(NEW YORK) -- The City Council in Long Beach, California, voted Tuesday to ratify a local public health emergency order after an outbreak of tuberculosis sickened several people.

The outbreak is linked to a single-room occupancy hotel, a form of affordable housing meant for low- or minimal income residents, according to the city's public information office.

As of April 29, 14 cases have been confirmed and approximately 170 people have likely been exposed.

Nine have been hospitalized and one person has died.

Here is everything you need to know about TB, including how it spreads, what are the symptoms and how to prevent infection:

What is TB?

Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The bacteria typically attack the lungs but can also attack other parts of the body including kidneys, spine and brain.

Not everyone infected with TB bacteria becomes sick, resulting in two TB-related conditions: latent TB infection and TB disease.

People with latent TB infections will usually test positive for TB via a skin test or blood test but will not feel sick or have symptoms and will not spread TB bacteria to others.

Meanwhile, those with TB disease fall sick often have symptoms including chest pain, coughing up blood, fatigue, weakness, fever, chills, sweating, lack of appetite and weight loss, the CDC said. Additionally, someone with TB disease can spread the bacteria to others.

How does TB spread?

When a person with TB disease coughs, sneezes, speaks or sings, bacteria can spread through the air and a non-infected patient can breathe in the bacteria. These bacteria can settle in the lungs and then move throughout the body.

The disease is not spread by shaking hands, sharing food or drinks, touching clothes, touching bed linens, sharing toothbrushes or kissing, according to the CDC.

The CDC said people with TB disease are most likely to spread the illness to close contacts including family, friends, coworkers and classmates.

Those who are exposed to TB bacteria but not infected cannot immediately spread the disease to people; only people with active disease can do so, according to the CDC.

"Before you would be able to spread TB to others, you would have to breathe in TB bacteria and become infected," the CDC says on its website. "Then the active bacteria would have to multiply in your body and cause active TB disease. At this point, you could possibly spread TB bacteria to others."

What treatments are available for TB?

There are several treatment regimens for TB disease that may last anywhere from four months to nine months depending on the course of treatment. Health care providers may consider specific regimens for patients with co-existing medical conditions such as diabetes or HIV.

Those with latent TB infections, should consult a health care provider for a specific treatment regimen.

About 5% to 10% of people who don't receive treatment for latent TB infection will develop TB disease at some point, according to the CDC.

How to prevent TB

In the U.S., the TB vaccine exists, but it is only for people who meet specific criteria, and should be given in consultation with a TB expert, according to the CDC.

In other countries where TB is common, the vaccine is often given to infants and small children.

The CDC recommends that Americans who visit other countries where TB is more common should avoid close contact or prolonged time with known TB patients in crowded, enclosed environments, and to have a TB skin or blood test upon return to the U.S.

What is the latest on the outbreak in California?

Long Beach City Health Officer Dr. Anissa Davis declared a local public health emergency last week before it was ratified by the City Council on Tuesday.

This allows the city to mobilize resources, accelerate emergency plans, coordinate with other agencies and allow the city to expedite the purchase of necessarily supplies to identify and treat TB.

Long Beach public health officials, however, say the risk of TB for people who live, work, study or visit in Long Beach remains very low.

In 2022, there were 8,331 TB cases reported in the U.S., an increase from 2021 but lower than 2019, CDC data shows. There were 602 deaths in 2021, the latest date for which data is available.

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(NEW YORK) -- From vegetables and legumes to fish and fresh herbs, Mediterranean ingredients provide a wide array of health benefits, and the Mediterranean diet is consistently ranked the top overall diet.

Now, researchers have found new health associations between consuming more than 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil a day and lower risk of dementia-related death.

According to a new study published Monday in the journal JAMA Network Open, researchers from Harvard School of Public Health followed the dietary decisions of 92,383 health care professionals over 28 years and found that those who incorporated more olive oil of any kind into their diet lowered their probability of dying from dementia.

The risk of disease-related death was also lowered when participants replaced 1/4 teaspoon of mayonnaise or a teaspoon of margarine with olive oil, and after other lifestyle factors were accounted for, such as eliminating smoking.

Researchers found that consumption of more olive oil, at least 7 grams per day, was associated with a 28% lower risk of dementia-related death.

The American Heart Association has said that consuming virgin olive oil, in particular, may help the body "remove excess cholesterol from arteries and keep blood vessels open."

When looking at substitutions, the research showed swapping 5 grams per day of margarine and mayonnaise with olive oil lowered the risk of dementia-related death by 8% and 14%, respectively. Other vegetable oil substitutes did not show a significant reduction in this risk.

The study population did not have heart disease at the beginning of the study, so the results may not reflect groups who could be at the highest risk for dementia and dementia-related death.

Because this was an observational study, it does not show direct cause and effect, and the self-reported participant questionnaires provided to researchers may not reflect the actual dietary patterns of the population in question.

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(NEW YORK) -- Brooke Nelson said she was over 200 pounds and struggling to lose weight when she decided to take part in a clinical trial of a new, minimally-invasive weight loss procedure.

Within six months of the procedure, Nelson said she had lost over 20 pounds and changed how she thinks about food.

"The constant just wanting of food has drastically decreased," Nelson told ABC News' Good Morning America. "There's still moments where I want a chocolate chip cookie, but there's a lot more moments when I find myself wanting something like greens."

The procedure Nelson underwent is called endoscopic ablation, which the lead author of the clinical trial, Dr. Christopher McGowan, says targets ghrelin, the so-called "hunger hormone."

According to McGowan, an obesity medicine, internal medicine, and gastroenterology specialist, the procedure involves inserting a camera into the patient's stomach while fluids are administered to protect the underlying stomach tissue.

