in their title, such as “Michigan for Vaccine Choice.” The posts cited vaccine safety concerns and alternative medicines, and encouraged opposition to vaccine mandates. “Starting in 2019, we saw a large increase in these state-level pages, especially in places considering vaccine-related legislation,” said study co-author Mark Dredze, an associate professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore. “These pages make it easy for vaccine opponents to know how to vote in their local elections to make it easier to opt out of vaccination,” Dredze added in a Hopkins news release. There were two prior events that also changed the online discourse, the study authors reported. The first event was a measles outbreak… read on >

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Wednesday that it is seeking emergency approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for an experimental antibody cocktail given to President Donald Trump shortly after he was diagnosed with COVID-19. Hours before the company made the announcement, Trump proclaimed in a video released by the White House that the drug had an “unbelievable” effect on his recovery from coronavirus infection, the Washington Post reported. “I think this was the key,” Trump said, after acknowledging that the antibody cocktail was one of several drugs he was prescribed by his medical team. While there is no hard evidence yet proving the drug’s effectiveness in humans, it has shown promise in treating mild cases of the new coronavirus, the Post reported. In his video, Trump said, “I have emergency-use authorization all set, and we’ve got to get it signed now.” However, an FDA spokeswoman told The New York Times Wednesday that the agency does not confirm or deny product applications. Regeneron said in its statement that it could initially produce doses of the antibody cocktail for 50,000 patients, and then ramp production up to doses for 300,000 patients in the next few months if granted emergency authorization. The antibody cocktail is now in late-stage testing. The company has granted fewer than 10 “compassionate use” requests allowing people not enrolled in its trials to… read on >

FRIDAY, Oct. 2, 2020 (HealthDay News) — President Donald Trump announced early Friday morning that he and his wife, Melania Trump, have tested positive for the coronavirus. In a tweet sent out at 1 a.m., Trump said they will both quarantine in the White House for an unspecified period of time, The New York Times reported. The diagnosis forces him to temporarily withdraw from the campaign trail just 32 days before the election on Nov. 3. The White House did not say whether the 74-year-old or his wife were experiencing symptoms. The president’s physician, Dr. Sean Conley, said Trump could carry out his duties “without disruption” from the Executive Mansion, the Times reported. On Friday, Vice President Mike Pence and wife Karen, along with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, all announced that they had tested negative for the new coronavirus. While Trump’s age and weight automatically put him in a high-risk category, Conley pronounced Trump to be “in very good health” last year after his last full medical checkup. And, unlike many of those who have succumbed to the virus, Trump will have the best medical care available, the Times said. On Thursday, reports swirled that Trump’s close advisor, Hope Hicks, had tested positive for COVID-19, the Times said. She had traveled with him several times recently. There was no immediate word on how far… read on >

Ordinary conversation releases airborne droplets that can spread widely through indoor spaces, a finding with big implications for transmission of the new coronavirus, researchers say. Their experiments showed that everyday talk can expel droplets farther than the typical “social distancing” limit of 6 feet. “People should recognize that they have an effect around them,” said Howard Stone, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton University in New Jersey. “It’s not just around your head, it is at the scale of meters.” One meter equals just over 3 feet. How COVID-19 spreads is not fully understood, but it’s believed that people without symptoms could infect others through tiny droplets created when they speak, sing or laugh. “Lots of people have written about coughs and sneezes and the kinds of things you worry about with the flu,” Stone said in a university news release. “But those features are associated with visible symptoms, and with this disease we are seeing a lot of spread by people without symptoms.” Stone and his colleagues conducted tests to determine how far and fast exhaled droplets from normal speaking could spread in an interior space without good ventilation. In such settings, normal conversation can spread droplets at least as far as, and even beyond, social distancing guidelines recommended by U.S. officials (6.5 feet) and the World Health Organization (3.2 feet),… read on >

SATURDAY, Oct. 3, 2020 (HealthDay News) — President Donald Trump was being treated for coronavirus infection at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Saturday, after announcing that he had tested positive for COVID-19 early Friday morning. Trump is struggling with a fever, a cough and nasal congestion, among other symptoms, two officials familiar with his condition told the Washington Post. “President Trump remains in good spirits, has mild symptoms, and has been working throughout the day,” press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Friday. “Out of an abundance of caution, and at the recommendation of his physician and medical experts, the President will be working from the presidential offices at Walter Reed for the next few days.” On Friday, an experimental antibody cocktail made by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. was given to Trump, the Associated Press reported. The company agreed to supply a single dose, given via IV, for Trump at the request of his physician, Dr. Sean Conley, under “compassionate use” provisions, the AP reported. Conley said late Friday that Trump had also been given the antiviral drug remdesivir at the hospital, the AP reported. The Gilead Sciences drug has been shown to help some COVID-19 patients recover more quickly. Trump was also taking zinc, vitamin D, an antacid called famotidine, melatonin and aspirin, Conley said. On Friday, Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen,… read on >

