Doctors’ visits for flu highest in 15 years, most since swine flu pandemic: CDC
Guido Meith/Getty
(NEW YORK) — Outpatient health care visits for flu illnesses are at their highest levels in 15 years, according to data updated Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Nearly 8% of outpatient health care visits for respiratory illnesses are due to flu-like illness, which is the highest seen since the 2009-10 flu season, during the swine flu pandemic, data shows.
During the week ending Feb. 1, 8% of emergency department visits were due to flu compared with 3.2% the same time last year, according to the CDC data.
Additionally, 31.6% of tests came back positive for flu during the week ending Feb. 1 compared to a peak of 18.2% last season, CDC data shows.
“Given the sharp rise [of flu illnesses] particularly among young children and in key regions like New York City, this is a stark reminder of how unpredictable flu seasons can be,” said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor.
“With [influenza-like illness] rates exceeding 10% in several states and hospitalization rates climbing in older adults, this wave could put significant pressure on our health systems in the coming weeks,” he added.
What’s more, the rate of people dying from flu is now equal to the rate of people dying from COVID-19, likely for the first time since the COVID pandemic began.
The CDC estimates there have been at least 24 million illnesses, 310,000 hospitalizations and 13,000 deaths from flu so far this season.
At least 57 pediatric flu deaths have been reported so far this season, with 10 reported during the week ending Feb. 1.
Flu vaccines are available for both children and adults, but vaccination coverage remains low, meaning “many children and adults lack protection from respiratory virus infections provided by vaccines,” according to the CDC.
Data shows only 45% of adults aged 18 and older have been vaccinated against flu this season as have 45.7% of children.
CDC data also shows that overall respiratory illness activity is listed as “very high” nationwide. Currently, 12 states are listed as “very high” and 19 states are listed as “high.”
By comparison, seven states were listed as “very high” and 20 states were listed as “high” last week.
Although COVID-19 activity is “elevated” in many areas of the U.S., CDC data shows emergency department visits are at low levels and the number of laboratory tests coming back positive is falling.
Respiratory syncytial virus activity was also described as “elevated” but declining in most areas of the U.S., according to the CDC.
(NEW YORK) — Longer periods of extreme heat has been found to accelerate biological age in older adults by up to two years, according to new research.
More heat days over time correlated with deterioration at the molecular and cellular level in adults 56 years or older, likely because the biological deterioration accumulates over time and eventually leads to disease and disability, Eunyoung Choi, a postdoctoral associate at the University of California’s Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, told ABC News.
Researchers at the University of Southern California studied blood samples from 3,686 adults starting at an average chronological age of 68 years with varying socioeconomic backgrounds across the U.S. and compared epigenetic aging trends to the number of extreme heat days in the participants’ places of residence, according to a study published Wednesday in Science Advances.
“Epigenetic age is one way we measure biological aging, which tells us how well our body is functioning at the physical, molecular and the cellular levels,” Choi said. “…We know that some people seem to age faster than others, and that’s because biological aging doesn’t always match chronological age.”
Regression modeling showed that more heat days, or longer-term heat, over one and six years increased biological age by 2.48 years. Short and mid-term heat also increased biological age by 1.07 years, according to the paper.
Extreme heat was defined as the daily maximum heat index — derived from both temperature and humidity — with a “caution” range of between 80 degrees to 90 degrees Fahrenheit and an “extreme caution” range of between 90 degrees and 103 degrees Fahrenheit, in accordance with the National Weather Service, according to the paper. “Extreme danger” was defined as any heat index level over 124 degrees Fahrenheit.
The researchers compared the epigenetic age of participants from regions with long periods of extreme heat to those living in cooler climates. There was a 14-month difference in epigenetic age between residents living in places like Phoenix, Arizona, than milder places like Seattle, even after accounting other individual and community-level differences, like income, education, physical activity and smoking, Choi said.
“Two people that had identical sociodemographic characteristics and similar lifestyles, just because one is living in a hotter environment, they experience additional biological aging,” she said.
The 14-month differences is comparable to effects seen with smoking and heavy alcohol consumption — two well-established risk factors of accelerated biological aging, the researchers found.
DNA methylation — the process of chemical modification to DNA that tends to change as people age — is “highly responsive” to environmental exposures like social stress, pollution and, in this case, extreme heat, Choi said.
Previous research has linked extreme heat to serious health risks like cardiovascular disease, kidney dysfunction, hospitalization and even death, Choi said. But prior to this research, scientists did not fully understand what is occurring at the biological level before those health issues appear, Choi added.
“The physical toll of the heat might not show up right away as a diagnosable health condition, but it could be taking a silent toll at the cellular and the molecular level,” Choi said.
It’s important to uncover potential hidden effects of heat on the body because it can serve as an “important precursor” before they turn into more serious health conditions, Choi said.
“We can intervene at the earlier stage,” she added.
Humidity also plays a big role in how the body responds to heat, especially for older adults, Choi said.
