What is the Marburg virus?

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Good morning! We have a vice president debate tonight. What do you think of CBS's decision not to have the candidates fact-checked by moderators like ABC did during the presidential debate? (Watch this space tomorrow for a recap of upcoming health and medical topics.)

There is a major outbreak of the Marburg virus in Rwanda. Here's what that means

Yesterday, STAT's Helen Branswell informed us about a large outbreak of Marburg virus in Rwanda that has already infected 26 people and killed eight. That may not sound huge, but there have been fewer than ten outbreaks in Marburg in the past. To date, there have only been two reported outbreaks with more than 100 cases.

In a statement released yesterday, the WHO classified the risk of spread to neighboring countries as high. Experts believe Rwanda's advanced health system is up to the challenge of dealing with the outbreak.

“Rwanda has emerged as a preeminent figure in the region for its contribution to health security,” said Craig Spencer, a doctor who has worked as a field epidemiologist in Africa and Southeast Asia. Read the latest from Helen.

In Lebanon, three hospitals were evacuated and 37 health centers closed

More than 1,600 people have died in Lebanon in the 11 days since Israel used pagers as explosives in an attack on the militant group Hezbollah, according to a new WHO emergency report between September 17 and 28. The ongoing violence has already had a profound impact on the country's health system, with three hospitals evacuated and 37 of 317 health centers closed.

As more people are displaced, the country's hospitals are experiencing staffing shortages and limited capacity. WHO is providing human, financial and technical support to the emergency center in Beirut. The organization has also distributed emergency trauma surgery kits and is working to procure blood test kits.

Redlining is associated with lower life expectancy

In 1940, the Home Owners' Loan Corporation systematically classified black neighborhoods as “hazardous” and denied loans to borrowers in those communities. A new study in JAMA Internal Medicine found that the life expectancy at age 65 of people who lived in these red-outlined neighborhoods in 1940 was 1.44 years lower than that of people in the top-ranked (white) neighborhoods.

The study analyzed HOLC data and individual death records from 30 of the largest cities in the United States. Redlining has “substantial and statistically significant associations” with people’s risk of death as they age, the authors wrote. However, they also noted that other recent work has cautioned against attributing associations like this specifically to HOLC. Rather, the results can be interpreted as the result of broader sociopolitical forces, “all of which were effectively encoded in HOLC maps,” the authors write.

A separate study, also published yesterday in the same journal, found that people in historically disadvantaged neighborhoods of New Orleans who are diagnosed with HIV take longer to achieve viral suppression than those who live in other areas.

STAT previously covered how where you live affects your health in our second season of the Color Code podcast.

Everything you need to know about two important health politicians

Today at STAT we have two stories focusing on key health leaders in Washington. You can't get this stuff anywhere else!

First, we have a question and answer session with Jeanne (pronounced “Jeannie”) Marrazzo. A year ago, Marrazzo became the first new director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in nearly four decades following the departure of Anthony Fauci. She usually stays away from the spotlight, but last week she did an interview with STAT's Helen Branswell to talk about the H5N1 avian flu outbreak in cows in the US (and what's going on with healthcare workers in Missouri), Mpox outbreaks in Africa, etc . to speak of their hopes for NIAID. Read the interview.

And second, STAT's Mohana Ravindranath writes about Micky Tripathi, the top HHS official who oversees much of President Biden's agenda to regulate the use of artificial intelligence in health care. How successful Tripathi is at his job right now – or not – could have a big impact on how this technology is adopted across the healthcare system. And when you combine AI's propensity to hallucinate and cause harm with the government's typically slow, bureaucratic pace? There is a lot at stake. Read more from Mohana about how Tripathi might have the toughest job in Washington right now.

We are one step closer to bringing a brain-computer interface to market

Synchron announced Monday that the implantation of its brain-computer interface had not caused any dangerous side effects after a year. Researchers implanted this Stentrode Device that allows users to control personal devices with their thoughts in six patients neurodegenerative diseases. While some participants initially reported mild headaches, no one had a serious event such as a stroke. The implant's signal did not weaken or migrate from its original position in the brain over a 12-month period, a problem that has plagued competitor Neuralink.

The news is the latest positive outcome for a startup that has made a name for itself in the world of health technology over the last decade with its endovascular interface that doesn't require invasive brain surgery. The next step? Make this proof-of-concept trial a trial that proves the clinical importance of the technology to the FDA. The company also recently demonstrated that people can use its implant to connect to consumer technologies such as Amazon's Alexa, OpenAI's ChatGPT and Apple's mixed reality headset.

— Timmy Broderick

How much sleep and exercise do children around the world get?

Fewer than one in six children around the world meet WHO guidelines for physical activity, screen time and sleep, according to a study published yesterday in JAMA Pediatrics. The WHO recommends that three- to four-year-olds get at least 180 minutes of exercise every day, do not sit in front of a screen for more than an hour, and get 10 to 13 hours of good sleep.

The researchers, who examined pooled analytics data from more than 7,000 children in 33 countries, found no clear geographic or socioeconomic patterns. In low- and lower-middle-income countries, 16.6% of children met general guidelines, while only 12% did so in upper-middle-income countries and 14.4% in high-income countries. Regionally, 24% of children in Africa met the guidelines, but in North and South America the figure was only 7.7%.

It is difficult to draw conclusions from the data, especially since most of the work on which the new study is based predated the pandemic. However, it is important to implement culturally relevant local programs and policies to improve the health of young children, the authors write.

What we read

• Has social media fueled a teen suicide crisis? New Yorker

• The GOP's Turning Point on Weed, Atlantic

• Five things FDA advertising communications members want, STAT
• Maryland appeared poised to legalize medical assistance in dying this year. What happened? NPR
• HPV Vaccine Study Shows No Cases of Cervical Cancer in Women Vaccinated Before Age 14, STAT