Health in the news

News outlet logo for favicons/freep.com.png

Purple heroin and a new opioid drug may be Michigan's next big threat

Public health authorities have issued warnings about a new drug called purple heroin which is tied to overdoses in the Upper Peninsula and the death of one person in west Michigan. Purple heroin — which gets its name because it is often purple in color — contains the synthetic opioid fentanyl, acetaminophen (the ingredient found in Tylenol), flualprazolam (an illicit sedative similar to Xanax), buspirone (an anti-anxiety drug), niacinamide (a form of Vitamin B) and, most notably, a new drug named brorphine. "We want to try to get ahead of it to make sure … it's not making its way down the state," said Varun Vohra, a director of the Michigan Poison Center at Wayne State University which issued an alert Wednesday. Little is known about brorphine. “Not many people know about it. It was a surprise to us as well," said Vohra. Vohra asks that anyone who needs information on purple heroin or has come across it to call the Michigan Poison Control Center, 800-222-1222. The center is not tied to law enforcement.
News outlet logo for favicons/healthline.com.png

The medical community has failed people of color in the past: these doctors want to build trust

The COVID-19 pandemic has swept through the United States, highlighting racial inequities in healthcare. The numbers of infections and deaths related to COVID-19 are far higher among people of color, especially Black Americans, than among white Americans. Despite these higher risks, Black Americans are less likely to sign up for experimental medical treatments or potential vaccines. To help bridge this gap and champion the interests of Black people and other marginalized groups during the pandemic, the National Medical Association set up an expert task force to vet regulators’ decisions about COVID-19 drugs and vaccines. “We are more interested in efficacy,” said Dr. Bret Hughes, a professor of ophthalmology at Wayne State University and longtime member of the National Medical Association. He added that the process for vetting vaccines and other kinds of medications is very regimented and specific, and has two goals: safety first and then effectiveness. But “there are political groups that are willing to bypass those procedures and say there is a vaccine in order to quell fears. In fact, you can take a vaccine and develop other conditions because there’s more in the vaccine no one is aware of until you get it.” Dr. Rick Baker, a professor of ophthalmology and vice dean for medical education at Wayne State University and a longtime National Medical Association member, said the association will be doing three things in vetting vaccines: making sure whatever is developed is scientifically sound and effective; assessing whether there’s adequate representation of people of color in the trials; and ensuring that the distribution of the vaccine is equitable. In these uncertain times, he added, someone needs to be the trusted messenger, adding that physicians are uniquely qualified to be that messenger. “The message needs to be transmitted from physicians to patients,” he said. “The physician-to-patient relationship is very important.”
News outlet logo for favicons/bridgemi.com.png

Michigan riding ‘second’ COVID wave that could bring more deaths

Michigan’s battle with the novel coronavirus has taken a sharp turn, with the volume of cases sharply increasing almost daily along with hospitalizations, emergency room visits and deaths. For the past week, there have been over 1,100 newly confirmed cases a day. More than 1,000 people with COVID-19 are now in Michigan hospitals, following a recent low of 500 on Sept. 25. And deaths, which had been low, are creeping up in a likely “second wave” that will bring more cases. The recent rise in COVID-19 infections has not brought with it the volume of deaths suffered last spring. Cases are more widely distributed across the state and therapies and treatments have improved in Michigan, as they have elsewhere. Experts attribute the improved outcomes to a host of factors. Fewer patients spread across more hospitals have allowed for better care. Treatments have changed and some therapies have emerged, like using remdesivir,  which aided in President Trump’s recovery. And after the coronavirus ravaging nursing home residents in Michigan and elsewhere, changes were made to better protect those populations and many more are taking their own precautions, such as wearing masks and avoiding crowds. “All these precautions are definitely helping,” said Dr. Teena Chopra,  a professor of infectious diseases at Wayne State University who is in charge of infection control at Detroit Medical Center. Chopra said she has noticed that patients she sees at the Detroit Medical Center are younger, by about a decade, than those who were arriving in March and April. That’s made them more resilient to COVID-19. But it doesn’t mean it’s no longer to be feared. “The virus is not going to magically disappear,” Chopra said.
News outlet logo for favicons/detroitnews.com.png

