infectious disease
Did you get salmonella from your pet bearded dragon?
Joel Saget/AFP via Getty Images
The CDC is investigating 15 cases of salmonella across nine states potentially linked to pet bearded dragons. More than half of the people who have gotten sick are under 5 years old. Four people have been hospitalized, and there have been no reported deaths.
This isn't the first time that these apparently popular pet lizards have started a chain of salmonella cases. The "golden retriever of the reptile world" (as one expert described them to the New York Times) was responsible for a two-year-long outbreak between 2012-2014 that infected more than 130 people — again, most under age 5. And earlier this year, a rare strain of the infection was traced back to a breeder in Southeast Asia. If you've got one of these funny fellas, the CDC says wash your hands after touching them.
first opinion
How the health care system should deal with hypochondriacs, per a hypochondriac
In his own words, Hal Rosenbluth is a hypochondriac. "People like me are often dismissed by family, friends, and many doctors," he writes in a new First Opinion essay. But Rosenbluth is also a health care executive, a perspective that, combined with his hypochondria, provides him key insight into how the U.S. health care system works — and how it doesn't.
People with hypochondria can put a significant burden on the health care system. But there are ways that system can change to better diagnose and support them, Rosenbluth argues. It starts with clinicians, who must strike a delicate balance: thoroughly vetting their patients' claims, while remaining cautious of not overselling or recommending a battery of tests. Read more on how the system can adapt.
pandemic
A new poll looks at the public's view on pandemic policies
In hindsight, most Americans agree that policies put in place during the height of the pandemic were "generally a good idea," according to new polling results from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the de Beaumont Foundation. The poll included over 1,000 U.S. adults, whose support for policies often fell along partisan lines.
When considering four key policies — masking requirements in stores and businesses, mandatory vaccinations for health care workers, indoor dining closures, and school shutdowns — 42% of respondents said all were a good idea, while 20% said all were "generally a bad idea." The results are especially interesting in the context of a recent First Opinion essay: When two medical professors studied the effectiveness of Covid-19 policies, they found that government interventions were followed by better Covid-19 outcomes only about half the time.
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