Iowa news
DMOS purchases Engineered Per4mance
Des Moines Orthopaedic Surgeons has purchased Engineered Per4mance, which operates three sports performance training centers in Greater Des Moines. The three locations will operate as Engineered Performance by DMOS, effective Thursday, Sept. 1. Engineered Per4mance opened in 2013 to offer high-quality athletic performance training opportunities. (Business Record)
Sioux City is seeing an increase in respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV
The virus is typically associated with infants and the elderly, but Steven Joyce, M.D., and internal medicine specialists at MercyOne, says it’s possible for anyone to get it. The virus is spread by people coughing, sneezing and from surfaces. The only thing that can be done about RSV is to let it run its course, which is usually seven to 10 days. (KIWA)
Most children in Iowa have likely had COVID-19
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tested 257 blood samples from Iowa kids aged 6 months to 17 years old from early May to late June. It found 84.5% of the samples tested positive for antibodies that indicate evidence of a current or past infection of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. (Iowa Public Radio)
National news
CDC reports evidence of monkeypox virus on household surfaces
Monkeypox virus DNA was found on high contact surfaces in the Utah home of two infected people, a CDC report said. Personnel from the Utah health department swabbed objects in the home where two infected people had been isolating for 20 days. The patients were still showing symptoms when samples were collected from high-contact objects and surfaces, including cloth furniture, blankets, handles and switches. Monkeypox virus genetic material was detected on 70% of 30 specimens, the CDC said. (Becker’s Hospital Review)
Amazon competes with CVS Health, others in bid for Signify Health
The competition for Signify Health is heating up with Amazon as the latest bidder. CVS Health was rumored to be planning a bid for the home health and technology company in early August after reportedly losing out on acquiring One Medical, a digital and in-person primary care platform, to Amazon. Amazon reached an agreement to buy One Medical for $3.9 billion in a cash transaction. Amazon has now placed a bid for Signify Health as well. UnitedHealth Group is also among the companies interested in Signify, which has been taking bids and considering alternative strategies for the future as well. UnitedHealth had the highest bid at more than $30 a share, with Amazon as the second highest bidder. (The Wall Street Journal)
Lifesaving cancer treatment out of reach for rural people
CAR T-cell therapy uses a patient’s T cells, a key part of the immune system, to fight cancer. A pioneer of the therapy, Dr. Michel Sadelain, an immunologist at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, describes it as “a living drug — a T cell that has been weaponized against cancer.” The treatment uses a process called apheresis to extract T cells from a patient and then genetically modifies the cells to add a receptor, the chimeric antigen, which binds with the cancer cells. (NBC News)