Oral herpes is about 5,000 years old, according to researchers


One of the samples of ancient herpes DNA came from a young adult male from the late 14th century, buried in the grounds of medieval Cambridge’s charitable hospital -- later to become St. John’s College -- who had suffered appalling dental abscesses. 

Photo by Craig Cessford/Cambridge Archaeological Unit

July 28 (UPI) -- A Cambridge University-led team of scientists has uncovered and sequenced ancient genomes of the herpes simplex virus that causes cold sores, dating it to about 5,000 years ago.

Roughly 3.7 billion people globally have HSV-1, or oral herpes, with most infections classified as mild or asymptomatic.

The study, published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, said the oral herpes infection found in the ancient DNA may have arisen in conjunction with the then-new practice of romantic and sexual kissing.

The University of Cambridge's Dr. Christiana Scheib co-wrote the report.

"Every primate species has a form of herpes, so we assume it has been with us since our own species left Africa," study co-author Christiana Scheib said in a press release.

"However, something happened around five thousand years ago that allowed one strain of herpes to overtake all others, possibly an increase in transmissions, which could have been linked to kissing," Scheib said.

The oldest HSV-1 DNA sample was from an adult male in Russia dated to the late Iron Age, around 1500 years ago.

"By comparing ancient DNA with herpes samples from the 20th century, we were able to analyze the differences and estimate a mutation rate, and consequently a timeline for virus evolution," said study co-lead author Lucy van Dorp, a researcher at Cambridge Genetics Institute.

Remains found in British well provide insight into Ashkenazi genetic 'bottleneck'


Genome analysis of bodies found in a well in Norwich, England provided insight into the start of a genetic "bottleneck" brought on by a repaid shrinking in the population of Ashkenazi Jews. 

Photo by Rob Farrow/Geograph/Creative Commons

Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Genome analysis suggests that human remains recovered from a medieval burial site in Britain may provide insight into the rapid decrease of the population of Ashkenazi Jews, according to a study released Friday.

Researchers in Britain analyzed the DNA of 17 bodies found at the bottom of a medieval well in Norwich, Britain, and found that six of them had "strong genetic affinities with modern Ashkenazi Jews" and that they were likely victims of antisemitic violence during the 12th century, according to findings presented in the journal Current Biology.

"It's been over 12 years since we started looking into who these people are, and the technology finally caught up with our ambition," Ian Barnes, one of the coauthors of the study, told phys.org. "Our main job was to establish the identity of those individuals at the ethnic level."

Radiocarbon dating showed that the bodies were deposited between 1161 and 1216, which aligns with a time frame that includes a historically documented antisemitic massacre in Norwich in 1190.

Analysis of the individuals' DNA found that three were sisters -- one aged 5-10, one aged 10-15 and the third a young adult -- while at least one of the individuals was descended from a recent union between two close relatives.

The DNA analysis also indicated one body belonged to a child that may have been as old as 3 and had had blue eyes and red hair, with the latter associated with historical stereotypes of European Jews.

It further showed the victims were predisposed to genetic conditions that are prevalent in modern Ashkenazi Jews.

Scientists have speculated that an event between 500 and 800 years ago caused a dramatic decline in the Ashkenazi Jewish population, creating a "bottleneck" that can lead to an increase in the frequency of rare genetic variants.

Co-author Mark Thomas, however, said the presence of these genetic predispositions in 12th-century Jews would alter the current timeline.

"The bottleneck that drove up their frequency must be before the [Norwich individuals]," Thomas said. "That puts it back older than the vast majority of estimates of when that bottleneck occurred."

Following the discovery, the local community arranged a formal Jewish burial for the individuals.

"When you study ancient DNA from people who've died hundreds to thousands of years ago, you don't often get to work with a living community at the same time," Barnes said. "It's been really satisfying to work with this community on a story that's so important to them."

Wood company says one of its machines may have started deadly California wildfire

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The remains of multiple burned homes are seen in Weed, Calif., last Saturday, where the Mill Fire has burned about 4,000 acres and killed at least two people. Photo by Peter DaSilva/UPI | License Photo

Sept. 8 (UPI) -- A wood products company said that it's investigating the possibility that one of its machines sparked a deadly wildfire in Northern California that's charred 4,000 acres and killed at least two people.

