The rare, rodent-borne illness has infected five people in Washington state since February, killing three, in the worst outbreak of the disease in 18 years, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from Georgia, Tennessee, and Washington.
Brenda Fitzgerald, the former public health commissioner for the state of Georgia, has been named the new CDC director, replacing Tom Frieden, who stepped down in January after serving for eight years.
In an early study, researchers have found that a new way to administer a flu vaccine–with a patch similar to a Band-Aid–prompts the same immune reaction as a conventional flu shot, and some observers think the new technology could represent the future of vaccinations.
Merck says FDA placed holds on the trials after "determin[ing] that the data available at the present time indicate that the risks of Keytruda plus [Pomalyst] or [Revlimid] outweigh any potential benefit for patients with multiple myeloma."
In five rebuttal papers published in the journal Nature, researchers are pushing back against a controversial study published last year that argued the human lifespan cannot be extended past about 115 years.
