News from the USA, United States of America

Mij said:
Apparently RFK Jr will announce the "cause of autism" today

Spoiler - he doesn't know the cause of autism

He's gonna make something up to push his agenda
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Tylenol. And as ridiculous as it is, and it 100% is, it's not more ridiculous than half the stuff we hear being said about us and chronic illness in general.

It's not even the most ridiculous thing said about autism by actual physicians who wrote it down in a book thinking it was smart, not even by a long shot. Just as false, but the ridiculous factor is just not there.
 
BBC: 'Trump links pain reliever Tylenol to autism - but many experts are sceptical'

'Doctors in the US will soon be advised not to prescribe the pain reliever Tylenol to pregnant women, US President Donald Trump said, citing a disputed link between the drug and autism.'

'During the announcement on Monday, Kennedy said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will issue a physicians notice about what he said is the potential risk of taking Tylenol during pregnancy.

He said the FDA will also begin the process of initiating a safety label change on the medication and launch a public health campaign to spread awareness.'

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'In August, a review of research led by the dean of Harvard University's Chan School of Public Health found that children may be more likely to develop autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders when exposed to Tylenol during pregnancy.

Researchers argued some steps should be taken to limit use of the drug, but said it was still important for treating maternal fever and pain, which can also have negative effects for children.

But another study, published in 2024, found no relationship between exposure to Tylenol and autism.

It was conducted by looking at a population sample of 2.4 million children born in Sweden between 1995 to 2019. Around 7.5% of them were exposed to acetaminophen during pregnancy.

By comparing autism rates between those exposed versus those who were not, as well as comparing siblings who shared genetics, the study concluded that there was no increased risk of autism, ADHD or intellectual disability that can be definitively linked to acetaminophen.'

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'Kennedy added that the FDA will soon approve Leucovorin, a decades-old drug traditionally used to protect cancer patients against toxicity from chemotherapy, to be used as treatment for children with autism.

FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said the approval will be based on research that he said suggests the drug, which is a form of vitamin B, may help children with autism who are deficient in folate improve their verbal communication.'
 
Eleanor said:
"many experts are sceptical" is a pathetically poor misrepresentation of the facts.
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Yikes, what a bad headline! This headline from CNN is a little better:

Trump links autism to acetaminophen use during pregnancy, despite decades of evidence it’s safe

Acetaminophen is the generic name for the drug in the USA, same thing as paracetamol.

EDIT: The article has this note about risk of harm from not treating fevers while pregnant. Taking ibuprofen or aspirin is not advised.
Other common pain relief options like ibuprofen or regular-dose aspirin can increase the risk of serious complications during pregnancy. Not treating a fever can also be dangerous for both the fetus and the pregnant person.
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EDIT #2: This article from KFF Health News has a lot more detail:

‘Sick to My Stomach’: Trump Distorts Facts on Autism, Tylenol, and Vaccines, Scientists Say
 
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From Medpage Today, response to the press conference held by Trump, RFK Jr, etc:

The Truth About Tylenol and Autism

Video by Mikhail Varshavski, DO, who goes by "Dr. Mike" (includes partial transcript)
'Dr Mike' on Medpage Today said:
… this press conference was just so, so bad. So full of inaccuracies, lies, judgment. It literally depressed me to see how far we've fallen.

I've said that the information I present on this channel is not political, it's clinical. But what I really meant was that it isn't partisan. For the last few years, partisan politics have destroyed our credibility as healthcare professionals. Truth and facts have progressively become devalued in comparison to "winning."

And before your mind goes there, this isn't a left or right thing either. Whether it was President Biden announcing boosters before the CDC and FDA even approved them, or President Trump pushing hydroxychloroquine as a game-changer while his own NIH rushed to fact-check him -- even Vice President Kamala Harris has played this game, claiming she would not get Trump's vaccine only to get it several months later. The problem is just universal.
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Judging by the Guardian report the USA government shut down is due to a proposal to reduce Medicaid funding by an amount per capita closely equivalent to the entire UK NHS budget.