Then, a tiny device ablates, or burns, the lining of the upper portion of the stomach that produces ghrelin, a hormone that plays a role in everything from telling your brain you are hungry to inhibiting insulin secretion and helping your body store fat.

The clinical trial of the procedure that Nelson took part in has shown sustained weight loss and decreased appetite for patients, according to McGowan, founder of True You Weight Loss in Cary, North Carolina.

"We do have patients who are a year or more beyond their initial procedure, and what we are seeing is that they continue to have a diminishment, decrease in hunger [and] continue to report greater control over eating," McGowan told GMA, adding that trial participants, on average, reduced their overall weight by 7%.

McGowan said one benefit of endoscopic ablation is that it is a minimally invasive procedure.

Currently, patients who need surgical intervention for obesity have the option of bariatric surgery, different types of which work by making changes to the digestive system, including reducing the size of the stomach, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Bariatric surgery is typically considered an option for adults who "have a body mass index of 40 or more or a BMI of 35 or more with a serious health problem linked to obesity," according to the NIDDK.

Obesity is a medical condition that affects nearly 42% of people in the U.S., according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Obesity has been associated with conditions including stroke and heart disease, hypertension and breathing problems such as sleep apnea.

"For patients who might be afraid of surgery, this may be more acceptable," McGowan said of endoscopic ablation.

Risks of the procedure include ulcers and bleeding, according to McGowan.

"Risks of this technology could include things like ulcers, bleeding, somehow injuring the stomach. These were things we were really careful about," he said. "In this case, everything was mild and that was the cramping and gas and nausea, things you'd expect when you'd perform a procedure on the stomach. But there were no complications whatsoever."

The clinical trial led by McGowan included just 10 female patients and was the first time endoscopic ablation targeting ghrelin had been tested in humans.

McGowan will present the results of the trial formally later this month at a medical conference, known as Digestive Disease Week, in Washington, D.C.

From there, the procedure will need to undergo additional testing to determine safety and long-term outcomes before it could eventually be made available to the general public.

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(NEW YORK) -- New promising data finds that a small heart pump device the size of a AA battery could help keep children in need of a heart transplant alive and at home as they wait for a new heart.

With this small implantable device, children can go home until their transplant date instead of waiting weeks or months in a hospital.

The device is not yet approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and will need more study. But experts say it's a real medical advancement for hundreds of children with heart failure.

Every year, between 200 and 400 infants and children waiting for heart transplants are faced with a grueling option as they wait for a transplant, getting a surgically-implanted mechanical heart pump weighing up to 200 pounds with garden-hose sized tubing attached to their bodies, potentially for weeks or months until they receive a heart transplant.

Results published Tuesday in the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation have demonstrated that a miniature heart pump device called the Jarvik 2015 Ventricular Assist Device can be feasibly implanted in infants and children.

This feasibility study included seven children ages 8 months to 7 years old. The device is surgically implanted onto the heart, exits the body through a cable and is powered by a battery pack that is essentially worn as a belt.

Many of the children in the study spent many months using the device before their transplants. All seven children survived, however one child experienced a stroke on day 53 following device implantation.

Five children went on to receive heart transplants, one recovered without the need for heart transplant, and one required a different support device.

Notably, the children were able to participate in normal play activities, and most did not report feeling bothered by the device while sleeping or awake. This raises the potential for the implantable device, if approved for wider use, to be managed by patients and their family members at home while awaiting heart transplant news.

Currently, the only ventricular assist device for children whose hearts are failing is the Berlin Heart, which can weigh up to 200 pounds depending on the model and connects to a child using two large blood tubes the size of garden hoses.

As such, it requires complex care considering all its potential complications, including stroke, infection and blood clots, and patients are unable to go home with the device.

In these cases, children may endure weekslong to monthslong hospital stays with the Berlin Heart ventricular assist device attached to them while waiting for news of a donor heart.

"This is a huge step forward for implantable ventricular assist devices for young children," Dr. Bradley Marino, executive co-director of the Pediatric and Adult Congenital Heart Center and division chief of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine at Cleveland Clinic Children's, who was not involved in the study, told ABC News.

"[The device] is a novel opportunity where we could have a new ventricular assist device that would allow infants and young children to potentially go home," Marino said, adding that it could "potentially de-compress our cardiac intensive care units, which will allow for increased capacity, as well as provide an improved quality of life for the children and their families while they are waiting for heart transplantation at home."

Though the study was suspended after the eighth patient consented to participate due to financial issues with the manufacturer, it has been given the green light to proceed onto the next steps and enroll 22 patients in a pivotal trial involving multiple major medical centers.

"If the pivotal trial shows that the Jarvik 2015 is safe and effective, this would be a huge advancement for the field, but we are likely years away from this being more widely applicable," said Marino, noting the complexities of coordinating a multi-center pivotal trial and device manufacturing costs, among other barriers.

Marino also cautioned that it remains unclear how this device would perform in children with more complex heart anatomy, and since none of the children in the feasibility trial were discharged to home, it remains unclear if the device is safe for discharge.

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(NEW YORK) -- Jacque Berry and her daughter, Breanna Berry, are Black women who say they have been surrounded by cancer all their lives.

"My great-grandmother had breast cancer," Breanna Berry, 30, told ABC News' Good Morning America. "I remember when I was like 10 and she'd say, 'Sweetie, go get me some tissue to stuff in my bra.' I didn't understand then, but she had one breast."

Years later, Breanna Berry said she watched as a friend, also a Black woman, was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 28, and as her father died after being diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, a diagnosis she said took over one year as his symptoms were misdiagnosed.