President Donald Trump’s doctors delivered an update of his condition on Sunday that suggested he might have more than just a mild case of COVID-19. Based on the doctors’ accounts, Trump’s symptoms quickly escalated after he announced early Friday morning that he had tested positive for the coronavirus, The New York Times reported. He was taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Friday evening. Trump experienced a “high fever” on Friday, and there were two occasions when his blood oxygen levels dropped, on Friday and again on Saturday, the Times reported. Trump’s oxygen saturation level was 93% at one point, his doctors said. Ninety-five percent is considered the lower limit of the normal range. Many medical experts consider patients to have severe COVID-19 if their oxygen levels drop below 94%, the Times reported. The president’s physicians said he was given supplemental oxygen at the White House on Friday; they were not clear about whether it was administered again on Saturday, or whether his blood oxygen levels had fallen below 90% at some point, the Times reported. In addition to being given an experimental antibody cocktail on Friday, Dr. Sean Conley said Trump was also given the steroid dexamethasone on Saturday and is being treated with remdesivir, an antiviral drug. Dexamethasone has been shown to help patients who are severely ill with COVID-19, but it… read on >

If you’re in an area of the United States at risk for flooding during one of the most active hurricane seasons ever, there are a number of precautions you should take, the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) says. Make a plan for your household, including your pets, so that you and your family know what to do, where to go and what you will need to protect yourselves from flooding as well as COVID-19. Gather supplies, including nonperishable foods, cleaning supplies and water for several days, in case you have leave your home immediately or if services are cut off in your area. You should have at least three days’ worth of supplies on hand, including one gallon of water per day for each person and pet, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends. If possible, include items such as soap, hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol, disinfecting wipes and household cleaning supplies that you can use to disinfect frequently touched surfaces. After a flood, you may lack access to these supplies for days or even weeks. Take into account the specific needs of each person and pet in your household, including medication. Include extra batteries and charging devices for phones and other critical equipment. Know types of flood risk in your area. Go to FEMA’s Flood Map Service Center… read on >

TUESDAY, Sept. 29, 2020 (Healthday News) — The global coronavirus pandemic reached a grim new milestone on Tuesday: One million dead. Americans made up more than 200,000 of those deaths, or one in every five, according to a running tally comprised by Johns Hopkins University. “It’s not just a number. It’s human beings. It’s people we love,” Dr. Howard Markel, a professor of medical history at the University of Michigan, told the Associated Press. He’s an adviser to government officials on how best to handle the pandemic — and he lost his 84-year-old mother to COVID-19 in February. “It’s people we know,” Markel said. “And if you don’t have that human factor right in your face, it’s very easy to make it abstract.” It’s taken the newly emerged SARS-CoV-2 virus just 8 months to reach a worldwide death toll that’s meant personal and economic tragedy for billions. Right now, more than 33 million people worldwide are known to have been infected with the new coronavirus, the Hopkins tally found. In the meantime, Americans struggle to stay ahead of the virus. The U.S. government announced Monday that at least 100 million rapid COVID-19 tests will be distributed to states in the coming weeks. Who will get them first? The White House is urging governors to use the tests to help reopen schools, the Associated Press reported.… read on >

Young women who suffer a particularly deadly condition after a heart attack are 11% more likely to die from it than men, a new study finds. Not only that, women aged 18 to 55 are less likely to receive the tests and aggressive treatment that men routinely receive, and are more likely to die in the hospital, the researchers added. “It’s very difficult to understand exactly what’s causing this,” said lead researcher Dr. Saraschandra Vallabhajosyula, a clinical fellow in interventional cardiology at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. “A lot is related to unconscious or conscious bias when it comes to women and when it comes to acute cardiac conditions,” he said. Much of the bias can be traced to doctors, the family or the health care system, Vallabhajosyula said. Also, women who have heart attacks don’t always have the same symptoms as men, which can result in misdiagnosis, he added. “They have atypical symptoms, such as belly pain, headaches, things that you don’t typically associate with having a heart attack,” Vallabhajosyula said. That’s why many heart attacks in women are missed. Women are also more likely to dismiss their symptoms and wait longer before going to the hospital, which makes their condition worse and opens the door for a deadly condition known as cardiogenic shock, he explained. Cardiogenic shock occurs when the heart… read on >