Case of the Stolen Body Parts; Monkeypox Surges; What Do Long COVID Numbers Mean?

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A Colorado woman pleaded guilty to mail fraud that involved stealing and selling body parts for scientific, medical, or educational purposes, according to the Department of Justice.

The number of likely monkeypox cases doubled in a week from 55 to 111 in New York City and spiked from 7 to 58 in Washington, D.C. (Fox 5 New York, NBC 4 Washington)

FDA suspended its ban on Juul e-cigarette sales as the company appeals the agency’s decision, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Pediatric COVID cases rose for the first time since May with 76,000 children testing positive last week, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 together make up 70% of COVID cases in the U.S., according to CDC estimates.

Some vaping devices increased risk to immune cells. (American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine)

Pulmonologist and medical news analyst Vin Gupta, MD, MPA, is the leading candidate to become the FDA’s principal medical adviser, overseeing the agency’s public messaging. (Politico)

As of Wednesday at 8:00 a.m. EDT, the unofficial U.S. COVID toll reached 87,930,817 infections and 1,018,748 deaths, increases of 179,458 and 480, respectively, since yesterday.

COVID-19 was the third-leading cause of death in the U.S. from March 2020 to October 2021, accounting for one in eight deaths. (JAMA Internal Medicine)

Disposable hospital gowns can let liquids seep through and expose health workers to infection. (Scientific American)

Michigan’s attorney general issued an alert about health apps, especially programs that track pregnancy, fertility, and menstrual cycles in the wake of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. (Detroit News)

Companies like Microsoft, Nike, and Tesla said they will assist employees who live in places where abortion is restricted to travel out of state to undergo the procedure. (NPR)

Infertility patients and doctors fear abortion bans may place controls on genetic testing and embryo storage that will effectively restrict IVF. (New York Times)

People who received image-guided corticosteroid injections for pain management in the first year of the pandemic had a lower incidence of symptomatic COVID-19 than the general population. (Radiology)

How prevalent is long COVID? Here’s what’s behind the numbers. (STAT)

The FDA will expedite its review of Eisai’s and Biogen’s investigational Alzheimer’s drug lecanemab under the accelerated approval pathway with a decision in January 2023, the companies announced.

The agency also will convene a second advisory committee meeting to review the investigational ALS drug AMX0035 again, according to Amylyx Pharmaceuticals.

Less than 7% of U.S. adults had good cardiometabolic health, an analysis of National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data showed. (Journal of the American College of Cardiology)

JAMA‘s new editor in chief, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, launched her debut editorial.