Jacque Berry not only watched her grandmother and husband battle cancer, but she is currently a caregiver to a close friend with breast cancer and has another friend who is battling the same disease.

Now, the mother and daughter, who both live in Atlanta, are part of the effort to help save the lives of Black women and future generations.

The Berrys are some of the first participants in VOICES of Black Women, a study launched May 7, by the American Cancer Society that aims to figure out why Black women have increasingly high rates of cancer.

"I want to know why this is happening," Breanna Berry said of her motivation to join the study, which is currently accepting participants.

"I have a granddaughter, so knowing that my voice was heard to help her generation is very huge to me," Jacque Berry added.

VOICES of Black Women is described by the ACS as the largest-ever study of cancer risk and outcomes in Black women in the United States. The study will collect the data of 100,000 Black women ages 25 to 55 over a period of 30 years, looking at everything from their medical history to their income, environment, lifestyle and more, according to Dr. Alpa Patel, senior vice president of population science at the ACS.

"We will really build a relationship and go on a journey with these women over the next several decades, learning about their lived experiences and collecting information along the way from participants," Patel told GMA. "And we use all of that information then to understand what is related to [the] risk of developing or dying from cancer and other health outcomes."

Patel said current cancer data shows the need for the study. According to data from the ACS, Black women are more likely than other women to die of cancer regardless of the stage of cancer when diagnosed, and before the age of 50, Black women are twice as likely to die of a breast cancer diagnosis than white women.

"It's an unequal burden, and it's more pronounced at younger ages," Patel said. "That was part of our motivation to set our enrollment age range at a younger age range of 25 to 55."

Among all races and genders, Black people have the highest death rate from cancer, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

When it comes to Black women, they are more likely than white women to be diagnosed with breast, lung, and colorectal cancers at a late stage, according to the CDC.

Last year, a study released in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that Black women had the same risk of dying from breast cancer if they were screened starting at age 42 as the general population had with screenings starting at the recommended age of 50.

And Black women are now being told more about the cancer risks associated with the beauty products they may use, specifically hair straighteners. Late last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it was considering issuing a proposed rule to ban hair straighteners with formaldehyde, a known carcinogen which has been found to cause an increased risk of endometrial cancers when used in chemical hair straighteners, often marketed to Black women.

Other products -- including perms, hair relaxers, lotions and gels -- geared towards Black women have been found to raise the risk of diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and other health risks.

Patel said many of the questions about Black women's health remain unanswered because, for decades, they have not been the primary focus of studies, both because of their race and their sex.

"Most studies, while they have been inclusive of Black women, there has been an underrepresentation of Black and brown individuals," she said. "Unfortunately, what that's meant is a lot of what we've learned has been built off of studies of predominantly white individuals. We know a lot, but we don't know whether the same holds true in different populations."

Patel said inequitable access to high-quality medical care is one contributor to Black women's health outcomes, but it's not the only one.

Participants in the VOICES of Black Women study, according to Patel, will share information about their daily personal lives so that researchers can look into the roles that other factors like diet, income, stress, mental health, social support and more play in health risks for Black women.

She said the study -- which is led by an all-Black female scientific advisory board -- was built and named intentionally with the hope of giving voice to Black women.

"What we hope to accomplish through the study is to really give an opportunity for 100,000 Black women to allow their voice to be heard, to change what cancer means for their daughters and their granddaughters," Patel said. "This is a legacy gift. What I really hope is that women will choose to participate in honor of their daughters and their granddaughters and their nieces and the generations to come."

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(WASHINGTON) -- The Biden administration has finalized plans to expand government-subsidized health insurance for people brought to the country illegally as children but shielded from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Immigrants with DACA status receive protections from deportation but had been formerly barred from receiving health care coverage made available by the Affordable Care Act.

But now, an estimated 100,000 previously uninsured DACA holders can enroll in coverage, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, fulfilling a pledge the White House made last year.

"Dreamers are our neighbors and friends; They are students, teachers, social workers, doctors, and nurses. More importantly, they are fellow Americans," Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement on Thursday, referring to the frequent nickname for DACA holders.

"More than one third of DACA recipients currently do not have health insurance, so making them eligible to enroll in coverage will improve their health and wellbeing, and help the overall economy," Becerra said.

DACA holders are currently three times more likely to be uninsured and those who are uninsured are generally less likely to seek out preventative care, Becerra said.

The new policy will take effect in November. Household income and the option to obtain health coverage from an employer will be factors in coverage eligibility, an administration official said.

"This final rule also reflects the president's belief that health care is a right not a privilege for all Americans, that it should extend to DACA recipients just like the rest of us," White House Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden told reporters. "This landmark final rule will make DACA recipients eligible for the Affordable Care Act coverage for the first time."

The Obama-era DACA program, which dates back to 2012, is controversial among conservatives and has long been tied up in legal battles. The Biden administration is seeking to protect it from further legal scrutiny by codifying it into regulatory policy -- an ongoing process.

The Biden administration has also faced criticism from some advocates and Democrats for abandoning a potential pathway to citizenship for DACA holders as part of bipartisan Senate negotiations on immigration earlier this year.

Democrats continue to blame Republicans for rejecting that deal despite the long-time objections of many in the GOP to a citizenship pathway for migrants already living in the country after entering illegally.

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(DAVIS, Calif.) -- Becky Worley is an ABC News correspondent based in California. Here, she documents her experience as a participant in the All of Us Research Program, a National Institutes of Health project that aims to study more than 1 million people from all backgrounds.

