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UPI
5 days ago
- Health
- UPI
Eight times more young adults now take HIV prevention meds
More young Americans are taking antiretroviral meds to protect them from HIV infection than a decade ago. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo Eight times more young Americans are taking antiretroviral meds to protect them from HIV infection than a decade ago, a new study says. About 208 of every 100,000 U.S. young adults were using pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, to prevent becoming infected with HIV in 2023, researchers reported recently in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. That's up from 26 of 100,000 who filled a prescription for PrEP pills in 2016, researchers found in their analysis of data for 18- to 25-year-olds. "This is a patient population we often neglect in health care, because we don't think about them belonging to pediatric care or adult care, and their stage of cognitive development means they underestimate their STI [sexually transmitted infection] risk in general - yet they're one of the highest risk groups for a new diagnosis of HIV," said lead researcher Dr. Nina Hill, a general internist and pediatrician at the University of Michigan Medical School. "We're encouraged to see more prescribing over time, but the question remains: are we getting it to the highest-risk patients?" Hill added in a news release. For the study, researchers analyzed records on more than 1.4 million PrEP prescriptions dispensed to nearly 240,000 young adults between 2016 and 2023. The first PrEP medication, Truvada, was introduced in 2012 and became available as a generic drug in 2020, researchers said in background notes. A second oral option, Descovy, became available in 2019. The drugs reduce the chances of acquiring HIV through sex by 99%, when taken consistently as prescribed, researchers said. Nearly 9 of 10 (87%) of the prescriptions went to men, but Hill noted that some women also are at risk for HIV and could be eligible for PrEP. Unfortunately, results also showed that the length of time a person remained on PrEP declined by more than two weeks. This might indicate inconsistent use of PrEP, or show that young adults have trouble keeping up with the appointments and tests needed to continue the medication, researchers said. Nurse practitioners accounted for 39% of the prescriptions, while family doctors handed out 22% of the scrips, results show. Internists and physician assistants accounted for 14% and 11%, respectively. PrEP has been recommended since 2019 by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force for teens and adults with an increased risk of acquiring HIV, researchers said. Under the Affordable Care Act, most insurance programs are required to make PrEP and HIV screening available to patients at no cost. However, the ACA's preventive care provisions are now under review at the U.S. Supreme Court, and a ruling is expected soon. More information The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has more on pre-exposure prophylaxis. Copyright © 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Highly educated people face steeper brain decline after stroke
The higher you fly, the harder you fall, the old saying goes. There might be something to that when it comes to the aftermath of a stroke, a new study suggests. People with higher education face a steeper decline in their ability to plan, organize and problem-solve following a stroke, compared to those with less than a high school degree, researchers reported in JAMA Network Open. The results run counter to what researchers had expected: that highly educated people would have slower brain decline following a stroke. The study found that highly educated stroke survivors did do better than less-educated people in brain tests immediately following a stroke, but that they experienced a faster decline in their cognitive abilities during the years that followed. "Our findings suggest that attending higher education may enable people to retain greater cognitive ability until a critical threshold of brain injury is reached after a stroke," lead researcher Dr. Mellanie Springer, a professor of neurology at University of Michigan Medical School, said in a news release. "At this point, compensation may fail, and rapid cognitive decline occurs," she said. For the study, researchers pooled data from four studies, analyzing the outcomes of more than 2,000 people without dementia who survived a stroke between 1971 and 2019. Right after a stroke, college graduates performed better than high school dropouts across the board on tests of brain processing speed, executive function and memory, results show. But college grads later suffered a faster decline in their executive function -- skills used to manage everyday tasks, like planning and problem-solving -- compared to folks who dropped out of either college or high school, researchers found. Prior to this, experts had considered education level something that might bolster the brain against decline by boosting cognitive reserve, or the ability to preserve higher levels of functioning even in the face of a brain injury. "Dementia is a greater threat after a first stroke than having another stroke," senior researcher Dr. Deborah Levine, a professor of internal medicine and neurology at the University of Michigan, said in a news release. In fact, stroke increases a person's risk of dementia by as much as 50-fold, researchers said in background notes. "We lack treatments that prevent or slow cognitive decline and dementia after stroke," Levine said. "This study increases our understanding and generates potential hypotheses about the causes of post-stroke cognitive decline and which patients face higher risks of it." Researchers also found that genetic risk factors for Alzheimer's did not appear to play a role in the relationship between stroke and brain decline. That means that the critical point at which a person's brain starts to fail does not depend on underlying genetic risk, and can be reached after just a single stroke, Springer said. "Identifying which stroke patients are at the highest risk for cognitive decline will help target future interventions to slow cognitive decline," Springer said. More information The American Stroke Association has more on the effects of stroke. Copyright © 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
New York Times
08-03-2025
- Health
- New York Times
What Is Hantavirus, the Rare Disease That Killed Betsy Arakawa?