Wayne State posts guidelines for action if COVID-19 spreads

As the majority of public universities begin fall semester classes this week amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Wayne State University has developed a plan with specific benchmarks about when to take action to contain any potential spread of the virus. The university would take its most drastic step and depopulate the campus if testing shows positive cases within the university community to exceed 15%, or three or more clusters appear in seven days or if fewer than 15% of hospital beds and fewer than 15% of intensive care unit beds are available. The "tipping point metrics," posted online Monday, include thresholds that will trigger and guide Wayne State officials in their decision-making in the event of numerous COVID-19 cases. While many universities have a plan of when to take action, the Detroit university is among a small number of universities nationwide that are publishing specific numerical thresholds to trigger actions if coronavirus infections escalate. Wayne State made the move after watching other universities that have returned to campus and grappled with numerous coronavirus cases. It also wanted to be transparent and clear about what will happen if necessary, President M. Roy Wilson said. "I don't think the time to make a decision is ... when everything is getting worse," said Wilson, who is an epidemiologist. "You have to have some things already worked out so you are not wasting time. We know the science, and we know when things reach a certain level, it’s bad." 
News outlet logo for favicons/detroitnews.com.png

Pandemic raises anxiety for expectant mothers amid higher intensive care risk

For women who are pregnant, the pandemic can be particularly fraught with anxiety as they worry about the effects of COVID-19 on themselves and their babies, all while coping with potential job loss, child care issues and economic uncertainty. An evolving body of research — including a recent study by investigators at the Wayne State University Medical School and the National Institutes of Health Perinatology Research Branch in Detroit — has shown it's unlikely for the virus to pass from a pregnant woman to her fetus. A data analysis of U.S. cases, published by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in July, concluded that pregnant women are at no greater risk of dying from the virus than non-pregnant women, though they are more likely to end up in intensive care and require a ventilator. With 24 million cases of COVID-19 worldwide, including about 6 million in the United States and more than 100,000 in Michigan, there has been no consistent evidence of pregnant mothers passing the infection to their newborns, what's called vertical transmission. While other viral infections such as Zika, cytomegalovirus and rubella can be passed from mother to fetus, researchers led by Dr. Roberto Romero, chief of the Perinatology Research Branch at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at Wayne State, investigated why the same isn't true of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. "The rate of vertical transmission is extremely low," Romero said. "The best estimates that we have are less than 2%, or less than 1%. There have been some reports of neonates testing positive after birth, but there is always the question: Was that virus acquired in utero, or was it acquired from a mother who is sick?" 
News outlet logo for favicons/usatoday.com.png

Medical experts warn that mental health of college athletes, and especially Black athletes, is being overlooked

As colleges grapple with the decision of when to resume athletic competition, the NCAA’s chief medical officer suggested mental health issues — especially among Black athletes — are getting insufficient attention. Mental health concerns were highest among respondents of color, those whose families are facing economic hardship and those living alone, according to an NCAA news release about the findings of the survey, which was conducted April 10-May 1. Greater financial pressures and more instability at home among Black athletes make separation from their teammates an even bigger issue, said M. Roy Wilson, president of Wayne State University and a panelist. “We have to deal with those aspects with the same rigor and concentration as we do social distancing, wearing masks, sanitation of facilities,’’ Wilson said. “All those things are good. But we’ve got to look at the well-being of our student athletes also, because they’re not going to be able to come back if they don’t."
News outlet logo for favicons/theconversation.com.png

5 reasons to let students keep their cameras off during Zoom classes

Tabitha Moses, MD/PhD candidate at Wayne State University, wrote an article for The Conversation about the challenges that online instruction can pose for students if they are required to keep their cameras on during class. “As the 2020-21 school year gets underway – both at the K-12 and college level – many students find themselves attending online classes via Zoom or similar teleconferencing platforms. Although sticking with remote instruction may be the correct decision from the standpoint of public health, it is not without problems. As a researcher who studies behavior and the brain, I have found the evidence suggests that online instruction can pose a range of challenges for students if they are required to keep their cameras on during class. Here are five reasons why I believe students should be allowed to keep their cameras off instead: Increased anxiety and stress; ‘Zoom fatigue;’ Competing obligations; Right to privacy; and, Financial means and other kinds of access
News outlet logo for favicons/bridgemi.com.png