It started like most Good Morning America assignments, an idea from our Med Unit about a new study being conducted by the National Institutes of Health.

They pitched the "All of Us" study to our editorial group, and I was asked to bring the story to air. But in the end, it was unlike any story I've ever done.

I became a participant and learned a lot about myself and public health in the process.

The National Institute of Health's All of Us Research Program will collect more data on more types of people than ever before.

There are currently 800,000 people enrolled and they're hoping to reach a million or more. They've collected over four petabytes of data with the goal of broadening our understanding of disease, medicine, and wellness by including data that's only now becoming feasible to analyze through advanced computing technology and data collection methods.

And perhaps more important than the new tech, they want to break new ground, including a more representative swath of our diverse population, according to Sheri Schully, deputy chief medical and scientific officer for the All of Us Research Program.

"The hope for the impact is that we will be generating evidence on people who have traditionally not been part of biomedical research, so that eventually clinical care can be more personalized for everyone," she said. "So, that's not only racial and ethnic minorities, but also sexual gender minorities, rural populations versus urban populations, lower income, lower education attainment, we can gather the evidence to really drive clinical practice for everyone."

Like every other participant, I signed up online at joinallofus.org, and once instructed to do so, I headed to one of the study's regional provider sites at the University of California Davis Medical Center.

Over the course of two visits, they took blood samples, gave me a wearable device to track my activity and sleep, checked my weight and body fat percentage, analyzed my microbiome, gathered a saliva sample, clipped my toenails to gather DNA and even snipped a hair sample, which I was told provides information about environmental toxin exposure, and is an optional part of the study.

I filled out pages and pages of information about my daily habits, medical history, and family history. I consented to let the researchers access my medical health records. I wore a glucose monitor and logged everything I ate for a week.

The amount of work that goes into this is not small, but the benefits both for society and me as an individual seem worth it.

The massive amounts of data are anonymized and made available to researchers who apply for access so that they can use this large data set as they develop new medicines, new diagnostic tests, and new treatments for disease. Study organizers say the data will shape public health policy for decades. Because the study is aiming to reach out to a more diverse population, the hope is that new medical discoveries will be less specific to those white, straight, typically abled, suburban/urban, highly educated participants who have historically participated in clinical trials, and will better represent our diverse population.

Scientists from this study have already unearthed more than 275,000,000 previously unreported genetic variants, half of which are from participants of non-European genetic ancestry. This could have huge impacts on personalized medicine in the future that identifies health patterns from genetic markers and a corresponding tailored standard of care.

Beyond the research benefit, each participant gains access to a large amount of data about themselves.

"We're returning 59 variants and 59 genes where we know there's action that can be taken if you have a variant and one of those genes," Schully said. "So for example, we are returning results from the breast cancer genes, BRCA, 1 and 2, [and] those are actually returned through a genetic counselor … so that participants can really get their questions answered by a professional who is used to returning results like this."

I felt incredibly relieved when my results came back clear; no genetic mutations that I needed to talk about with my doctor. But there was also a report based on my DNA about which medicines I may not process well.

One of the drugs I may not process well is a chemotherapy drug, and it could someday be incredibly helpful to know that I should opt for an alternative if I need cancer care.

The program directors told me that all the data is anonymized for research and is kept in the cloud with serious security.

They also addressed the elephant in the room: They know many underrepresented Americans have a deep distrust of medical research because of so many historical injustices. They said they have a diverse group of advisers and stakeholders who take the issues seriously and ask for participants' trust, a point emphasized by Schully.

"Trust is something that we put at the very forefront. It's one of our core values as a program, and we partner with community-based organizations that are within communities where there has been distrust with research," she said. "We make an effort to make sure that participants are at the very center of everything we do."

For me, I gained a lot of perspective on my health and the typically inscrutable information in my DNA that may predict future health challenges.

I feel like I can provide important information to my kids about their genetic information, and I know I did something to help science and the future of medicine.

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(PHOENIX, Az.) -- Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs on Thursday signed repeal legislation of a long dormant, near-total abortion ban that was recently revived by the state Supreme Court, stirring widespread controversy and debate.

Hobbs' signature will reverse the pending reactivation of the restrictive abortion law that dates to 1864 -- but it won't do so immediately.

Instead, the ban, which was ruled last month to be enforceable by the Arizona Supreme Court in light of the U.S. Supreme Court overruling Roe v. Wade in 2022, cannot be struck down by the new repeal law until 90 days after the Arizona Legislature adjourns its session by the end of June.

However, the Civil War-era law, which bans nearly all abortions with exception only for a woman whose life is in danger, is on track to take effect on June 27, Arizona's attorney general has said.

Hobbs, a Democrat, told ABC News earlier this week she was "hopeful" the legislative adjournment will come in "the next few weeks." The three-month clock on the repeal taking effect could then make for a gap of two or three months wherein the 1864 ban would be law.

"I'll do everything in my power to delay the implementation of the ban," the governor said.

The Arizona attorney general, Democrat Kris Mayes, requested on Tuesday that the state's Supreme Court put on hold its order reviving the 1864 law.

Planned Parenthood filed a similar request on Wednesday that cites "legislative deference," the principle it says the court used to justify its reinstatement of the ban. The women's health advocacy group says it should defer to the Legislature's will after it passed a repeal, with a handful of Republicans joining the Democratic minority in the statehouse.

Once the 1864 ban is repealed, a separate, 15-week ban, that also doesn't make exceptions for rape or incest, will take effect in the state.

Abortion rights activists said they won't be satisfied with such an outcome.