The company, Roseburg Forest Products, said that its co-generation plant may have ignited the Mill Fire in the far northern part of the state last Friday. The blaze has destroyed more than 100 structures and killed two women.

Roseburg said the investigation centers on a machine at its Weed, Calif., plant that was used to cool ashes ejected from the co-generating electrical plant.

The plant produces its own electricity in a facility that's fueled by wood remnants, and a generator ejects ash after consuming the wood.

"That particular machine is perhaps the most likely candidate for what propelled or started the fire," company spokesman Pete Hillan said according to the Redding Record Searchlight.

"We're still investigating. We don't know that yet. But of all the things that were near where the fire appears to have started, that seems to be the most risky item."

Authorities said the Mill Fire in Siskiyou County, near the California-Oregon border, was about 75% contained by Thursday.


On Monday, the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office said the two women, aged 66 and 73, died in Weed.

The Roseburg plant employs about 140 people. The Mill Fire destroyed two buildings in the back of its property, but most of the plant was not damaged and continues to be operational.

Canadian philanthropist donates $173M in Australia to fight next pandemic

Canadian philanthropist Geoffrey Cumming pledged a $171.4 million (AUD250 million) donation over 20 years to fund research meant to guard against future pandemics, the University of Melbourne announced in a release Wednesday. 

Photo courtesy of Alberta Business Hall of Fame

Aug. 31 (UPI) -- A philanthropist is donating around $171.4 million (AUD250 million) over 20 years to fund research meant to guard against future pandemics, the University of Melbourne announced in a release Wednesday.

Geoffrey Cumming, a Canadian and New Zealand citizen living in Melbourne made the donation to establish the new Cumming Global Centre for Pandemic Therapeutics. The center is being established as part of a new $445 million (AUD650 million) Australian Institute for Infectious Disease, in partnership with the university and the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunit

The gesture is the largest philanthropic donation to medical research in Australia's history. The state government also contributed an additional $51 million (AUD75 million) toward the center.

Its goal is to develop technologies to quickly create antiviral treatments like monoclonal antibodies when new infectious diseases emerge. It is expected to open its doors in 2027

Enduring strict lockdowns at his home in New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic first inspired Cumming to make the donation.

"Many people may not appreciate just how significant the medical research community is here," he told The Age.

"The whole purpose here is to build resilience for the world community to build a second shield of protection."

Cumming said he chose Melbourne over two other candidates for the medical hub, Boston and London.



The center will focus on being able to rapidly respond to future pandemic

"It will enable the rapid design and testing of new therapeutics, and their delivery to the community within months of a pandemic outbreak," the university said in its statement.

"The development of new treatments has the potential to transform how the next outbreak is managed, but progress has traditionally lagged when compared to vaccines. Experience from other pandemics, including COVID-19, have shown that therapeutics are critically important in preventing the progression of infections to severe disease, and ultimately in saving lives."

Born in Ontario, Cumming made his fortune in the oil and gas sector. He previously made a $76 million donation (CAD100 million) to the University of Calgary, one of the largest in Canadian history.

Jeep unveils first all-electric SUVs, including Wrangler-inspired Recon

The Recon, Jeep said, was inspired by the legendary Wrangler, an off-road stalwart that's been in constant production in the United States since World War II. Photo courtesy Jeep/Stellantis

Sept. 8 (UPI) -- Jeep announced on Thursday that it's producing its first entirely electric vehicles and they will be available in the United States within three years -- including a new model that was inspired by the iconic Wrangler.

The automaker said there will be multiple new all-electric sport-utility vehicles by 2025 -- including the Grand Wagoneer, Avenger and Recon.

The Recon, Jeep said, was inspired by the legendary Wrangler, an off-road stalwart that's been in constant production in the United States since World War II.

All the vehicles are part of a comprehensive plan by Jeep to have EVs account for half of U.S. Jeep sales and all of European sales by 2030.

"This is a forward-thinking strategy to help ensure millions of Jeep fans around the world continue to have a planet to explore, embrace and protect," Jeep CEO Christian Meunier said in a statement.

Jeep is owned by Stellantis and said the new electric SUVs are part of the automaker's designs to produce vehicles that are more environmentally friendly. 

File Photo by Brian Kersey/UPI

"Electrification is great for our brand, making it even more capable, exciting, sustainable and fun."

