Carrying around a 134-pound scrotum for nearly five painful years had certainly been a drag for Wesley Warren Jr. (pictured). Yet he kept procrastinating about the surgery, because he feared it would end his life. On April 8th, though, Warren finally decided to undergo the very risky 13-hour procedure that brought the size of his scrotum to normal proportions. This week, Warren spoke with ABC News about his harrowing experience.

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Warren’s painful journey began one night while asleep, when he suddenly woke up writhing in pain: He felt as though he had “slammed” his right testicle during a routine sleeping position, “I felt the most enormous amount of pain that one could possibly imagine,” Warren said.

The pain quickly subsided; however, the next day, Warren noticed that his scrotum had increased to the size of a soccer ball.

When the Las Vegas resident went to the emergency room, he was told he had an infection, given antibiotics, and sent on his way.

But his scrotum size kept increasing. 

The 48-year-old unemployed man went to see other doctors to determine why his scrotum was enlarging but was not given satisfactory responses.  Warren had another major stumbling block in his quest to find a diagnosis: he was only living off of disability benefits, so he did not have the financial means nor health insurance to continue finding answers for his medical condition.

Eventually, the scrotum added about 160 pounds to Warren’s frame, bringing his total weight to 500 pounds. And whenever Warren would leave his home, he would have to bundle up his scrotum in a hoodie and carry a milk crate with him so that he could hoist his scrotum on it every few steps to take a break.

Warren’s condition made daily tasks very difficult; since he could not find his penis, he was forced to urinate on himself. Warren’s scrotum size also made it impossible for him to put his legs together, so anytime he wanted to weigh himself, he would travel to newspaper and scrap metal recycling yards to use their scale.

In an effort to raise money for the much-needed surgery, Warren went on the shock jock Howard Stern radio show.  He managed to raise money from Stern’s sympathetic and mostly male listeners.

Luckily for Warren, California surgeon Joel Gelman, a urologist who works out of the University of California and specializes in scrotal lymphedema, heard about Warren’s condition, and contacted him.

Using the money he received from Stern’s listeners to travel to Irvine, Warren met with Dr. Gelman.  And even though Warren had great trepidation about having the complicated surgical procedure, the pain of carrying around his massive scrotum forced him to agree to having the surgery in April.

Dr. Gelman told ABC News, “Some of the veins in the mass were a quarter-inch in diameter,” Gelman said, recalling the lengthy and risky procedure to remove the mass in one giant piece.

Warren, who is unmarried and has no children, can now wear regular underwear and pants and says he is still getting used to walking in his newfound body.  “My body is acclimating. I’m still not able to get around much and enjoy driving or going to dinner.  But I intend to make up for it and treat myself to a truly fabulous meal and enjoy relaxing for at least a few days.”

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NEW YORK — The suicide rate among middle-aged Americans climbed a startling 28 percent in a decade, a period that included the recession and the mortgage crisis, the government reported Thursday.

The trend was most pronounced among White men and women in that age group. Their suicide rate jumped 40 percent between 1999 and 2010.

But the rates in younger and older people held steady. And there was little change among middle-aged Blacks, Hispanics, and most other racial and ethnic groups.

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Why did so many middle-aged whites — that is, those who are 35 to 64 years old — take their own lives?

One theory suggests the recession caused more emotional trauma in Whites who tend not to have the same kind of church support and extended families that Blacks and Hispanics do.

The economy was in recession from the end of 2007 until mid-2009. Even well afterward, polls showed most Americans remained worried about weak hiring, a depressed housing market, and other problems.

Pat Smith, violence-prevention program coordinator for the Michigan Department of Community Health, said the recession — which hit manufacturing-heavy states particularly hard — may have pushed already troubled people over the brink. Being unable to find a job or settling for one with lower pay or prestige could add “that final weight to a whole chain of events,” she said.

Another theory notes that White baby boomers have always had higher rates of depression and suicide, and that has held true as they’ve hit middle age. During the 1999-2010 period, suicide went from the eighth-leading cause of death among middle-aged Americans to the fourth, behind cancer, heart disease, and accidents.

