New tool reveals what patients are really taking; water disinfectant choice tied to Legionnaires’ risk; scientists uncover genetic driver of blinding eye disease – Morning Medical Update

A new way to see what patients are really taking

UC San Diego researchers have launched an online library that can identify real-world drug exposure directly from patient samples — often revealing medications and supplements missing from the medical record. Using mass spectrometry, the Global Natural Product Social Molecular Networking (GNPS) Drug Library catalogs chemical fingerprints from thousands of drugs and their metabolites, enabling physicians and researchers to compare unknown molecules in blood, urine, breast milk, skin swabs or environmental samples against a reference set.

The team hopes the tool will support more precise prescribing by clarifying what patients are actually taking and how they metabolize it. The study was published Dec. 9 in Nature Communications.

Water treatment choice tied to Legionnaires’ disease risk

New research suggests that communities served by water systems using chlorine as the primary disinfectant experience higher rates of Legionnaires’ disease than those using monochloramine. In an analysis of 25 utilities across all EPA regions, researchers found disease rates ranging from zero to more than eight cases per 100,000, with seasonal peaks in summer. The findings align with earlier building-level studies showing lower Legionella prevalence when monochloramine is used.

Scientists uncover genetic driver of blinding eye disease

A new study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) may help explain why some patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) develop reticular pseudodrusen (RPD) — a pattern of deposits linked to faster vision loss. Researchers found that certain genetic changes on chromosome 10 were much more common in people with these deposits, while the well-known complement pathway genes didn’t seem to matter in this subgroup.

Those variants were also tied to a thinner retina on imaging, suggesting that AMD isn’t a single disease but a collection of related conditions, and that treatments may need to be tailored to different genetic profiles.