The automaker said the Recon will be trail-rated and designed for drivers who love extreme adventures. It will be available with removable doors, like the Wrangler, and a power top.

The electric Grand Wagoneer, which will have an estimated range of 400 miles on a single charge, will have a whopping 600 horsepower.

The Avenger, an all-new Jeep that's smaller than its entry-level Renegade, will be available in Europe in 2023 and will debut at the Paris Auto Show next month. It will not be sold in the United States.

Jeep introduced its first hybrid vehicle, a Grand Cherokee, last year. On Thursday, it said those vehicles -- marked "4xe" -- will continue to be sold in North America and Europe.

Sea lion jumps onto boat to escape killer whales

Sept. 8 (UPI) -- A pair of boaters off the British Columbia coast received a shock when their small vessel was nearly capsized by a sea lion fleeing from killer whales.

Ernest and Viesia Godek said they cut their engine when they spotted a trio of killer whales near their boat while fishing at Pedder Bay, near Victoria.

The pair said they soon heard a banging on the bottom of the boat, followed by the appearance of a sea lion at the side of their craft.

The sea lion then jumped onto the side of the boat in an apparent attempt to escape the killer whales.

"It tipped the boat over to the point where we had to hang on to the gunnels, the water started pouring into the boat ... I was just hoping that we wouldn't totally tip over," Ernest Godek told the Times Colonist.

The boat righted itself and the sea lion plunged back into the water. The couple said it continued to follow them as they headed back to shore.

Photos and video of the encounter were captured by passengers on a nearby whale watching boat.

Mark Malleson, the vessel operator, estimated the California sea lion weighed 700-800 pounds.

"If that animal had landed in the boat, somebody could have gotten seriously hurt, just from the sheer size or from the teeth," Malleson told CTV News.

A pregnant South Carolina woman is 'struggling for the life of her baby' as she serves 4 years in prison after verbal encounter with police during BLM protests, her lawyer says

Sarah Al-Arshani

Sun, September 11, 2022

Demonstrators march on Main St. on June 5, 2020 in Columbia, South Carolina.Sean Rayford/Getty Images

• A South Carolina woman got into a verbal encounter with police during a June 2020 BLM protest.

• Earlier this year, Brittany Martin was sentenced to four years in prison following the encounter.

• Her lawyers are asking a judge to reconsider the pregnant woman's sentence as she faces health issues.

A pregnant South Carolina woman serving a four-year prison sentence after a verbal encounter with police during Black Lives Matter protests is facing declining health, according to an attorney representing her.

Lawyers for Brittany Martin, 34, are petitioning a judge to reconsider her prison sentence. Sybil Dione Rosado, one of Martin's attorneys told CNN that in the past few months, Martin, who is expecting a baby later this year, has lost weight and suffered from several health conditions.

The Associated Press reported that Marin was found guilty earlier this year of breaching the peace in a high and aggravated manner. The charges stemmed from an encounter with police during protests in in June 2020 following the killing of George Floyd.

Rosado told CNN that Martin's remarks to police were along the lines of: "I'm willing to die for the Black, are you willing to die for the blue? This is just a job for you. This is my life."

Martin's lawyers told CNN she wasn't "physically violent or threatening" during the protest.

Rosado, and Martin's sister, Whitney Martin told the AP that Martin was taken to the hospital twice in July. Once for experiencing contractions and another time for going into preterm labor at 25 weeks. Despite being pregnant, Martin lost 12 pounds that month.

The AP reported that Martin in prison was sent to solitary confinement for refusing to cut her dreads. Rosado told the outlet that she's saw scratches on Martin's face as well as a bloody eye during a recent visit. Additionally, the AP citing jail records reported that Martin was sent to detention twice for threatening to inflict harm on an employee and for refusing or failing to obey orders.

"She's spending four years in jail and pregnant and struggling for the life of her baby because she's loud and Black. It's an absolute travesty of justice," Rosado told CNN.

‘Waiting for men to spot prostate cancer symptoms is failing one in three’


David Cox
Sun, September 11, 2022 

Bill Turnbull, the much-loved BBC Breakfast presenter, 

died earlier this month at the age of 66 - Andrew Crowley

LONG READ

Will Hide was 52 when he found out he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. A travel writer who had seen his sources of work dry up during the early stages of the pandemic in spring 2020, Hide volunteered to take part in a University College London Hospitals (UCLH) clinical trial, in which all participants received an MRI scan of their prostate.