"Unfortunately, Arizonans will still be living under a law that denies us the right to make decisions about our own health. Arizonans cannot afford to celebrate or lose momentum," a spokesperson for Arizona for Abortion Access said after the repeal passed the Senate yesterday.

Voters will likely consider the issue directly in November, as pro-abortion access advocates are pushing a ballot initiative that would enshrine abortion rights in Arizona's Constitution. Abortion opponents have been considering their own initiatives to counter this proposal.

ABC News' Isabella Murray contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) -- An executive for Novo Nordisk, the maker of popular drugs used for weight loss including Ozempic and Wegovy, says the company is investing over $6 billion dollars to help meet the increased demand for the drugs amid ongoing shortages and high prices.

Negelle Morris, senior vice president and head of U.S. cardiometabolic sales at Novo Nordisk Inc., warned though that even with the increased investment, there will still likely be a delay in getting the drugs to the market.

"It's not like a light switch," Morris told ABC News' Erielle Reshef in an exclusive interview that aired Thursday on "Good Morning America." "The strategy is to be very mindful and thoughtful about the amount of the lower doses that we're putting into the market, and I think that over time, the investments that we're making in manufacturing capabilities will ensure that over time we're able to meet that demand."

The three smallest doses for Wegovy, ranging from 0.25 milligram to 1 milligram, currently have "limited availability," according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Novo Nordisk told ABC News that despite the shortages for Wegovy, the company has enough product on the market to start 25,000 patients on Wegovy per week -- a fourfold increase since late last year.

In addition, Novo Nordisk has agreed to acquire three production facilities from pharma and biotech company Catalent for $11 billion, and the company expects to complete the acquisition by the end of the year.

Ozempic is currently available in all dosages, according to the FDA, but has experienced shortages over the past two years as demand for drugs used for weight loss has continued to skyrocket.

Ozempic is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat Type 2 diabetes, but some doctors prescribe the medication "off-label" for weight loss, as is permissible by the FDA.

Wegovy, a medication that contains the same main ingredient, semaglutide, as Ozempic, is FDA-approved for weight loss.

Along with physical access to the medications, financial access has also been a barrier for people with diabetes and obesity who might benefit from the drugs.

Without insurance coverage, the out-of-pocket cost for medications like Ozempic and Wegovy can run as high as $1,000 or more per month.

Last month, a U.S. Senate committee led by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont launched an investigation into the high cost of the two medications.

Novo Nordisk told ABC News the company is working with insurance companies to lower the cost of the drugs, as well as with lawmakers to have the drugs covered by Medicare for obesity.

Morris said Novo Nordisk agrees that the medications "need to be more affordable" but did not offer further specifics.

"I can absolutely assure America that we're doing everything that we can, not only to reduce cost and out of pocket in a way that is consistent with the health care system that we have in the U.S., but also to increase supply," Morris said. "Our manufacturing facilities are working 24/7."

She continued, "The plan that we had to be thoughtful and certainly responsible, but also to increase access to this medication by releasing more of those lower doses, allowing more new patients to start, is something that we'll continue to work on."

When asked by Reshef where the profit from the sales of Wegovy and Ozempic is directed, Morris said it goes back into research and innovation for new medicines and a unit dedicated to preventing obesity.

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(NEW YORK) -- As Florida's six-week abortion ban took effect Wednesday, Dr. Robyn Schickler, CMO of Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida, discussed counseling patients who may be seeking abortions beyond six weeks of pregnancy.

Schickler recently had to inform her patients that Florida does not offer abortion services, and had to refer them to nearby states that do. She explains that it is a difficult conversation to have.

ABC News Live sat down with Schickler as she discussed the latest abortion ban in Florida.

ABC NEWS LIVE: For more about the latest abortion ban in Florida, we want to bring in Chief Medical Officer Dr. Robyn Schickler from Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida. Doctor, thank you so much for joining us. What are your conversations like with patients who arrive at Planned Parenthood for an abortion and are more than six weeks pregnant?

SCHICKLER: Yeah. So that's a very hard conversation. And, you know, we actually did have to start having those before today because Florida does have a 24-hour waiting period. So there were patients that we saw yesterday and even the day before, that we wouldn't be able to get in before May 1. It's, it's a hard conversation. We tell them that we would not be able to provide the abortion to them in the state of Florida, and we provide them their options. And if they want to continue seeking an abortion, then we have patient navigators that can help them get to where they need to go, and get the resources to get to where they need to go.

ABC NEWS LIVE: And so when you say you provide them options, does that mean you give them recommendations outside of the state?

SCHICKLER: Yes. So, we give them recommendations for different clinics that are outside the state. And if they need something, like navigation services from us, we can provide that.

ABC NEWS LIVE: And I want to back up for a little bit because we've heard a lot of conversations about many women not even knowing that they're pregnant at six weeks. Is that something that you run into as well?

SCHICKLER: Yes. So the way we date a pregnancy is we count from the first day of the last menstrual period. That's also basically what ultrasounds go on. So if someone has a regular period, by the time they've missed a period, they're already four weeks along. And so that gives them little time to, to one, even just realize that they missed a period. And two, to obtain the care that they need. So six weeks is really a tiny amount of time. And the majority of patients that I've seen in my practice don't even know till they're at least six weeks.

ABC NEWS LIVE: And what are you hearing from these patients right now, especially in regards to having to seek health care out of the state of Florida?

SCHICKLER: These patients are frustrated. You know, and it's a mixture. Some patients are aware of what's going on. Some people, you know, are busy in their lives and and don't have the time to keep track of everything going on. And so it's the first time they've heard about it, when we say we can't take care of them. They're frustrated. They're mad. They they just came in to get health care, and now they're being told that they can't, and that they have to travel hundreds if not thousands of miles out of the state of Florida from their home to get that care.

