115 Dead in Outbreak; House Panel Targets Prior Auth in Medicare; NIAID’s New Leader

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Authorities in Congo said that confirmed Ebola cases now total 598, including 115 deaths. (Reuters via MSN)

Police shot and killed a protester in Kenya as hundreds of people staged new demonstrations over a quarantine center for Americans exposed to Ebola. (Reuters via NBC News)

The Trump administration urged European countries to tighten travel restrictions on people arriving from Ebola-hit nations, suggesting that not doing so may lead the U.S. to increase regulations on travel from Europe, including for the World Cup. (AP)

Three more former cruise ship passengers who were quarantining after being exposed to the hantavirus outbreak returned to their home states, the University of Nebraska Medical Center said.

The House Appropriations Committee voted to bar CMS from spending funds on the controversial WISeR pilot program, which introduces prior authorization for certain procedures in traditional Medicare. (Fierce Healthcare)

A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from accessing California hospital records of transgender minors. (Advocate)

U.S. and German officials are holding confidential meetings over drug prices, Politico reported.

Clover Hill Dairy recalled all soft ricotta/requeson cheese manufactured at the company in connection with a multistate Listeria outbreak tied to one death and eight hospitalizations, the CDC said.

Raw milk continues to be linked to E. coli and Salmonella illness, but lawmakers are pushing for expansion. (ProPublica)

New data from the U.S. Pharmacopeia showed that the number of year-end prescription drug shortages fell by 23% last year, but the average drug shortage lasted longer.

Recent guidance from the Trump administration has revived partisan debates about using methadone and buprenorphine to treat opioid addiction. (STAT)

Competition for artificial intelligence chatbots for doctors has intensified. (New York Times)

Extreme heat could double U.S. hospitalizations by 2040, pushing annual healthcare costs for heat-related conditions to over $1 billion, a model suggested. (GeoHealth)

Even at moderate levels, long-term exposure to air pollution was associated with more advanced coronary artery disease, a large imaging study showed. (Radiology)

In a phase I trial, an investigational vaccine designed to protect against Lassa fever and rabies appeared to be well tolerated in healthy adults and induced strong immune responses against both viruses. (Nature Medicine)

John Powers III, MD, is now the acting director of National Institute of ​Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), according to the agency’s website.

The American Medical Association announced that Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, MD, an internal medicine physician in Atlanta, is its president-elect.

Moderate screen time in the first 3 days after concussion was linked to faster recovery in a retrospective study of 80 adolescents and teens. (British Journal of Sports Medicine)

The FDA approved less-frequent maintenance dosing for lebrikizumab (Ebglyss) in atopic dermatitis, Eli Lilly announced.

An investigation tested 40 popular grocery items for high levels of additives or contaminants. Here’s what it found. (Consumer Reports)

Dave Canales, the head coach of NFL’s Carolina Panthers, said he recently had a procedure to remove a small basal cell carcinoma lesion. (AP)

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