“My decision to volunteer in the UCLH trial was driven largely by a desire to do my bit for science as well as the fact that I had nothing much better to do,” says Hide. “At 52, I’d been having an annual check for prostate cancer – PSA [prostate specific antigen] blood tests – for the past five years or so, and my most recent one in December 2019 had shown nothing irregular, so I wasn’t worried at all.”

But a few months later, Hide received a surprise phone call. To his shock he was informed that the MRI had picked up signs of a tumour. “I can’t remember the exact words, just something like: ‘It’s about 6mm long; 90 per cent of it looks slow-growing but 10 per cent isn’t,’ ” he says.

Hide was one of the estimated 48,500 new cases of prostate cancer in the UK every year, a disease that has an annual death toll of 11,700 – more than those from breast cancer. But while mammograms are routinely available on the NHS for all women aged between 50 and 70, there is no such screening programme for prostate cancer.

Last week, former Scotland rugby star Kenny Logan revealed he had also been diagnosed with prostate cancer in February at the age of 50. Logan had been urged by his wife Gabby to do a PSA test which showed elevated levels, leading his doctor to recommend further investigation. “It was a huge shock,” Logan said, speaking on BBC Breakfast, revealing that he underwent surgery to have his prostate removed, but was “95 per cent” back to normal.

Both Hide and Logan were among the lucky ones. Because their disease had been picked up at an early stage, they were able to undergo surgery to have the whole of their prostate removed. This means they have a far greater chance of being cured compared with those for whom the disease has spread to other organs.

Gabby and Kenny Logan - 

There are many different types of prostate cancer. Around 30 per cent of these cancers are indolent, meaning they would cause little or no problem if left untreated, while many are curable with radiotherapy or surgery.

However, as Johann de Bono, professor of experimental cancer medicine at the Institute of Cancer Research in London explains, around one in four cases of prostate cancer is very aggressive and spreads extremely quickly, making it far more difficult to treat, especially if it is diagnosed at a later stage. This was the case for Bill Turnbull, the much-loved BBC Breakfast presenter who died earlier this month at the age of 66, and who was only diagnosed after the disease had spread to his legs, hips, pelvis and ribs, in 2017.

Much research has been devoted to identifying the subgroups of men who are most likely to be at risk of aggressive prostate cancer and could benefit most from screening. While age is the biggest risk factor – the majority of cases are over 50 – a combination of genetics, ethnicity and lifestyle factors, such as eating a high-fat diet, are also thought to contribute to the risk.

“Genetic changes underlie at least part of the risk of prostate cancer,” says Nick James, consultant clinical oncologist at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. “Men of African or African-Caribbean ancestry have roughly twice the risk of white men. Men with a strong family history of prostate cancer at an early age – under 65 – or breast or ovarian cancer in female relatives are also at a higher risk.”

The charity Prostate Cancer Research says key warning signs include difficulty or pain in passing urine, having to rush to the lavatory to pass urine, frequent visits to the lavatory at night, starting and stopping while urinating, and having a constant feeling of having not fully emptied the bladder.

They recommend that men experiencing these symptoms see their doctor. Anyone concerned, for example because of their age or family history, can opt to have a PSA test which measures the levels of the PSA protein in the bloodstream, although this test has come under increasing scrutiny owing to the high number of false positives it yields. Because PSA is secreted by both cancerous and non-cancerous tissue in the prostate, around three in four men with an elevated PSA level will not have cancer, while one in seven men with a normal PSA level will have the disease.

While experts feel that PSA still has a role to play as part of the process which leads to further investigation, more sophisticated screening is needed.

“Currently, it’s the best thing we have,” says Oliver Kemp, chief executive of Prostate Cancer Research. “It’s cheap, and it should be part of the process leading to further investigation. But the issue is the false positives, after which a lot of people are then treated quite aggressively with biopsies.”

However, more advanced screening methods are on the way. While Hide benefited from having an MRI scan as part of his clinical trial, the Surrey and Sussex Cancer Alliance is running a pilot study in which men with elevated PSA readings only undergo a biopsy and further investigation once they have had a multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) scan. This is new technology that is being called “the male mammogram” and works by creating detailed images of the prostate which are much higher quality than conventional MRI.

