Media Coverage

People with HIV can breastfeed their babies, as long as they are taking medications that effectively suppress the virus that causes AIDS, a top U.S. pediatricians’ group said Monday in a sharp policy change. The AAP policy comes more than a year after the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reversed longstanding recommendations against breastfeeding by people with HIV. That guidance said people who have consistent viral suppression should be counseled on their options. It also emphasizes that health care providers shouldn’t alert child protective services agencies if a parent with HIV seeks to breastfeed. The goal is listening to patients “and not blaming or shaming them,” said Lynn Yee, MD, MPH, a Northwestern University professor of obstetrics and gynecology who helped draft the NIH guidance. Breastfeeding provides ideal nutrition for babies and protects them against illnesses and conditions such as obesity and Type 2 diabetes, research shows. Nursing also reduces the mother’s risk of breast and ovarian cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure. In developed nations, however, experts had recommended against breastfeeding because the wide availability of safe water, formula and human donor milk could eliminate the risk of HIV transmission, Yee said.

The smell of food is appetizing when you’re hungry. At the same time, it can be a turnoff if you’re full. That’s due to the interaction between two different parts of the brain involving sense of smell and behavior motivation, a new study finds. And it could be why some people can’t easily stop eating when they’re full, which contributes to obesity, researchers say. The weaker the connection between those two brain regions, the heavier people tend to become, results show. “The desire to eat is related to how appealing the smell of food is — food smells better when you are hungry than when you are full,” said study co-author Guangyu Zhou, a research assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. “But if the brain circuits that help guide this behavior are disrupted, these signals may get confused, leading to food being rewarding even when you are full.” Further, “If this happens, a person’s BMI could increase. And that is what we found,” Zhou added in a Northwestern news release. “When the structural connection between these two brain regions is weaker, a person’s BMI is higher, on average.”

Through treatment and prevention, Lurie Children’s Hospital is working to combat substance abuse in teens. Data from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago shows 90 percent of people with addiction began using substances in their teen years. Plus, one in seven high school students use opioids without a doctor’s prescription, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “It might be a time where they try new things, it might be a time without the structure – where their mental health might get worse,” said Maria Rahmandar, MD, medical director, Substance Use & Prevention Program (SUPP) at Lurie Children’s Hospital and associate professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “We also see that around festival time, Lolla, youth are trying substances and might end up in the ER.” Rahmandar said those substances include opioids and other pills or powders. She added that the danger of illegal drugs being laced with fentanyl is still a top concern. “Really mixing any substances can increase your risks of an overdose,” said Rahmandar. “Fentanyl is certainly the most deadly thing that we’re seeing now, but any combination can be deadly.”

Northwestern Medicine is celebrating a major milestone for its surgical program. The hospital recently completed their 10,000th abdominal organ transplant procedure. What it means for the hospital is that Northwestern has become the first health system in Illinois to achieve that milestone. Northwestern’s organ transplant program dates all the way back to 1964. Since then, they’ve done more than 6,500 kidney transplants, more than 2,600 liver transplants and more than 850 pancreas transplants. Northwestern said going forward, it’s focused on clinical trials and research to continue supporting as many patients as possible.

Most people are familiar with the term “mommy brain,” a phrase that describes the brain fog and forgetfulness that many pregnant women and new moms experience. But it turns out there’s way more going on than just forgetting the name of your college professor, and it’s something called matrescence. Coined by medical anthropologist Dana Raphael in 1973, matrescence is, quite simply, the process of becoming a mother. It’s an immense physical, psychological, emotional, and social shift—and one that’s far more intense than most people realize. More research on matrescence is being done each year. Historically, perinatal mental-health researchers thought it was important to study moms for the sake of their babies, says Sheehan Fisher, PhD, a perinatal clinical psychologist at Northwestern Medicine. “Now, we’ve shifted so that moms’ mental health matters in and of itself.” More awareness about the changes women go through during this time can be beneficial on both an individual and societal level. Perinatal mental health conditions are common—one in five women experience one during this vulnerable time—plus the majority of new moms in the U.S. still don’t have access to paid maternity leave.

