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U.S. fights Zika mosquitoes with limited arsenal

Over Wynwood, the Miami neighborhood where Zika gained a foothold in the continental United States, low flying planes have been spraying naled, a tightly controlled pesticide often used as a last resort. It appears to be working, killing at least 90 percent of the target mosquitoes. Across the Biscayne Bay in Miami Beach, wind and high-rise buildings make aerial spraying challenging.

U.S. FDA adds new warning about opioid/sedative combination

The agency is requiring that black box warnings, the strongest available, be added to some 400 products, alerting doctors and patients that combining opioids and benzodiazepines can cause extreme sleepiness, slowed breathing, coma and death.

Mylan to launch generic EpiPen at half the price of original

The company reduced the out-of-pocket costs of EpiPen for some patients on Thursday, but kept the list price at about $600, a move that U.S. lawmakers and Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said was not enough. Mylan said on Monday it expected to launch the generic product “in several weeks”, an unusual move considering the branded bestseller is still patent protected and major rival treatments have failed to get regulatory clearances. “Our decision to launch a generic alternative to EpiPen is an extraordinary commercial response,” Chief Executive Heather Bresch said Monday.

U.S. judge will not block California school vaccination law

(Reuters) – A federal judge on Friday refused to block a California law tightening vaccination requirements for schoolchildren in the state. The measure eliminated the so-called personal beliefs and religious exemptions from California’s school vaccination law, meaning that only children with a valid medical excuse could forego vaccinations for such childhood diseases as measles and polio. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Diego last month, asked for an injunction to stop the requirements from going into effect, but Judge Dana Sabraw ruled that state legislatures have a “long history of requiring children to be vaccinated as a condition to school enrollment,” and not allowing personal or religious exemptions.

Double joy as mother of only giant panda twins in U.S. pregnant again

By David Beasley ATLANTA (Reuters) – The mother of the only giant panda twins in the United States may soon deliver a second set of twins, Zoo Atlanta said on Tuesday, capping off an eventful month for lovers of the fluffy black and white bears across the globe. Three years ago, mother bear Lun Lun gave birth to female cubs Mei Lun and Mei Huan, who are still at the Georgia zoo but could be returned this fall to China, which owns them, zoo spokeswoman Rachel Davis said. An ultrasound on Monday confirmed that Lun Lun, who turns 19 years old on Thursday, is once again pregnant with twins, the zoo said.

U.S. judge grants nationwide injunction to halt Obama transgender policy

A U.S. judge blocked Obama administration guidance that transgender public school students must be allowed to use bathrooms of their choice, granting a nationwide injunction sought by a group of 13 states led by Texas. Reed O'Connor, a judge for the Northern District of Texas, said in a decision late on Sunday that the Obama administration did not follow proper procedures for notice and comment in issuing the guidelines. O'Connor, an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush, said the guidelines from the defendants, which included the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice, were legislative and substantive.

Up to 270 microcephaly cases expected in Puerto Rico due to Zika: officials

By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) – U.S. health experts estimate that as many as 270 babies in Puerto Rico may be born with the severe birth defect known as microcephaly caused by Zika infections in their mothers during pregnancy. The estimate is the first to project the potential impact of Zika on Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory located in the Caribbean that has borne the brunt of the outbreak in the United States. Puerto Rico had 10,690 laboratory-confirmed cases of Zika, including 1,035 pregnant women, as of Aug. 12.