Michigan declares racism a health crisis. Without funding, it’s symbolic

With two pen strokes last week, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared racism in health a priority within the state’s government offices. But health leaders say it will be the follow-up — funding, policy change and enforcement — that determines whether the move is symbolic or transformative. “I'm glad they're getting people to the table … The thing is we've been discussing this and discussing this and discussing this,” Dr. Lynn Smitherman, a Detroit pediatrician, associate chair of medical education at Wayne State University, and a diversity and inclusion champion for the American Academy of Pediatrics. “You still have to do something. Discussion without action is just another academic exercise,” she said. At a panel discussion last week organized by Wayne State University and others, Dr. Michelle Williams said Black Americans also face institutional racism when they are sick — with access at times only to lower-quality care and even clinicians that turn them away or don’t listen to their concerns. Lyke Thompson, director of the Center for Urban Studies at Wayne State University, has studied lead poisoning extensively and said Black children in Detroit often live in older homes that have high levels of lead paint, which can impair learning and hinder lifetime earning potential. Thompson said he has called for strengthening laws that hold accountable the landlords who don’t address those issues, but a lack of political will has stopped short of making that happen. An official declaration that racism plays a role in policies — and a commitment to address it — may finally make a difference, he said. “This takes serious, clear, ongoing focus,” he said.
News outlet logo for favicons/detroitnews.com.png

Metro Detroit seniors are dying at twice the rate of older adults in Michigan, study shows

In parts of Wayne County, including Detroit and eight surrounding suburbs, older adults are dying at twice the rate of those who live elsewhere in Michigan, according to a report, “Dying Before their Time,” a 19-year analysis between the Detroit Area Agency on Aging and Wayne State University Medical School. The agency attributed much of the cause to be a "result of deep-rooted negative social and economic policies and significant inequities in resource distribution." Chronic illnesses, living conditions, accessibility to health care and lack of health insurance, food and transportation are specifically cited as reasons for the shortened lifespans, the study found. Study co-author Dr. Herbert Smitherman Jr. of Wayne State University School of Medicine and Detroit Medical Center said it was shocking to discover how many people aren’t making it to 60 years old. “I’m a physician but also a scientist, so when they approached me, my first recommendation was that an analysis needed to be done since there was never data collected by the state,” Smitherman said. “To see we lost not 1 or 2%, but 23% of the entire population, it seemed unrealistic. The Detroit region had 1.3 million people and lost more than 150,000 people, that’s just what the (nation) lost with coronavirus. “That’s when we realized something was happening to seniors that wasn’t happening with any other population, and it got my full attention. Next, we realized if they’re dying before age 60, what’s happening before?" Smitherman worries the trend will continue without a coordinated push to reverse it. "What we’ve seen over 19 years is that it’s the same," Smitherman said. "Unless we have some sustained effort where they allocate funding and collaboratively work to improve health and reverse centuries of racial poverty, this trend will persist over many decades to come. "If we do nothing, nothing’s going to change."
News outlet logo for favicons/theconversation.com.png

African American teens face mental health crisis but are less likely than whites to get treatment

Rebecca Klisz-Hulbert, assistant professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, wrote an article for The Conversation. “Black youth in the U.S. experience more illness, poverty, and discrimination than their white counterparts. These issues put them at higher risk for depression and other mental health problems. Yet Black youth are less likely to seek treatment. About 9% of them reported an episode of major depression in the past year, but less than half of those – about 40% – received treatment. By comparison, about 46% of white youth who reported an episode were treated for depressive symptoms. Instead, some turn to suicide, now the second leading cause of death among Black children ages 10 to 19. That rate is rising faster for them than any other racial or ethnic group.”