And there is something about having to do certain hours work a week to qualify for what is left.

It seems fairly mind-blowing.
 
Jonathan Edwards said:
Judging by the Guardian report the USA government shut down is due to a proposal to reduce Medicaid funding by an amount per capita closely equivalent to the entire UK NHS budget.

And there is something about having to do certain hours work a week to qualify for what is left.

It seems fairly mind-blowing.
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Trump’s ’big beautiful bill’ that has already been passed has dramatically cut health funding and means individuals’ health insurance may increase by some 75%. Some rural hospitals and clinics are already closing. The Democrats are seeking to use their power to shut down the government to force change on these cuts to health spending.

I imagine people with ME will be amongst those who suffer from the health funding cuts.
 
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rvallee said:
What to know about RFK Jr.’s efforts to address long COVID (7:30 video)

www.pbs.org

PBS News Hour | What to know about RFK Jr.’s efforts to address long COVID | Season 2025

What to know about RFK Jr.’s efforts to address long COVID research and treatments
www.pbs.org www.pbs.org
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Thanks for posting!

Here's a link with a transcript:

www.pbs.org

What to know about RFK Jr.’s efforts to address long COVID research and treatments

More than two years after the WHO's COVID-19 public health emergency ended, millions of Americans are still living with long COVID. Symptoms vary from person to person, but range from mild to severe to physically debilitating. Recently, Health Secretary Kennedy kicked off new efforts to address...
www.pbs.org www.pbs.org

Spoiler alert, ME/CFS is not mentioned.

Also I noticed they posted this important correction (in the video they said the World Health Organization had declared the pandemic over):

Correction: The description and transcript for this story have been updated to reflect that it's been more than two years since the World Health Organization ended its COVID-19 public health emergency.
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From Medpage Today:

Medicaid Work Requirements Will Devastate People With Invisible Disabilities
— ME/CFS and long COVID patients must qualify as "medically frail"
Medpage Today said:
As our nation grapples with the future of HHS, there is a silent train heading for a major wreck -- the estimated 10 million Americans who stand to get kicked off Medicaid or Affordable Care Act plans and lose their healthcare coverage.

Every disability and human rights organization I know stands in direct, unwavering opposition to the devastating Medicaid cuts signed into law as part of the "Big, Beautiful Bill." Experts all over the country pleaded with Congress to protect Medicaid -- health insurance for the most vulnerable Americans. Yet, those pleas were ignored.
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Medpage Today said:
For the past 8 years, I have advocated alongside a community of people living with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), a devastating disease that some studies describe as more disabling than multiple sclerosis, congestive heart failure, and end-stage renal disease. The majority of our community (an estimated 75%) are too sick to work, and 25% are housebound or bedbound. As the disease is most commonly triggered by infection, the pandemic has exploded the size of our community from an estimated 1.5 million pre-pandemic to potentially as many as 9 million Americans, with estimates suggesting half of the long COVID community may meet the criteria for ME/CFS at 6 months.

And yet, our community is terrified of getting kicked off Medicaid, as the majority of people living with ME/CFS cannot fulfill the recently passed work requirements. This disease is routinely misunderstood by policymakers who often lack adequate knowledge about the profound impact of infection-associated diseases, like ME/CFS and long COVID. As is often the case in the doctor's office, the risk of not being able to prove disability to policymakers is once again high -- and the possibility of our most disabled losing healthcare, after having lost so much else, is devastating.

