Month: August 2022

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 24, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Fecal transplant treatments could infect patients with monkeypox, the US Food and Drug Administration has been warned.

Since May, an outbreak of monkeypox has been spreading in multiple countries, including the United States. Nearly 16,000 people in the United States have already been infected with the virus, which is transmitted through close physical contact with symptomatic individuals.

Monkeypox virus DNA has been found in rectal swabs and stool samples from infected people, the FDA said in its alertwhich was issued this week.

That includes one study where monkeypox virus was found in three people who reported no symptoms of the disease, the agency said.

“FDA is advising that clinical use of FMT [fecal microbiota for transplantation] has the potential to transmit monkeypox virus,” the alert said.

As a result, the FDA has recommended donor screening for clinical trials involving fecal transplants if

AP

By REBECCA BOONE – Associated Press

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 24, 2022 (HealthDay News) — New research suggests that not getting enough sleep may doom teenagers and teens to obesity and poorer health as they enter adulthood.

Those who slept less than eight hours a night were more likely to be overweight or obese than their peers who did get enough sleep, the study found. Those shorter sleepers were also more likely to have a combination of other health concerns, including excess fat around the middle, elevated blood pressureand abnormal blood fat and sugar levels.

“Our study shows that most teenagers do not get enough sleep, and this is connected with excess weight and characteristics that promote weight gain, potentially setting them up for future problems,” said study author Jesús Martínez Gómez. He is a researcher in training at the Cardiovascular Health and Imaging Laboratory at the Spanish National Center for Cardiovascular Research, in Madrid.

The study

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 24, 2022 (HealthDay News) — After testing negative for COVID-19 and leaving isolation last Sunday, First Lady Jill Biden again tested positive for the virus on Wednesday.

“After testing negative on Tuesday, just now, the First Lady has tested positive for COVID-19 by antigen testing,” the First Lady’s Deputy Communications Director Kelsey Donohue said in a statement. “This represents a “rebound” positivity.”

“The First Lady has experienced no recurrence of symptoms, and will remain in Delaware where she has reinitiated isolation procedures,” Donohue added. “The White House Medical Unit has conducted contact tracing and close contacts have been notified.”

Biden had returned to public life on Sunday, after isolating on Kiawah Island, SC, where she first tested positive while vacationing there with her husband, President Joe Biden, and their family, the Associated Press reported. He contracted COVID last month and also suffered a rebound case after taking the

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 24, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Jon Kostas, a lifelong resident of New York City, started bar-hopping at age 13. At the height of his alcoholism, he was consuming as many as 30 drinks a night.

Desperate for a way out, Kostas, 32, turned to a new therapy: psilocybin — the psychedelic compound found in so-called “magic mushrooms.”

“It definitely affected my life, and I like to say it saved my life,” said Kostas, who had his first psilocybin treatment session in March 2015.

He’s not the only one being helped. A new study suggests that psilocybin might be better at helping alcoholics give up booze than any current treatments, researchers say.

The study reported that two doses of the drug reduced drinking by 83% on average among heavy drinkers when combined with psychotherapy.

“The treatment effects observed in our study were significantly larger than those reported in meta-analyses

TUESDAY, Aug. 16, 2022 (HealthDay News) — First Lady Jill Biden has COVID-19 and is experiencing “mild symptoms,” according to her staff.

“After testing negative for COVID-19 on Monday during her regular testing cadence, the First Lady began to develop cold-like symptoms late in the evening,” Biden’s communications director Elizabeth Alexander said in a statement released Tuesday. “She tested negative again on a rapid antigen test, but a PCR test came back positive.”

The First Lady has received two vaccines plus two boosters, and so far her symptoms are mild.

“She has been prescribed a course of [the antiviral drug] Paxlovid and, following CDC guidance, will isolate from others for at least five days,” Alexander said.

“Close contacts of the First Lady have been notified,” she added, noting that Biden “is currently staying at a private residence in South Carolina and will return home after she received two consecutive negative