Half-Million might have tick-borne meat allergy syndrome; Covid misinformation rarely punished; Florida’s first mobile stroke unit- Morning Medical Update

Half-Million might have tick-borne meat allergy syndrome

Half a million Americans are thought to have a serious meat allergy brought on by a tick bite. The condition is called alpha-gal syndrome and it often goes untested. In a study, only 5% of doctors questioned felt “very confident” in their ability to treat ASG. 

Covid misinformation rarely punished

Few doctors who spread medical misinformation during the pandemic face consequences. Physicians that had patients die after prescribing “alternative therapies” say that COVID killed them, not their treatment. One physician in this situation had to complete a 9 hour educational course and pay for the board investigation which was $3,943.

Florida’s first mobile stroke unit

A University of Flordia Health mobile unit equipped with a CT scanner, clot eliminating drugs, and medication that can reverse bleeding will be used to transport stroke victims to stroke centers. Studies show that a mobile stroke unit is on average 10 minutes faster than a standard ambulance. Every second counts when it comes to a stroke. “Every minute that a stroke goes untreated, a patient is losing about 2 million brain cells that are not recoverable,” said Nicolle Davis, director of UF Health’s mobile stroke program.