Cancer treatment delays spotlighted in minority groups amid COVID-19
Survey results published yesterday in JAMA Network Open reveal that, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Black and Latino adults in the United States have experienced more delays in cancer care and more worries about treatment costs than their White peers.
A team led by Stanford University researchers deployed the 74-question online survey of 1,639 cancer patients from 50 US states, the District of Columbia, and five territories from Sep 1, 2020, to Jan 12, 2021.
A total of 1,240 patients (75.7%) responded. Median patient age was 60 years, 60.0% were women, 42.5% were White, 21.5% were Black, 15.0% were Asian, 18.7% were Latino, 2.3% were American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, another race, or multiracial.
A higher proportion of Black (75.6%) and Latino (80.2%) participants and those of other races (75.9%) experienced care modifications, including delayed clinic visits, lab tests, and imaging, as well as a change in care location than White participants (57.1%). A higher proportion of Black (98.0%) than White respondents (84.1%) who had care modifications said their clinic or physician requested the modifications.
Relative to White participants, Black and Latino respondents were more likely to report extreme concerns that the care modifications would worsen their cancer outcomes (odds ratios [ORs], 3.57 and 2.20, respectively).
Black and Latino respondents were more likely to experience involuntary delayed cancer treatments (ORs, 6.13 and 2.77, respectively), and, for Black patients, those delays were more likely to last longer than 4 weeks (OR, 3.13). These respondents also had greater chances of food insecurity (ORs, 4.32 and 6.13, respectively), as well as worries about food insecurity (ORs, 2.02 and 2.94), financial instability (ORs, 3.56 and 4.29), and the affordability of cancer treatment (ORs, 4.27 and 2.81).
"Owing to a combination of structural, economic, and socioenvironmental factors associated with systemic racism, prepandemic disparities persist in access to and timely receipt of cancer care among Black and Latinx adults," the researchers wrote.
Jul 14 JAMA Netw Open study
Pakistan reports new WPV1 case as Algeria has first vaccine-derived polio
Pakistan reported a new wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) case, part of an ongoing uptick in activity this year, and Algeria reported its first vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) case.
In Pakistan, the new case—its 12th of the year—involved a 21-month-old boy from North Waziristan province, according to Samaa, a Pakistani news outlet, which cited the Pakistan National Polio Laboratory.
In other global developments, Algeria reported its first cVDPV2 case, according to a weekly update from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). The patient is from Tamanghasset in the south. GPEI said the samples are related to the circulating strain in Zamfara, Nigeria.
Four other African nations reported more cVDPV2 cases. Benin reported its first two cases of the year, one in Atlantique and the other in Oueme. Eritrea also has its first case of the year, which involves a patient from Gashbarka. Likewise, Ghana reported its first 2022 case, in Savannah.
Finally, Niger reported 4 more cases, 1 in Maradi and 3 in Tillaberi, lifting its total for 2022 to 8.
Jul 14 Samaa story
Jul 14 GPEI update
California reports H5N1 avian flu in wild birds
California wildlife officials yesterday reported the first highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu detections in the state's wild birds, two Canada geese and a pelican that were found dead as part of a die-off at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge.
The birds were collected and submitted for preliminary testing on Jul 5, and on Jul 13 the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Veterinary Services Laboratory confirmed the findings.
The Eurasian H5N1 strain that caused domestic poultry outbreaks in other world regions, especially Europe, turned up in US wild birds in January. Since then, 43 states have reported the virus in wild birds, and the USDA has reported 1,826 detections.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) said so far the virus hasn't triggered any outbreaks in the state's poultry.
In other avian flu developments, the USDA recently reported another outbreak in poultry, which occurred at a backyard facility in Deschutes County, Oregon. Also, the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative this week said H5N1 has been detected in samples from harbor seals that died in Quebec's St. Lawrence Estuary. Earlier this month, Maine officials reported similar findings in seals.
Jul 14 CDFW statement
USDA poultry outbreak updates
Jul 12 Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative post
Jul 5 CIDRAP News scan
Two German airport workers diagnosed as having malaria
Two employees of the Frankfurt International Airport have contracted malaria, despite no history of international travel or blood transfusions.
According to a post on ProMed, the infectious disease message board of the International Society for Infectious Diseases, the two employees both developed symptoms on Jul 5. Though they did not work in overlapping areas of the airport, both worked on Jul 1 and 2.
One of the patients fulfills the criteria for severe malaria and is in critical condition, the ProMed post read.
"The current cases as well as those described in the literature show that these patients affected by airport-associated malaria had a remarkably high disease severity. This is probably due to the relatively late initiation of treatment given the difficulty of diagnosing malaria without an epidemiological link to a malaria-endemic country," the authors said.
In 2020 airport workers in Brussels, Belgium contracted malaria, and Frankfurt had a previous two-case cluster in 2019.
Jul 13 ProMed post