FDA Approves Second Drug in New Class of Cholesterol-Lowering Medications

By Amy Norton
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Aug. 27, 2015 (HealthDay News) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved a second drug that’s part of a potent new class of medications that sharply cut levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol.

Repatha (evolocumab), an injectable drug, works by blocking a protein that interferes with the liver’s ability to remove LDL cholesterol from the blood.

In July, the FDA approved Praluent (alirocumab), another injectable drug in the same class of medications as Repatha. Both drugs are called PCSK9 inhibitors, which don’t seem to cause the muscle problems that cholesterol-lowering statin drugs sometimes can.

“Repatha provides another treatment option in this new class of drugs for patients with familial hypercholesterolemia or with known cardiovascular disease who have not been able to lower their LDL cholesterol enough with statins,” said Dr. John Jenkins, director of the FDA’s Office of New Drugs at the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

A recent review of 24 clinical trials — published in the Annals of Internal Medicine — found that PCSK9 inhibitors lowered people’s LDL cholesterol by about 47 percent, on average.

More important, the drugs seemed to cut the risk of heart attack or death from heart disease, according to the researchers.

Experts did urge some caution, however: The trials so far have been short-term, and it’s not clear whether the new drugs really do extend people’s lives, according to Dr. Seth Martin, a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

“Still, the early data are exciting, and we’re cautiously optimistic,” Martin, who co-wrote an editorial published with the review, told HealthDay.

Until large clinical trials are completed in 2017, health experts won’t have definitive proof that the new drugs actually reduce the risk of heart attacks and death.

Statins have long been the go-to treatment for lowering LDL cholesterol. Studies have proven they can help prevent heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular complications.

But for some people, statins cause intolerable muscle pain. “Those people would be obvious candidates for PCSK9 inhibitors,” Martin said.

For others, statins just don’t do the job — including people with familial hypercholesterolemia, an inherited condition that causes very high LDL levels and heart attacks at an early age. That’s another group of people that could benefit from the new drugs, Martin said.

“Familial hypercholesterolemia is not rare,” he noted. “It affects about one in 300 to 500 people.”

Of the trials covered in the Annals review, half involved people with familial hypercholesterolemia. Some of the other trials focused on people who’d quit statins because of the side effects.

However, that doesn’t mean the new drugs are completely safe. Martin said the main concern that has arisen in trials of the new drugs is the potential for “neurocognitive effects.” For example, some study patients reported problems such as confusion and trouble paying attention. But, Martin said, it’s not clear yet whether the PCSK9 inhibitors are actually the cause.

For the Annals review, researchers led by Dr. Eliano Navarese, of Heinrich Heine University in Dusseldorf, Germany, pooled the results of 24 clinical trials involving more than 10,000 patients. Some compared a PCSK9 inhibitor to a placebo (an inactive treatment), while others used the cholesterol drug ezetimibe (Zetia) for comparison.

Overall, the researchers found, the new drugs cut LDL to a greater degree. They also lowered patients’ risk of heart attack or death by about half.

Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, a preventive cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, told HealthDay that the results of the new cholesterol drugs were so far encouraging.

“For all those patients unable to take statins, finally there might be an option that can change [their] outcomes,” said Steinbaum, who was not involved in the recent review.

But, she added, “we need to patiently wait for the next phase of trials to see whether the clinical outcomes are as promising as the initial studies suggest.”

The new drugs have to be self-injected, which might put some people off. On the other hand, Martin said, the injections are done only once a month or every couple of weeks.

“Some people may prefer that to taking a pill every day,” he said.

Then there’s the cost. PCSK9 inhibitors are specialty drugs known as monoclonal antibodies, which are lab-altered versions of human antibodies. And they aren’t cheap.

The new drugs could cost up to $12,000 a year per patient, according to a recent estimate by CVS Health, one of nation’s largest pharmacy benefit managers.

Repatha is marketed by Amgen Inc., of Thousand Oaks, Calif.

More information

The American Heart Association has more on treating high cholesterol.

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High Blood Pressure During Pregnancy May Reappear Later in Life: Study

THURSDAY, Aug. 27, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Women with high blood pressure during pregnancy are more likely to face the same health problem later in life, a new study suggests.

