Health Highlights: Dec. 20, 2019

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

Congress Approves Raising Age to Buy Tobacco Products to 21

A measure to raise the minimum age to buy tobacco and e-cigarettes to 21 has been approved by the U.S. Congress and is expected to be signed into law by President Donald Trump.

“This is a big win for public health,” said Senator Brian Schatz, Democrat of Hawaii, The New York Times reported. “Raising the minimum smoking and vaping age to 21 will protect our kids and save lives.”

The measure was supported by many tobacco and e-cigarette companies.

Currently, 19 states and more than 500 cities and towns restrict tobacco and e-cigarette sales to people 21 and older, The Times reported.

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U.S. Listeria Outbreak Linked to Hard-Boiled Eggs: CDC

The source of a listeria outbreak that’s sickened seven people in five states (Florida, Maine, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas) appears to be hard-boiled eggs produced by Almark Foods of Gainesville, Ga., the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

Four people have been hospitalized and a death has been reported in Texas. One illness was reported in a newborn who was infected while the mother was pregnant. The newborn survived.

Laboratory evidence and interviews with patients suggest that bulk, fresh hard-boiled eggs produced by Almark Foods are a likely source of the outbreak. The eggs were packaged in plastic pails and sold under various brand names nationwide to food service operators, including grocery stores and restaurants, according to the CDC.

It said the eggs should not be sold, served or used to make other foods, such as egg salad.

The investigation is ongoing to determine the source of contamination and if additional products are linked to the outbreak, the CDC said.

Until more information is available, people should throw away any store-bought hard-boiled eggs or products containing hard-boiled eggs, such as egg salad, the agency advised.

People at high risk for listeria infection include pregnant women and their newborns, adults 65 and older, and people with weakened immune systems, such as people with cancer or on dialysis.

Listeria infection can cause different symptoms, depending on the person and the part of the body affected. Pregnant women typically have fever and other flu-like symptoms, such as fatigue and muscle aches. However, listeria infections during pregnancy can cause miscarriage, stillbirth, premature delivery, or life-threatening infection of the newborn.

Symptoms in people other than pregnant women can include headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, convulsions, fever and muscle aches, the CDC said.

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Appeals Court Says Obamacare Insurance Mandate is Unconstitutional

The Affordable Care Act provision requiring people to have health insurance is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court has ruled.

However, the 2-1 decision by a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans did not invalidate the rest of the health law, The New York Times reported.

Instead, the appeals court sent the case back to a federal district judge in Texas to “conduct a more searching inquiry” into which parts of the health law could survive without the insurance requirement.

Wednesday’s ruling comes about a year after the entire law was struck down by Judge Reed O’Connor of the Federal District Court in Fort Worth. He ruled that the insurance requirement could not be separated from the rest of the health law because it was “the keystone” of the act, being essential to its regulation of the health insurance market, The Times reported.

With the case being sent back to Judge O’Connor, it’s unlikely to be resolved before next year’s presidential election.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who led 21 states that intervened in the case and argued to preserve the health care law, said he’d challenge the appeals court decision by petitioning the Supreme Court to take the case, The Times reported.

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