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Woman who died after transplant surgery got COVID-19 from donated lungs
A woman who died after undergoing a double lung transplant at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor is the first known person to contract COVID-19 from donor lungs, according to a new case report published in the American Journal of Transplantation. "To my knowledge, this is the first, and actually the only, documented transmission of COVID-19 to a recipient" from donated organs, said Bruce Nicely, chief clinical officer of Gift of Life Michigan, the state's federally designated organ and tissue recovery program. The case represents "the worst-possible scenario" to play out in...
Detroit Free Press
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GOP icon Bob Dole reveals lung cancer diagnosis, begins treatment next week
WASHINGTON — Former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole revealed Thursday that he’s been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and will begin treatment Monday. “While I certainly have some hurdles ahead, I also know that I join millions of Americans who face significant health challenges of their own,” Dole, 97, said in a statement. The statement did not provide details about Dole’s treatment plan. Stage 4 is the most advanced stage of the disease and means that the cancer has spread to other parts of the body, according to the Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Dole represented Kansas in Congress ...
The Kansas City Star
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For Florida’s ‘extremely vulnerable,’ getting COVID-19 vaccine becomes exercise in frustration
ORLANDO, Fla. — A week after Florida health officials announced COVID-19 vaccine doses would be shipped to select hospitals for people under age 65 deemed “extremely vulnerable,” the families who championed the move say they are no closer to getting their loved ones the shot. “No. Not at all. We haven’t heard anything,” said Heather Pritsker of Winter Springs, whose 35-year-old brother, Travis Clements, has Down syndrome. “There’s so much up in the air, and it’s so frustrating.” Among groups at higher risk of dying from COVID-19 — including people who have heart and lung disease and those with...
Orlando Sentinel
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A year of COVID-19: A sobering look at how US, California, compare to the rest of the world
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A year after a new coronavirus was identified as the cause of a mysterious pneumonia outbreak in China, SARS-CoV-2 has redefined life around the world, but nowhere has it been more keenly felt than in the United States. The United States was home to about one in four of the 97 million infected globally — more than 24 million. And it accounted for one in five of the world’s 2 million dead from COVID-19, startlingly more than 400,000 deaths. The country has seen more than twice as many coronavirus infections as India, whose 10.6 million cases are the world’s second-most in a c...
The Mercury News
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Pandemic could hurt home-based care for kids with 24/7 needs
Midway through a conversation about her 14-year-old, Claire, Jamie Davis Smith felt the need to change direction for a moment, to highlight the happiness her daughter can experience. “She does have a good relationship with her siblings,” Smith said recently. “She likes to have ice cream and go to the playground with them. She loves to go swimming and to movies. Despite all of the problems, she’s very happy and lets us know what she likes and doesn’t like. “I think she deserves to grow up with her siblings, and her siblings deserve to grow up with her.” Afflicted with a chromosomal abnormality ...
Stateline.org
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COVID-19 passed heart disease as leading killer in US last week, report says
COVID-19 killed more Americans last week than any other cause of death, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. At least 11,820 people died from coronavirus in the United States during the week ending Dec. 4, more than ischemic heart disease (10,724), tracheal, bronchus and lung cancer (3,965), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (3,766), according to the new report. As of Sunday, more than 14.6 million Americans have tested positive so far, with at least 281,000 deaths reported. But daily infections continue to skyrocket as many states have eased their lockdowns, r...
New York Daily News