Will Hide - Geoff Pugh

“Around a third of patients with elevated PSA who then have an mpMRI scan do not have prostate cancer and can safely avoid biopsy, which involves inserting a needle into the prostate to take tissue samples,” says Kemp. “The procedure can be uncomfortable and unnecessary for those with low-risk cancers which are unlikely to progress, and it also comes with the risk of infection.”

Because mpMRI is much more cost effective than standard MRI, Kemp feels that if the Surrey and Sussex Cancer Alliance trial proves successful, there is a case for making regular screening available on the NHS for all men deemed to be at greater risk. In the best-case scenario, this could happen by 2024.

For the most aggressive forms of the disease, it seems that genetics play a key role. “Our research has shown that at least one in 10 cases of aggressive prostate cancer is linked to inherited mutations of DNA repair genes,” says de Bono. “Developing new focused prevention strategies for these at-risk men is particularly important. These strategies could, for example, involve genetic screening of men for these high-risk genes, and then offering more frequent monitoring for early signs of prostate cancer where necessary.”

One approach being explored by the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden Hospital is the use of genetic risk scores and socio-demographic targeting. This would involve giving a DNA test to men believed to be more susceptible to the disease, either because of their ethnicity or family history of prostate cancer, and using the results to calculate their risk. Individuals with a high-risk score could then be recommended for regular mpMRI scans.

“The current way we do things, waiting for men to spot symptoms and get checked by their GP fails at least one in three men,” says James. “GP appointments are hard to get and they don’t offer automatic health checks for prostate cancer.”

Kemp also points to the biotech company GlycoScoreDx, which is developing a simple blood test specifically aimed at detecting aggressive forms of prostate cancer, based on more than a decade of research by scientists at University of Newcastle. This has found that malfunctioning glycans – sugars that coat cells and decorate most proteins – are an important driver of prostate cancer growth and spread, and a test that can detect a unique combination of these glycans could help identify patients at risk of more aggressive disease.

Overall, Kemp feels that the future is positive for identifying prostate cancer early and making it a more treatable disease.

“A national screening programme based on PSA alone would not be viable because it is not considered accurate enough to be justifiable,” he says. “The Surrey and Sussex Cancer Alliance pilot screening programme is important because the evidence generated could support rollout of screening across the UK if successful. In addition, cancers are more likely to be detected earlier, reducing risk for patients.”

Why a Texas health care ruling could have dire impacts on affordability of care



Gianna Melillo
Sat, September 10, 2022 at 4:00 AM·6 min read

Story at a glance

Under the 2010 Affordable Care Act, employers are required to provide full coverage for certain preventive services.

However, a new ruling out of Texas found coverage of certain services, like pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), violates employers’ rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Should this decision be upheld, experts say it will undermine efforts aimed at preventing a myriad of diseases and conditions, including HIV.

Affordable health care in the United States falls far behind other developed nations and is especially unattainable for certain racial minorities and low-income Americans. A new ruling out of Texas could make matters even worse.

Federal Judge Reed O’Connor struck down Wednesday a key provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that requires employer-sponsored insurance to cover certain preventive services – including pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a medication that drastically reduces the likelihood of contracting HIV – to ensure patients would not shoulder out-of-pocket costs.

The judge ruled that the provision violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act by requiring people to provide coverage that conflicts with their faith or personal beliefs. The decision, which is expected to be challenged, jeopardizes individual health decisions for the more than 13 million Texans and 150 million Americans overall who have employer-sponsored health insurance.

Higher costs and added barriers for patients

Even before Wednesday’s decision, most Americans vulnerable to HIV infection used PrEP at disproportionately low rates. Overall, 25 percent of the 1.2 million people for whom PrEP is recommended were prescribed it in 2020 – that’s up from 3 percent in 2015. And coverage is not equal, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

White Americans make up 66 percent of PrEP coverage, whereas Black Americans comprise 6 percent of coverage and Latino Americans represent 16 percent of coverage. This is despite Black and Latino Americans accounting for 42 and 27 percent of new HIV diagnoses in 2021. White Americans accounted for 26 percent of new HIV diagnoses.

Gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men are most at risk for HIV, and this is especially true for Black and Latino communities. HIV also particularly affects Black women, transgender women, and people who inject drugs.

Heterosexual men made up 7 percent of new HIV diagnoses and heterosexual women accounted for 16 percent in 2019.

