Bed Bugs Spreading MRSA? Henrietta Lacks Settlement; Tickets for Fentanyl

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An experimental study found that bed bugs can acquire and transmit methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), supporting the hypothesis that they may contribute to transmission in certain settings. (Journal of Infectious Diseases)

The U.S. Department of Labor is suing UnitedHealth Group, alleging that the insurance giant denied thousands of patient claims for emergency department visits and urine drug tests. (Fierce Healthcare)

Black students were 83% more likely to drop out of MD/PhD programs and 50% more likely to graduate with only an MD degree compared with their white peers, researchers found. (JAMA Internal Medicine)

New Jersey Lieutenant Governor Sheila Oliver, 71, a prominent spokesperson against gun violence, died Tuesday after a sudden illness. (AP)

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s reasons for wanting to gut the FDA don’t hold up to close examination, according to two STAT reporters.

A federal appeals court reinstated a law in Guam that mandates women considering abortions first meet in-person with a physician, a requirement that can be difficult to fulfill due to a physician shortage in the territory. (Reuters)

What does chronic illness look like on TikTok? A doctor decides to find out. (Wired)

Seven people linked to poultry plants in Alabama have cases of confirmed or suspected tuberculosis, state health officials said. (WHNT)

Black women are weighing their hair-styling options more carefully upon learning that chemicals in hair straighteners have been linked to cancer. (KFF Health News)

Thermo Fisher Scientific reached a confidential settlement with the family of the late Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman with cervical cancer from whose tumor cells the company developed the first-ever lab-grown human cell lines used to make vaccines and other medical innovations. (AP)

The FDA said that two lots of the prescription oral contraceptive drospirenone/ethinyl estradiol/levomefolate calcium (Tydemy), made by Lupin Pharmaceuticals, may have reduced effectiveness due to a decreased level of ascorbic acid in the product and have been recalled.

Even though pediatric guidelines suggest that parents should expose their 4-to-6-month-old infants to small amounts of peanuts in order to prevent a peanut allergy from developing, most parents aren’t aware of the recommendation, research shows. (Washington Post)

Kids aren’t the only ones susceptible to measles. (STAT)

Pfizer officials said they are considering cutting costs at the company if their COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics continue to underperform. (Reuters)

Meanwhile, the company said their updated COVID boosters could be authorized by the end of the month. (NBC News)

For 2 years, law enforcement officials in Portland, Oregon have been giving people tickets — rather than arresting them — if they’re caught with small amounts of fentanyl. How’s that working out? (New York Times)

China is facing another outbreak — this time, it’s mpox. (MIT Technology Review)

“Poison in every puff” — one of the warnings that smokers in Canada will begin seeing on their individual cigarettes. (CBC News)

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