The researchers also said they found that the brothers and sisters of these women have a higher risk of high blood pressure later in life, and the brothers also may have a higher chance of heart disease.

“The increased risk of high blood pressure in siblings suggests that family history contributes to the increased risk of high blood pressure in women during pregnancy,” study co-leader Tracey Weissgerber, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., said in a news release from the American Society of Nephrology.

“However, women who had high blood pressure in pregnancy were still more likely to develop high blood pressure later in life than their sisters who had normal blood pressure in pregnancy,” she added.

The study only uncovered an association between high blood pressure during pregnancy and potential problems later in life; it did not prove cause-and-effect.

The long-term study included over 900 brothers and nearly 1,500 sisters in 954 sibling groups across the United States. Compared to women who had normal blood pressure during pregnancy, women with high blood pressure during pregnancy were 75 percent more likely to develop high blood pressure later in life, the findings showed.

In addition, brothers and sisters of women who had high blood pressure in pregnancy were 24 percent and 15 percent more likely, respectively, to develop high blood pressure later in life, compared with brothers and sisters of women who did not have high blood pressure during pregnancy.

Brothers, but not sisters, of women who had high blood pressure in pregnancy also had an increased risk of heart disease later in life, according to the study published online Aug. 27 in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

“Further studies are needed to determine whether this increased risk in women who had high blood pressure in pregnancy is due to stronger genetic predisposition to high blood pressure, other risk factors, or lasting damage caused by high blood pressure in pregnancy,” Weissgerber said in the news release.

High blood pressure develops in about 8 percent of pregnancies.

More information

The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has more about high blood pressure in pregnancy.

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‘Goth’ Teens Report More Depression, Self-Harm

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Aug. 27, 2015 (HealthDay News) — The dark look associated with Goths may not be all show: Teens in this subculture appear more prone to depression and self-harm than their peers, researchers report.

Fifteen-year-olds who strongly identified as Goth — recognized by their distinctive black clothes, white and black makeup and black hair — were three times more likely to be depressed at 18 compared with teens who did not identify as Goth, the British researchers found.

And they were five times more likely to report self-harming behaviors such as cutting or taking an overdose of pills as non-Goth teens, according to the study published Aug. 27 in The Lancet Psychiatry.

“Our study does not suggest that being a Goth causes depression or self-harm, but rather that some individuals within this subculture may be particularly vulnerable,” said lead researcher Lucy Bowes, an associate professor of experimental psychology at the University of Oxford.

“Parents whose children identify with this subculture need not be concerned,” she said. “The majority of Goths were not depressed and did not self-harm.”

Moreover, she cautioned that the study is observational, and cannot prove that Goth identification causes psychiatric ills.

“Our study cannot tell us why Goths are more likely to be depressed or harm themselves,” Bowes said. “It could be that youths who feel isolated from mainstream society are attracted to the Goth community — traditionally very accepting of marginalized individuals — and that this isolation from the mainstream could be conferring the risk.”

The Goth subculture began in post-punk England during the early 1980s. The alternative clothing and music linked to the movement are now recognized worldwide.

For the study, Bowes and colleagues collected data on nearly 4,000 teens who took part in a long-running British study of parents and children. At age 15, participants gave information on self-harm, depressive mood and any Goth identification. They were also asked whether they identified with other subcultures, such as sporty, popular, skateboarders, antisocial, loners, “keeners” (eager-beaver types) and “bimbos.”

At age 18, they answered questions about depression and self-harm.

Compared with teens who did not identify as Goth at 15, those who “very much” identified as Goth were more than three times as likely to have clinical depression at 18. Even kids who “somewhat” identified as Goth were 1.6 times more likely to be depressed at 18.

Skaters (skateboarders) and loners also had a higher risk for depression and self-harm, but the association was strongest for Goths, the researchers found. Young people who considered themselves sporty were least likely to be depressed or harm themselves at 18.

The findings held up even after the researchers took into account other factors, such as early emotional and behavioral difficulties, psychiatric disorders, history of bullying and the mental health of mothers, they said.

