Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Prior dengue infection may protect against Zika: study

Prior infection with dengue, a mosquito-borne disease that infects nearly 400 million people a year, could reduce the risk of contracting Zika nearly by half, U.S. and Brazilian researchers reported on Thursday. The finding, published in the journal Science, could have implications for approved and experimental dengue vaccines by Sanofi, Takeda Pharmaceutical, Merck & Co and Brazil's Butantan Institute, they said. European measles cases highest in a decade as pockets refuse vaccination

Europe had a record number of measles cases last year, in part due to a growing number of pockets where parents are refusing vaccination for their children, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. At the same time, the WHO said, record numbers of children are getting the vaccine - offering hope that the rise in infections may not last. Novartis CEO lauds Trump administration plan to overhaul rebates

Novartis AG Chief Executive Vas Narasimhan said his company's prescription drug prices have been "flat to negative" over the last three years, and directed blame for high costs for U.S. patients on industry middlemen that manage drug benefits. In an interview with Reuters in New York on Wednesday Narasimhan, a 42-year-old U.S. doctor who has headed the Swiss drugmaker since Feb. 2018, threw his support behind a U.S. government proposal to end a system of rebates drugmakers pay to pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and health insurers in order to get products on their lists of covered medicines.. Eli Lilly backs U.S. proposal on drug rebates to lower costs

Eli Lilly and Co on Wednesday embraced a U.S. government proposal to end a decades-old system of rebates drugmakers make to industry middlemen, saying it could lower the cost of insulin and other prescription drugs for patients. Lilly, along with other major insulin makers, Sanofi SA and Novo Nordisk, has been under mounting pressure from patients and politicians over the rising cost of the life-sustaining diabetes treatment. China says tests of possibly tainted medical product show no HIV

China is investigating a manufacturer of medical products following reports that it sold human immunoglobulin for intravenous injection that had possibly been contaminated with HIV, though authorities said tests found no sign of the virus. China has repeatedly vowed tighter oversight and crackdowns on companies and officials after food and drug safety scandals sparked public outrage, such as one last month over expired polio vaccines and another last year over a rabies vaccine. Kids start brushing too late, use too much toothpaste

Most children are using too much toothpaste, don't brush often enough and don't start brushing their teeth at a young enough age, according to a U.S. survey. Parents should brush infants' teeth when the first tooth appears, which can be as early as age 6 months. And they should help their kids brush until the kids are independent enough to thoroughly and correctly brush do it themselves, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and pediatrician groups advise. On abortion, Trump agenda likely leads to Supreme Court, not Congress

President Donald Trump urged lawmakers in his State of the Union address to put new limits on abortion, but partisan division in the U.S. Congress means the Supreme Court likely will set the agenda on the divisive issue, as it has for decades. Bolstered by Trump's appointment of two conservative justices, the nine-member court could soon begin to pare back abortion rights, starting with a major case from Louisiana that is one of several similar pending appeals. FDA pulls up Walgreens for violating tobacco sale laws by selling to minors

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday it was taking action against certain retailers including Walgreen Boots Alliance for repeatedly flouting tobacco sale rules, including sale of cigars and menthol cigarettes to minors. Walgreens is currently the top violator among pharmacies that sell tobacco products, with 22 percent of its inspected stores having illegally sold tobacco products to minors, the U.S. health regulator said in a statement. U.S. sues to block Philadelphia safe drug-injection site

The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday said it had filed a lawsuit seeking to stop a nonprofit in Philadelphia from opening what could become the nation's first supervised drug-injection site in an effort aimed at addressing opioid abuse. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Philadelphia, follows warnings by the Justice Department under Republican President Donald Trump that cities which seek to open so-called safe injection sites could face legal action. Hospitals serving more minorities may offer less palliative care

Patients may have less access to palliative care at U.S. hospitals that primarily serve minorities, a study suggests. Minorities in the U.S. often receive worse healthcare and have worse outcomes, researchers note in JAMA Network Open. Non-white cancer patients tend to have less access to screening and recommended treatments, and they also have worse survival odds and less access to palliative care at the end of life, the study authors add.

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