Did you know that lung cancer killed more than 135,000 people in the United States in 2020? The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force believes that increasing the number of eligible Americans for free lung cancer screenings will save more lives, including those of women and people of color.
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Continue Reading Federally Appointed Task Force Recommends Increase in Number of Americans Eligible for Lung Cancer Screenings

According to the New Jersey Department of Health (DOH), over 3,000 patients may have been exposed to HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C at the HealthPlus Surgery Center in Saddle Brook, New Jersey.

The DOH released a new statement with the HealthPlus Surgery Center requesting that any patients who received a procedure at the surgery center between January and September 2018 to get a blood test for hepatitis and HIV. According to the statement, there have been no reported incidences of infection or illness relating to the investigation to date.

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Continue Reading Over 3,000 Patients Believed to be Exposed to HIV, Hepatitis at Surgery Center

At least 35 people have been infected with the adenovirus, the majority of them children, at the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation. The outbreak first began in late September, according to the New Jersey Department of Health (DOH), and since then 11 children have died.

On November 20, it was announced that a student at the University of Maryland died after contracting the adenovirus. The university learned of the first case on November 1, and since then have confirmed five more cases of the virus.

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Continue Reading First Lawsuit Filed in Adenovirus Outbreak at Wanaque Facility, New Outbreak Announced at Maryland University

A new board chairwoman has been appointed and a state-ordered infectious disease specialist has been hired in response to a bacterial outbreak that occurred at University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey.

The outbreak occurred in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and as a result four infants contracted an infection caused by the Acinetobacter baumannii bacteria and one infant has died.

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Continue Reading Newark Hospital Appointed a New Board Chair after Bacterial Outbreak

A second outbreak of the adenovirus has been reported and confirmed at a long-term care facility for children in Voorhees, New Jersey. This strain of adenovirus has been identified as Type 3, different than the Type 7 strain that has infected 30 patients and killed 10 at the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation.

The New Jersey Department of Health (DOH) announced on November 5^th that the adenovirus was found at the Voorhees Pediatric Facility, and four children have contracted the illness. Two inspectors from the DOH’s Division of Health Facility Survey and Field Operations visited the facility on October 30, and their preliminary findings revealed no infection control issues and no citations were issued.

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Continue Reading Second Adenovirus Outbreak Confirmed at Voorhees, NJ Facility

The New Jersey Department of Health (DOH) has reported that seven children have died and twelve more remain infected as a result of an adenovirus outbreak in a nursing and rehabilitation facility in Wanaque.

The facility is the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, and first notified the DOH of a respiratory illness outbreak on October 9. On October 19, the center sent out letters to parents of children at the facility informing them of the outbreak.

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Continue Reading Seven Children Die After Outbreak in New Jersey Facility

A doctor in Philipsburg, New Jersey has lost his license after allegations that the physician had accepted more than $117,000 from the pharmaceutical company Insys Therapeutics, Inc. to prescribe the company’s fentanyl painkiller Subsys to his patients.

Dr. Kenneth P. Sun consented to the New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners (NJSBME) decision to revoke his license amid allegations that he had written hundreds of Subsys prescriptions for patients for whom the drug was not designed. Subsys is intended as a treatment for cancer patients over the age of 18 who are already receiving “around-the-clock opioid therapy” for their “persistent cancer pain.”

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Continue Reading NJ Doctor Stripped of License Over Hundreds of Opioid Prescriptions for the Drug Subsys