The CDC warned against the use of e-cigarettes containing tetrahydrocannabinol in an update of last year's broader recommendations advising against all use of e-cigarettes, but the agency still discourages use of any type of e-cigarette by youths, pregnant women and nonsmokers. The agency said 82% of sickened patients for whom data is available reported use of products containing THC.

CDC officials said that the rates of outpatient visits involving flu-like illnesses and lab samples positive for the flu declined for a second consecutive week, while pediatric deaths reached 39, most of which were due to influenza B viruses, the predominant strain this season. "Flu activity is expected to continue for several weeks," according to the CDC.

Babies whose mothers drank alcohol and smoked after the first trimester of pregnancy had a twelvefold increased likelihood of dying from sudden infant death syndrome, compared with those without prenatal alcohol and tobacco exposure, researchers reported in The Lancet's EClinicalMedicine. The findings, based on data involving almost 12,000 pregnancies, also associated alcohol intake or smoking alone to fourfold and fivefold increased odds of SIDS, respectively.

A study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found adults with food insecurity had 10% to 37% increased odds of dying prematurely from any cause except cancer, compared with their peers who had adequate access to food. The findings, based on data from over 510,000 adults in Canada from 2005 to 2017, showed rates of premature death due to suicide, unintentional injury and infectious-parasitic disease were more than doubled among adults experiencing severe food insecurity.

Rising cases of a new coronavirus infection in China have prompted the World Health Organization to call for an emergency meeting to determine if the outbreak should be considered a public health emergency of international concern. Three deaths have been reported out of more than 200 cases, and a man who traveled home to Japan from China has tested positive.

Three US airports -- San Francisco International Airport, New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport -- will begin screening travelers arriving from central China for a new coronavirus causing a pneumonia outbreak in China. The CDC is sending health workers to assist with screening for the virus, which is genetically similar to Middle East respiratory syndrome and severe acute respiratory syndrome.

Millennials are more likely than other generations of American adults to believe at least some false claims about vaccines' risks, underestimate the dangers posed by influenza and skip flu vaccines, according to research by the American Academy of Family Physicians. Eighty-six percent of millennials polled answered at least one question about the flu incorrectly, 31% got all the answers wrong, and about 61% who are familiar with the anti-vaccination movement said they agree with some of the rhetoric.

The risk of developing multiple chronic conditions including type 2 diabetes are three times higher for women who went through menopause at the age of 40 or younger, compared with those who had menopause at an older age, according to a study in the journal Human Reproduction. Researchers analyzed data from 5,000 women aged 45 to 50, and figured that genetic differences tied to premature menopause could also be associated with various chronic illnesses, and that the reduction in estrogen production could hasten the aging process.

A study in Diabetic Medicine showed that patients with type 1 diabetes who used subcutaneous insulin infusion had fewer severe hypoglycemic events and hospital days and lower A1C, diabetic ketoacidosis risk and microalbuminuria, compared with those who used insulin injections. However, the findings, based on 9,547 adults with type 1 diabetes aged 60 and older, showed that insulin injection therapy users were less likely to suffer from neuropathy and depression, compared with subcutaneous insulin infusion users.

The Childhood Cancer Data Program could receive $50 million for studying pediatric cancer in federal fiscal year 2020. The National Cancer Institute would receive $6.4 billion under a spending bill.

The 2020 ANCC Pathway to Excellence Conference is shaping up to be the biggest and best one yet. Join nurses from across the globe to learn about the most innovative practices, network with peers and colleagues from different walks of life, and celebrate a year of outstanding accomplishments by Pathway nurses.