Bird flu theories, the worst-rated restaurants, & not your grandfather's radiation therapy

Plus: What is YouTube Health doing about misinformation?

December 2, 2024 Check out STAT+

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By Theresa Gaffney Morning Rounds Writer and Podcast Producer

Good morning! I hope you had a lovely holiday weekend and feel rested and ready for the last sprint of 2024.

infectious disease This bird flu has been mild so far. Why? PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images Since the outbreak of H5N1 bird flu in American dairy cattle began this spring, there have been 55 cases among people in the U.S. That's an alarming number, but a surprising bright side is that all the infections have been mild so far. Bird flu has a reputation — well-earned, STAT's Helen Branswell says — as a very dangerous pathogen, with a case fatality rate around 50%.  So what's happening here? Helen spoke to 21 researchers who have studied influenza, and this one in particular, for years. Nobody has definitive answers ("If you find out, please let me know!" one researcher told Helen), but plenty raised theories and questions. Could the way that the virus is being transmitted limit its severity? Do we actually have some protection to it already? With such limited information, the train of thought can even get existential: Has the virus changed? Have we?  Read more for Helen's breakdown of expert hypotheses. science Race, gender, and promotions in academic medicine Asian people, Black women, and white women who finish medical school are more likely than white men to be appointed to entry-level positions in academic medicine, according to a study published last week in JAMA Network Open. But white men are more likely than just about every other group to be promoted to the upper ranks.  Researchers analyzed data from more than 673,500 graduates between 1979 and 2019, along with faculty appointment data since 2000. They found that racial and gender disparities in appointments from before Y2K persisted in the two decades after. Black and Hispanic women consistently had the lowest likelihood of being promoted to associate or full professor.   Some factors to keep in mind: STAT's Usha Lee McFarling has already reported on the problems caused by lumping so many people under one broad "Asian American" category. And, while the study found that Black men were more likely than white men to be named department chair, that doesn't negate the fact that Black men are still highly underrepresented in medicine. In the study, white men made up more than half of all faculty who ever held the position of associate professor. biotech Not your grandfather's radiation therapy Radiation has been a core part of cancer treatment for generations. But over the last couple of years, there's been a surge of interest in a new type of treatment. Radiopharmaceuticals can more precisely target cancerous cells by fusing radioactive isotopes with a tool that will guide the compound to cancer cells like a missile, ideally obliterating the diseased cells while leaving the surrounding area relatively unscathed. It's an approach with a ton of potential, but as more and more startups begin to focus in, the challenges ahead are becoming apparent. Developing these types of medications requires a familiarity with radioactive materials that few people in the drug industry have. Then, to actually provide the treatment, teams of specially trained physicians, nurses, and support staff need to measure the right doses of decaying isotopes and properly handle radioactive materials. There's a significant shortage of these experts, according to insiders. And if workforce issues can't be addressed, it could limit or even upend the rise of this field of medicine. Read more from STAT's Allison DeAngelis.

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when you're here you're family The best and worst restaurant policies on antibiotics The vast majority of the 20 biggest restaurant chains in the U.S. have no publicly available policies governing antibiotic use by their beef, pork, or turkey suppliers, a new nonprofit report found. In graded assessments, five chains were given failing scores: Olive Garden, Dairy Queen, Arby's, Little Caesars, and Sonic. Only two received the top grade (A+, of course) indicating that the companies implemented policies on antibiotics in every type of meat served: Chipotle and KFC.  The report arrives amid ongoing angst over resistance to antibiotics, which killed at least 1.27 million people worldwide in 2019, according to CDC data. Read more about the report from STAT's Ed Silverman. reproductive health Depression could make your period worse, LOL From the "cosmically unfair" department: Depression could increase the chances of someone experiencing dysmenorrhea, the scientific word for bad period pain. That's according to a study published last week in Briefings in Bioinformatics. While previous research has identified a correlation between the conditions, there's been little research on possible causation. Researchers in this study analyzed data from about 800,000 European people and 8,000 East Asian people from previous genome-wide association studies. To attempt to understand causality, they used something called Mendelian randomization, which analyzes genetic variation to estimate the effects of certain modifiable factors.  Sleeplessness was a key connecting factor that could make period pain even worse, the researchers found. While the study provides early evidence that depression could worsen period pain, they also note that more research in more diverse populations is needed. Q&A What is YouTube Health doing about misinformation? And another question, what is YouTube Health? The company knows that people all over the world go to the video site with questions about their bodies, illness, and more. To fight misinformation, people like Garth Graham, YouTube's global head of healthcare and public health, work to promote authoritative, reputable sources in response to people's queries.  "We try to raise high-quality health information and remove dangerous and low-quality health information," Graham told STAT's Nick St. Fleur. "The line around removal is when it comes to things that are harmful and dangerous, where the consequences of that could lead to increased mortality and morbidity." Graham spoke with Nick earlier this month at the Milken Future of Health Summit about YouTube's efforts to combat health misinformation, support underserved communities and creators, and protect youth mental health. Read the Q&A.

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Thanks for reading! More tomorrow,

theresa.gaffney@statnews.com

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