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More than 200 lingering symptoms have been reported in patients who suffer ongoing health problems after a covid infection. Now a new study has identified 12 key symptoms that best define the debilitating condition known as long covid. The findings, published Thursday in JAMA, are based on 9,764 participants in a study called the RECOVER initiative, which stands for researching covid to enhance recovery, a four-year, $1.15 billion study of long covid funded by the National Institutes of Health. (Morris, 5/25)

Although the process seems slow − this study was started more than a year ago − it is essential to precisely define long COVID before researchers can pursue treatments, said Andrea Foulkes, the study's other lead author. If they don't have a way to distinguish people with long COVID from those without, they won't be able to tell if a treatment is making a difference. (Weintraub, 5/25)

About 10% of people appear to suffer long COVID after an omicron infection, a lower estimate than earlier in the pandemic, according to a study of nearly 10,000 Americans that aims to help unravel the mysterious condition. Early findings from the National Institutes of Health’s study highlight a dozen symptoms that most distinguish long COVID, the catchall term for the sometimes debilitating health problems that can last for months or years after even a mild case of COVID-19. (Neergaard, 5/26)

A study including all Danish adults published yesterday in JAMA Psychiatry suggests an increased risk of new-onset mental illness only in SARS-CoV-2–positive patients aged 70 and older. It also finds that worsened mental health after COVID-19 hospitalization is common but no more so than after other, similarly severe respiratory infections. (Van Beusekom, 5/25)

Pfizer received full approval on Thursday for its COVID-19 pill Paxlovid that’s been the go-to treatment against the coronavirus. More than 11 million prescriptions for Paxlovid have been dispensed since the Food and Drug Administration allowed emergency use in late 2021. The emergency status was based on early studies and was intended to be temporary pending follow-up research. The FDA granted full approval for adults with COVID-19 who face high risks of severe disease, which can lead to hospitalization or death. That group typically includes older adults and those with common medical conditions like diabetes, asthma and obesity. (Perrone, 5/25)

The Biden administration will continue to manage the distribution of free courses of Pfizer's Paxlovid treatment for COVID-19 for at least another few months, the drugmaker said, even after the Food and Drug Administration granted Pfizer full approval Thursday to market the pills. "At this time, the U.S. government will continue to oversee the distribution of PAXLOVID, and U.S. residents eligible for PAXLOVID will continue to receive the medicine at no charge," Pfizer said in a release. (Tin, 5/25)

Germany's BioNTech said it was on track to introduce a COVID-19 shot by the early fall in the northern hemisphere that is adapted to currently dominant virus variants in line with recommendations by the World Health Organization. BioNTech was targeting regulatory approval by the end of the summer to allow for a seasonal vaccination campaign to start in early autumn, CEO and co-founder Ugur Sahin told shareholders at the biotech firm's annual general meeting on Thursday. (5/25)

A federal appeals court Thursday overturned a judge’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit challenging Gov. Janet Mills’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers, according to the Portland Press Herald. A panel of three judges for the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously found U.S. District Judge Jon Levy had not properly weighed the possible public health impact of religious exemptions and ordered the lower court to review that portion of the case, according to the Portland newspaper. (5/25)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: �������ýҕ�l Health News' 'What the Health?': When An Anti-Vaccine Activist Runs For President 

How should journalists cover political candidates who make false claims about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines? That question will need to be answered now that noted anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has officially entered the 2024 presidential race. (5/25)

White House aides and House Republican leaders were moving closer to a deal Thursday evening aimed at resolving the debt ceiling standoff just days before the U.S. government could run out of money, as key compromises on both sides seemed likely to pave the way for a bipartisan agreement. (Siegel, Stein, Kane and Caldwell, 5/25)

A top Republican negotiating a debt ceiling hike blasted the White House on Thursday over work requirements for social benefits programs, indicating that the thorny issue remains a sticking point as the country inches closer to a government default. Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) argued the Democrats’ staunch opposition to tougher work requirements will threaten the recipients of other federal benefit programs. He characterized overall progress as “slow.” (Schnell and Lillis, 5/25)

House lawmakers are leaving Washington for the long holiday weekend Thursday afternoon — just one week before the Treasury Department says the U.S. is at risk of a debt default — without a deal to raise the debt ceiling. (Folley, 5/25)

