Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Amid U.S. measles outbreak, who needs an additional dose of the vaccine?

The United States is in the midst of its largest measles outbreak in 25 years, with the disease mainly hitting people who have failed to receive the recommended two doses of the live measles vaccine. While the vast majority of measles patients are unvaccinated children, up to 10 percent of patients in the current outbreak are adults who received at least one dose of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine. Denver to vote on decriminalizing 'magic mushrooms'

Denver voters will decide on Tuesday whether to decriminalize possession of psilocybin, a hallucinogenic drug that puts the magic in "magic mushrooms," in a vote that would make the Colorado capital the first U.S. city to stop such prosecutions. If passed, the ballot initiative would prohibit the city from imposing criminal penalties on people at least 21 years old who use the drug or have it in their possession. Alphabet's GV leads funding in gene editing company Verve Therapeutics

GV, Alphabet Inc's venture capital arm, led a $58.5 million investment to launch Verve Therapeutics, a new biotech focused on developing therapies that edit the human genome to treat heart diseases. Gene editing therapies are seen to have huge scope in treating a range of diseases but none are currently approved. Additionally, concerns about safety and the permanent harmful effects the editing could have on humans persist. Georgia governor to sign heartbeat abortion ban, joining a U.S. movement

Georgia's Republican governor on Tuesday is expected to sign a bill outlawing abortion if a doctor can detect a fetal heartbeat, part of a concerted effort to restrict abortion rights in states across the country. Governor Brian Kemp praised the bill when it passed the state legislature in March and has scheduled a signing ceremony at 10 a.m. ET (1400 GMT), which would make him the fourth governor to sign such a law since mid-March. WHO issues warning as measles infects 34,000 in Europe this year

More than 34,000 people across Europe caught measles in the first two months of 2019, with the vast majority of cases in Ukraine, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday as it urged authorities to ensure vulnerable people get vaccinated. The death toll among 34,300 cases reported across 42 countries in the WHO's European region reached 13, with the virus killing people in Ukraine - which is suffering a measles epidemic - as well as in Romania and Albania. The risk is that outbreaks may continue to spread, the WHO warned. Pfizer gets U.S. approval for $225,000 a year heart drug

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved Pfizer Inc's oral drug, tafamidis, to treat a rare and fatal heart disease called transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy, the U.S drugmaker said. Pfizer, which has touted tafamidis as a potential blockbuster product, set a list price of $225,000 a year for the medicine, which would be sold under the brand name Vyndaqel. It is the first approved medicine for the disease in the United States. U.S. reports 60 new measles cases in worst outbreak since 1994

The most widespread U.S. measles outbreak in a quarter-century has infected 60 new patients in the last week, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 764, federal health officials said on Monday. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported an 8.5 percent increase in the number of measles cases since April 26, also confirming that the worst outbreak of the measles in the United States since 1994 has now reached 23 states. Parents vape around kids, even kids with asthma

American adults are more likely to use e-cigarettes when they have children at home, especially when kids have asthma, a U.S. study suggests. Nationwide, 4.4 percent of adults reported current e-cigarette use in 2016 and 2017, the study found. The proportion was higher - 4.9 percent - among adults with kids, and higher still - 5.6 percent - among adults who lived with a child with asthma. 77% of Americans say kids should get measles shot even if parents object: Reuters Poll

Three out of four Americans believe children should be vaccinated against measles even if their parents object, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found, showing little sympathy for the anti-vaccination movement that U.S. officials blame for the ongoing outbreak. Some 764 cases of the disease have been confirmed in the United States so far this year, the most seen in 25 years, in an outbreak that public health officials have called "completely avoidable" and largely linked to misinformation campaigns against the vaccines. High levels of sunscreen ingredients end up in the bloodstream: study

The active ingredients of commonly-used sunscreens end up in the bloodstream at much higher levels than current U.S. guidelines from health regulators and warrant further safety studies, according to a small study conducted by U.S. Food and Drug Administration researchers and published on Monday. The over-the-counter products originally marketed to prevent sunburn with little regulation are widely used to block radiation from the sun that can cause skin cancer, the most common malignancy in the United States.