The masked sociologist
I see a lot of takes to the effect that Democratic governors deciding to end mask mandates even as the CDC maintains its guidance for masking in schools and other publications is a case of Democrats in Disarray ™. No.Legally, constitutionally actually, the CDC only provides guidance about public health measures which are the domain of the states, based on the police power as reserved to them by the 10th Amendment. CDC is not a political agency, it is a scientific agency, and it has no regulatory authority per se. (It does require that states and health care providers submit certain data to it.) Joe Biden and other ...
Source: Stayin' Alive - February 10, 2022 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
The Social Science of Covid
By MIKE MAGEE
As we enter the third year of the Covid pandemic, with perhaps a partial end in sight, the weight of the debate shows signs of shifting away from genetically engineered therapies, and toward a social science search for historic context.
Renowned historian, Charles E. Rosenberg, envisioned a similar transition for the AIDS epidemic in 1989. He described its likely future course then as a “social phenomenon” with these words, “Epidemics start at a moment in time, proceed on a stage limited in space and duration, follow a plot line of increasing and revelatory tension, move to a crisis of individual ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 31, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Health Policy COVID-19 COVID-19 vaccine Mike Magee vaccines Source Type: blogs
Predicting Drug Diversion: The Use of Data Analytics in Prescription Drug Monitoring
Cathleen London (University of Maine), Predicting Drug Diversion: The Use of Data Analytics in Prescription Drug Monitoring, Student J. Info. Privacy L. (2022): The leading narrative driving policy is that the opioid epidemic was driven by overprescribing by clinicians, leading... (Source: HealthLawProf Blog)
Source: HealthLawProf Blog - January 28, 2022 Category: Medical Law Authors: Katharine Van Tassel Source Type: blogs
Fat Rights, Public Health Oppression and Prejudice, and the 'Obesity Epidemic'
Nicholas D. Lawson (Georgetown University), Fat Rights, Public Health Oppression and Prejudice, and the 'Obesity Epidemic ’, 38 Touro L. Rev. (2022): The pervasiveness, frequency, and intensity of fat shaming, bullying, and harassment experienced by fat people is well-documented, and three... (Source: HealthLawProf Blog)
Source: HealthLawProf Blog - January 26, 2022 Category: Medical Law Authors: Katharine Van Tassel Source Type: blogs
How to choose a probiotic
The world of commercial probiotics is evolving rapidly as the science of the microbiome continues to unfold. Unfortunately, the current crop of commercial probiotics provide limited benefits, as they are generally concocted in a haphazard fashion. Most current commercial probiotics are a slap-dash collection of microbes, each of which is believed to be beneficial or at least not harmful.They provide limited benefits that include helping suppress the proliferation (but not usually eradicating) unhealthy species such as Klebsiella and Staphylococcus, encourage production of intestinal mucus and strengthening the intestinal i...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - January 23, 2022 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Open microbiota probiotic super gut Source Type: blogs
Breaking down the real cost of the opioid epidemic
I have been writing of late about recent developments in the opioid saga. My first piece talked about a fresh decision in California’s seven-year-old The People vs. opioid pharma case. The next one focused on how the middle-man, distributors, contributed to the epidemic’s picture. Now, I wanted to write an overarching piece hitting some astoundingRead more …Breaking down the real cost of the opioid epidemic originally appeared inKevinMD.com. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - January 20, 2022 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/rebecca-thaxton" rel="tag" > Rebecca Thaxton, MD < /a > < /span > Tags: Physician Pain Management Source Type: blogs
Avoiding The Plague: Medical Advice from the 14th Century.
Years ago I added a book to my medical library entitled Hecker’s Epidemics of the Middle Ages. Published in 1843, the pages are yellow and fragile, but the COVID-19 Epidemic spurred me to open it up and peruse the contents for lessons relevant to today’s events. Among the more fascinating topics is a section on physician recommendations for avoiding contagion.
The Black Death was a global epidemic of bubonic plague that ravaged the world of the Middle Ages, killing one third of all the people in Europe. In the 14th Century the esteemed medical faculty of Paris were commissioned to deliver their opinion to furni...
Source: Jeffrey M. Levine MD | Geriatric Specialist | Wound Care | Pressure Ulcers - January 18, 2022 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Jeffrey M Levine Tags: Art & Medicine Featured Medical Articles Medical History Source Type: blogs
Avoiding The Plague: Medical Advice from the 14th Century.
