Health News Roundup: African swine fever hits pig farm in northeast Bulgaria; Biohaven's treatment for Lou Gehrig's disease fails

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

African swine fever hits pig farm in northeast Bulgaria

Bulgaria reported on Saturday an outbreak of African swine fever at a breeding farm for pigs near the Danube city of Ruse in the north east of the Balkan country. "All pigs on the holding, or 17,000, will be culled," a spokeswoman for the national food safety authority told Reuters.

Some women don't heed warnings of acne drug danger during pregnancy conception

It's long been known that the highly effective acne medication isotretinoin - marketed as Accutane and Roaccutane - is tied to the risk of severe birth defects. But even with a special program in place to prevent conception in women taking the drug, each year two to three hundred women in the U.S. become pregnant while taking it, a new study shows. The program, dubbed iPLEDGE, which was started in 2006 by the Food and Drug Administration, requires women who want a prescription for isotretinoin to use birth control or promise to abstain from intercourse and to take a pregnancy test before starting the drug and every month thereafter.

Biohaven's treatment for Lou Gehrig's disease fails to win FDA nod

Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Co Ltd said on Friday the U.S. health regulator failed to approve its treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, sending its shares down nearly 6% in extended trading. The company said the Food and Drug Administration issued a complete response letter, raising concerns related to an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) used in a 2017 study that was made by Apotex Pharmachem India Pvt Ltd between 2014 and 2016.

U.S. CDC links two deaths to multi-state salmonella outbreak

Two people have died following a multi-state outbreak of salmonella infections linked to backyard poultry, U.S. health officials said on Friday. One death was reported in Ohio and the other one in Texas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Trump administration pauses new rule limiting abortion referrals: report

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration will pause its enforcement of a new rule barring federally funded family planning clinics from referring women for abortions, the Washington Post reported late on Saturday. The rule had been announced last Monday, when officials said it would take immediate effect. The reversal was announced on Saturday evening by U.S. Health and Human Services Department officials, who informed clinics that they would now have two months to comply before facing penalties, the Post reported.

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