How will the NFL’s COVID-19 testing and contact tracing work?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that anyone who has spent more than 15 minutes within six feet of somebody who has COVID-19 should quarantine for 14 days. On the field, football players are continually within six feet of each other, especially at the line of scrimmage. Even if distancing six feet during football games and practices were possible, it might not be enough. Studies on superspreading events suggest that heavy breathing may spread droplets as far as 12 feet, or four yards, according to Gretchen Snoeyenbos Newman, an assistant professor of Infectious Disease at Wayne State University. “For football players on the field while they’re playing, the linemen are really your most at-risk people [to become infected]. Athletes are professional droplet producers.” Also, some conclude that professional athletes in peak physical fitness would be minimally affected by contracting the virus. Snoeyenbos Newman says that isn’t the case. There is increasing evidence that COVID-19 can damage the lungs, heart, and even the brain. Snoeyenbos Newman says that while the average person who contracts and recovers from COVID-19 may not notice if they lose 2 percent of their lung capacity, elite athletes will absolutely notice, and long-lasting lung or heart problems could be career-ending. “Getting really, really sick but not dying can also have very negative life-long consequences,” Snoeyenbos Newman says. “You don’t have to die in order for it to be really bad.”
News outlet logo for favicons/news-medical.net.png

Study explains why fetuses and newborns are mostly spared by COVID-19

Why are newborns born to mothers with COVID-19 rarely infected? Researchers at the Wayne State University School of Medicine and the Perinatology Research Branch of National Institute of Child Health and Human Development/National Institutes of Health in Detroit have found that placental cells minimally express the instructions, or mRNA, to generate the cell entry receptor and protease required by the virus that causes COVID-19 to invade human cells. The pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has infected more than 10 million people worldwide, including pregnant women, yet to date there is no consistent evidence that pregnant mothers pass the virus to their newborns. “The findings of this study help to understand why mother-to-fetus transmission is so rare (less than 2% of cases),” said Roberto Romero, M.D., D.Med.Sci, chief of the PRB. “The most likely explanation is that the cellular instructions for the production of the main receptor for SARS-CoV-2 are not expressed in the human placenta. In contrast, the receptors for other viruses known to cause fetal infection such as Zika and cytomegalovirus were found in placental cells.” Roger Pique-Regi, Ph.D., assistant professor of the WSU Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, and of Obstetrics and Gynecology, first author of the study, explained that the single-cell genomics technology the researchers employed allows them to study the transcriptome of individual cells isolated in tiny oil droplets using microfluidics.  
News outlet logo for favicons/stltoday.com.png

M. Roy Wilson: Lessons from Detroit on racial disparity and St. Louis coronavirus deaths

President M. Roy Wilson wrote an opinion piece about the coronavirus disproportionately killing African Americans. “As of Tuesday, there were 3,407 coronavirus-related deaths in Michigan, with 1,622 in one county alone. That county, Wayne County, is home to Detroit, a city populated 80% by African Americans. By comparison, St. Louis city and county account for 175 of Missouri’s 274 deaths. African Americans are disproportionately represented among the victims. Fortunately, both the number of new cases and hospitalizations have reached their peaks in Detroit, and we are now on the downward side of the curve. Yet, few in Detroit have not been personally impacted by the tragic toll of death among friends and family. I believe that there are lessons to be learned from Detroit’s experience that can help mitigate the death toll in St. Louis’ African American community.”
News outlet logo for favicons/freep.com.png

Race disparities amid infectious diseases aren't new. It's time we took action | Opinion

Wayne State President M. Roy Wilson wrote an op-ed about race disparities amid infectious diseases and the need to take action. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently published data on hospitalizations for COVID-19 across 14 states from March 1-30 in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. It documented that African Americans accounted for 33% of the hospitalizations but only 18% of the total population in the 14 states. Many states have reported an even starker reality. African-Americans accounted for 40% of COVID-19 deaths in Michigan and 43% in Illinois despite making up only 14% of the population in both states. Such disparities in disease outcome by race are unacceptable, but not surprising. Health disparities by race/ethnicity have existed for a long time in our country.” Wilson continued: “I urge that we focus now on what can be done to narrow this racial disparity in outcomes for COVID-19, starting with a more effective communication effort targeted toward African-American communities.”
News outlet logo for favicons/bridgemi.com.png

