Health Highlights: Jan. 22, 2018

Cuban Teen With Massive Facial Tumor Dies After SurgerySalmonella Outbreak Linked to Raw Sprouts: CDCTrump Plan Would Slash Drug Prevention Office Budget

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Cuban Teen With Massive Facial Tumor Dies After Surgery

A 14-year-old Cuban boy who had surgery in the United States to remove a massive tumor from his face has died.

Surgeons at the Holtz Children's Hospital at Jackson Memorial in Miami successfully removed the 10-pound tumor from Emanuel Zayas, the Miami Herald reported.

But a few days later he developed kidney and lung complications that could not be managed, and he died Friday night.

The basketball-sized tumor on the teen's face was benign, but posed a suffocation threat because it pressed on his trachea. He was also malnourished because the tumor made it difficult to eat and swallow, the Herald reported.

"The weight threatens his life," Dr. Robert Marx, head of maxilofacial surgery at the University of Miami Health System, said before the surgery. "If nothing is done, it could fracture his neck."

He said the teen's family has donated his remains to science in the hope that it will help researchers learn more about the Polyostotic fibrous dysplasia that affected the boy for the past two years, the Herald reported.

-----

Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Raw Sprouts: CDC

A salmonella outbreak that has sickened eight people in three states has been linked to raw sprouts served at Jimmy John's restaurants in Illinois and Wisconsin, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

The outbreak has affected people in Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. No hospitalizations or deaths have been reported. The most recent illness began on Jan. 3, 2018.

The investigation is continuing in an effort to determine where the sprouts came from and where they were distributed, the CDC said.

Raw and lightly cooked sprouts are a known source of foodborne illness and outbreaks. Children, older adults, pregnant women, and people with weakened immune systems should not eat raw or lightly cooked sprouts of any kind, the CDC advised.

If you do decide to eat sprouts, cook them thoroughly to reduce the risk of illness.

-----

Trump Plan Would Slash Drug Prevention Office Budget

A Trump administration source confirms that more than $340 million could be cut from the budget of the White House Office of National Drug Control and Policy, according to CBS News.

The plan, first reported by Politico on Thursday, was proposed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and would gut the ONDCP by taking away it's ability to make grants.

Two grants -- the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) and Drug-Free Communities (DFC) -- would be relocated to, and managed by, the Department of Justice and Department of Health and Human Services, CBS News reported.

A spokesman for the OMB did not deny the plans, but added that the Trump administration's 2019 budget was not final.

One administration official said it was a bad idea.

"It doesn't make sense to move these programs out of ONDCP," the official told CBS News. "DOJ and HHS have a bunch of competing priorities on their plates and keeping these anti-drug programs at the anti-drug agency is a no-brainer."

Related Stories

No stories found.
logo
www.healthday.com