Current Events

Federal health officials Thursday unveiled a new strategy (PDF) geared toward reversing the steady rise in drug overdose deaths seen over the past two decades. The new approach will focus on reducing the use of prescription opioid and opiate-related drugs, which are responsible for more than half of all drug overdose deaths.

“Opioid drug abuse is a devastating epidemic facing our nation,” said HHS Secretary Sylvia Matthews Burwell in a statement. “That's why I'm taking a targeted approach to tackling this issue focused on prevention, treatment and intervention.”

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WASHINGTON — President Obama on Friday urged Congress to double the funding to confront the danger of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, calling it a major public health issue that, if left unchecked, would “cause tens of thousands of deaths, millions of illnesses.”

The administration also issued a new plan for attacking the problem, part of a national strategy that Mr. Obama laid out in an executive order in September. The plan calls for improved surveillance of outbreaks, better diagnostic tests and new research on alternative drugs. It also urges government agencies to bolster systems to track the consumption of antibiotics and to reduce inappropriate use in people and animals.

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The manufacturer of a type of medical scope linked to the spread of deadly bacterial infections issued detailed new cleaning instructions for the devices Thursday, urging hospitals to implement the procedures “as soon as possible.”

The new safety protocols from Olympus America come after recent outbreaks at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and ­Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where nearly a dozen patients contracted antibiotic-resistant “superbugs” from contaminated medical scopes and hundreds of others potentially were exposed.

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Graco Children’s Products has agreed to pay $10 million to settle claims that it failed to recall promptly about four million child car seats with a defective buckle that could make it difficult to free a child in an emergency, federal regulators said on Friday.

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DETROIT — In a notable victory for General Motors, a lawsuit that helped spur the biggest safety crisis in the company’s history has been withdrawn in exchange for a settlement from its compensation program, according to two people briefed on the agreement.

The lawsuit was the second brought by the family of a Georgia woman, Brooke Melton, who died in 2010 in a car with a faulty ignition switch that has now been linked to at least 64 deaths.

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The Food and Drug Administration, which has encountered recent criticism for not acting more aggressively to address infections spread by contaminated medical scopes, said Thursday it will begin requiring manufacturers of certain reusable devices to submit data showing they can be cleaned reliably.

The agency also announced that it will convene a panel of experts in May to study the safety issues facing duodenoscopes. These were the specialized endoscopy devices behind the recent outbreak of a drug-resistant “superbug” at two Los Angeles hospitals, as well as similar outbreaks around the country in recent years.

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(Bloomberg) - Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV is doing a second recall of 703,000 minivans and SUVs with a defective ignition switch that can rotate out of position, similar to the faulty General Motors Co. part tied to dozens of deaths.

The action covers the 2008-2010 Dodge Grand Caravan, Chrysler Town and Country and Dodge Journey, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a document posted on its website Friday.

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If a hospital learns that hackers breached your medical records, federal law requires that it inform you. If the same hospital learns you may have been exposed to a deadly pathogen, it usually doesn’t have to say a thing.

That's because hospitals don’t have a legal obligation to tell patients about the presence of pathogens — even antibiotic-resistant bacteria. These so-called superbugs are increasingly common, and are so deadly that Tom Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), has described them as “nightmare bacteria." Recent outbreaks, linked to contaminated endoscopes at UCLA and other hospitals, are bringing this policy gap to the fore.

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Nissan is expanding an earlier recall of its popular Altima sedans to fix a flaw that can cause the hood to fly open while the car is being driven.

The Japanese automaker now says 625,000 Altimas built in the U.S. from the 2013 through 2015 model years are affected by the issue. Nissan initially recalled 220,000 cars from the 2013 model year in October for the same problem.

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Women on HRT pills should be aware that there is a small chance of an increased risk of blood clots and possibly stroke, according to a study.

The link was made by the international Cochrane group, which looked at medical trials involving some 40,000 women.

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Food and Drug Administration is keeping a bold-letter warning on Pfizer's anti-smoking drug Chantix about suicidal behavior and other psychiatric side effects, after reviewing company findings suggesting the drug does not increase those problems.

The twice-a-day tablet has carried the FDA's strongest warning label since 2009, following reports of suicidal tendencies and violent or bizarre behavior among some patients.

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