Weekly Health Digest: Plastic-Eating Insects, Vaccine Skepticism, New Stroke Treatments, Aging and Heat

Hungry Worms Could Help Solve Plastic Pollution

          By Ritsuko Kawai, WIRED

In 2017, researchers discovered that wax worms—insects that live in bee colonies and feed on beeswax—can decompose plastic as it shares a similar chemical structure with beeswax. The team found that wax worms digested polyethylene with the help of their gut bacteria. One particular bacterium, Acinetobacter, could survive on the plastic for over a year and break it down simultaneously. However, wax worms could also convert that plastic into body fat after digestion. Unfortunately, feeding plastic to wax worms was unsustainable as these insects die after a few days.

To discover a more viable and long-term solution for plastic degradation, the team is currently experimenting with two separate strategies. The first one entails feeding wax worms digested polyethelene alongside a nutritional diet and then including them within recycling projects. The other strategy is to manipulate a decomposition process within the lab that requires only the gut microbes of the wax worms rather than the organism itself.

While the US still faces plastic pollution, the use of wax worms could become a natural and inexpensive solution towards efficient recycling of plastic. Hopefully, these findings spark scientists to further pursue this discovery and advocate for its implementation into the recycling industry.          

— by Victoria Charles

U.S. States Start Sharp Divisions on Vaccines

By Dan Vergano, Scientific American

The Florida surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, recently announced at a speech at a private, religious school that Florida would drop all vaccine mandates for children in the state.

This combines with changes at the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee, known by the acronym ACIP, which have the potential to wreak havoc on vaccine policies and thus public health nationwide. If the committee, recently gutted and reformed by RFK Jr., leans into vaccine skepticism, the panel’s recommendation would shape insurance coverage and effectively limit access to lifesaving immunizations all around the country, especially for the uninsured in marginalized communities.

Other states on the Pacific Coast and in the Northeast have responded by mandating that insurance coverage be based on local state health department recommendations rather than ones from the CDC.

The American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, nonpartisan professional organizations that commonly review evidence and provide guidelines based on scientific consensus, have already reinforced that vaccines are overwhelmingly safe, effective, and crucial components of any community’s health and emergency preparedness. Therefore, changing recommendations based on vaccine skepticism would cut insurance coverage and undoubtedly lead to preventable deaths. This effect would ripple through not only communities that limit coverage, but across the country via reduced herd immunity.

— by Jackson Bartelt

This Blood Thinner Is More Effective Than Aspirin at Preventing Heart Attacks

By Fernanda González, WIRED

A new study shows that clopidogrel (Plavix) is as safe as and more effective than aspirin in reducing risk of heart attacks and strokes in patients with a history of coronary heart disease. Both medications are blood thinners, but aspirin is available over the counter. Clopidogrel, on the other hand, can only be taken with a prescription.

Heart disease is among the leading causes of death in the US, and many Americans use aspirin as their main line of defense. Future research needs to examine cost differences between the different types of drugs. If additional research shows that clopidogrel is as effective and has comparable risks to aspirin, it could change the way doctors approach preventative care for patients with coronary artery disease. 

— by Harrison Luba

A Pill to Heal the Brain Could Revolutionize Neuroscience

By Rachel E. Gross, New York Times 

Clinical trials have begun for Maraviroc, a pill that can aid brain recovery from traumatic injuries and was previously approved to treat H.I.V. Damage to brain tissue from injuries or neurological accidents such as strokes has been a difficult challenge for medicine because doctrine held for decades that brain cells do not regrow. While this was later found not to be true, clinicians and researchers have still perceived limits on how much brain tissue can remodel itself after injuries, leading to survivors not being able to return to levels of activity they could achieve beforehand.

Maraviroc appears to alter those odds. It blocks a particular gene called CCR5 necessary for making a receptor that H.I.V binds to in order to enter cells. The same receptor has now been discovered to prevent recovery from traumatic brain injuries. In a landmark study, researchers showed that Maraviroc has the potential to boost neuroplasticity after brain injury and increase the likelihood of recovery by reversing CCR5’s detrimental effect.

— by Laniah Bowdery

Extreme Heat Makes Your Body Age Faster

By Javier Carbajal, WIRED

A new study reveals that extreme heat accelerates your body’s biological aging process. Your biological age is based not on years of life, but on how healthy and functional your body is at any moment. The study, published in Nature Climate Change, showed that exposure to extreme heat can weaken bodily systems and increase the risk of heart diseases, cancer, diabetes, and dementia.

Researchers studied about 25,000 Taiwanese individuals from 2008 to 2022 and found that exposure to just two years of heat waves added 8-12 days to a person’s biological age. Though the number may seem small, it carries important considerations due to the long-term negative health impacts. Individuals engaged in outdoor physical labor and residing in rural areas are more susceptible to the effects of heat waves due to their increased exposure. These findings highlight that as climate change accelerates, health risks grow right alongside it, especially for those in high-risk areas. 

— by Michelle Arauz

Items summarized by: Victoria Charles, Jackson Bartelt, Harrison Luba, Laniah Bowdery, Michelle Arauz