Flu-Like Symptoms, Then Amputation; Docs Charge for Emails; Wait List for Psilocybin

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A Tennessee teenager’s flu-like symptoms turned out to be a rare bacterial infection that led to the amputation of his hands and feet. (USA Today)

In Arkansas, officials say a person’s death from a brain-eating amoeba was linked with a country club’s splash pad. (AP)

The Federal Trade Commission is warning drugmakers against improper patent filings.

Apple disputes a French report’s finding that its iPhone 12 emits too much radiation, but the company plans to update software for the device to accommodate the country’s testing methods. (Reuters)

The CDC anticipates that hospitalizations during the upcoming respiratory virus season will remain higher than pre-pandemic levels. (Reuters)

Advice on how to avoid a decline in purpose of life after a dementia diagnosis. (CNN)

The nation’s supply of the cancer drug cisplatin has almost returned to pre-shortage levels. (Becker’s Hospital Review)

Proclaiming “COVID is over,” commissioners in Michigan’s fastest-growing county are threatening to cut millions of dollars budgeted for public health. (AP via ABC News)

Meanwhile, a new poll showed that half of all Americans are interested in getting the updated COVID vaccine. (Reuters)

HHS and CDC launched a “bridge access” to ensure continued free COVID-19 vaccinations for uninsured and underinsured adults.

As more patients communicate with doctors by email, a growing number of health systems have started charging for the service. (KFF Health News)

The next emerging overdose crisis: fentanyl mixed with cocaine or methamphetamine. (NPR)

Fatal overdoses of the powerful sedative xylazine combined with fentanyl have risen in recent years, with a decidedly East-of-the-Mississippi concentration. (Axios)

Organizers of a movement to destigmatize use of the overdose-reversal drug naloxone have expanded from two West Virginia counties to all 13 states in Appalachia. (AP)

Although FDA staff and an advisory committee agreed that the widely used decongestant phenylephrine doesn’t work, the panel did not find any safety issues with the drugs, according to a clarifying statement from the agency.

Meanwhile, multiple makers and sellers of the decongestant — including Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, and Walgreens — are now being sued. (Reuters)

Patients and insurers pay nearly 60% more for a colonoscopy in a hospital as compared with an ambulatory surgery center. (Axios)

Oregon’s first licensed psilocybin service center has a 3,000-person wait list, including people with depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, or end-of-life dread. (AP)

Wastewater surveillance can track seasonal flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) activity as well. (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report)

New insights into the “Hispanic paradox” of longer life expectancy compared with whites, despite less income and healthcare and more diabetes and obesity. (STAT)

Absent a new employment deal by the end of the month, almost 64,000 Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers in California, Oregon, and Washington have authorized a strike, which would be the largest-ever of its kind. (USA Today)

California lawmakers passed a bill that would guarantee a $25 minimum wage for healthcare workers in the state. (Sacramento Bee)

Hopes for use of xenotransplants — animal to human — increased when surgeons removed a genetically engineered pig kidney that functioned successfully for 2 months in a neurologically deceased patient. (AP)

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