Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. U.S. vaping-related deaths rise to 18, illnesses surpass 1,000: CDC

U.S. health officials on Thursday reported 18 deaths due to a mysterious lung illness linked to e-cigarettes and other vaping products and said the number of confirmed and probable cases of the condition now exceeds 1,000. Public health officials are still at a loss to explain the cause of the severe lung illnesses, which have now reached 1,080 cases across 48 states and one U.S. territory so far, up from 805 cases last week. U.S. seeks advertising, sales data on e-cigarette companies

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has ordered a half-dozen e-cigarette companies to turn over sales and advertising data, the federal regulator said on Thursday, in the first sign of a likely probe of their marketing practices. The announcement comes the same day the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the number of confirmed and probable cases of lung illnesses associated with vaping had reached 1,080 in the United States. The CDC also said on Thursday that 18 people have died due to the lung illnesses. Trump woos seniors with order to boost Medicare health program

U.S. President Donald Trump sought to woo seniors on Thursday with an executive order aimed at strengthening the Medicare health program by reducing regulations, curbing fraud, and providing faster access to new medical devices and therapies. The order, which Trump discussed during a visit to a retirement community in Florida known as the Villages, is the Republican president's answer to some Democrats who are pushing for a broad and expensive expansion of Medicare to cover all Americans. CVS drug coverage plan based on outside pricing review is off to a slow start

A CVS Health Corp health plan that uses an outside drug pricing group to help it decide whether to cover certain new medicines has gained little traction with customers, according to its top medical executive, and has drawn fierce criticism from patient advocacy groups. The company has held back on marketing the pharmacy benefit plan while it talks to these groups, CVS said. Drinking within recommended limits not tied to dementia

Most older adults who have one or two drinks a day are no more likely to develop cognitive decline or dementia than their peers who drink only rarely, a recent study suggests. The researchers followed 3,021 adults aged 72 and older for an average of six years. At the start, most were free of cognitive issues; 473 of them had mild cognitive impairment. Head and neck melanomas increasing, especially among boys and young men

Although relatively rare, head and neck melanomas have been on the rise in North America, increasing by more than 50% over two decades, researchers report. The increase in these dangerous skin cancers has been largest among non-Hispanic white boys and young men, according to the study published in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery. Tanzania denies hiding information on suspected Ebola cases

Tanzania denied on Thursday it was withholding information from the World Health Organisation (WHO) on suspected cases of Ebola, saying it was not hiding any outbreak of the deadly disease in the country. "Ebola is known as a fast-spreading disease, whose impact can be felt globally. This is not a disease that the Tanzanian government can hide," Tanzania health minister Ummy Mwalimu told journalists in commercial capital Dar es Salaam. U.S. FDA approves Gilead's Descovy for HIV prevention

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved Gilead Sciences Inc's Descovy to reduce the risk of sexually acquired HIV infection in men and transgender women who have sex with men. The approval does not include use of the drug by women to prevent HIV infection. Paralyzed man walks again with brain-controlled exoskeleton

A man paralyzed from the shoulders down has been able to walk using a pioneering four-limb robotic system, or exoskeleton, that is commanded and controlled by signals from his brain. With a ceiling-mounted harness for balance, the 28-year-old tetraplegic patient used a system of sensors implanted near his brain to send messages to move all four of his paralyzed limbs after a two-year-long trial of the whole-body exoskeleton. Optimism tied to lower rates of heart attacks, death

People with a positive outlook on life may be less likely than pessimists to experience events like a heart attack or stroke, and they may live longer, a recent review of existing research suggests. For the analysis, researchers examined data from 15 studies with a total of 229,391 participants who were followed for an average of about 14 years.

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