ABC NEWS LIVE: And with the six-week ban now taking effect, what concerns you most with regard to a pregnant person's physical and emotional health?

SCHICKLER: Yeah, I think, you know, people are going to continue pregnancies that put them at high risk of both physical and mental and emotional harm and anguish and distress. And I think we're going to see an increase in things like maternal morbidity or sick women who are pregnant because we can't intervene before any of that happens.

ABC NEWS LIVE: Can you tell us about what's next? Because there's a lot that that still isn't known, as you said, even for somebody to define what constitutes putting the mother's life at risk. And I know that there's an amendment on the ballot for the November election to limit the government's power. Tell us what that amendment seeks to do.

SCHICKLER: Yeah. So this amendment is really to get our rights back. It's to a to be able to seek medical care and obtain that medical care without the government intervening in that care. And we deserve that right, our patients deserve that right -- to seek whatever medical care they need. And abortion happens to be part of that medical care for many people.

ABC NEWS LIVE: Dr. Robin Schickler, we thank you so much for your time and insight. Really appreciate it.

SCHICKLER: Thank you.

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(NEW YORK) -- A meat processor has recalled approximately 16,234 pounds of raw ground beef products processed in its Pennsylvania facility that may be contaminated with E. coli.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced the recall Wednesday with Cargill Meat Solutions to alert consumers of six different types of ground beef products that should be thrown out.

According to the agency, the ground beef may have been contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, a "bacterial strain that is an important food and a waterborne pathogen that causes diarrhea, hemorrhagic colitis, and hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) in humans," according to StatPearls, an online library published in the National Library of Medicine.

Details of recalled raw ground beef products

The raw ground beef items were produced April 26-27, 2024.

Impacted products include:

• 2.25-pound plastic-wrapped trays containing "93% LEAN 7% FAT ALL NATURAL LEAN GROUND BEEF" with lot code 117 and establishment number "EST. 86P" printed on the back of the label.
   
• 1.33-pound plastic-wrapped trays containing four "PRIME RIB BEEF STEAK BURGERS PATTIES" with lot code 118 and establishment number "EST. 86P" printed on the back of the label.
   
• 2.25-pound plastic-wrapped trays containing "85% LEAN 15% FAT ALL NATURAL ANGUS PREMIUM GROUND BEEF" with lot code 117 and establishment number "EST. 86P" printed on the back of the label.
   
• 2.25-pound plastic-wrapped trays containing "80% LEAN 20% FAT ALL NATURAL GROUND BEEF CHUCK" with lot code 118 and establishment number "EST. 86P" printed on the back of the label.
   
• 1.33-pound plastic-wrapped trays containing four "80% LEAN 20% FAT ALL NATURAL GROUND BEEF CHUCK PATTIES" with lot code 118 and establishment number "EST. 86P" printed on the back of the label.
   
• 1.33-pound plastic-wrapped trays containing four "90% LEAN 10% FAT ALL NATURAL GROUND BEEF SIRLOIN PATTIES" with lot code 118 and establishment number "EST. 86P" printed on the back of the label.

Each product bears the USDA mark of inspection on the front of the product label.

Cargill Meat Solutions reported the issue to FSIS after it "identified that previously segregated product had been inadvertently utilized in the production of ground beef," according to the agency.

A representative for Cargill Meat Solutions did not immediately respond to request for additional comment.

Recalled raw ground beef sold at Walmart in 9 states

The FSIS said the recalled ground beef products were shipped to Walmart locations nationwide, but according to the retailer's specific store locations there are only nine states listed from Massachusetts to North Carolina where the recalled products were sold.

The retailer issued a recall notice on its website Wednesday that directs to the full USDA details.

What to do if you purchased recalled ground beef from Walmart

Because the FSIS is concerned that some products could be in people's refrigerators or freezers, the agency warned consumers who have purchased these products "not to consume them."

"These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase," the agency recall notice stated.

Consumers with additional questions can reach Cargill via phone at 1-844-419-1574.

Additionally, the FSIS reminded consumers to always safely prepare raw meat products, both fresh and frozen, and only consume ground beef that has been cooked to an internal temperature of 160 F, checked by a food thermometer.

Health impacts of E. coli contamination in raw ground beef

As of time of publication there have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products, according to the FSIS.

In tandem with the USDA , Cargill has encouraged anyone who may be concerned about potential illness to contact a health care provider.

"E. coli O157:H7 is a potentially deadly bacterium that can cause dehydration, bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps 2-8 days (3-4 days, on average) after exposure the organism," the USDA stated. "While most people recover within a week, some develop a type of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). This condition can occur among persons of any age but is most common in children under 5-years old and older adults. It is marked by easy bruising, pallor, and decreased urine output. Persons who experience these symptoms should seek emergency medical care immediately."
 

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(NEW YORK) -- Maternal mortality rates in the United States fell in 2022 after at least three years of continuous increases, new federal data shows.

In 2022, 817 women in the U.S. died of maternal causes with a rate of 22.3 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, according to the report published early Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics.

This is a drop from the 1,205 women that died in 2021 with a rate of 32.9 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births.

Dr. Jessica Shepherd, a Dallas-based OB-GYN, said she believes one reason for the drop from 2021 to 2022 is that in the later months of the COVID-19 pandemic, people were less nervous to seek medical care and there was more access to health services.

"I do think when you look at 2021, we really were at the height of the pandemic," she told ABC News. "And what we do know that happened during the pandemic is when there was decreased access -- and who was able to go to the doctors -- we didn't have a lot of support during the actual pregnancy and delivery portion because there was less support people that were allowed in the delivery room."