As details leak about an emerging bipartisan debt deal just days before a possible default, House conservatives are growing increasingly unhappy. With House GOP leadership revealing few policy specifics as talks continue, their lawmakers have sought information elsewhere. In this case, some GOP members are consulting a list — said to detail exactly where the negotiators have found common ground — that Rep. Tim Burchett shared with colleagues on the floor Thursday. The Tennessean, one of four Republicans to oppose the House GOP’s debt ceiling plan, declined to tell reporters where the list originated, but a Republican familiar with the matter said it came from leadership. (Beavers and Ferris, 5/25)

Hundreds of thousands of low-income Americans have lost Medicaid coverage in recent weeks as part of a sprawling unwinding of a pandemic-era policy that prohibited states from removing people from the program. Early data shows that many people lost coverage for procedural reasons, such as when Medicaid recipients did not return paperwork to verify their eligibility or could not be located. The large number of terminations on procedural grounds suggests that many people may be losing their coverage even though they are still qualified for it. Many of those who have been dropped have been children. (Weiland, 5/26)

As negotiations over the debt ceiling drag on in Congress, one point of contention could have major ripple impacts into Colorado. Republicans have proposed adding work requirements to Medicaid. As many as 46,000 people could lose Medicaid coverage in Colorado if the GOP-backed work requirements become law, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. That could then force Colorado officials to decide whether to spend hundreds of millions of state dollars to keep those people covered. (Ingold, 5/26)

State welfare officials sent out more than 37,000 letters to low-income Missourians earlier this month asking them to renew their taxpayer-funded health insurance for the first time in three years. As part of a national effort, Missouri and other states began the process of weeding out people who no longer qualify for Medicaid coverage on April 1. (Erickson, 5/25)

Hurled from a road-paving machine, Michael Sheldon tumbled 50 feet down a Colorado slope and struck a mound of boulders headfirst on a summer day in 2006. After eight surgeries to his head, neck and spinal cord, his debilitating headaches, chronic pain and post-traumatic stress have made it impossible to return to his work preparing roads for new subdivisions. Yet for more than a decade, the Social Security Administration repeatedly denied Sheldon’s full claim for disability benefits that would pay him $1,415 a month. (Rein, 5/25)

A state medical board is reprimanding an Indiana doctor who drew national attention after speaking publicly about providing an abortion for a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio. Dr. Caitlin Bernard was called before Indiana's Medical Licensing Board after the state's Republican attorney general filed a complaint. A majority of board members found that she had violated privacy laws by speaking about the case, and voted to fine her $3,000 in addition to the reprimand. (McCammon, 5/26)

Bernard's employer, IU Health, said she didn't violate HIPAA privacy laws. Her attorneys noted that she reported the girl's abuse on a state form and it had already been reported to law enforcement in Ohio, where the crimes took place. A suspect was subsequently arrested and charged in Ohio. Peter Schwartz, chair of the Council of Ethical & Judicial Affairs at the American Medical Association, said Thursday Bernard had an “affirmative” obligation to speak out when faced with the "most compelling ... ethical dilemma of our lifetimes," referring to the end of the right to an abortion. (Magdaleno, 5/25)

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster signed a newly minted six-week abortion ban Thursday behind closed doors, triggering a new battle for abortion access in the state as the U.S. South faces a wave of severe restrictions to the care. The state's new ban prohibits abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, which the law says is when a fetal heartbeat can be detected. The ban will go into effect immediately. (Chhetri and Nguyen, 5/26)

Access to abortion has decreased in the South in the 11 months since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Sixteen states have ceased nearly all abortions. (El-Bawab, 5/25)

Civil liberties groups told police in 71 California communities Thursday they must stop sharing automated license plate information with law enforcement agencies in other states that could use the data to track people seeking or providing abortions. (Egelko, 5/25)

 The US Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade, created a fractured abortion landscape in the United States. Nearly a year later, a new KFF survey shows that it has left widespread confusion about the legal status of abortion, along with little trust in the high court to decide cases on reproductive health. (McPhillips, 5/26)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: A Catch-22 For Clinics: State Bans Limit Abortion Counseling. Federal Title X Rules Require It. 