“Some of us think we’re facing an upsurge as this generation moves in to later life,” said Dr. Eric Caine, a suicide researcher at the University of Rochester.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the report, which was based on death certificates. People ages 35 to 64 account for about 57 percent of suicides.

The report contained surprising information about how middle-aged people kill themselves: During the period studied, hangings overtook drug overdoses in that age group, becoming the No. 2 manner of suicide. But guns remained far in the lead and were the instrument of death in nearly half of all suicides among the middle-aged in 2010.

The CDC does not collect gun ownership statistics and did not attempt to correlate suicide rates with gun ownership.

For the entire U.S. population, there were 38,350 suicides in 2010, making it the nation’s 10th leading cause of death, the CDC said. The overall national suicide rate climbed from 12 suicides per 100,000 people in 1999 to 14 per 100,000 in 2010. That was a 15 percent increase.

For the middle-aged, the rate jumped from about 14 per 100,000 to nearly 18 — a 28 percent increase. Among Whites in that age group, it spiked from about 16 to 22.

Suicide prevention efforts have tended to concentrate on teenagers and the elderly, but research over the past several years has begun to focus on the middle-aged. The new CDC report is being called the first to show how the trend is playing out nationally and to look in depth at the racial and geographic breakdown.

The suicide rate registered a statistically significant increase in 39 out of 50 states. The West and the South had the highest suicide rates. It’s not clear why, but one factor may be cultural differences in willingness to seek help during tough times, said Thomas Simon, one of the authors of the CDC report.

Also, it may be more difficult to find counseling and mental health services in certain places, he added.

With all the talk about obesity and chronic disease in the African-American community, the surgeon general is out to educate Moms about an early preventive measure: breastfeeding.

“By raising awareness, the success rate among Mothers who want to breastfeed can be greatly improved through active support from their families, their friends, and the community,” Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin, M.D said in a news release that announces the launch of “It’s Only Natural,” a public education campaign designed to raise awareness among African-American women about the importance and benefits associated with breastfeeding. It also provides helpful tips.

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The campaign is a good thing, Steven Pratt, M.D., told NewsOne. The author of the soon-to-be-released “SuperfoodsRx Plan for Pregnancy: The Right Choice for a Healthy, Smart, Super Baby” and the New York Times bestseller “SuperfoodsRx: Fourteen Foods That Will Change Your Life” says breastfeeding helps fight obesity and chronic disease.

“In my new book, I stress breastfeeding even if you have to use a breast pump,” Pratt told NewsOne. “By six to 12 months after birth, a Mother sets the course for chronic disease prevention by providing important nutritional benefits, such as antibodies and reduced risk for developing high cholesterol and high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and many cancers for Mother and child.”

There are disturbing rates of obesity among children and women in the African-American community. Both groups have the highest rates of being overweight or obese compared to other groups in the United States.

About four out of five African-American women are overweight or obese, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Childhood obesity rates in America have tripled over the past three decades, and today, nearly one in three children in America are overweight or obese. The statistics are even higher in Black and Hispanic communities, where nearly 40 percent of the children are overweight or obese.

And the leading cause of death among African Americans, according to the CDC, are chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes, which could be treated if caught early.

Breastfeeding is one way to help steel Mother and child against some of those diseases, Pratt says.

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 80 percent of all U.S. women — regardless of status, race, or income — start out breastfeeding, the rate among African-American women was almost 55 percent. That is a major increase from 35 percent in the 1970s, but it is still well below that of other ethnicities in the United States, particularly among those living in the South.

The gap may indicate that African-American mothers face barriers to meeting breastfeeding goals and need additional support to start, which sparked the campaign that is designed to provide materials that reflect the experience of African-American Moms.

“Breastfeeding not only ensures that children will have a healthy life, it is also the easiest way for women to lose weight after a pregnancy,” Pratt said. “I urge pregnant women to eat smart and remind them that they are not eating for two; they are eating for one adult and a seven pounder. Besides providing important nutrients for their child, breastfeeding cuts the risk of postpartum obesity and cuts the risk of breast cancer.”

