politics
The forces behind the GOP push to 'Make America Healthy Again'
Illustration: Anna Yeo/STAT; Photos: Emrich, Getty, AP
At a recent roundtable on Capitol Hill, newcomer siblings Calley and Casey Means had seats next to longtime favorites on the political right like psychologist and renowned beef-eater Jordan Peterson. Outside the event, the siblings buzz in the same orbit as even bigger names: Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and even former President Donald Trump.
So who are the Meanses? The shortest answer is that Calley, 39, is a startup founder, while his sister Casey, 37, is an M.D. The full picture is more complicated. As burgeoning conservative media figures, they're working to build a "Make America Healthy Again" identity for the Republican party. Trump is prioritizing the epidemic of chronic disease, Calley Means told STAT's Isa Cueto in an exclusive interview. And in public appearances, they emphasize how polluted health care, government, and science have all become with perverse financial incentives. Their messages tend to activate conservative anxieties about personal freedoms, family values, and institutional corruption.
I asked Isa how she heard about the Meanses, and why she decided to write about them. "It just seemed like they kept popping up all over the place, and were propelling a conversation about chronic disease — and the big systemic issues underlying illness — that people were actually fired up about," she said. "It was also fascinating to me how the Meanses were taking traditionally left-leaning ideas, like Food Is Medicine, and flipping them into GOP priorities. Like a total political ouroboros."
Read more in Isa's profile.
infectious disease
HIV in breast milk: Is undetectable still untransmittable?
When it comes to transmitting HIV through sex, the science has long been clear: If the virus is undetectable, then it's untransmittable. But does that also apply to people who want to breastfeed? For mothers taking antiretroviral therapy, the risk of transmitting HIV to babies through breast milk is extremely low, but not exactly zero. In lower-income countries, the risk of transmission has long been seen as secondary to the benefits of breastfeeding. But in high-income countries, where safe formula and clean water are readily available, guidelines have been more cautious, advising avoidance of breastfeeding altogether.
A study published yesterday in the Annals of Internal Medicine contributes important evidence as the first to examine viral load in breast milk from people with long-term viral suppression.
Researchers collected breast milk from three cisgender women: an HIV-positive patient who maintained undetectable viral loads without medication for nine years, another HIV-positive patient who was on antiretrovirals with undetectable viral loads for five years, and one without HIV. The team detected no RNA copies of HIV in either woman with HIV, and extremely low levels of DNA copies.
Here's what it means: There was no evidence of an intact virus, or of a virus that was strong enough to replicate and infect cells. While the small study wasn't specifically designed to assess transmission risk, the data supports revising recommendations on infant feeding in high- resource settings, according to an editorial that accompanied the study.
shortages
Hospital lobby calls for national emergency over IV shortage
Hurricane Helene killed more than 230 people when it tore through the Southeast U.S. just over a week ago. The storm also shut down an IV manufacturing plant in Marion, North Carolina, that's responsible for about 60% of the IV solutions for the U.S. As the company, Baxter, deals with the damage, the American Hospital Association is asking the Biden administration to declare a shortage of IV solutions and invoke national emergency powers to ease the crisis.
It's unclear how long it will take for the Marion plant to get back up and running. Some hospitals have already declared internal shortages and restricted IV use, and as Hurricane Milton barrels toward central Florida, another IV manufacturing plant is in its current path. Read more from STAT's Brittany Trang.
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