State abortion bans in Tennessee and beyond, which constrain women’s health care, have put family planning clinics at risk of losing their federal funding. The conflict involves the Title X family planning program, which provides services to low-income people, including minors. As of 2021, more than 3,200 clinics used federal grants to supply free or low-cost contraception, testing for sexually transmitted infections, screening for breast and cervical cancer, and pregnancy-related counseling. (Pradhan, 5/26)

The type of gut bacteria in colorectal cancer tumors varies significantly between younger and older patients, offering a clue toward understanding why cases are rising in people under 45, according to a study due to be presented at next week's American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting. (Reed, 5/26)

A second person has died after seeking medical treatment at a clinic in Matamoros, Mexico, linked to suspected cases of fungal meningitis, according to an updated advisory from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The advisory, issued Wednesday, also warned that more than 200 people across the United States are potentially at risk. (Malhi, 5/25)

Mpox infections exploded early in the summer of 2022 in the wake of Pride gatherings. More than 30,000 U.S. cases were reported last year, most of them spread during sexual contact between gay and bisexual men. About 40 people died. With Pride events planned across the country in the coming weeks, health officials and event organizers say they are optimistic that this year infections will be fewer and less severe. A bigger supply of vaccine, more people with immunity and readier access to a drug to treat mpox are among the reasons. But they also worry that people may think of mpox as last year’s problem. (Stobbe, 5/25)

Trying to get a better night’s rest is one of the most common reasons people use marijuana, pot gummies or CBD products—but it’s not clear that they actually improve your sleep. Cannabis probably can help you fall asleep, doctors and researchers say, but there’s little conclusive evidence that healthy adults get a better night’s rest overall. You may feel groggy the next day, or risk developing a dependence over time, doctors and researchers say. (Reddy, 5/25)

Raw cookie dough seems to be an irresistible temptation for many people. Whether they pick a piece from the mixing bowl, lick the spoon used to scoop it, or even bite straight into a store-bought roll — they can’t help but ignore health authorities’ warnings to not eat it. A salmonella outbreak linked to raw cookie dough has sickened at least 18 people in six states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Two people were hospitalized. (Bever, 5/25)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: Denials Of Health Insurance Claims Are Rising — And Getting Weirder 

Millions of Americans in the past few years have run into this experience: filing a health care insurance claim that once might have been paid immediately but instead is just as quickly denied. If the experience and the insurer’s explanation often seem arbitrary and absurd, that might be because companies appear increasingly likely to employ computer algorithms or people with little relevant experience to issue rapid-fire denials of claims — sometimes bundles at a time — without reviewing the patient’s medical chart. A job title at one company was “denial nurse.” (Rosenthal, 5/26)

Vaccine experts tend to be a serious bunch, but many are downright giddy about vaccine clinical trial results presented last week at a medical conference in Seattle. The actual vaccine isn't new — it's the one used to protect against measles and rubella (German measles) and was formulated decades ago. But new results show that the novel delivery system, in development for more than two decades, could be a big step forward, especially for low-income countries. (Kritz, 5/26)

Yesterday federal officials and leaders from Kansas formally opened the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) in Manhattan, Kansas, marking the culmination of plans that have been in the works since 2006 to replace the 68-year-old Plum Island Animal Disease Facility, a biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) facility in New York. The NBAF is the nation's only large-animal BSL-4 facility that is designed to handle pathogens that don't have any treatments or countermeasures. (Schnirring, 5/25)

Neuralink, the neurotech startup co-founded by Elon Musk, announced Thursday it has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration to conduct its first in-human clinical study. Neuralink is building a brain implant called the Link, which aims to help patients with severe paralysis control external technologies using only neural signals. This means patients with severe degenerative diseases like ALS could eventually regain their ability to communicate with loved ones by moving cursors and typing with their minds. (Capoot, 5/25)

Illumina shareholders voted to elect one of activist investor Carl Icahn’s three nominees to the company’s board of directors, giving him a partial victory in a bruising proxy battle he launched over the biotechnology company’s handling of a risky acquisition. (Loftus, 5/25)

An effort to get the FDA to pull a widely used prescription drug monitoring software package off the market is stoking a broader debate over how much technology is influencing opioid prescribing. The Center for U.S. Policy says Bamboo Health's NarxCare should be classified a medical device and subject to regulation, because of the way it helps doctors and other providers decide if a patient should get painkillers. (Gonzalez and Moreno, 5/26)