Pratt also explained that it cuts breast cancer risk because women who are breastfeeding are not producing as much estrogen, which fuels 80 percent of breast cancers.

Breastfeeding also helps women avoid the metabolic syndrome, or excess body fat around the waist, because the woman’s body is working to provide important nutrients to the child and burning calories.

Pratt says if Mothers have to use a breast pump, they should use the milk within the hour because the hormones and nutrients change. The closer a Mother feeds the baby to the time the milk was pumped, the better it will be because the nutrients and hormones are preprogrammed to have maximum impact on the child and the milk profile changes with each hour.

Pratt said he applauds the surgeon general’s efforts because “breastfeeding Mothers are programming their children for a lifetime. It helps Mothers so they can be healthy later in life.”

Sound off!

Regina Turner of St. Louis is suing SSM Health Care-St. Louis, for allegedly operating on the wrong side of her skull and brain, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

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Turner went in to St. Clare Health Center on April 4th to receive a left-sided craniotomy bypass.

Instead, she received a craniotomy for the right side of her brain, according to a complaint filed in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County in Clayton.

The suit charges SSM and the doctor who operated on Turner with negligence and carelessness. Turner also reportedly suffered cognitive defects from the surgery, the complaint alleges.

“Before the incorrect surgery, plaintiff was mobile, cognizant, and able to care for herself,” the suit charges. “After the incorrect surgery, [Turner] requires around-the-clock care for her basic needs.  [She] will also continue to suffer from emotional distress, anxiety, disfigurement and depression.” Turner cannot speak clearly, lawyer Alvin Wolff Jr. added.

After the operating team discovered their mistake, they ordered a second surgery six days later on the left side of Turner’s brain.

While SSM officials initially declined to comment, St. Clare Health Center President Bill Hoefer released a statement, noting that the hospital is “committed to patient safety and the highest-quality health care. If a medical error does occur, we take it very seriously. We investigate thoroughly to see what processes can be changed to prevent it from ever happening again, and then we make those changes immediately.”

On Wednesday, SSM CEO Chris Howard issued an apology, according to the Associated Press, saying they were “devastated” by the error.

SSM spokeswoman Kirsten Johnson also confirmed that Arnold Levy, the neurosurgeon who operated on Turner, is a SSM Health Care employee in addition to having staff privileges at St. Mary’s Health Center and DePaul Health Center.

According to Wolff, Turner began suffering a series of mini-strokes five years ago. Last December, her speaking ability was affected. The surgery was meant to prevent any future strokes.

Turner’s lawsuit also accuses SSM employees of incorrectly setting up the operating room. They then “stood by and watched A.L. operate on the wrong side of [the] plaintiff’s skull and brain when they could have prevented the error.”

It asks for compensation “sufficient to punish” SSM and Levy for what it characterizes as their “complete indifference to or conscious disregard for the safety of Regina Turner.”

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Women prefer a lot of things in their men but what scientists in Australia are now claiming is that they actually prefer tall men with large penises, reports the New York Daily News.

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The study, which appeared in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and was lead by Brian Mautz, a postdoctoral researcher in evolution and sexual selection at the University of Ottawa, gathered 105 heterosexual women and projected life-sized computer-generated video clips of naked men with flaccid genitalia.

The 49 images of the men varied in height, build, and penis size. The female participants whose average age was 26 were then asked to assess the bodies based on sexual appeal and gave each image a rating from 1 to 7, rather than assessing individual characteristics. Another stipulation for the female participants was that they could not gaze at the bodies for more than 3 seconds.

After compiling the responses, the researchers discovered that the respondents rated tall men with large penises as the type of male they found sexually attractive. Even though there were short males with large genitalia who were also presented to the women as well, they were not categorized as attractive.

But how big do women want a male’s genitalia to be?

“We didn’t find an ideal (i.e., ‘most attractive’) penis size or height,” Mautz  explained.

The study results “directly contradict claims that penis size is unimportant to most females” and also hints at why human males tend to have relatively larger genitalia when compared to other primates, the study said.