‘We need help’: Coronavirus ‘devastating’ black cities in outstate Michigan

One month since Michigan’s first case of coronavirus, the pandemic is taking a far heavier toll on African-American communities statewide, from metro Detroit to Ypsilanti and Flint to Lansing. Nationwide, African Americans in cities such as Chicago, New Orleans and Milwaukee have been infected at greater rates, while the Associated Press reported this week that African Americans comprised 42 percent of the nation’s deaths where demographic data were made public, some 3,300 of 13,000. “I'm not surprised and in fact I would say that it's expected,” said Dr. M. Roy Wilson, an ophthalmologist and president of Wayne State University. I'm somewhat surprised that people are surprised.” Wilson, who worked on strategic planning on minority health and health disparities at the National Institutes for Health, said poverty and lower levels of education have left more minorities exposed to the virus through jobs that can’t be done from home. African Americans also are more likely to have a harder time with the virus because of underlying health conditions, Wilson said. Wilson said those underlying conditions create a quicker sequence, or cadence, from “morbidity to mortality.”
News outlet logo for favicons/theconversation.com.png

Isolating together is challenging – and relationship stresses can affect biological functioning

As the COVID-19 pandemic moves into high gear in Michigan, thousands of frontline hospital workers are facing increasing stress, fatigue and frustration going into the second month of the public health crisis that is projected to kill more than 2,000 in the state over the next several weeks. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed flaws and vulnerabilities in how government responds to pandemics and how hospitals staff, supply and deliver health care to populations they serve. Some medical experts fear once the current emergency is over, political leaders and hospital executives will go back to bickering over holding down budget deficits and rising health care costs instead of focusing on real solutions. They say permanent changes in health care delivery and financing should be made because future killer outbreaks should be expected. "Inertia is a powerful force. (After a crisis is over), people tend to step back to their baseline position," said Mark Schweitzer, M.D., incoming dean of the Wayne State University School of Medicine. "I hope we learn from this and change." Teena Chopra, M.D., DMC's corporate director of epidemiology, said COVID-19 has exposed Detroit's broken public health system and fragile health care infrastructure. She said high incidence of chronic disease, poverty, low literacy rates and lack of trust in the medical system of many inner-city residents contributes to the high numbers of cases and hospitalizations in Detroit. "We will see even worse than what we are seeing today (last Thursday). We haven't peaked yet. We are going to see a lot of cases; we are going to see a lot more deaths. We are on the exponential phase of the epidemic curve," said Chopra, who also is a professor at Wayne State University School of Medicine.
News outlet logo for favicons/bridgemi.com.png

Black communities hit harder by coronavirus in Michigan, not just Detroit

Residents of Michigan communities with large African-American populations are disproportionately sickened and killed by the coronavirus, according to a Bridge Magazine analysis of public health data. Detroit, which is 79 percent African American, has 7 percent of Michigan’s population but 26 percent of the state’s infections and 25 percent of its deaths. The outbreak so far is centered in southeast Michigan, as Wayne, Oakland and Macomb have 80 percent of the state’s 9,334 cases as of Wednesday. Bridge’s analysis of public records shows: In suburban Wayne County, communities with the largest black populations — Highland Park, Redford Township, Ecorse, River Rouge and Romulus — have roughly double the rate of infection as the county. In Oakland County, infection rates are highest in majority-black Southfield and suburbs with higher-than-average black populations: Lathrup Village, West Bloomfield and Farmington Hills. In Macomb County, nearly 35 percent of all infections were among African Americans, who comprise less than 15 percent of the county’s population. County maps show the most cases are in southern Macomb including Warren, Eastpointe and Roseville, all of which have a higher percentage of African-American residents. Matthew Seeger, a communications professor at Wayne State University who has worked with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said public health officials must tailor messages to different audiences by using different media. He said Whitmer, Duggan and Evans have done an “exceptional job” so far.