“As we age, our bodies don’t cool down as rapidly,” she said.
The new research provides a foundation for the development of targeted public health interventions, the researchers said.
“This provides strong evidence critical for guiding public policy and advocacy initiatives aimed at developing mitigation strategies against climate change,” Choi said.
ABC News Medical Unit’s Dr. Jessica Yang contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — If you’re feeling hungover from New Year’s Eve champagne or had one too many boozy eggnogs over the holidays, let January be a fresh start.
Taking the challenge of going dry in January, or Dry January, i.e. having no alcohol for the entire month, is one resolution that might actually make you healthier.
The Dry January campaign was started in 2013 by Alcohol Change U.K., a charity focused on reducing alcohol harm. For the past several years, the initiative has proved popular in the United States and other countries too.
What are the health benefits of Dry January?
While research on how quitting alcohol for a month affects your body is still limited, several studies have shown psychological and health benefits.
Over one dozen staff members at the magazine New Scientist teamed up with researchers at the Institute for Liver and Digestive Health at the University College London Medical School in 2013 to investigate the benefits of Dry January.
The staff members, who all considered themselves “normal” drinkers, underwent baseline testing with blood samples, liver ultrasound scans and questionnaires. For the next five weeks, 10 of them stopped drinking and four drank their normal amounts.
The people who stopped drinking had lower levels of liver fat (which can be a precursor to liver damage), improved blood sugars and lower cholesterol than they did at the beginning of the month. They also reported improved sleep and concentration. In contrast, the four people who kept drinking saw no benefit.
Another study out of the U.K. had nearly 100 participants abstain from drinking alcohol for a month and another nearly 50 participants continue drinking alcohol as normal.
They found that moderate-heavy drinkers who took a break from alcohol had improved insulin resistance, weight, blood pressure, and cancer-related growth factors.
The researchers do warn, however, that the study does not show that a short-term ‘detox’ period is all that is required to ‘refresh’ the liver or achieve other health gains. Abstaining from alcohol for a month is only one part of addressing negative effects from longer-term alcohol consumption.
People who drink excessive amounts of alcohol are at higher risk of death and many medical conditions.
People who drink unhealthy amounts of alcohol are more likely to have high blood pressure, heart disease, liver disease, nerve damage, infections including pneumonia and even certain cancers like breast cancer.
Dr. Fulton Crews, director of the Center for Alcohol Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said attempting to stop drinking for Dry January is a good opportunity for people to see if they have an actual addiction to alcohol.
“Many people are in denial about their drinking and hazardous drinking, and if they try to stop and are not able to, it really points out to them their weakness,” Crews told ABC News. “If they can’t stop for a month, they would realize that they have a problem.
“Either that or they do it, and they realize it’s not that hard for them,” said Crews, who described Dry January as a “good idea.”
Experts say Dry January may be especially helpful to those who consistently drink over the recommended amount of two drinks per day for men and one drink per day for women.
Excessive drinking includes binge drinking, defined as consuming five or more drinks for men in a single occasion and four or more drinks for women, and heavy drinking, defined as consuming 15 or more drinks per week for men or eight drinks or more for women). A standard drink is 12 ounces of a regular beer, 8 ounces of a malt liquor, 5 ounces of a glass of wine, and 1.5 ounces of a spirit, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
For those individuals who drink alcohol within the recommended limits, Crews said he is “not sure there would be any observable benefits.”
“I don’t see any clear potential for a moderate drinking person to stop drinking,” he said.
If you do choose to participate in Dry January, Crews shared his advice for sticking to the program.
“Try to avoid temptation by maybe putting all the alcohol out of the house,” he said.
Does Dry January prompt bigger change for some?
Staying dry for January may also help jump-start people to give up alcohol for longer.
Although most people who participate in Dry January return to drinking, up to 8% stay dry six months later, according to Public Health England and the British Medical Journal.
And those who go back to drinking drink less. A 2015 study conducted in the U.K. and published in the journal Health Psychology found that people who participated in Dry January drank less often, had fewer drinks when they did drink and were drunk less often six months after Dry January was completed.
Dry January participants were also better able to refuse alcoholic drinks. These benefits were even seen in people who did not complete the whole month of Dry January.
It might seem daunting to stop drinking alcohol for a whole month. But a 2020 Alcohol and Alcoholism study found that nearly 70% of people completed the Dry January Challenge in 2019.
If you are concerned about yourself or a loved one, call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMSA) confidential, free, 24-hour-a-day, 365-day-a-year helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357). For information and resources about alcohol-related problems and health, visit the website of the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) HERE.
Editor’s note: This piece was originally published on Jan. 3, 2018.
Hum Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — As world leaders mourn the death of former President Jimmy Carter and remark on his political and policy legacy, doctors are remembering his efforts to prevent disease, and his legacy in furthering global public health.
The 39th president spent five decades working to eradicate a parasitic disease, helped organize a major-drug donation program, and made advancements addressing the mental health crisis in the U.S.