According to evolutionary principles, the researchers of the study state, “Our results show that female mate choice could have played a role in the evolution of the relatively large human male penis,” the authors wrote. The scientists also deduced that the women may have looked at the endowed men as someone who could adequately sire a healthy child.

Wider shoulders and narrow hips were a preferred physical characteristic as well.

The study, however, did not get in to the racial background of men and whether that may affect penis size.

Sound off!

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WASHINGTON — Three years, two elections, and one Supreme Court decision after President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, its promise of health care for the uninsured may be delayed or undercut in much of the country because of entrenched opposition from many Republican state leaders.

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In half the states, mainly led by Democrats, officials are racing deadlines to connect uninsured residents to coverage now only months away. In others it’s as if “Obamacare” – signed Mar. 23, 2010 – had never passed.

Make no mistake, the federal government will step in and create new insurance markets in the 26 mostly red states declining to run their own. Just like the state-run markets in mostly Democratic-led states, the feds will start signing up customers Oct. 1 for coverage effective Jan. 1, but they need a broad cross-section of people, or else the pool will be stuck with what the government calls the “sick and worried” – the costliest patients.

Insurance markets, or exchanges, are one prong of Obama’s law, providing subsidized private coverage for middle-class households who currently can’t get their own. The other major piece is a Medicaid expansion to serve more low-income people. And at least 13 states have already indicated they will not agree to that.

“It could look like two or three different countries,” said Robert Blendon, a Harvard School of Public Health professor who studies public opinion on health care. “The political culture of a state is going to play an important role in getting millions of people to voluntarily sign up.”

Civic leadership — from governors, legislators, mayors and business and religious groups — is shaping up as a huge factor in the launch of Obama’s plan, particularly since the penalty for ignoring the law’s requirement to get coverage is as low as $95 the first year.

People-to-people contacts will be key, and the potential for patchwork results is real.

“Obviously, it’s a possibility in terms of there being some real difficulties,” said Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., whose efforts helped pass the law. Casey also said he believes the Obama administration will be ready to lead in states holding back.

Disparities already are cropping up.

Town Meeting Day – the first Tuesday in March – is a storied tradition in Vermont, and this year it provided a platform to educate residents about their options under the health care law. As many as 250,000 may eventually get coverage through Vermont Health Connect, as the state’s marketplace is known.

“Even before we were a state, these town meetings existed,” said Sean Sheehan, director of education and outreach. “It’s a way people come together as a community, and we are counting on those community connections to get the word out.” The health care plan was on the agenda at about 100 town meetings, and other local gatherings are taking place.

Texas residents are entitled to the same benefits as Vermonters, but in the state with the highest proportion of its population uninsured, Gov. Rick Perry will not be promoting the federal insurance exchange, a spokeswoman said. Nor does Perry plan to expand Medicaid.

The result is a communications void that civic and political groups, mayors, insurers, and hospitals will try to fill.

“You have people who aren’t really charged up about it because they don’t even know that they would qualify,” said Durrel Douglas, spokesman for the Texas Organizing Project, an activist group. A national poll this week by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation found that two of every three uninsured people don’t know enough about the law to understand how it will affect them.

Supporters of Obama’s law in Texas say the federal government hasn’t shown up yet to launch the state’s insurance exchange and no one is sure when that will happen.

“It is a much bigger lift here,” said Anne Dunkelberg, associate director of the Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities, which advocates for low-income people. “The sooner the federal exchange can get engaged and working with all the folks here who want to promote enrollment, the better.”

The Congressional Budget Office predicts a slow start overall, with only 7 million gaining coverage through the exchanges next year, rising to 24 million in 2016.

At a recent insurance industry meeting, federal officials directing the rollout rattled off a dizzying list of deadlines. Public outreach will begin in earnest this summer and early fall, said Gary Cohen, head of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight.

The government sees three main groups of potential customers for the new insurance markets, he said.

There’s the “active sick and worried,” people who are uninsured or have pre-existing medical conditions. Under the law, insurers will no longer be able to turn the sick away.

