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| Health |
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| | | China is the world’s biggest supplier of the raw materials that form the basis of medicines.
PHOTO: WANG JIANWEI/ZUMA PRESS |
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| The novel coronavirus has quickly hopscotched around the world from a food market in China to small towns in northern Italy and a major pilgrimage site in Iran. In the U.S., health officials say Americans are at very low risk, but are also warning that outbreaks on American soil may be inevitable. That raises a vital but hard-to-answer question: Are we ready? The vast majority of people with Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new virus, recover. But a large-scale U.S. outbreak would strain a health-care system already facing a global disruption in medical supplies, with an anticipated shortage in rooms that could safely isolate patients, infectious disease experts said. Hospitals and public-health officials in the U.S. and Europe are rationing medical masks and scrounging for more. Even if the spread doesn't worsen, the scope of the epidemic so far is having consequences. Makers of generic drugs are concerned about shortages of the raw ingredients they need to make their medicines, much of which comes from China. Here are some updated tips and news: Smart Travel Planning in the Time of Coronavirus Drugmaker Moderna Delivers First Experimental Coronavirus Vaccine for Human Testing What We Know About the Epidemic, From Symptoms to Who Is at Risk Live Coverage: Fears Rattle Markets How concerned are you about the potential impact of the virus in the U.S.? What else would you like to know? Email me your comments, which may be edited before publication in the newsletter. Please be sure to include your name and location. – Stefanie Ilgenfritz, Health & Science Bureau Chief, WSJ
Reach me at stefanie.ilgenfritz@wsj.com or Twitter: @stefaniei |
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| ADHD in Older Adults: For years, ADHD has been considered a disorder of kids and younger adults. Now, doctors are realizing older people have it too—though it's still sometimes mistaken for dementia. |
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| The Weight on Your Shoulders: Heavy comforters promise to alleviate stress and promote sleep. They’ve been used in the treatment of ADHD and autism in adults and children. But as our columnist Jason Gay notes, sometimes you just need a hug. |
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| 0 | | The co-pay for some Aetna customers if they use MinuteClinic, run by Aetna's new owner, CVS Health. Health-care giants are capitalizing on recent massive deals by steering patients to the clinics they now own, controlling both delivery and payment for care. (Read more) |
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| Mallinckrodt Settles Opioid Litigation With 47 States and Territories (Read more) First Sanctioned Supervised Drug Site in U.S. Hits Another Snag (Read more) NYU Langone Planning $650 Million Expansion in Brooklyn (Read more) |
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| | | | Regarding last week's question on our rights and responsibilities when it comes to the information revealed by DNA tests: |
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| A: | Fascinating question, and one more of many that should have been asked long before we got so far ahead of ourselves worshipping at the altar of technological advancement. Very smart, very naive, usually young and usually well-intentioned inventors pour out new tools whose uses they have not considered. — Stephen D. Leonard, Boise, Idaho |
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| A: | Might be time to re-think privacy and let the world have access to everything. With no more secrets, there’d be no more surprises. — Susan Stevie |
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| A: | I think that each person should be the sole owner of their DNA.
Also there may eventually need to be a national database where persons can request not to be contacted. Sort of like the Do Not Call registry. Or perhaps a national law or policy that assumes everyone has opted out and wouldn't be contacted unless they opted in. — Lowell Richardson |
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