Maternal mortality rates also fell significantly for several racial/ethnic groups in 2022 including Black, white and Hispanic women. However, the 2022 rate for Black women of 49.5 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births was significantly higher than the rate for white women at 19.0 and Hispanic women at 16.9.

Asian women also saw a drop from 2021 to 2022 but the CDC said it was not statistically significant. The rate was also lower than that of Black women at 13.2 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births.

"I think we've recognized for a while that this disparity exists, and I think that for a long time, people thought, 'Oh, it's just access, you know, there isn't good access,' or ''This really reflecting socio-economic status, etc. There's a million different excuses," Dr. Laura Riley, OBGYN-in-chief at NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine, told ABC News.

She said the reasons are multi-factorial, but systemic racism in the health care industry, due to lack of representation, may be playing a role.

"Older CDC data suggests that Black women even at the highest socio-economic strata when you compare them to their white counterparts, they still have a higher risk of death," Riley said. "I think we also are recognizing that systemic racism plays a role in some of these adverse events, and it's a question of sort of pulling all of that apart and figuring out how we can provide quality healthcare to everyone."

When broken down by age, rates decreased significantly for every age group between 2021 and 2022. Even with the drop, the rate for women over age 40 was 87.1 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, about six times the rate for women younger than age 25 at 14.4 per 100,000 live births.

Previous studies have shown that risk factors associated with maternal mortality in older women include smoking during pregnancy, inadequate use of prenatal care, concurrent medical conditions such as hypertension, and previous pregnancy problems.

Riley said it's important for maternal mortality review committees, which convene at the state or local level, to study why women are dying during or after pregnancy, as well as studying women who suffered pregnancy complications.

"We also know that there's [women who have] survived the pregnancy and survived the labor and delivery events but have some long term what we call morbidity associated with birth, long term kind of cardiovascular disease, kidney disease," she said. "And so that's yet another reason that we need to really understand what's happening so that we can make changes in the health care system, in the education system...at community levels, at hospital levels, at individual doctors' levels, so that we can make people healthier and make pregnancy and childbirth super."

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(NEW YORK) -- Retail dairy samples recently tested for the avian flu virus, including cottage cheese and sour cream, did not detect any viable virus that would represent a risk to consumers, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday.

In a joint press briefing with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Dr. Donald Prater, acting director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition for the FDA, shared updates on ongoing bird flu investigations.

A multi-state outbreak of bird flu in dairy cows was first reported in late March, according to the CDC. The agency said at the time it had "confirmed one human HPAI A(H5N1) infection that had exposure to dairy cattle in Texas that were presumed to be infected with the virus," adding that it was "working with state health departments to continue to monitor workers who may have been in contact with infected or potentially infected birds/animals and test those people who develop symptoms."

Early last week, initial testing results from the national retail milk study, which sampled 96 pasteurized milk products, showed through PCR testing that about 1 in 5 retail milk samples had tested positive for HPAI viral fragments.

This week, the agencies announced they had not detected "any viable virus" in a second group of test samples.

Second round of dairy product testing did not detect any viable bird flu virus, per FDA

"Today we're announcing an additional set of results from our national study of 297 total retail dairy samples. The second group represents an additional 201 samples of pasteurized retail dairy products, including cottage cheese and sour cream in addition to fluid milk," Prater said. "These samples underwent acute qPCR (quantitative polymerase chain reaction) testing, as well as the same egg inoculation test, and we're encouraged that this preliminary testing also did not detect any viable virus."

To further ensure the safety of other milk-derived products for the youngest population, the FDA said it "tested samples of retail powdered infant formula and powdered milk products marketed as toddler formula," all of which came back negative, "indicating no detection of viral fragments or virus."

These additional preliminary results "further affirm the safety of the US commercial milk supply" as well as the efficacy of pasteurization in inactivating HPAI, the agency explained.

The FDA is continuing to test samples of pooled raw milk routed to pasteurization and processing for commercial use in order to help characterize potential virus levels that pasteurization may encounter, which will also be used to inform studies to further validate pasteurization.

The FDA, with the CDC, USDA and local health partners, is continuing surveillance of milk production, processing and pasteurization to manage the emerging disease.

The FDA also reiterated this week that it strongly advises against the consumption of raw milk and recommends that the industry not manufacture or sell raw milk or raw milk products.

FSIS ground beef inspection process amid bird flu in cattle

"We are very confident that the meat supply is safe," a representative from the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service said Wednesday.

The meat inspection process includes each animal being inspected before slaughter, and all cattle carcasses must pass inspection after slaughter before they go into the food supply.

The FSIS has initiated three separate sampling efforts. The first was a collection of retail ground beef from the affected state, the second tested beef muscle samples from culled dairy cows, and a third study is looking at cooking ground beef at various temperatures.

How the CDC is monitoring H5N1 bird flu, local testing of those exposed

In the course of this investigation, the CDC said Wednesday local public health partners had monitored over 100 people, and if anyone presents with symptoms, the next step is to conduct local testing.

The CDC said it is monitoring flu surveillance data, "especially in areas where H5N1 viruses have been detected in dairy cattle or other animals for any unusual trends in flu-like illness, flu or conjunctivitis," Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC, said in his update Wednesday.

At this time, the CDC said it has found "no indicators of unusual flu activity in people, which includes avian influenza."

While the number of tests conducted on people locally varies day by day, Daskalakis said "it's around 25" currently.

People who have been exposed to infected birds, poultry or other animals are monitored for 10 days after exposure.