There’s the healthy and young. “They feel invincible, they don’t feel a need for health insurance,” said Cohen.

Finally, there’s the passive and unengaged. “For these people, a significant education effort needs to happen,” he said.

To keep premiums affordable, the government will need to sign up lots of people from the last two groups to balance those in poor health, who will have a strong motivation to join.

The official heading consumer outreach for the rollout, Julie Bataille, acknowledges the challenge but says she’s confident.

“This is a really an enormous opportunity for us to change the conversation around health care and help individuals understand the benefits they can get,” she said.

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Ron Finley (pictured) is concerned that drive-thrus in South Central Los Angeles are killing Blacks moreso than drive-bys, so he decided to wage his own personal crusade by combating those greasy burgers and fries with healthy vegetable gardens that he plants himself, reports the Los Angeles Times.

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Finley is an artist by trade who decided to take up gardening in order to provide his community with fresh organic vegetables. The “guerilla gardener” felt compelled to somehow counteract the damage that was being caused by the fast-food eateries in his area of the city that, he says, are contributing to the high-mortality and poor-health rates that plague the Black community.

The visionary began his “food forest” efforts by planting a curbside veggie garden in front of his own home, which the city tried to put an end to but failed.  Finley fought the system, won, and now his vision has expanded with a movement that includes not only planting but education and empowerment techniques that he teaches to community residents.

Finley took his vision even further by creating L.A. Green Grounds, a grass-roots organization whose motto is “growing, working, teaching: changing turf  into edible gardens in South Central L.A.”  According to the green-thumbed urban gardener, who appeared on TED Talk, “If kids grow kale, kids eat kale. If they grow tomatoes, they eat tomatoes. But when none of this is presented to them, if they’re not shown how food affects the mind and the body, they blindly eat whatever you put in front of them.”

Finley has a message for those people in his community: Put down that Big Mac and “Get gangster wit’ yo’ shovel!”

Go here for more information on L.A. Green Grounds.

CHICAGO — Want to know your chances of dying in the next 10 years? Here are some bad signs: getting winded walking several blocks, smoking, and having trouble pushing a chair across the room.

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That’s according to a “mortality index” developed by San Francisco researchers for people older than 50.

The test scores may satisfy people’s morbid curiosity, but the researchers say their 12-item index is mostly for use by doctors. It can help them decide whether costly health screenings or medical procedures are worth the risk for patients unlikely to live 10 more years.

It’s best to take the test with a doctor, who can discuss what the score means in the context of patients’ own medical history, the study authors say.

The index “wasn’t meant as guidance about how to alter your lifestyle,” said lead author Dr. Marisa Cruz of the University of California, San Francisco.

Instead, doctors can use the results to help patients understand the pros and cons of such things as rigorous diabetes treatment, colon cancer screening and tests for cervical cancer. Those may not be safe or appropriate for very sick, old people likely to die before cancer ever develops.

The 12 items on the index are assigned points; fewer total points means better odds.

- Men automatically get 2 points. In addition to that, men and women ages 60 to 64 get 1 point; ages 70 to 74 get 3 points; and 85 or over get 7 points.

- Two points each: a current or previous cancer diagnosis, excluding minor skin cancers; lung disease limiting activity or requiring oxygen; heart failure; smoking; difficulty bathing; difficulty managing money because of health or memory problem; difficulty walking several blocks.

- One point each: diabetes or high blood sugar; difficulty pushing large objects, such as a heavy chair; being thin or normal weight.

The highest, or worst, score is a 26, with a 95 percent chance of dying within 10 years. To get that, you’d have to be a man at least 85 years old with all the above conditions.

For a score of zero, which means a 3 percent chance of dying within 10 years, you’d have to be a woman younger than 60 without any of those infirmities – but at least slightly overweight.

It’s hardly surprising that a sick, older person would have a much higher chance of dying than someone younger and more vigorous, and it’s well known that women generally live longer than men. But why would being overweight be less risky than being of normal weight or slim?

One possible reason is that thinness in older age could be a sign of illness, Cruz said.

