Ebola outbreak nears milestone, but vaccine is close

Get your daily dose of health and medicine every weekday with STAT’s free newsletter Morning Rounds. Sign up here. Good morning. Earlier this week, STAT’s Anil Oza went to our regular sandwich place to get lunch, and the folks working asked him where his friend was. That’s me! I had packed my own lunch — but I might never do that again, now that I know I’m known. FTC sues Hims & Hers The Federal Trade Commission sued Hims & Hers yesterday, alleging the direct-to-consumer telehealth company deceived consumers purchasing clinical care and medications through the site. The lawsuit echoes previous federal actions alleging failures in patient privacy protections for digital health and online care. (In 2022, STAT’s Katie Palmer partnered with the Markup to investigate how dozens of telehealth companies shared personal health data with third parties by tracking pixels.) “This is not enforcement grounded in consumer protection,” Hims said in a statement posted online. “It is an effort to generate headlines at our expense.” Get more details and the necessary context from Katie. 6,707 That’s how many laboratory-confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis the CDC has counted since May 1, according to the agency’s latest update. But there’s another, bigger number: The CDC is aware of at least 11,500 more reported cases that have not yet been confirmed and require more analysis. Many of those are in Michigan and Ohio, per the agency. The outbreak has stoked fear across the country, with chains like Taco Bell, Chopt, and Chipotle seeing less foot traffic than usual, per Reuters. But Your Local Epidemiologist’s Katelyn Jetelina provides hope that the outbreak could end soon. “The largest outbreak is being caused by lettuce. And there’s only so long that lettuce is good for,” she wrote on Tuesday. “It’s hard to see where we are in the outbreak, though, because data are imperfect.” Blaming ice cream sales for shark attacks At a hearing on Long Island in 2011, this was the argument that a Dutch researcher made to local policymakers who wanted to ban the sales of energy drinks to minors. While alcohol and energy drinks are often consumed together, beverages like Red Bull aren’t the cause of binge drinking or alcohol-induced injuries, argued Joris Verster of Utrecht University. “The shark attacks are not caused by the ice cream sales,” he said. But the academic had a conflict of interest: payment from Red Bull. A multi-newsroom investigation led by The Examination and co-published by STAT found that, for more than a decade, Red Bull paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for university professors to conduct research that has been favorable to the energy drink industry. Read more on how that research has influenced efforts to defeat public health proposals like age restrictions and warning labels in the U.S. and Canada. In Nebraska, confusion re: Medicaid work rules begins STAT reporters have written extensively about the incoming work requirements for Medicaid enrollment. For most of the country, it’s a concern for 2027. But in Nebraska, those conditions — verification that a person works, volunteers, or attends school for 80 hours per month — go into effect next week. There are some exemptions to the rule, including those with young children and anyone deemed “medically frail.” That “medical frailty” category is particularly troublesome to many. You won’t automatically be exempt if your diagnoses are on the list — instead, people will need to prove to the state that their sickness prevents them from working. Crystal Schroer (above) is a Nebraskan who has been intensely concerned about the incoming work requirements. People like them want to work, but finding a job that safely accommodates their disease management is easier said than done, Schroer said. Read more from STAT’s Isabella Cueto on the confusion and fear around the requirements. Ebola outbreak nears milestone, but vaccine is close The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is within a day or two of becoming the second largest on record. (The confirmed case count was 3,360 on July 27, the most recently issued update.) A startling thing about this pending development: The Ituri outbreak has reached this size a mere 2½ months after being detected as being underway. The current second largest outbreak, in DRC’s North Kivu and Ituri (yes, there’s overlap) provinces, reached a total of 3,470 cases after two years. There is no licensed vaccine for Bundibugyo, the Ebola species responsible for this outbreak, but on Thursday the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations announced it is committing $8.5 million to get Singapore-based Hilleman Laboratories to generate doses of a Bundibugyo vaccine. The vaccine will use the same platform employed for Merck’s Ebola Zaire vaccine. It’s expected that it will take roughly 6½ months to make the doses, though doses needed to start clinical trials should be available sooner. — Helen Branswell Mycetoma, one of the world’s most neglected diseases Ten years ago, the World Health Organization added mycetoma to its official list of neglected tropical diseases. Caused by bacteria or fungi, the disease enters the body through tiny openings in the skin — even a thorn’s pinprick — then slowly eats away surrounding tissue and bone. It’s endemic in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. A new First Opinion essay argues that, despite some progress made by researchers, our understanding of the disease is still fragile and fraught. “The next 10 years of mycetoma care will determine whether it remains a story of neglect or becomes one of collective action,” writes Borna Nyaoke-Anoke, who leads research on the disease. Read more about what she’s seen. What we’re reading NSF testing new Ph.D. model giving trainees academic and industry experience, STAT Rates of high blood pressure are rising in pregnant women, study finds, New York Times Fauci invokes Fifth Amendment in declining to answer questions before Senate panel, STAT Is this the end of the endless frontier? Time FDA expert panel recommends against approval of Capricor’s Duchenne drug, STAT