Health News Roundup: Risperdal award against Johnson & Johnson; China, second person dies in Wuhan pneumonia and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Judge slashes $8 billion Risperdal award against Johnson & Johnson to $6.8 million

A Pennsylvania judge on Friday slashed to $6.8 million from $8 billion a punitive damages award against Johnson & Johnson to a man who said it failed to warn that boys using its antipsychotic drug Risperdal could grow breasts. Judge Kenneth Powell of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas reduced the payout that a jury awarded Oct. 8 to the plaintiff Nicholas Murray, a Maryland resident.

China says second person dies in Wuhan pneumonia outbreak

A second person has died from pneumonia in the central Chinese city of Wuhan following an outbreak believed to be caused by a new coronavirus strain, local health authorities said. The 69-year-old man had been admitted to hospital with abnormal renal function and severe damage to multiple organs, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said in a statement on its website late on Thursday. He died on Jan. 15.

U.S. vaping-related deaths rise to 60, cases of illness to 2,668

U.S. health officials on Thursday reported https://bit.ly/371CYA2 3 more deaths from a mysterious respiratory illness tied to vaping, taking the total death toll to 60. As of Jan. 14, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 66 new cases from the illness associated with use of e-cigarettes or vaping products. The number of people hospitalized now stands at 2,668.

Many older U.S. adults don't get needed cardiac rehab after a heart attack

Only about one in four patients on Medicare receive cardiac rehabilitation recommended to help them recover from events like a heart attack or coronary bypass surgery, a U.S. study suggests. Among those who do go to cardiac rehab, most don't complete enough sessions to get the maximum benefit, the study also found.

Paraguay braces for deadly Dengue fever outbreak

Paraguay is bracing for a potential major epidemic of Dengue fever after recording close to 7,000 suspected cases in the first two weeks of 2020, similar to levels in the severe 2013 outbreak that led to 250 deaths. Health authorities in the landlocked South American nation are also investigating 10 deaths potentially linked to Dengue, after confirming that a 68-year-old man had died from the disease, which causes high fever and joint pain.

Bayer could be close to Roundup settlement, mediator says

Bayer could be close to settling more than 75,000 cancer claims related to its Roundup herbicide, with mediator Ken Feinberg on Friday saying he was "cautiously optimistic that a settlement will ultimately be reached." Feinberg said the settlement negotiations were complex and difficult. Asked about a timeline, he said it would be "premature to state that a settlement is near or will be reached."

Can 'Made in Africa' cigars compete with Cuba?

While drinking in a nightclub in Mozambique in 2015, Kamal Moukheiber had an idea: a luxury cigar made not in Cuba, but in southern Africa. The Lebanese former banker glanced at a customer puffing at what looked like an imported cigar and thought: "What's wrong with Africa producing cigars?"

Early, heavy marijuana use linked to worse driving performance

Heavy marijuana users who picked up the habit before age 16 have impaired driving skills even when they're not high, a small study suggests. But chronic cannabis consumption starting later in life was not associated with worse performance behind the wheel, Dr. Staci A. Gruber, director of the Marijuana Investigations for Neuroscientific Discovery (MIND) Program at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, and her colleagues found.

U.S. to screen passengers for new China coronavirus at 3 airports

The United States will begin screening efforts at three U.S. airports to detect travelers from the central Chinese city of Wuhan who may have symptoms of a new respiratory virus that so far has killed two people and infected 45 more, public health officials said on Friday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the screening at the San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles airports will begin later on Friday and focus on travelers to the United States via direct or connecting flights from Wuhan.

Yosemite National Park says 170 people ill in possible norovirus outbreak

Some 170 people who have spent time in Yosemite National Park in recent weeks have suffered from a gastrointestinal ailment "consistent with norovirus" and two have been diagnosed with the illness, park officials said on Thursday. Most of those who became ill-spent time in Yosemite Valley during or around the first week in January, park spokesman Scott Gediman said in a written statement, while the number of new cases reported has declined in the past several days.

(With inputs from agencies.)