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Good morning and happy Monday. There are a lot of articles today about infectious diseases, and some about political movements as well. I hope your coffee is ready.
Marty McCurry resigns as FDA Commissioner?
President Trump has signed a plan to fire FDA Commissioner Marty McCulley, according to multiple reports on Friday. It’s the latest high-profile departure to hit Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s health department. Mr. McCurry, who held the position for a little over a year, had a checkered but ambitious tenure.
Plans are subject to change, but a small incident appears to be a sign of the end for McCurry. On Friday, he was scheduled to speak at the annual 5k race before running with his staff. McCurry was absent, two government officials told STAT’s Lizzie Lawrence. Click here for the latest information.
Supreme Court deadline for mifepristone approaches
In other news not unrelated to the FDA, the Supreme Court is expected to take further action on the matter later today, after putting on hold for a week a federal appeals court’s decision to block mail-order sales of the abortion drug mifepristone. How this plays out could have major implications for FDA regulators as well as abortion providers and patients.
States have legal authority to regulate abortions, but drugs are regulated by the FDA, which officially removed the requirement that mifepristone can only be dispensed in person in 2023. Former FDA leaders, the drug lobby, and more than 20 legal experts filed a court brief last week arguing that the FDA used sound science to change its rules regarding mifepristone and should maintain its regulatory authority. Read more from me about the impact of this incident and what will happen today.
How the conspiracy ecosystem jumped on hantavirus
Epidemiologist Catherine Wallace has gained a large audience on social media by debunking medical misinformation in real time. Now, her followers are so good at spotting misinformation that they often alert her to something that needs to be debunked. Recent incident? People claim that ivermectin may be effective against hantavirus.
“At this point, the speed is hardly surprising anymore,” Wallace writes in a new First Opinion essay. “The actual facts of the spread almost immediately became secondary.”
Efforts to spread misinformation online appear to have solidified and accelerated since the coronavirus pandemic. Read Wallace’s article about how the conspiracy ecosystem has changed over the years.
A rare animal disease that occurs among homosexuals in Europe
Dermatitis is a skin disease caused by bacteria and usually affects livestock. However, in France and Spain, researchers diagnosed the condition in many men who had sex with other men who had no known contact with affected animals. More than 25 cases of the virus have been confirmed across Europe.
In some ways, this is reminiscent of the mpox infection that emerged among gay men in 2022, but so far the disease has far milder symptoms, reports STAT’s Helen Branswell. The main symptom of this disease, also called “rain rot” or “strawberry foot rot”, is a rash. “The question becomes, what does that mean in the real world of clinical practice?” Demetre Daskalakis, former HIV prevention leader at the CDC, told Helen. Read more about the situation here.
400
That’s the number of diapers some California families will soon receive when they leave the hospital after giving birth, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement Friday. For an average baby, this equates to about a month’s worth of supplies. The program will begin next year at 65 to 75 hospitals in the state that serve low-income patients and account for a quarter of births. California becomes the third state to implement a free diaper program, following Tennessee and Delaware. AP has more features.
Relationship between menstruation and mental health
People with conditions such as premenstrual syndrome and premenstrual dysphoric disorder are more likely to suffer from mental illness, and vice versa, according to research published Friday in JAMA Network Open.
The researchers analyzed registry data for more than 3.6 million women in Sweden from 2001 to 2022, matching records of women with premenstrual disorders to their unaffected biological sisters and a further 10 unaffected controls. Approximately 105,000 people were diagnosed with PMD, and 48% of them had a previous psychiatric diagnosis, compared with nearly 30% in the control group. This pattern was also seen in the opposite direction, with 37% of those who received a psychiatric diagnosis later receiving a PMD diagnosis, compared to 21% of those without a psychiatric diagnosis.
This risk pattern was strongest for depression and anxiety, but was also present for ADHD, bipolar disorder, and personality disorders. Previous studies have suggested these associations, but studies are small and often have short follow-up periods. Both genetics and biological mechanisms related to hormones and neurology may play a role in these relationships. As always, further research is needed.
what we are reading
- FTC investigation into trans youth care was ‘retaliatory’, judge says Reuters
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Single taxpayer status is a litmus test in California’s gubernatorial race. No payment method yet, KFF Health News
- Opinion: AI doctors should be licensed. There is a framework for doing this, STAT.
- A doctor on board explains what happened on the Hantavirus cruise, The Atlantic
- OPINION: RFK Jr. allegedly “collected” dead raccoon penises. Was it bioethically justified? status