Dr. Julie Jacobson, currently a managing partner of the nonprofit Bridges to Development, helped to provide funding for the Carter Center’s work in the Americas, Nigeria and Ethiopia while she worked for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for over a decade.
“He was hugely influential, I think particularly for the diseases that most of the world doesn’t appreciate even exist,” Jacobson told ABC News of Jimmy Carter’s work. “He was a true champion for the neglected tropical diseases, which are some of the most common infections of people who live with the least resources. And he found these diseases and then really wanted to do something about them, and used his voice, his influence, his passion, to continue to push forward where others were really not interested.”
Near-eradication of Guinea worm disease
Following his loss to Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential election, Carter founded the Carter Center in 1982, a non-profit organization that “seeks to prevent and resolve conflicts, enhance freedom and democracy, and improve health,” according to the Center’s website.
Among the organization’s many efforts, the Carter Center helped spearhead a successful international campaign with the goal of eradicating dracunculiasis, also known as Guinea worm disease, a parasitic infection caused by consuming contaminated drinking water.
Water from ponds or other stagnant bodies of water can contain tiny crustaceans commonly known as water fleas, which in turn can be infected with Guinea worm larvae, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
About one year after infecting a human host, the Guinea worm creates a blister on the skin and emerges from it, which can cause burning pain, fever and swelling, according to the CDC and the World Health Organization.
“Nobody else wanted to take it on,” Jimmy Carter told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos during a 2015 interview on “Good Morning America”. “So, I decided to take it on.”
In 1986, Guinea worm disease afflicted 3.5 million people every year in 21 African and Asian countries. Disease incidence has since been reduced by 99.99%, to just 14 “provisional” human cases in 2023, according to the Carter Center.
Jacobson said that success is even more remarkable because there are no vaccines available to prevent Guinea worm disease and no drugs to treat it. Tracking Guinea worm disease, according to Jacobson, involves following possible cases for a year to determine if they are infected, checking to see if infected humans have any infected water sources near them, and monitoring the community as a whole.
“To think that you could eradicate a disease without any tools is really still just a crazy idea, but he did it with perseverance and working with people in the grassroots within communities and putting together teams of people to go and work with people in those communities and empower the communities,” Jacobson said.
The Carter Center says if efforts are successful, Guinea worm disease could become the second human disease in history to be completely eradicated, after smallpox, and the first to be done without the use of a vaccine or medicine.
Carter told ABC News during the 2015 interview that eradicating the disease entirely was his goal: “I think this is going to be a great achievement for, not for me, but for the people that have been afflicted and for the entire world to see diseases like this eradicated.”
Mass drug distribution for river blindness
The Carter Center also works to fight other preventable diseases, including the parasitic infections schistosomiasis and lymphatic filariasis – more commonly known as snail fever and elephantiasis, respectively – as well as trachoma, which is one of the world’s leading causes of preventable blindness. It’s also working with the governments of Haiti and the Dominican Republic to eliminate lymphatic filariasis and malaria from the island of Hispaniola, which both countries share and which is “the last reservoir in the Caribbean for both diseases,” according to the Carter Center.
Carter and his organization also played a part in organizing a major drug-donation program to help eliminate onchocerciasis, also known as river blindness, which is transmitted to human through repeated bites of infected blackflies, according to the CDC.
Pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. had been implementing field studies in Africa which showed that the drug ivermectin was effective at treating river blindness in humans. The Carter Center partnered with Merck to mass-distribute ivermectin, brand name Mectizan, “as much as needed for as long as needed” in Africa and Latin America. To date, the Carter Center has assisted in distributing more than 500 million treatments of Mectizan, according to Merck.
In 1995, Carter negotiated a two-month cease-fire in Sudan to allow health care workers there to more safely help eradicate Guinea worm disease, prevent river blindness, and vaccinate children against polio.
“When we have known solutions, it is ethical to make sure they’re available to the people who need it most,” Dr. Usha Ramakrishnan, chair of the Department of Global Health at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, told ABC News. “And that’s where we were with river blindness. There was a treatment, but improving access to medications, making it affordable, reaching the people they need was very much along the lines of the work [the Carter Center] was doing.”
Addressing mental health
Carter was also committed to tackling mental health issues. During his presidency, he created the Presidential Commission on Mental Health, which recommended a national plan to care for people with chronic mental illness.
Although it was never adopted as policy by the Reagan administration, the plan’s recommended strategies were adopted by some mental health advocacy groups to “make gains in the 1980s,” according to one study.
Carter also signed into law the Mental Health Systems Act of 1980, which provided funding to community mental health centers.
After his presidency, Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter continued working to improve access to mental health.
Ramakrishnan said the Carters’ work helped to reduce some of the stigma associated with mental health.
“There continues to be a lot of stigma, but they truly got it out [in] the conversation and mainstreaming mental health as an important aspect of health and well-being,” Ramakrishnan said. “There’s still a lot of challenges, and there are many capable people that they have mentored and trained who are carrying that mantle forward.”
