| | | | |  | | By Carmen Paun, Ben Leonard, Ruth Reader and Erin Schumaker | | | | | 
Ezra Barzilay, Ukraine country director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention | CDC | | | "There is such an outpouring of support from everywhere around Ukraine, it makes a lot of really insurmountable tasks easier to tackle."
Ezra Barzilay, Ukraine country director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention | | The threat of disease in wartime is often as great, or greater, than that of bullets and bombs. It's Ezra Barzilay's job, as the CDC's country director for Ukraine, to help stem the damage there since Russia's invasion last February. Barzilay has worked in many places in the aftermath of disasters in his nearly two decades at the CDC, but he says this mission feels different. Barzilay leads a team of several Americans working to help the Ukrainian authorities prevent infectious diseases that may arise because of the lack of water and sanitation. "It's not easy, there's no question about it. But you feel good going to work every day and saying you're going to do this to help Ukraine," he told Carmen. Russia has targeted Ukraine's water and energy infrastructure, leaving many without drinking water or heat. But the winter temperatures in the country have had a silver lining: They've slowed the growth of disease-causing bacteria, Barzilay said. Last summer, the World Health Organization's Europe office warned about the risk of a cholera outbreak in the southeastern city of Mariupol, where Russian attacks had destroyed water infrastructure, leading to sewage contamination. Neither Ukrainian officials nor Barzilay and his team can evaluate conditions in the city, which is under Russian occupation, but Barzilay said he hasn't heard any reports of cholera there or anywhere else in Ukraine. The diarrhoeal disease can kill within hours after people ingest contaminated water or food. Concern about Russia using biological, chemical or nuclear weapons against Ukrainians remains ever-present, according to Barzilay, who's helped the national authorities prepare for such an attack. Barzilay arrived in Ukraine in 2018 to work on preventing and treating HIV, tuberculosis, and hepatitis C. His team continues to work on staying in touch with people who have HIV and connecting them with health care services, including those outside the country. In Ukraine, concerned citizens "inform the team of which HIV/AIDS centers are open on any given day. "It's a little bit grassroots these days, but at this point, we will take it," Barzilay said.
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Taos Ski Valley, N.M. | Andrew Zeller | This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. Should you be wearing sunscreen to the nail salon? If your technician dries your nails with ultraviolet light, a routine part of gel manicures, wearing sunscreen or UV gloves might be a good idea, dermatologists told the Washington Post. The Post reached out to dermatologists about UV nail dryer safety following a study published in Nature this month on human and mice cell lines. The study found that after three consecutive 20-minute exposures to UV light, 65 to 70 percent of the cells died. The cell study can't be extrapolated to calculate human cancer risk and the FDA considers nail dryers to be low risk when used as directed. Still, some of the dermatologists consulted by Post recommended people who get gel manicures and are worried about UV damage take precautions, either by applying a good sunscreen to their hands before going under the UV dryer or by wearing fingerless UV-protectant gloves. Share any other thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Ben Leonard at bleonard@politico.com, Ruth Reader at rreader@politico.com, Carmen Paun at cpaun@politico.com or Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@politico.com. Send tips securely through SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram or WhatsApp. Today on our Pulse Check podcast, Erin talks with Alice Miranda Ollstein about the more-than-typical shortages and supply disruptions of common over-the-counter and prescription drugs and how they've caused headaches for sick Americans and those managing chronic diseases. Plus, Alice's dispatch from the first March For Life rally on the National Mall since the fall of Roe.
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The next generation of cardiologists isn't big enough, says the Association of American Medical Colleges. | Business Wire | Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S., ahead of cancer and Covid-19. But, cardiologists are in short supply by the thousands, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Some doctors are trying to draw attention to the dearth of cardiovascular specialists and subspecialists. Doctors from the Cleveland Clinic, the Smidt Heart Institute in Los Angeles and the University of California, San Francisco, among other institutions, recently noted in the Journal of Cardiac Failure that about half of specialist fellowship positions have gone unfilled, which can make it more difficult for patients with complex conditions to find advanced care. They called for bolstered training and recruitment. But strengthening the specialty workforce, given worker shortages across the health care sector and widespread burnout, could still be challenging. Prashant Vaishnava, a cardiologist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and senior medical director at Biofourmis, a health analytics firm offering software to providers, told Ben that automated tools to keep patients on medication and flag deterioration before it occurs could help compensate for doctor shortages.
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A new study could give a boost to buprenorphine prescribing by telemedicine. | Elise Amendola/AP Photo | The share of overdose deaths involving buprenorphine didn't rise amid eased pandemic telemedicine prescribing rules, a new study from the CDC and the National Institutes of Health found. The finding could ease concerns about permitting doctors to virtually prescribe buprenorphine, an opioid used to wean patients off more dangerous opioids and put some momentum behind pending Drug Enforcement Administration rules to allow virtual prescribing after the Covid-19 public health emergency ends. The CDC and NIH found that: — Buprenorphine was involved in 2.6 percent of opioid-involved overdose deaths between July 2019 and June 2021. — Among people who died with buprenorphine in their systems, about 93 percent had recently used other drugs. "The findings from this study strengthen existing evidence suggesting that greater flexibility in prescribing may be one safe method for working toward this goal," said Nora Volkow, the study's senior author and the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, in a release. Why it matters: Most people with opioid use disorder go untreated, and public health officials see virtual prescribing of buprenorphine as one of their most valuable tools to combat the opioid epidemic because it can expand treatment access. What's next: The DEA is working on regulations to permit virtual prescribing of buprenorphine after HHS declares the Covid public health emergency over, which could be as soon as April. Congress tasked the DEA with setting up a special registration process to allow virtual prescribing in a 2008 law, but the DEA hasn't done so. The DEA didn't respond to a request for comment on the study. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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