Rory O’Connor, director of the suicidal behavior research laboratory at the University of Glasgow, said it’s important to try to understand how and why this group of young people is at increased risk.

“We also don’t know whether these young people are less likely to seek help, because if it is the case that they are more reluctant to seek help when distressed, it may be difficult to reach this vulnerable population,” said O’Connor, co-author of an accompanying journal editorial.

Dr. Barbara Pena, research director at the emergency department in Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami, added that depression and self-harm are not unique to Goth teens.

These problems are seen among teens across the board, Pena said. “We are seeing more cutting, more suicides than 10 years ago,” she said.

Pena thinks the Internet and social media contribute to this behavior.

“Parents shouldn’t freak out if their teen becomes a Goth,” Pena added. “Is it better to be an outlier and not have friends or have a community like you?”

More information

Girls.gov has more about teenage self-harm.

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Move of the Week: Boat Pose

Yogis know the road to a flatter belly is not paved with crunches. Nope, it’s all about boat pose, a balancing move that seriously works your core. Watch Health‘s contributing fitness editor, Kristen McGee, demonstrate how to strengthen your back, abs, and legs with just one move.

RELATED: 5 Best Moves for Flatter Abs

Here’s how to do it: Sit up tall with your knees bent and your feet on the ground and hold your hands underneath your knees. Lean back and engage your core and lift your feet so that your shins are parallel to the floor. Hold this pose for a few breaths.

Trainer tip: To challenge yourself, straighten your legs and extend your arms and lift them straight above your head.

Try this move: Boat Pose

RELATED: 24 Flat-Belly Exercises 

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Couples Who Do This Together Are Happier

Photo: Getty Images

Study after study has shown that laughing is good for the soul. But now we know something else: sharing giggles with a romantic partner keeps the lovey-dovey feelings going, according to a study published in the journal Personal Relationships.

Laura Kurtz, a social psychologist from the University of North Carolina, has long been fascinated by the idea of shared laughter in romantic relationships. “We can all think of a time when we were laughing and the person next to us just sat there totally silent,” she says. “All of a sudden that one moment takes a nosedive. We wonder why the other person isn’t laughing, what’s wrong with them, or maybe what’s wrong with us, and what might that mean for our relationship.”

Kurtz set out to figure out the laugh-love connection by collecting 77 heterosexual pairs (154 people total) who had been in a relationship for an average of 4 years. She and her team did video recordings of them recalling how they first met. Meanwhile, her team counted instances of spontaneous laughing, measured when the couple laughed together as well as how long that instant lasted. Each couple also completed a survey about their relational closeness.

“In general, couples who laugh more together tend to have higher-quality relationships,” she says. “We can refer to shared laughter as an indicator of greater relationship quality.”

It seems common sense that people who laugh together are likely happier couples, and that happier couples would have a longer, healthier, more vital relationship—but the role that laughter plays isn’t often center stage. “Despite how intuitive this distinction may seem, there’s very little research out there on laughter’s relational influence within a social context,” Kurtz says. “Most of the existing work documents laughter’s relevance to individual outcomes or neglects to take the surrounding social context into account.”

Kurtz noted that some gender patterns emerged that have been reported by previous studies. “Women laughed more than males,” she notes. “And men’s laughs are more contagious: When men laugh, they are 1.73 times more likely to make their partner laugh.”

There’s also evidence that laughing together is a supportive activity. “Participants who laughed more with their partners during a recorded conversation in the lab tended to also report feeling closer to and more supported by their partners,” she says. On the flip side, awkward chuckles, stunted grins and fake guffaws all are flags that there may be something amiss.

This harkens back to a classic psychological experiment conducted in 1992, where 52 couples were recorded telling their personal, shared histories. The team noted whether the couples were positive and effusive or were more withdrawn and tired in telling these stories, then checked in with the couples three years later. They saw a correlation in how couples told stories about their past and the success of their partnership: the more giddy the couple was about a story, the more likely they remained together; the less enthusiastic the couple was, the more likely the couple’s partnership had crumbled.

