The Health News USA November 2 2017

• The US CDC has reported that 1 in 10 pregnant women with confirmed Zika infection had a fetus or baby with Zika-related complications in 2016. Birth defects were reported in 5% (or 51) of the pregnancies with laboratory evidence of possible Zika infection, including 6 pregnancy losses that may have been due to miscarriage, stillbirth or termination. The CDC says some birth defects 20  times more likely for moms with Zika.
• A GOP senator’s proposal to fold repeal of the health care law’s individual mandate into tax reform efforts got a boost from President Donald Trump on Wednesday, despite express opposition from several top Republicans, including the principal tax writer in the House.  Senator Senator Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas suggested that repealing the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act – which requires people, with some exceptions, to purchase health insurance or pay a fine.
• The US FDA states that marijuana doesn’t cure cancer. It has not been shown to somehow explode tumor cells or promote the growth of new brain cells.
  The FDA warned four companies to stop making these unproven claims and to stop selling cannabis-based hemp and marijuana products that claim to treat cancer or any other medical condition. Medical marijuana is legal in 29 twenty nine states, as well as in Guam and Puerto Rico.

News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 2nd of November 2017. Read by Tabetha Moreto.

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/04/04/health/cdc-us-zika-babies-2016/index.html

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that one in ten pregnant women with confirmed Zika infection had a fetus or baby with Zika-related complications in two thousand sixteen. The findings are based on the US Zika Pregnancy Registry, which was established last year to track Zika among pregnant women in the United States and its territories (except Puerto Rico, which has a separate registry). The report included all nine hundred seventy two completed pregnancies from January through December two thousand sixteen. Birth defects were reported in five percent (or fifty one) of the pregnancies with laboratory evidence of possible Zika infection, including six pregnancy losses that may have been due to miscarriage, stillbirth or termination. The CDC says some birth defects are twenty times more likely for moms with Zika.

That number climbs to ten percent when looking at women with confirmed Zika infections.
Birth defects were reported in fifteen percent of women who became infected with the virus during the first three months of pregnancy, known as the first trimester. This is in line with reports indicating that the infection during the earlier part of pregnancy poses a greater risk to the fetus. Reported birth defects include microcephaly, in which the brain does not develop properly, and other brain abnormalities.
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The effects of the virus aren’t always obvious at birth and may develop later, which is why screening is critical for all babies born to women who may have been infected while pregnant. That screening includes brain imaging with an ultrasound or a CT scan, as recommended by the CDC. Yet the new report found that only twenty four percent of children of women who might have been infected during pregnancy were given brain scans after they were born. Although the Zika pregnancy registry includes all fifty states, pregnancies in this new report were reported in only forty four states.

https://www.usnews.com/news/health-care-news/articles/2017-11-01/trump-backs-proposal-to-repeal-obamacare-mandate-in-tax-reform

A GOP senator’s proposal to fold repeal of the health care law’s individual mandate into tax reform efforts got a boost from President Donald Trump on Wednesday, despite express opposition from several top Republicans, including the principal tax writer in the House. “Wouldn’t it be great to Repeal the very unfair and unpopular Individual Mandate in ObamaCare and use those savings for further Tax Cuts …for the Middle Class,” Trump tweeted Wednesday.

The idea is being advanced by Senator Tom Cotton, Republican from Arkansas who over the weekend suggested Trump had told him he approved of the suggestion he laid out in a series of a dozen tweets on Monday. Cotton suggested that repealing the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act – which requires people, with some exceptions, to purchase health insurance or pay a fine – would eliminate almost four hundred billion dollars in spending over ten years and would alleviate some of the disagreements within the GOP that forced them to push back the rollout of their tax reform plan this week.
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But House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, Republican from Texas, on Tuesday said he wasn’t open to considering health care repeal as part of tax reform. While the House was able to narrowly pass its version of repeal legislation earlier this year, the Senate repeatedly failed to cobble together the votes to pass similar legislation, even under rules that would have allowed them to pass the bills with just a simple majority. Tax reform will be considered under the same set of rules and already faces opposition from several Republican senators who have aired concerns that the proposed legislation would increase the deficit and hand a tax cut to the wealthiest earners.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/pot-doesn-t-cure-cancer-stop-saying-it-does-fda-n816606

The US Food and Drug Administration states that marijuana doesn’t cure cancer. It has not been shown to somehow explode tumor cells or promote the growth of new brain cells.
The FDA warned four companies to stop making these unproven claims and to stop selling cannabis-based hemp and marijuana products that claim to treat cancer or any other medical condition. “Substances that contain components of marijuana will be treated like any other products that make unproven claims to shrink cancer tumors,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said in a statement.
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Medical marijuana is legal in twenty nine states, as well as in Guam and Puerto Rico. Studies have shown that it can have some benefits in reducing anxiety, counteracting some types of nausea, and that it may relieve some symptoms of glaucoma and multiple sclerosis. The federal government still regulates marijuana as a controlled substance, but the Obama administration had a policy deferring to the states to regulate it. With loosening enforcement of laws, sites and clinics have escalated offers of various marijuana and hemp-based treatments, including many selling CBD oils or creams. The FDA warning comes down on four of them: CW (Charlotte’s Web) Botanicals; Natural Alchemist; Greenroads Health; and That’s Natural Marketing and Consulting. They all have made unproven claims that their products treat cancer, the FDA said. Not only are the claims not proven, but they could discourage patients from using treatments that will help them.

There’s a law that exempts dietary supplements from FDA approval, but the FDA strongly regulates anything sold as a new drug.