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A man in Arizona went nearly a month without knowing he had contracted the plague, which can be deadly if not treated promptly, according to a new report. The man recovered, but his case underscores the need to identify infections with serious and potentially contagious pathogens, such as Yersinia pestis — the bacterium that causes plague — in a timely manner, according to the report, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (Rettner, 8/6)

In the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai grouped 1,788 responders based on the time they arrived at the scene of the terrorist attack. They analyzed CT scans for signs of hepatic steatosis, also known as fatty liver disease, which can cause scarring in the liver, cancer or liver failure. Steatosis is associated with exposure to a variety of chemicals, including toxic dust. The researchers found that the sooner a responder arrived at the WTC, the more likely they were to show signs of steatosis. More than 14 percent had signs of the disease, and those who got to the site within two weeks of the attack were most likely to show liver changes. (Blakemore, 8/7)

Motorists put the pedal to the metal during the pandemic and police are worried as roads get busy with the final stretch of summer travel. The latest data shows the number of highway deaths in 2020 was the greatest in more than a decade even though cars and trucks drove fewer miles during the pandemic. “Summer is an incredibly dangerous time. And it culminates with Labor Day, that last hurrah,” said Pam Shadel Fischer of the Governors Highway Safety Association. (Sharp, 8/8)

Just as some cities were about to see relief from the degraded air quality caused by wildfire smoke, another plume is expected to trickle in from the West, highlighting what authorities say is a reality for the remainder of a long and intense wildfire season. Several studies in recent months are sounding alarms about how harmful microscopic particles from smoke can wreak havoc on the public's health despite being hundreds of miles from the fire sites. (Fernandez, 8/9)

When it gets so hot that the hallucinations start, and her eyes hurt and her spit begins to foam, construction worker Sharon Medina disappears behind a wall of co-workers to sneak a sip of water. She discovered the hard way not to complain to the boss about working in the heat. Witnessing a colleague get fired after collapsing while demolishing flooded, moldy Houston homes in Hurricane Harvey’s aftermath, Medina learned to stay quiet and keep her jobs. ... There is no federal standard protecting people like Medina from heat, which killed 815 workers between 1992 and 2017 and seriously injured 70,000 more, according to federal records. (Wittenberg and Colman, 8/8)

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health continues to advise that visitors to Mother’s Beach in Marina Del Rey and the Santa Monica Pier avoid the water due to high bacteria levels. The advisory comes nearly a month after 17 million gallons of raw sewage were discharged from the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant in Playa del Rey into the Santa Monica Bay. (Ramsey, 8/8)

A number of major retailers — Target, Kohl’s, J.C. Penney and Zappos, among them — are vying to simplify back-to-school shopping for those with disabilities and special medical needs. They are debuting and expanding “adaptive” clothing lines that include shirts with hidden access to medical ports, and pants that can be easily pulled on with one hand. There are magnetic closures instead of buttons, and thumbhole cuffs to keep jacket sleeves in place. (Bhattarai, 8/6)

As the pandemic took hold, a Kansas City-area meeting and event planning business began hawking “I Shake Hands” stickers to help ease awkward social encounters. “We didn’t want the sticker to say, ‘We Don’t Shake Hands’ because that is kind of off-putting,” said John DeLeon, vice president of operations and sales at MTI Events, adding that the idea was that anti-shakers could simply choose not to wear one of the stickers. “But if someone had the sticker on in that group, then that was the indication that it was OK.” Now, as workers return to the office, friends reunite and more church services shift from Zoom to in person, this exact question is befuddling growing numbers of people: to shake or not to shake? (Hollingsworth, 8/8)

Dave Ramirez squeezed the frozen bottle with both hands, watching the golden goop come out like toothpaste. Then, he took a big sticky bite. “I’m not going to lie,” he said in a TikTok video. “That was pretty refreshing.” Thus, the frozen honey trend was born. (Medina, 8/8)