Chicago resident Arthur “Art” Gillespie fell ill in early March 2020 with COVID, after he and his father went to visit an uncle in a nursing facility. “I was hospitalized for 12 days with a high fever and cough, and during that time, they were taking scans of my lungs, which showed stage 1 lung cancer on my right lung,” Gillespie, 56, recalled in a news release. “I had no symptoms of lung cancer, so in a way – because of COVID – we were able to catch the cancer early.” Gillespie had one lung damaged by cancer and the other damaged by COVID, ultimately leaving him with just one last chance for survival. Doctors at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago saved his life through a double-lung transplant that took place in January – the first such procedure involving two lungs damaged by two different ailments, they said. “When Arthur first came to see us in September 2023, even though he looked physically strong, he could barely speak a single sentence without getting short of breath or take a few steps before having to sit down,” Ankit Bharat, MD, chief of thoracic surgery at Northwestern Medicine, said in a news release. “The pressure inside the lungs had also increased to a point that it was causing heart failure, and his only option for survival was a double-lung transplant,” added Bharat, who performed Gillespie’s surgery. “Despite being told ‘no’ by other doctors, Arthur had the courage and determination to keep searching for answers,” Bharat said. “I feel honored that we were able to help him since he spent so many years helping the community as a police captain.”

So far, the unexpected jump of bird flu to cattle has not emerged as a new human flu pandemic. Yes, a dairy worker got pink eye this year after being infected, but a larger threat to all of us has not yet materialized. “Just don’t kiss or hug the animals,” recommended Tina Tan, MD, who agreed the risk to U.S. population from bird flu remains low at this point. Tan is a professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, also in Chicago. Both infectious disease experts spoke during a news briefing sponsored by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). If the virus does jump to people, children may be at higher risk. “As you know, kids are very different from adults in that they’re much more likely to hug and kiss an animal,” said Tan, who is also president-elect of the IDSA. The Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, where Tan works, is ready if H5N1 starts to cause significant infections in children. “We’re going to treat it very much like pandemic influenza. We have protocols in place for pandemic influenza and for COVID, which can be adjusted toward H5N1 if that were to become a real problem.”

Do you or a loved one talk in your sleep? It’s a common sleep issue for many, experts say. About 50% of children will talk in their sleep — and typically outgrow it — while only about 5% of adults are nighttime blabbermouths, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. However, about 60% to 65% of adults will experience at least one episode of nighttime speech during their lifetime, the academy said. Sleep talking, or somniloquy, can be connected to mental health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety. A white noise generator or loud fan is a great defense, said Jennifer Mundt, PhD, assistant professor of sleep medicine, psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. “Earplugs or comfortable noise-canceling headphones may also help,” she said. Earplugs come in several forms: expandable foam, pre-molded versions and custom molded, which are created to precisely fit the shape and size of the ear canal. For some people, something as benign as being on vacation or sleeping somewhere new can cause an episode, Mundt said. “At these times your brain is a little more vigilant because you’re in a new environment, and that means you’re more likely to have this partial awakening, where one part of the brain is awake and the other part is asleep,” Mundt said.

A new family of COVID variants nicknamed “FLiRT” is spreading across the country, as vaccination rates in Chicago — as well as nationwide — remain concerningly low for some public health experts. While symptoms and severity seem to be about the same as previous COVID strains, the new FLiRT variants appear to be more transmissible, said infectious disease expert Robert Murphy, MD, . “A new, more contagious variant is out there,” said Murphy, executive director of Northwestern University’s Institute for Global Health and a professor of infectious diseases at the Feinberg School of Medicine. “COVID-19 is still with us, and compared to flu and RSV, COVID-19 can cause significant problems off-season.” Murphy urged the public to get up to date on COVID shots, particularly individuals who are at higher risk for severe complications from the virus. While much of the population has some immunity from vaccination or previous COVID infections, Murphy noted that “with COVID-19, immunity wanes over time.”

Humans are typically exposed to tapeworms through raw or undercooked food or through food contaminated with feces. “A lot of these things are transmitted to humans through feces,” said Edith L. Graham, MD, a neurologist at Northwestern Medicine and assistant professor of neurology and hospital neurology. It can take months, or even years, for people to show signs of infection. Symptoms vary based on how many cysts develop and where they are. (Cysts can form in the eyes, muscles and spinal cord.) Generally, though, people with neurocysticercosis experience headaches and seizures, and they sometimes feel confused, struggle to pay attention and have issues with balance. The condition can be fatal. One of the most common parasitic brain infections is toxoplasmosis. The parasite that causes toxoplasmosis can linger in humans for years — potentially, for someone’s entire life — but most people will not develop symptoms. In the United States, severe infections from brain parasites are rare, but in other parts of the world they’re more common. Many of these are preventable, however. Washing your hands thoroughly before eating or preparing food, cooking food properly and ensuring the water you’re drinking is clean are all ways to reduce the risk.