"We are looking to grow H5N1 virus stock from the one human case in Texas to use for additional laboratory experiments to learn how the virus reproduces in both human and cows," he said, which will ultimately help the CDC "assess the severity of illness and transmissibility of the virus under different scenarios."

In addition to laboratory testing, the CDC is continuing with outreach and education through public health partner organizations "to ensure preparedness for any potential human infections or exposures."

"CDC is conducting broad outreach to the public to raise awareness about the current situation and and remind everyone that the current risk to the general public health is low," Daskalakis said.

USDA says bird flu outbreak in dairy cows likely stemmed from single spillover event

"We currently have 36 affected hers across nine states," said Dr. Rosemary Sifford, deputy administrator of Veterinary Services and Chief Veterinary Officer for the USDA. "It appears that there was a single spillover event in the Texas panhandle geographic region from wild birds and to dairy cattle. The wild birds are believed to be the initial source of the infection in dairy cattle and then cattle movements spread the virus into other dairy cattle herds and then subsequently into poultry flocks."

Sifford added that of the affected herds, 10% have displayed symptoms, and the "cattle that display symptoms generally returned to near their previous production levels after they recover from the virus, which is taking around two weeks."

Most cows have recovered with palliative treatment with little or no associated mortality, according to the USDA.

The USDA did not provide a specific number of tests conducted on dairy cattle to date, but Sifford said she expects "an increase in the number of tests."

"We're requiring any herds that are moving animals inner state to test up to 30 animals in the lot that they expect to move. Once we reach 30 that's a statistically significant number to be able to determine the status of the lot," she said. 

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(NEW YORK) -- Florida's law banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy took effect on Wednesday, becoming one of the most restrictive states in the country on abortion access.

Florida's six-week ban replaced the state's previous 15-week abortion ban, prohibiting the procedure before most women know they are pregnant.

In the South, abortion is now either banned or severely restricted in Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas and Louisiana.

The closest state to Florida with no gestational limits on abortion is Virginia.

On April 1, the Florida State Supreme Court issued a decision to uphold the state's 15-week abortion ban in response to a legal challenge asking the court to throw out the ban.

The six-week trigger ban signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis went into effect Wednesday, 30 days after the court's ruling.

The decision came as part of an ongoing lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Planned Parenthood, the Center for Reproductive Rights and abortion providers against the state, claiming the ban violates the Florida Constitution.

In a separate decision also released on April 1, the Florida Supreme Court decided to allow a ballot initiative that would enshrine abortion rights in the state's Constitution. The decision will allow voters to determine the future of abortion access in the state in November.

In June 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to abortion that had been the law nationwide for almost 50 years.

Two months before the Supreme Court's landmark decision, Republican lawmakers in Florida passed a law to halt abortion procedures after 15 weeks, which was previously limited to 24 weeks.

Before Wednesday's ban, Florida was a key point of access to women across the southeastern U.S. living in states that have ceased nearly all abortion services after Roe v. Wade was overturned.

Data gathered by the Guttmacher Institute estimates that there were 4,950 more abortions provided in Florida from January to June 2023, compared to the same period in 2020.

Calculating pregnancy is determined from the first day of a woman's last menstrual period, according to the American Pregnancy Association, which shortens the time a woman has to determine pregnancy before six weeks.

In addition, Florida requires patients to complete two in-person doctor visits within 24 hours to receive abortion access.

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(NEW YORK) -- Even though one in five Americans lives with a mental illness, many feel it is not adequately addressed, with a new survey from West Health and Gallup suggesting that three in four Americans believe mental health conditions are not identified and treated in the same way as physical health conditions.

Roughly 60% of Americans give a poor or failing grade to how mental health conditions are treated, according to the survey.

“The magnitude [of the problem] really surprised me,” said Tim Lash, president of West Health. 

He states that the U.S. is not just underperforming -- it is failing on a systemic level and in terms of the number of people with unmet needs.

The survey shows the impact of mental health challenges is significant with 51% of people said they experienced depression, anxiety, or another mental health condition in the past year.

Even more concerning, 22% of them said their mental health was so poor it interfered with normal activities like going to work or taking care of their household.

Stigma remains a significant barrier to care with seven in 10 Americans believing that society views people with mental health conditions negatively, the survey finds.

“It’s very difficult for patients to bring up mental health issues,” says Dr. Vidush Athyal, a family medicine physician at Kaiser Permanente in San Diego.

"The onus should probably be on the physician to really be attuned to picking up signs," said Athyal, emphasizing the importance of healthcare providers proactively incorporating mental health during routine patient visits.

While mental health stigma persists, experts hope increased dialogue will drive change.

"Hopefully, as our society becomes more comfortable talking about mental health, patients will feel more able to bring it up with their doctors," Athyal said. "You really shouldn't be holding too much back from your physician."

He also emphasizes that mental health challenges often manifest as physical symptoms.

“Many of the symptoms we encounter in primary care have an underlying psychosocial component, whether it’s migraines, back pain or palpitations. We think a patient may be having a heart attack, and then we end up running all the tests and everything’s normal. And then somebody finally attempts to dig a little bit deeper,” Athyal said, potentially revealing “a stressful event in the patient’s life that triggered this [response].”

Experts say the survey underscores that mental health shouldn't be an afterthought in American healthcare. Mental health professionals say that mental health is as important as physical health -- the two are inextricably linked.

“There’s a long way to go,” said Lash, “but I see hope. We need societal acceptance of mental health as a core part of overall health, and achieving parity is crucial.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide - free, confidential help is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Call or text the national lifeline at 988.

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