Health News Roundup: Seniors at greater risk of choking on dietary supplements; measles outbreak and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Planned Parenthood opts out of U.S. subsidies in fight over abortion referrals

Planned Parenthood said on Monday it was withdrawing from a federal program subsidizing reproductive healthcare for low-income women after the Trump administration banned participants in the program from referring women to abortion providers. Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the United States, said its move was spurred by a federal appeals court decision last month clearing the administration's way to restrict Title X grants under a new policy critic have branded a "gag rule."

Who is next in big pharma's merger spree?

Consolidation in the U.S. healthcare industry, which has already witnessed a string of multi-billion dollar deals, is expected to remain a major theme for the rest of 2019. Bristol-Myers Squibb's $74 billion acquisition of Celgene set the M&A ball rolling in January, and was followed by AbbVie Inc's $63 billion bid for troubled smaller rival Allergan Plc.

U.S. records 21 new measles cases as of last week

The United States recorded 21 new measles cases last week, raising the total number of cases for the year to 1,203 across 30 states in the worst outbreak of the virus since 1992, federal health officials said on Monday. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there had been a 1.8% increase in the number of cases of the highly contagious and sometimes deadly disease between Aug. 8 and Aug. 15.

Nabriva prices two pneumonia antibiotic versions at over $200 per day

Nabriva Therapeutics Plc on Monday priced an oral and injectable version of its antibiotic Xenleta, which treats community-acquired pneumonia, at more than $200 per day after it received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The drug, also called lefamulin, works by interfering with the bacteria's ability to replicate. It's the first drug by the company to be approved by the FDA and is expected to launch in mid-September.

Elderly in Hong Kong looking to China for affordable care in retirement

After spending time with his 84-year-old mother in a senior care home in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, David Lee walked up to the supervisor and asked to reserve a place there for his own retirement. Lee, a 56-year-old from just across the border in Hong Kong, moved his mother, who has Alzheimer's and other ailments, into Yee Hong Heights two months ago as it became more difficult for him to care for her.

UK's Johnson slams 'mumbo-jumbo' about vaccines after measles rates rise

Britons should get vaccinated against measles and ignore online "mumbo-jumbo" about dangers of the jabs, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday after a resurgence of the disease. Britain has lost its "measles-free" status three years after the virus was eliminated and there were more than 230 new cases of measles recorded in the first quarter of 2019.

FDA declines to approve Sarepta's second Duchenne treatment

Sarepta Therapeutics Inc said on Monday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration declined to approve its newest treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), citing safety concerns including the risk of infection and kidney toxicity. Shares of the company plunged 12.7% to $105.05 in trading after the bell.

Seniors at greater risk of choking on dietary supplements

Seniors may be more likely than younger adults to choke on vitamins and dietary supplements, or to have other problems swallowing them, especially when the pills are on the larger side, a new study suggests. After poring over 10 years of adverse event reports, government researchers found that more than three-fourths of cases involving swallowing problems were in patients aged 65 and older, according to the study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Ebola spreads to remote, militia-run Congo territory

Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have confirmed a new case of Ebola in the remote, militia-controlled territory of Walikale, hundreds of kilometers away from where previous cases near the border with Uganda and Rwanda occurred, the Health Ministry said overnight. Pinga, the village where the case was reported, lies about 150 km (95 miles) northwest of Goma, one of the towns affected by the Ebola epidemic, and much further away from the epicenter of the epidemic in Butembo and Beni.

Tobacco industry anti-smoking ads reached less than half of U.S. adults

Court-ordered anti-smoking ads sponsored by the tobacco industry reached only around 40% of adults and about half of all smokers in the U.S., a recent study suggests. Past research has shown that anti-smoking mass media campaigns are an effective public health intervention and work to reverse misconceptions, researchers write in JAMA Network Open.