While there are cultural differences in laughter display—Kurtz says that Eastern cultures tend to display appreciation with close-mouthed smiles, not the heartier, toothy laughs that are more Western—there’s no question that laughter is important. “Moments of shared laughter are potent for a relationship,” she says. “They bring a couple closer together.”

This article originally appeared on Time.com.

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Lindsey Vonn on Girls Vacation: ‘Friends Don’t Let Friends Miss Ab Day’

 

Lindsey Vonn is giving us major vacation envy—not to mention workout motivation.

The U.S. Ski Team sensation has taken to Instagram in recent days to give a glimpse of her bikini-clad workouts while in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, just two weeks after fracturing her ankle in a crash during training in New Zealand.

“So I had planned to go on vacation with my girlfriends and I almost canceled it because I hurt my ankle….but then I decided that spending time with my friends and being injured was better than being alone and injured,” Vonn, 30 wrote beside a snapshot of herself toughing through a TRX session, sporting a strappy purple two-piece and her ankle brace. “But just because I’m on vacation doesn’t mean I’m not working hard.”

RELATED: Pippa Middleton Is Actually a Serious Athlete

From upper body to a quick core blast, the alpine racer then shared a picture of herself working her obliques with the help of a gal pal. “Friends don’t let friends miss ab day,” she captioned the photo.

Next up, the gold medalist took her sweat session to the high seas. Vonn shared a shot of a perfect paddle-board plank, alongside the caption, “This boot can’t slow me down!”

RELATED: The Summer Body Tone-Up Workout

The athlete has been vocal about working toward the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. In May, she was named the first International Games Ambassador for the Winter Olympics to help promote her sport. (She has had two right-knee ACL surgeries in the last two years and did not compete in the 2014 games in Sochi, Russia.)

“I solidified to myself and to everyone that I’m back,” Vonn told NBC in March. “I’m not going anywhere.”

RELATED: What 5 Amazing Athletes Eat for Breakfast

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Healthier School Meals Offered Across U.S., Feds Find

THURSDAY, Aug. 27, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Most U.S. schools are offering healthier meals that feature more fruits and vegetables, more whole grains and less salt, a new government study reports.

“School meals are healthier now than ever before. We’ve made real progress, but there is much more to do to help American children make food choices that will keep them healthy throughout their lives,” U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Tom Frieden said in an agency news release.

Since students consume nearly half of their daily calories at school, school meals are an important source of nutrition for kids, the agency noted.

CDC researchers looked at 14 years’ worth of data to see if schools are implementing U.S. Department of Agriculture nutrition standards issued in 2012. The investigators found a significant increase in the number of schools providing healthy meals.

For instance, in 2014, well over 90 percent of schools offered whole grains each day for breakfast and lunch. Two or more vegetables were offered at 79 percent of schools, up from about 62 percent in 2000. And schools offering two or more fruits rose from about 68 percent in 2000 to 78 percent in 2014.

More than 30 percent of schools offered self-serve salad bars, and 54 percent of schools that prepared their meals in-house used fresh or frozen vegetables instead of canned vegetables. Schools that used low-sodium canned vegetables instead of regular canned vegetables increased from about 10 percent in 2000 to nearly 52 percent in 2014.

Also, nearly two-thirds of schools are using seasonings instead of salt compared to 33 percent in 2000. And the percentage of schools that use low-salt recipes or reduced the amount of salt in recipes doubled between 2000 and 2014.

The study was published Aug. 27 in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

“We are encouraged that more schools are offering a variety of fruits and vegetables, and finding ways to reduce the sodium content of school meals,” lead author Caitlin Merlo, a health scientist in CDC’s School Health Branch, said in the news release.

Salt is sodium chloride. Too much of it causes your body to retain water, which puts an extra burden on the heart and blood vessels, the American Heart Association says.

“Schools play a critical role in demonstrating and reinforcing healthy eating behaviors by making sure that nutritious and appealing foods and beverages are available and promoted to students,” Merlo explained. “This is particularly important because children’s eating patterns carry into adulthood.”

Despite the encouraging findings in this study, much more can be done to get students to eat more fruits and vegetables, and to reduce the amount of salt in school foods, the researchers said.

