Illnesses spread by mosquitoes, ticks and fleas have greatly expanded in both infection rates and in geographical reach, with more than 640,000 cases reported and 9 new germs discovered between 2004–2016, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.
Why now: While CDC director of vector-borne diseases Lyle Petersen declined to blame climate change, he said warmer temperatures are escalating the issue along with other factors like increased global trade, patterns of movements of people and animals, and the spread of people — and deer — into rural areas.
Pharmaceutical companies are shouldering a greater share of the blame for the opioid crisis, according to a new Survey Monkey/Axios poll, although individual users are blamed most often.
Why it matters: This shift in blame mirrors a shift in Washington policymakers' thinking. Some lawmakers – particularly liberal Democrats – have introduced legislation punishing drug companies, while the Department of Justice is backing lawsuits against drug manufacturers and distributors.
The wife of West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey — who is competing in the GOP primary to challenge Sen. Joe Manchin's Senate seat — lobbied Congress on opioid-related issues for Cardinal Health, the state's largest opioid supplier, per the Charleston Gazette-Mail.
Why it matters: West Virginia has the highest opioid death rate in the nation, making the issue very personal to voters. And its Senate race is already one of the wildest primaries of the year, as an alarmed GOP establishment tries to intervene against firebrand former coal executive Don Blankenship.
Private equity firm Marlin Equity Partners is buying RedBrick Health, which sells workplace wellness programs to employers, per a federal transaction filing. The companies did not comment.
Why it matters: RedBrick Health is an established presence in the corporate wellness industry, and investors see money-making opportunities as more companies use the programs to prod workers to be healthier. But independent literature suggests wellness programs aren't effective and could infringe on individual privacy.
"A new wave of smaller vapes has swept through schools in recent months, ... replacing bulkier e-cigarettes from the past. It’s now common in some schools to find students crowded into bathrooms to vape, or performing vape tricks in class," AP's Collin Binkley reports.
Why it matters: "While high schools have typically faced the widest problems, some districts say it’s now spreading to middle schools."
A federal court has dismissed Envision Healthcare's lawsuit against UnitedHealthcare, citing the two companies' contract that says disputes must be settled by arbitration.
The bottom line: This is a large victory for UnitedHealthcare, which terminated its contract with Envision and now has the upper hand in negotiating rates for Envision's health care services. The big questions are when the two sides will come to a new agreement, and how patients who use emergency rooms with these companies will be affected.