The Black Death was a global epidemic of bubonic plague that ravaged the world of the Middle Ages, killing one third of all the people in Europe. In the 14th Century the esteemed medical faculty of Paris were commissioned to deliver their opinion to furnish recommendations to prevent its transmission. This was before the knowledge of micro-organisms, and medical advice revolves around modifying the air and the diet, as well as personal activity, colonic cleansing and chastity. Here are some highlights, from the reference entitled Hecker’s Epidemics of the Middle Ages:
[K]indle a large fire of vine-wood, green laur...
Source: Jeffrey M. Levine MD | Geriatric Specialist | Wound Care | Pressure Ulcers - January 18, 2022 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Jeffrey M Levine Tags: Art & Medicine Featured Medical Articles Medical History Source Type: blogs
America Can Still Deliver on Global Vaccine Diplomacy
It is hard to see how science alone can end the pandemic without the rallying power of global diplomacy. The United States has played a leadership role in previous outbreaks, such as Ebola. It could play a similar role now to help consign the current pandemic to epidemic status. (Source: The RAND Blog)
Source: The RAND Blog - December 28, 2021 Category: Health Management Authors: Krishna B. Kumar Source Type: blogs
Role of Judiciary and Social Welfare to Combat Coronavirus Pandemic in Nepal: A Study with Special Reference to India ’s Epidemic Law
Dr. Alok Kumar Yadav (Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University) Jivesh Jha, ILI Law Review (2020): The competent legislature of Nepal has adopted and enacted an epidemic law regime to curtail the transmission of outbreaks. However, these laws have glaring gaps.... (Source: HealthLawProf Blog)
Source: HealthLawProf Blog - December 26, 2021 Category: Medical Law Authors: Katharine Van Tassel Source Type: blogs
Role of Judiciary and Social Welfare to Combat Coronavirus Pandemic in Nepal: A Study with Special Reference to India ’s Epidemic Law
Dr. Alok Kumar Yadav (Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University Uttarakhand), Jivesh Jha, Role of Judiciary and Social Welfare to Combat Coronavirus Pandemic in Nepal: A Study with Special Reference to India ’s Epidemic Law, ILI L. Rev. (2020): The competent legislature... (Source: HealthLawProf Blog)
Source: HealthLawProf Blog - December 25, 2021 Category: Medical Law Authors: Katharine Van Tassel Source Type: blogs
The global syndemic and the future of humanity: introduction to a series
" Syndemic " is a term coined my Merrill Singer in the 1990s as a portmanteau of " synergistic " and " epidemic. " In its simplest construction it refers to two or more diseases, co-occurring in a population, whose interaction produces increased morbidity and mortality. For example, opioid addiction, HIV, and other infectious diseases. Needle sharing transmits HIV, which in turn causes immunodeficiency, which increases susceptibility to other infections.However, syndemics usually involve social conditions as well. The original epidemic of injection drug use originated in social conditions, as a simple example, but syndemic...
Source: Stayin' Alive - December 24, 2021 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
A note on how we know what we know and what we don't know
A major problem in public discourse is what I call the reification of data. The information we have about social facts, economics, public health -- the statistics that come out of CDC, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census Bureau, academic research -- are not identical with reality. But the people who bandy them about seldom reflect on where they come from, or even think to ask. Regarding HIV specifically, in the United States we depend on the HIV surveillance system. Like many other infectious diseases, HIV is reportable. When someone tests positive, and gets a positive confirmation test, the entity that d...
Source: Stayin' Alive - December 11, 2021 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
More on social and historical perspectives
When the HIV epidemic was first discovered in the U.S., as we have seen, it mostly afflicted stigmatized groups. President Ronald Reagan largely ignored it, as did his successor George Bush the First. The plague devastated gay communities across the country. But pervasive grief and loss turned into anger, and then action. AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power -- ACT UP -- was founded in New York in 1987 and went on to become a national and then an international organization, using direct action tactics to demand action to combat the epidemic, and counteracting false information and bigotry. ACT UP founder Larry ...
Source: Stayin' Alive - December 10, 2021 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
The HIV epidemic: social and historical perspectives
Because I have lectured about this subject I have a lot of graphics, but I ' ll try to keep it reasonable. The first report of what turned out to be AIDS was published in CDC ' s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on June 5, 1981. It reported on five cases ofPneumocystiscariniipneumonia in young men in California. This is a microbe that only causes disease in people with weakened immune systems. After at first calling the mystery disease Gay Related Immunodeficiency Disease, or GRID, epidemiologists quickly renamed it Acquired immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS. It was particularly prevalent among gay men i...
Source: Stayin' Alive - December 9, 2021 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