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New HIV infections are also concentrated in the South, where Americans generally lack affordable access to reproductive health care for HIV and sexually transmitted diseases, birth control, abortion and gender-affirming care. In Texas, more than 22,000 people were prescribed PrEP and more than 123,000 people were at high risk for HIV in 2020.

A month’s supply of a brand-name PrEP is around $2,000 without insurance, while a generic version costs $30 to $60 per month. Most insurance packages offer the medication for free.

If the ruling is upheld, communities most vulnerable to HIV infections – many of whom already face discrimination and stigma – would be tasked with overcoming another financial barrier to receiving preventative treatment, Perry N. Halkitis, a dean and professor at Rutgers School of Public Health, told Changing America.

Halkitis is a public health psychologist who has focused most of his work on infectious disease, and is the ​​founder and director of the Center for Health, Identity, Behavior & Prevention Studies at Rutgers University.

“The last thing you want to do is put another obstacle in place, and if that other obstacle is now financial, then there is going to be even more of a likelihood that uptake will be decreased,” Halkitis said.

Financial burden on workplaces and the economy

The new ruling could make medical costs more expensive for workers, employers and the economy, Halkitis says.

That’s because it is ultimately cheaper to prevent HIV than to treat it, and managing chronic conditions is costlier to employers than preventative services. A company would spend more covering chronic diseases like HIV than it would if it also covered preventative care – something it’s incentivized to do not only to keep costs down but also to ensure the health of their employees.

“You take away PrEP then what’s going to happen is that a subset of your workplace will become HIV infected,” Halkitis said. “So, in turn, you’re going to be paying for lifelong medications. The burden to the economy and to the company is much greater in treating HIV than preventing HIV and that is such a clear argument for PrEP, and such a clear argument that would encourage this organization and this judge to uphold PrEP access.”

The Texas decision also risks opening up the door for employers to deny coverage for any preventive service they feel violates their religious beliefs, risking affordable access to screenings for cancer and heart disease, for instance.

“To me, it speaks about the need for a more universal health care system in our country,” Halkitis said. “Where these kinds of decisions by employers are not being made, where my health decisions are being made by me and not by the person that I work for, where people who need jobs can take jobs without fear of repercussion that their employers are going to tell them who to have sex with, how to have sex, and what to do with their bodies.”

The future of HIV and preventative care

While it’s unclear if the ruling would be enforced outside of Texas or the employers challenging the ACA provision, it would have strong implications for preventative care of all kinds.

In his decision, O’Connor ruled against requiring coverage for other preventative services like screenings for colorectal and other cancers, depression, and hypertension — arguing that the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force’s system for deciding which services should be fully covered was unconstitutional.

Outside of affecting the ACA, the decision from Texas could also impact the country’s goal of eliminating new infections of HIV by the end of the decade.

In the lawsuit, Texas employers argued that paying for health plans that cover PrEP can “facilitate or encourage homosexual behaviour,” adding they do not want or need the coverage themselves because they “are in monogamous relationships with their respective spouses” and “neither they nor any of their family members are engaged in behavior that transmits HIV.”

But access to PrEP does not lead to homosexual behavior, Halkitis noted, likening the argument to those made in the 1990s that claimed putting condoms in schools would promote teenage sex.

“This notion that somehow we make somebody gay because we give them a medication that prevents them from becoming sick is perhaps the most ludicrous, anachronistic, homophobic and completely atheocratic way of thinking about sexual identity,” he said.

HIV can also be transmitted from positive mothers to their children and through needle sharing.

Notably, since the introduction of PrEP and other viral suppressing medications, which make patients unable to transmit the virus, rates of new HIV infections have decreased, especially in high uptake areas like New York.

In 2019, former President Trump’s administration introduced a plan to eliminate transmission of HIV in the United States by 2030.

But if this decision is upheld, it could undermine that mission, while “the goal of having no new HIV infections by 2030 will be completely, completely a non-reality,” Halkitis said. “This is the last thing we need to get this virus under control.”

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.

Democrats seek campaign opportunity with ObamaCare court ruling

Nathaniel Weixel

 The Hill.
Sat, September 10, 2022 

Democrats are seizing on a federal judge’s ruling against ObamaCare’s prevention coverage as an opportunity to campaign on preserving health care just two months before the midterm elections.