Amid concern that HIV prevention pills are not being widely taken by those at highest risk of infection, AIDS activists hope that a trial getting underway in a federal courtroom this week will help explain why the medicine has struggled to see uptake. (Silverman, 5/25)

In a wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation, 19 U.S. states thus far have banned at least some gender-affirming health care for minors — care that is evidence-based and supported by the major medical and professional organizations. The state of Texas may soon add to that count, with legislators passing a bill last week that Governor Greg Abbott has promised to sign when it comes across his desk. (Gaffney, 5/26)

As Texas prepares to ban gender-affirming care for minors, a leader in the field is closing her practice and leaving the state. Dallas-based pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Ximena Lopez started GENECIS, a clinic for transgender youth, in 2014. At the time, she expected some backlash from the community. The first pediatric gender clinic in the United States had been around for only seven years, at Boston Children’s Hospital. (Rivera, 5/25)

The shot of testosterone Noah Lovell takes each week has become a form of resistance for him since Florida officials started limited transgender rights. “No matter what, I’m not going to let them take my joy,” Lovell said. For the last year or so, the Lakeland resident has received hormone therapy (HRT), through Planned Parenthood and says it’s critical to helping his body align with his identity. (Colombini, 5/25)

Tennessee’s decision to exclude gender-affirming care for its employees is unconstitutional and discriminatory, according to a federal lawsuit brought by two people who were denied such services while working for the state. Attorneys representing Gerda Zinner, 30, and Story VanNess, 38, say the two were denied even though their medical teams deemed the services medically necessary. Zinner still works for the state as an academic adviser but VanNess has since left her position as a special education teacher after unsuccessfully appealing her case. (Kruesi, 5/25)

The City of St. Louis has acted to give its transgender residents additional levels of protection, following a legislative session in which their access to health care and ability to participate in sports came under attack. Mayor Tishaura Jones signed an executive order Thursday that her office said established “new practices in key city departments to be more inclusive of diverse gender identities.” (Lippmann, 5/25)

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday signed into law a measure that increases the penalties for assault or battery of hospital personnel. The measure (HB 825) passed through the Senate on May 2 and the House a month earlier. Sponsors were Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez, R-Doral, and House sponsor Rep. Kimberly Berfield, R-Clearwater. The legislation has been praised by health workers. Data show physical attacks on hospital personnel by patients, family members and others are on the rise, and that nurses are most likely to be the victims. (5/25)

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued citations this week to Nationwide Children's Hospital after an investigation into accusations that it failed to protect employees from patient assaults. The U.S. Department of Labor agency opened the investigation in November at the Columbus hospital's Big Lots Behavioral Health Pavilion after a complaint alleging unsafe working conditions, the Labor Department announced Thursday. It inspected the facility multiple times from Nov. 25 to May 19, before issuing the two citations Monday. (Shuda, 5/25)

After years of consideration, Minnesota will start ushering in a paid family and medical leave program that doesn’t depend on where a person works. Gov. Tim Walz signed the legislation Thursday, capping a hard push that previously ended in letdown and became a reality after narrow passage by Democratic majorities this year. (Bakst, 5/25)

After a dip during the first year of the pandemic, suicide rates in Minnesota rose again during 2021 and 2022. A new report from the state Department of Health released Thursday said final data show 808 suicide deaths in 2021, and preliminary numbers show 831 suicide deaths in 2022. (Wiley, 5/25)

At all nine of Minneapolis’ big public high schools, students can have weekly talk therapy appointments, get an IUD or any other form of birth control, test for STIs, get a physical, immunized and more — all within the walls of their school. (Birnstengel, 5/26)

State welfare officials sent out more than 37,000 letters to low-income Missourians earlier this month asking them to renew their taxpayer-funded health insurance for the first time in three years. As part of a national effort, Missouri and other states began the process of weeding out people who no longer qualify for Medicaid coverage on April 1. (Erickson, 5/25)

Colorado medical providers will need to get patients’ prior consent before medical students can perform pelvic exams on them while they are unconscious for a procedure under a bill signed into law Thursday. In signing off on the law in her capacity as acting governor, Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera put Colorado with at least 20 other states that have consent laws on the books. But Colorado’s goes far beyond other states’ because it requires that the medical students be named ahead of time and meet the patient — a step one bioethicist is concerned might impede students’ chances to learn. (Bedayn, 5/25)