Childhood obesity — the result of poor eating habits and inactivity — has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years, according to the CDC.

More information

The American Academy of Pediatrics has more about child nutrition.

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Black Women at Raised Risk of Carrying Breast Cancer Genes

THURSDAY, Aug. 27, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Young black women have a higher rate of breast and ovarian cancer-related gene mutations than previously believed, a new study finds.

These inherited mutations occur in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes. It has been estimated that about 5 percent of breast cancer patients in the United States have these mutations, but previous studies included mostly white women. This study found that the rate among young black women is much higher.

Black women younger than 50 are much more likely to be diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer than white women, but the reasons for this difference are unclear. Moffitt Cancer Center researchers looked at BRCA mutation rates for an answer.

The investigators looked at BRCA mutation rates among nearly 400 black women in Florida who were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer before age 50. They found that more than 12 percent of these women had either BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations.

More than 40 percent of the women with a BRCA mutation had no close relatives with breast or ovarian cancer. This suggests that family history doesn’t always identify women who may have BRCA mutations, the researchers said.

The study was published online recently in the journal Cancer.

“Our results suggest that it may be appropriate to recommend BRCA testing in all black women with invasive breast cancer diagnosed at or below age 50,” study leader and clinical geneticist Dr. Tuya Pal, from the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., said in a center news release.

If a woman learns she has BRCA mutations, she can choose to have more breast cancer screening or preventive breast or ovary removal, the authors suggested. She can also alert family members about this genetic risk so they can take steps to prevent cancer, the researchers said.

However, the study authors noted that black women are less likely than white women to be referred for or to receive genetic testing and counseling. The researchers said high-risk black women need improved access to such services.

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about BRCA mutations.

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Despite Pockets of Resistance, Most U.S. Kids Getting Vaccinated

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Aug. 27, 2015 (HealthDay News) — More than nine out of 10 U.S. children entered kindergarten last school year protected with the proper immunizations, federal health officials reported Thursday.

But, vaccination rates continue to lag in a number of states — a worrisome finding, especially in light of the recent measles outbreak, officials said.

Average vaccination coverage for new kindergarteners was 94 percent for the measles/mumps/rubella (MMR) vaccine. It also was 94 percent for the diphtheria/tetanus/pertussis vaccine in the 49 reporting states and the District of Columbia for the 2014-15 school year, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers found.

About 94 percent of kindergarteners also received the two-dose vaccine for chickenpox in the 39 states where it is required, the findings showed.

“Overall, the news is gratifying. Though they may not always get the headlines, the overwhelming majority of parents continue to protect their children with recommended vaccinations,” Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said during a media briefing.

But there are some areas in the country that have shown resistance to immunization.

Seven states had less than 90 percent coverage for the measles/mumps/rubella vaccine. Those states are Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, North Dakota and Washington.

“Pockets of children who miss vaccination exist in our communities, and they leave these communities vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases,” Schuchat said.

The United States experienced a record number of measles cases during 2014, with 668 cases from 27 states reported to the CDC. It was the largest number of cases since U.S. public health officials declared the eradication of measles in 2000.

So far this year, 188 people from 24 states and the District of Columbia have come down with the measles, with most cases linked to a large multi-state outbreak traced back to visitors who picked up the virus at Disneyland in Southern California.

“During 2015, measles outbreak cases have included 68 unvaccinated U.S. residents, among whom 29 (43 percent) cited philosophic or religious objections to vaccination,” the study authors wrote in the Aug. 28 issue of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. “Maintaining high vaccination coverage levels is important for measles control and elimination.”

Some parents choose to skip or delay vaccinations not for medical reasons, but for “personal beliefs” — mainly, unsupported fears about vaccine safety, health officials say. The notion that the measles/mumps/rubella vaccine causes autism has lingered for years, even though the 1998 study that proposed the theory was later found to be fraudulent.

According to health officials, an important concept in vaccination is “herd immunity” — the phenomenon when, if an overwhelming number of people receive vaccinations, even those who can’t get vaccinated due to age or health issues will be protected.