The ruling on Wednesday by Judge Reed O’Connor in Texas escalates another battle over ObamaCare, and could jeopardize access to preventive care for millions of Americans, including screenings for colorectal and other cancer, depression and hypertension, among many other services.

Running on saving the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has proven effective for Democrats in the past: The party used the GOP’s attempt to repeal the law in 2017 to mount a successful campaign in 2018 to take control of the House. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court’s June decision to overturn Roe v. Wade gave Democrats another health issue with which to galvanize their base — and now it appears they’re looking to build on that strategy with O’Connor’s ruling.

“With the GOP’s utter disdain for our health, safety and freedom, it is only a matter of time that another drug, treatment, vaccine or health service becomes the next target of their extremism,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement shortly after the ruling.

Pelosi also indicated that Democrats will look to tie the ruling directly to the GOP’s “extreme MAGA” agenda and the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

“This extreme MAGA ruling comes just months after the Republican-controlled Supreme Court discarded precedent and privacy in overturning Roe v. Wade. Since then, House Republicans have plotted an unhinged, dangerous campaign to punish our most personal decisions, from abortion care to birth control and more,” Pelosi said.

Frederick Isasi, executive director of the liberal group Families USA, said it’s a “very straight line” between the Supreme Court’s abortion decision and O’Connor’s ruling.

“I think the big signal here is it’s another example … where a small group of folks who have a very ideological, or hardcore religious perspectives are now changing our laws to restrict the freedom of people and their ability to access health care services,” Isasi said.

While issues like inflation, gas prices and immigration have dominated campaign rhetoric on the GOP side, Democrats have been hammering Republicans on health issues like abortion and the cost of prescription drugs. The decision from O’Connor injects more fuel into the fight.

“As a thirty-five-year ovarian cancer survivor, I am outraged that this judge would take us back to the days before the ACA when individuals suffered pain and even death because coverage for routine cancer screenings were not guaranteed without cost-sharing,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said.

The ruling shows “that conservatives on the bench are on the march to overturn a number of hard won freedoms earned by Americans,” DeLauro said.

O’Connor has a history of ruling against ObamaCare, as well as other Democratic policies. In 2018, O’Connor sided with a coalition of GOP state attorneys general and struck down the entire health law as unconstitutional, a decision that was eventually overturned at the Supreme Court in 2020.

The Biden administration said it was reviewing the ruling, and is expected to appeal. Additional briefings from both sides were due Friday, but O’Connor granted an extension until Sept. 16.

Under ObamaCare, any service or drug that gets an “A” or “B” level recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), a volunteer panel of experts, must automatically be added to a list of free services covered by insurers.

There are more than 100 services on the list, and experts say the requirement has led to better health outcomes

But O’Connor ruled any services recommended by members of the USPSTF are invalid because they “are unconstitutionally appointed.”

The ruling also specifically targeted the HIV drug regimen known as preexposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. O’Connor said ObamaCare’s requirement that PrEP be fully covered violated the religious freedom of a company owned by Steven Hotze, a well-known Republican donor who has challenged ObamaCare on other occasions.

Hotze argued that being forced to cover PrEP “facilitates and encourages homosexual behavior, intravenous drug use and sexual activity outside of marriage between one man and one woman.”

Katie Keith, director of the Health Policy and the Law Initiative at Georgetown University’s law school, said O’Connor didn’t specify how broad the decision will be. It could apply only to the plaintiffs who filed this lawsuit, or he could strike down the whole ACA provision.

Keith said it was “disheartening” to see another legal challenge to the ACA.

“We know now that access to all of these incredibly important evidence-based preventive services are at risk,” Keith said. “If we lost these provisions, we would really return to a pre-Affordable Care Act era where each individual employer and insurance company can pick and choose what preventive services they want to cover and whether they can charge you cost sharing.”

Health care has not been a winning campaign topic for Republicans in recent cycles. Since failing to repeal the health law in 2017, the GOP has been largely silent on the topic of ObamaCare.

Vulnerable GOP candidates have also lately softened their language on abortion and even tried to scrub references to past comments on the issue from their campaign websites.

Isasi said if Republicans oppose O’Connor’s decision, they need to speak up.

“We know that this is a judge who’s very aligned with Republican politics. He’s very ideological. And it’s incumbent upon conservative members of the [Republican Party] to speak up and say that is too far,” Isasi said.