Healthcare & Laboratory News

Gastroenterology Advisor (6/27, Nye) reported a study found that “pancreatic cancer (PC) risk is significantly higher among individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF) or gene variants in cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR).” The researchers sourced data “from Kaiser Permanente Southern California (KPSC), a large integrated health care system.” They found that the “incidence rate (IR) of PC was higher among the CF cohort than the general KPSC population among adults aged 50 years and older, whereas the IR was similar for younger individuals, respectively.” Furthermore, among the CF group, “the highest incidence of PC was observed among men aged 50 years and older with a CFTR variant, followed by women aged 50 years and older diagnosed with CF, women aged 50 years and older with a CFTR variant, men aged 50 years and older diagnosed with CF, and women aged less than 50 years who tested positive for CF.” The study was published in Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology.

Reuters (6/27, Santhosh, Le Poidevin) reported a World Health Organization official confirmed Friday that thimerosal, “a mercury-preservative used in some vaccines, was not harmful,” after the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel “voted to recommend Americans receive seasonal influenza shots that are free from it.” Dr. Katherine O’Brien told reporters, “Thimerosal has been reviewed multiple times by multiple agencies, including WHO, and it’s clear from the evidence that there is no evidence of harm from the use of thimerosal.”

The AP (6/27, Cheng) reported that an expert group charged by the WHO “to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic started released its final report Friday, reaching an unsatisfying conclusion: Scientists still aren’t sure how the worst health emergency in a century began.” Marietjie Venter, the group’s chair, said Friday “that most scientific data supports the hypothesis that the new coronavirus jumped to humans from animals,” echoing “the conclusion drawn by the first WHO expert group that investigated the pandemic’s origins in 2021.” Venter stated after more than three years of work, “WHO’s expert group was unable to get the necessary data to evaluate whether or not COVID-19 was the result of a lab accident, despite repeated requests for hundreds of genetic sequences and more detailed biosecurity information that were made to the Chinese government.” She also “said that the 27-member group did not reach a consensus,” and that three members “asked for their names to be removed from the report.”

Infectious Disease Advisor (6/27, Nye) reported a study found that “protection conferred by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) prefusion F (preF) immunoglobulin (Ig)G antibodies wanes 6 months after infection or disease exposure.” Researchers added that “as RSV prefusion immunoglobulin G-derived protection begins to wane 6 months after infection, preventive measures should be timed appropriately in high-risk patients to ensure reduced disease risk throughout an RSV season.” The study was published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.

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STAT (6/26, Branswell, Subscription Publication) reports the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices “voted Thursday to recommend the use of a new monoclonal antibody against RSV in babies,” Merck’s clesrovimab-cfor (Enflonsia). The therapy, “given to babies under 8 months of age entering their first RSV season, is the second product of this kind to enter the market, joining Sanofi and AstraZeneca’s Beyfortus [nirsevimab-alip] in the RSV toolkit.” According to STAT, “the monoclonal antibody injection was shown to reduce the rate of medically attended lower respiratory infection caused by RSV by over 60% and cut the incidence of RSV hospitalization by over 84%.” The treatment was “approved by the Food and Drug Administration in early June.”

The Washington Post (6/26, Weber, Sun) reports the newly reformulated Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted Thursday to “no longer recommend influenza vaccines that contain the preservative thimerosal, based on the presentation of a single vaccine critic.” The AP (6/26, Stobbe, Neergaard) reports the advisory panel “first voted, with one abstention, to back the usual U.S. recommendation that nearly everyone age 6 months and older get an annual flu vaccination. Then the advisers decided people should only be given thimerosal-free single-dose formulations, voting 5-1 with one abstention.”

HealthDay (6/26, Thompson) reports a study published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases found that “levels of the COVID virus, SARS-CoV-2, found in wastewater samples accurately predicted by a week the rise and fall of case counts in a community.” The researchers “took 215 wastewater samples from the Twin Cities Wastewater Treatment Plant between January 2022 and August 2024” and compared the samples’ virus levels “against reported COVID cases among people treated by Fairview Health Services, a Minnesota-based health system.” Researchers stated that “Fairview reported nearly 6,900 COVID cases during the 32-month study period among people who live in the area served by the treatment plant.” They observed that “three distinct COVID case surges occurred over that time, and levels of virus in wastewater accurately predicted each surge.”

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