New Clues in CEO’s Killing; Time to Worry About Disease X? Ketamine Diversions Grow

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New clues are emerging in the hunt for the killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson; investigators now believe the suspect may have traveled to New York on a bus that originated in Atlanta. (AP)

Fake bomb threats targeted two homes belonging to Thompson on the day he was shot and killed. (The Hill)

Amateur online sleuths are trying to catch the gunman. (Washington Post)

Meanwhile, UnitedHealth and rival CVS Health have removed photos of their leadership teams from their websites, as the industry reassess its risk in the wake of the shooting. (Reuters via Yahoo News!)

Americans’ rating of U.S. healthcare quality declined to a 24-year low in a new Gallup poll, with a majority saying it’s only fair or poor.

A single mutation in the H5N1 bird flu strain circulating in dairy cattle could make the virus much more infectious to humans, researchers found. (Science)

How worried should we be about Disease X, the mysterious flu-like illness that has killed dozens in the Democratic Republic of Congo? (NPR)

The World Health Organization provided an update on the outbreak of Oropouche virus disease in the Americas.

Life expectancy in the U.S. over the next quarter-century is expected to inch up but won’t keep pace with other nations, researchers projected. (The Lancet)

One in 20 American women experienced intimate partner violence during pregnancy in recent years, a study in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) found.

Another MMWR showed that 45% of U.S. adults had hypertension, with the highest rate among Black adults (58%).

The FDA cited “objectionable conditions or practices” at an animal testing lab at Elon Musk’s Neuralink company. (Reuters via U.S. News & World Report)

Overdose deaths involving the fentanyl analog carfentanil are on the rise. (MMWR)

And ketamine diversions in the healthcare system increased from 2017 to 2023, mostly among distributors. (JAMA)

To help curb childhood obesity, the U.K. plans to institute a ban on junk food advertising online and on TV before 9 p.m. (BBC)

Unequal access to high-quality drugs may be driving global disparities in survival rates for childhood cancers. (NPR)

Authorities suspect bacteria-contaminated IV feeding bags are behind the deaths of 13 kids in Mexico. (AP)

A survey study of the U.S. ophthalmology workforce found that 62% of women and 20% of men have experienced workplace discrimination. (JAMA Ophthalmology)

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