Betsy Arakawa, the wife of Gene Hackman, died from the effects of hantavirus, a rare disease often caused by contact with droppings from infected rodents. Hantavirus does not spread among people in the cases found in the United States. It can be transmitted through rodent saliva. But it is most commonly transmitted by breathing in particles of dried deer mouse droppings or urine. At first, hantavirus causes flulike symptoms, including fever, chills, body aches and headaches. But as the disease progresses, respiratory symptoms develop and patients can experience shortness of breath and then lung or heart failure. Here is what to know about hantavirus. What is hantavirus? Hantavirus refers to a family of viruses that are carried by rodents. It is often transmitted to humans by inhaling particles from dried mouse droppings. In North America, Sin Nombre virus is the most common form of this virus, said Sabra L. Klein, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. As of the end of 2022, 864 cases of hantavirus disease had been reported in the United States since surveys of such cases began in 1993, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The 'classic' case of hantavirus is contracted by someone who has visited a rural cabin that has a rodent infestation, said Emily Abdoler, a doctor and assistant professor of medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School. Hantavirus has flulike symptoms at first. Hantavirus can cause flulike symptoms that appear one to eight weeks after exposure to droppings from an infected rodent, according to Dr. Heather Jarrell, New Mexico's chief medical examiner. Later, patients often experience shortness of breath and then lung or heart failure. The mortality rate from the hantavirus strain in the southwestern United States is between 38 and 50 percent, Dr. Jarrell said. The strain in the region cannot be transmitted from person to person, she said. New Mexico is a hotbed of hantavirus. In the United States, hantavirus is most commonly found in the Four Corners region — Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico — according to Dr. Abdoler. New Mexico has recorded from one to seven hantavirus infections each year for the past five years, according to Dr. Erin Phipps, a veterinarian at the New Mexico Department of Health. Most people get infected around their home or workplace, she said. On the property east of Santa Fe where Mr. Hackman and Ms. Arakawa lived, health officials found signs of rodent entry in some structures, although little risk of exposure to the virus in the main residence. It is not clear when Ms. Arakawa began to feel ill, Dr. Jarrell said. How do I prevent hantavirus? Although there are antivirals that can help manage symptoms, there are no cures specifically for hantavirus, Ms. Klein of Johns Hopkins said. That's why prevention is important. If you live in an area where hantavirus-infected rodents are known to roam, clean any droppings with a wet paper towel. Do not use a vacuum or a broom, which can stir up the aerosols from the excrement. Use gloves and a tightfitting N95 mask in a well-ventilated space. People should spray the area with a bleach solution or a commercial disinfectant and let it sit for five minutes. Then they should clean the area with paper towels, tossing them in a trash can that closes tightly, Dr. Phipps said. Treatment of hantavirus in the intensive care unit may include intubation and oxygen therapy, fluid replacement and medications to support blood pressure. Sometimes antiviral drugs are used.
