Infectious Disease> COVID-19– Health news and commentary from around the Web collected by MedPage Today personnel by Kristen Monaco, Staff Writer, MedPage Today March 17, 2023 Note that some links might need memberships. A brand-new analysis of hereditary samples from China appears to connect the origin of COVID-19 to raccoon pet dogs. (The Atlantic) What’s a raccoon pet dog, anyhow? (Wikipedia) After a 2-year pandemic spike, maternal deaths in 2022 appear to have actually gone back to pre-pandemic levels, according to initial information from the CDC. (AP) Another tickborne health problem, babesiosis, is on the increase in the Northeast, according to the CDC. (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) Following in the steps of Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, Sanofi revealed it prepares to cut the cost of Lantus, the business’s most frequently recommended insulin, by 78%. Pfizer will remember its migraine drug rimegepant (Nurtec ODT) to child-proof the product packaging, in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the business revealed. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) signed into law a costs that completely prohibits abortion centers in the state by 2024. (ABC News) Meanwhile, North Dakota’s Supreme Court called the state’s abortion restriction unconstitutional. (ABC News) And in California, a brand-new expense was presented that would lawfully safeguard medical professionals who send by mail abortion tablets to clients in other states. (AP) Meanwhile, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) signed into law extended postpartum Medicaid protection for brand-new moms, increasing protection from 60 days to 12 months. (Clarion Ledger) Kentucky is the current state where legislators passed a restriction on gender-affirming look after transgender minors. (Washington Post) Another increase or not? As other nations continue, there’s still no word from the FDA on whether the U.S. will advise COVID boosters in the spring. (STAT) Non-physician health care employees in England lastly struck an offer ending months of strikes. (AP) Pfizer was the leading spender of television drug advertisements throughout the Oscars this year– the business was likewise a sponsor of the awards reveal itself. (FiercePharma) Ketamine Wellness Centers, among the nation’s biggest chain of ketamine centers, shuttered its doors today without description, leaving lots of clients in the stumble. (STAT) Ten employees, consisting of 3 health center staff members, were charged with second-degree murder over the death of a 28-year-old guy in a Virginia psychiatric medical facility. (NPR) A handful of brand-new costs are seeking to broaden rural health care gain access to in Colorado. (Montrose Daily Press) Just why are pediatric health center beds filling so rapidly? (CNN) A sickle cell illness client treated with an investigational CRISPR treatment is still growing 4 years later on. (NPR) Prostate cancer treatment lutetium Lu 177 vipivotide tetraxetan (Pluvicto) is presently in lack, leaving some advanced-stage clients with minimal choices. (Wall Street Journal) Officials are keeping track of clean-up efforts following a tritium leakage at a Minnesota nuclear creating plant last November. (CBS News) California conserved $231 in health care expenses for every single dollar invested in its anti-smoking program developed in 1988, scientists approximated. (PLOS One) Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin released his very first suggestions in continuous efforts to enhance psychological healthcare and decrease suicides in the armed force. Kristen Monaco is a personnel author, concentrating on endocrinology, psychiatry, and nephrology news. Based out of the New York City workplace, she’s operated at the business given that 2015.