We are not alone. Anyone living with a complex, historically stigmatized disease knows how difficult it is to secure a diagnosis, find knowledgeable medical providers, and access social services. People with ME/CFS -- and now long COVID -- often struggle to retain disability benefits because gatekeepers have not been properly educated about these diseases, and many doctors and lawyers lack expertise on how to properly document an ME/CFS disability claim. Many doctors have not been thoroughly educated about these sorts of "invisible disabilities" in medical school, including conditions like ME/CFS, Lyme disease, long COVID, and fibromyalgia. Meanwhile, research investment into studying ME/CFS has been dismal, leading to a lack of clear biomarkers and diagnostic tests.
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President Donald Trump completed his second medical evaluation of 2025 at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on October 10, where his physician, Dr. Sean Barbabella, reported excellent overall health, a cardiac age of 65, and perfect cognitive scores. The exam included a flu shot and COVID-19 booster as preventive measures for upcoming international travel, marking a deviation from the standard annual presidential physical schedule.

Do they realize that many are not getting vaccinated due to disinformation from his administration?
 
An article that reads like an ad for the Boston Medical Center's ReCOVer Long COVID Clinic

healthcity.bmc.org

‘Everything Is Fair Game in Long COVID Land:’ A Look into BMC’s ReCOVer Long COVID Clinic, Four Years In

Boston Medical Center's ReCOVer Long COVID Clinic takes multidisciplinary approach towards understanding long COVID.
healthcity.bmc.org healthcity.bmc.org

“Even though there are not a lot of proven therapies, our patients are getting careful longitudinal care.” Huang adds that their program recognizes that the mind-body connection is strong in any illness and must always be addressed. “No matter what people’s symptoms are, stress, fatigue, depression, and anxiety don’t cause long COVID, but they fuel it,” she says.
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Since Boston Medical Center launched the ReCOVer Long COVID Clinic in 2021, significant progress has been made toward understanding long COVID and how to effectively treat it.
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Uh huh. Must have missed all this progress. Literally haven't seen a single bit of it. First thing they mention is how there is 'now' a formal definition, which is something that is repeated almost every time it's brought up, how the lack of a formal definition, which means pathological evidence, is blocking everything. The rest is, well, there is nothing else, just self-congratulatory words despite the total lack of meaningful progress.
The ReCOVer Long COVID Clinic is a site for the NIH-funded RECOVER initiative, the largest U.S. effort to study long COVID.
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This inspires not just zero confidence, but very negative confidence. Like most things happening, it explains a lot, though.

I hate this stuff so much. It's like every newspaper headline dating back decades saying that "things are changing for people with ME/CFS". Well, they keep changing, and yet they haven't changed one bit. Funny how this doesn't work.
 
www.latimes.com

Last year's flu season was California's worst in years. How bad will this one get?

Last year’s flu season was the worst California had seen in years — and state health officials warn this year could potentially be just as bad.
www.latimes.com www.latimes.com

AI Summary:
Last year’s flu season was California’s worst in years. How bad will this one get?

Early Warnings from Asia
Health officials warn that California’s upcoming flu season could mirror last year’s — the worst in recent memory. In Asia, flu cases have already reached epidemic levels in Japan and Taiwan, hinting at what may lie ahead for the U.S.

Vaccination Concerns
Flu vaccination rates remain lower than pre-pandemic levels. Just under half of adults and children have received flu shots, despite last season’s high number of severe cases and deaths — including 280 children, most of whom were unvaccinated. Experts are particularly concerned about declining coverage in kids, with rare but serious complications like influenza-associated encephalopathy (IAE) being reported.

Triple Threat: Flu, COVID, and RSV
While COVID-19 and RSV levels are currently low in California, cases tend to rise in colder months as people gather indoors. Simultaneous surges of all three respiratory viruses could strain healthcare systems again. Wastewater data also shows high levels of enterovirus D68 in some regions — a virus linked to rare paralysis in children.

What Experts Recommend
Doctors stress the importance of getting vaccinated for flu, COVID-19, and RSV, especially among vulnerable groups like young children, the elderly, and pregnant women. Other preventive steps include wearing masks in crowded spaces, handwashing, and staying home when sick.

California officials emphasize that now is the ideal time to get immunized, before a possible winter surge hits.
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