Despite bipartisan support, a bill that would require that some insurers cover fertility treatment has once again stalled in Oregon's Democratic-controlled Legislature. Oregon's fertility rate is one of the lowest in the country. Twenty other states have passed a mandate for insurers to cover fertility care, according to Resolve: The National Infertility Association. (Gebel, 5/25)

"Silence is kind of a peak achievement in a child's ability to control themselves," Mejía-Menendez says. "We create the conditions for children to concentrate." Unlike this classroom, the city outside is full of noise. And studies show that too much noise, particularly loud noise, can hurt a child's cognitive development, notably for language-based skills such as reading. That's because if noise is just, well, noise, it distracts developing brains and makes it more difficult for children to concentrate. But when their environment is quiet enough for them to pay attention to sounds that are important or particularly interesting to them, it is a powerful teaching tool. (Johnson, 5/24)

Anne Corliss loves babies — so much, that somehow, quietly and without her noticing, she spent 25 years cradling them in her arms at a Bangor hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit. She is considered a master cuddler. Corliss, 66, is one of 18 volunteers involved in the Carter’s Quiet Care Cuddlers program, which tends to the hospital’s tiniest patients when parents aren’t around. She began volunteering at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center’s pediatric unit in 1990 and moved to the NICU when the cuddlers program began in 1998. (Royzman, 5/23)

There’s a “really robust body of evidence” that suggests that creating art, as well as activities like attending a concert or visiting a museum, can benefit mental health, said Jill Sonke, research director of the University of Florida Center for Arts in Medicine. Here are a few simple ways to elevate your mood with the arts. (Caron, 5/22)

For as long as I have been feeding myself—which, for the record, is several decades now—I have been feeding myself fast. I bite big, in rapid succession; my chews are hasty and few. In the time it takes others to get through a third of their meal, mine is already gone. You could reasonably call my approach to eating pneumatic, reminiscent of a suction-feeding fish or a Roomba run amok. (Wu, 5/22)

In the last few years, managers at Nvidia, the global computer graphics company, began hearing a new kind of complaint: Some of their female employees were struggling with hot flashes, fatigue and brain fog — common symptoms of the menopause transition — and their regular doctors weren’t offering guidance or relief. “They came to us and said, ‘Who do I go to?’” Denise Rosa, the company’s head of U.S. medical programs, said. “They were like, ‘We have fertility support, we have egg freezing, we have surrogacy and adoption. What about me?’” (Otterman, 5/22)

The drug could reroute the trajectory of a kid's life—or throw it off course. (Tayag, 5/25)

Four decades ago, medical researchers reached out to ailing families in Colombia for insights into Huntington’s disease. Scientists are just now following up, hoping it’s not too late. (Smith, 5/23)

There’s a lack of appreciation of the impact RSV infections have on older adults, experts who research this virus acknowledge. (Branswell, 5/26)

While society yawns, impatient to move on from the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans still play disability roulette. About 1 in 10 of the 110,000 people who catch COVID this week in the United States, many for a second or third time, will be left lastingly ill. (Wes Ely, 5/26)

Texas lawmakers are close to the finish line with a bill that will have a major impact on low-income Texas mothers. It’s bipartisan legislation that will extend Medicaid from three months of postpartum care to 12 months. (5/25)

A recent report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (of which one of us, GC, is an author) shows that underrepresentation of population subgroups in clinical research is bad for the health of Americans. For instance, recent research showed that appropriate dosing for an often- prescribed blood thinner, warfarin, differs due to genetic variants. People with African ancestry require higher average doses (6 mg per day) than those with Asian ancestry, who require lower average doses (about 3.4 mg per day). (Gloria Coronado and Leslie Bienen, 5/26)

Although discrimination both by clinicians and by patients and families is well documented, occurs relatively commonly, and may be based on characteristics other than race, the laws that can be used to address these two types of discrimination differ substantially. (Kimani Paul-Emilie, J.D., Ph.D., 5/25)

Medical providers and the community alike are asking: "Are we seeing more emerging infections? And what can we do to stop future outbreaks?" (Felicia Scaggs Huang, 5/25)