Children who can receive vaccines, but don’t, pose a threat to the herd immunity of a community, Schuchat said.

“Protecting people from this kind of threat is why achieving and sustaining high local vaccination coverage is important,” she explained.

The percentage of children who don’t receive vaccinations remains low, at less than 1 percent. The percentage of parents requesting vaccination exemptions for their kids also is low, amounting to an average 1.7 percent of kindergarteners nationwide, the CDC reported.

But, a handful of states had vaccination exemption rates that exceeded the national average. The highest exemption rates were found in Idaho (6.5 percent), Vermont (6.1 percent), Oregon (6 percent), Alaska (5.8 percent) and Michigan (5.3 percent).

Additionally, five states did not meet the reporting standards for providing exemption data. They are Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Texas and Wyoming, the CDC said.

In one important change from 2013 to 2014, the number of states that provided local coverage and exemption data online increased from 18 to 21. Making this information available publicly keeps parents informed, guides vaccination policies and strengthens immunization programs, CDC officials said.

“I really want to applaud and recognize states that routinely are making this information available to parents and families,” Schuchat said. “I’d like to encourage parents who live in these states to find out what’s going on around them.”

The study authors noted that many states have passed laws to better require and track immunizations of children entering school.

For example, California this year removed both religious and philosophic exemptions for public and private school children, while Vermont removed philosophic exemptions but not religious exemptions. Oregon passed a law requiring improved public reporting of school vaccination rates.

Schuchat noted that school vaccination requirements played a key role in the earlier effort to eradicate measles.

“We certainly believe it should be easier to get a vaccine than to get an exemption,” she said.

More information

Learn more about childhood vaccinations at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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The Facts About the Bizarre Bird Disease Found in an Alabama Zoo

Photo: Getty Images

Residents of Birmingham, Alabama, have their feathers ruffled (pun intended) on account of a bacterial infection found in some of the local zoo’s resident birds.

State health officials issued a notice Wednesday warning that any visitors to the Birmingham Zoo’s aviary in the past 30 days may have been exposed to a psittacosis, which can spread from birds to humans.

During routine testing, several of the zoo’s lorikeets were found to have the disease, which is a pneumonia-like illness that can cause fever, chills, headache, muscles aches, and a dry cough in humans, per the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It is uncommon—typically fewer than 50 people get it each year, the CDC contends. But it can lead to complications like decreased lung function, heart valve infection, and hepatitis.

RELATED: Pets Can Spread Infections to People: Review

Those most at risk for infection include zoo handlers and caretakers (because they work closely with the birds), pregnant women, and people with compromised immune systems, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) release.

A person gets the disease by “inhaling dried secretions from infected birds,” according to the CDC. Prompt treatment with antibiotics clears up most cases.

The good news, at least for now? No one on staff at the Birmingham Zoo has come down with any symptoms of the illness.

For folks concerned that this is the next bird flu, it’s not worth the alarm, as the virus responsible for avian flu is much more serious, compared to the bacterial psittacosis (Also, it’s worth noting that the H7N9 avian virus has not been detected in the United States—neither in humans nor birds.) When it comes to bird flu, “most patients have had severe respiratory illness, with about one-third resulting in death,” says the CDC. And while fatal cases of psittacosis have been reported, it’s not the norm.

RELATED: 15 Weird Things Linked to Heart Attacks

For those planning on visiting the zoo, there shouldn’t be any concern, as the lorikeet aviary is closed and will remain so until the infected birds are treated, the exhibit is disinfected, and further laboratory tests are completed, the ADPH notes.

“We routinely conduct health exams on the Zoo’s animals so that we can be as proactive as possible about detecting the presence of disease among the Zoo’s animals. After a lorikeet presented symptoms and tested positive, the exhibit was closed so the entire collection could be tested and treated as needed,” says Stephanie McCain, head veterinarian at the Birmingham Zoo, in a press release e-mailed to Health.

“The Veterinary staff is taking all measures to ensure the safety and health of the lorikeet collection and will continue to monitor any circumstances that may affect the Zoo’s animal collection or the guests,” McCain added.

RELATED: Is It a Cold or Sinus Infection? How to Tell the Difference

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