Westport resident Scott Gottlieb, a physician and partner at one of the world’s largest venture capital funds and a former deputy commissioner at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is being considered by President-elect Donald Trump to run the agency, according to sources close to the transition team, the Reuters news agency reported.

Scott Gottlieb: reported on short list to head FDA. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) American Enterprise Institute photo

Gottlieb, 44, a venture partner at New Enterprise Associates and resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank based in Washington, is well known in health policy circles and is a frequent commentator on television and in print.

Gottlieb, who purchased his Westport home in 2010, is a former internist at Stamford Hospital. He served as a deputy commissioner at the FDA from 2005 to 2007.

He is concurrently a clinical assistant professor at New York University School of Medicine and advises the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as a member of the Federal Health IT Policy Committee.

By Jennier Frank
Connecticut Health Investigative Team

www.ctmirror.org

Reported cases of tuberculosis jumped 17 percent in Connecticut from 2014 to 2015, mirroring a national and global trend and prompting federal officials to ask primary care providers to be on the alert for at-risk patients.

The state Department of Public Health (DPH) said 70 people, in 29 towns, were reported with active TB, the contagious form of the disease, in 2015, compared with 60 the year before. About 80 percent of Connecticut patients were foreign-born, many from Asian countries.

Nationally, TB cases totaled 9,563 last year, an increase of 157 over 2014. It was the first jump in cases after more than two decades of annual declines, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported. New England had one of the largest regional upswings, federal figures show, with 330 reported cases, a 7.5 percent increase.

Connecticut and national health officials are unclear on what’s behind the uptick and said more studies are needed. Drug-resistant strains have become a challenge, but that’s largely a problem overseas at this point, they said. About two-thirds of the cases nationally in 2015 were foreign born, the CDC said.

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Monica Wheeler of the Westport Weston Health District today gives a flu shot to Westporter Iris Frey. There was a large turnout for flu shots at the district office on Bayberry Lane. The next flu shot clinic will be on Monday, Oct. 24 from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., followed by one Tuesday, Nov.1 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., and Friday, Nov. 4 from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. There will also be a clinic on Thursday. Nov 10 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Westport Center for Senior Activities. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Phyllis Groner for WestportNow.com

By Keith M.Phaneuf and Arielle Levin Becker

www.ctmirror.org

Most Connecticut health insurance plans sold through individual and small group markets will undergo steep rate hikes next year, although in some cases, the prices will not go up by as much as carriers had sought.

The state Insurance Department approved 13 health policy rate hikes today that far outstripped increases in recent years, averaging nearly 25 percent for individuals and 13 percent for small groups.

The department also rejected three requests for major rate hikes — two from Anthem Health Plans and one from ConnectiCare Insurance Co. — directing the carriers to recalculate final rates.

Nearly all of the rates for other plans will increase by double-digit percentages, including hikes ranging from 15 to 24 percent for ConnectiCare policies sold through Access Health CT, the state’s health insurance exchange. Those policies alone currently cover 47,597 people.

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By James Lomuscio

You don’t have to have a pond, large water feature or even a bird bath to spawn mosquitoes prone to harbor the Zika virus, says Mark A. R. Cooper, director of health for the Westport Weston Health District (WWHD). 
Mark A. R. Cooper: take precautions. File photo

Even a bottle cap that fills with water is enough, he says.

“When you walk around your garden and see and standing water, even in bottle caps, get rid of them,” Cooper said, adding that residents insistent on water features use mosquito larvae killing, nematode donuts.

“Zika mosquitoes are going for the smaller things to leave their larvae, the smaller things, the bottle caps, soda, old coffee cups,” he added. “So, as you’re enjoying the outdoors, get rid of standing water. That will address West Nile. That will address Zika.”