Other factors could also play a role, so the index should be seen as providing clues but not the gospel truth, the research suggests.

The findings were published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Grants from the National Institute on Aging and the American Federation for Aging Research helped pay for the study.

The researchers created the index by analyzing data on almost 20,000 Americans over 50 who took part in a national health survey in 1998. They tracked the participants for 10 years. Nearly 6,000 participants died during that time.

They previously used the test to predict the risk of dying within four years. They said their new effort shows the same index can be used to predict 10-year mortality.

Dr. Stephan Fihn, a University of Washington professor of medicine and health quality measurement specialist with Veterans Affairs health services in Seattle, said the index seems valid and “methodologically sound.”

But he said it probably would be most accurate for the oldest patients, who don’t need a scientific crystal ball to figure out their days are numbered.

First Lady Michelle Obama (pictured), who is in the third year of her Let’s Move! exercise initiative, revealed during her very first “Let’s Move!” Google Plus fireside hangout on Monday that she does not want her daughters to be “weight-obsessed.”   The chat, which was attended by more than 3,500 viewers, was moderated by “Live with Kelly & Michael” talk show co-host Kelly Ripa. Mrs. Obama fielded questions from select participants, who submitted health and weight loss stories on Google Plus and YouTube and a third grade class from Brewer, Maine, reports iVillage.

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Mrs. Obama joined Google Plus to discuss the importance of exercise particularly among young people, and as a bonus, attendees of the chat received a glimpse inside her household to see how she manages to implement healthful living for daughters Malia, 14 (pictured right) and Sasha, 11 (pictured left).

In the Obama household, the First Lady decided to make healthier choices, starting with adding more exercise to their daily regimen and making smart dietary changes like drinking less juice and adding more fruits and vegetables.

When the First Lady was asked what advice she would offer young people struggling with weight, she responded that the topic is one that has been discussed in her home.

“You know, when I talk to my kids…we were going through some of these similar challenges,” Mrs. Obama said, addressing a young man who said he had once weighed 400 pounds as a 19-year-old. “Obviously, when my kids were little, they weren’t faced with the huge challenges you were faced with. But I never talked about weight in the household. We just started making changes and we made changes in a way that didn’t…make them feel badly about themselves, said the First Lady.

Mrs. Obama contends that the oneness of weight and portion control should be placed on the adult in a young child’s life. ”Truly kids that age can’t control what they eat,” she said. “So as the Mom, I took it upon myself to make sure that we just surrounded them with foods that were healthy and that they could eat whenever they wanted to.”

What was stressed overall during the chat by Mrs. Obama was that someone’s overall wellness lifestyle dictates health in the long run and that obsessing on the numbers on a scale is not what’s important, rather being active and eating right are the crucial factors.

“I have two young daughters. We never talk about weight,” she said. “I make it a point… I don’t want our children to be weight-obsessed I want them to be focused on, ‘What do I have to do in this body?’ Because every body is different. Every person’s body is different.”

Watch Mrs. Obama’s Google Plus chat here:

She mentioned that her girls get plenty of exercise by doing such things as playing sports and walking their dog, Bo, every night after dinner.  She also admitted to turning on the radio and busting a few moves with her girls for a good 30 to 40 minutes until they work up a good sweat, “They laugh at me; they have a good time, but at the same time they’re moving,” she said.

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There’s no guarantee the child will remain healthy, although sophisticated testing uncovered just traces of the virus’ genetic material still lingering. If so, it would mark only the world’s second reported cure.

Specialists say Sunday’s announcement, at a major AIDS meeting in Atlanta, offers promising clues for efforts to eliminate HIV infection in children, especially in AIDS-plagued African countries where too many babies are born with the virus.

“You could call this about as close to a cure, if not a cure, that we’ve seen,” Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health, who is familiar with the findings, told The Associated Press.

A doctor gave this baby faster and stronger treatment than is usual, starting a three-drug infusion within 30 hours of birth. That was before tests confirmed the infant was infected and not just at risk from a mother whose HIV wasn’t diagnosed until she was in labor.

“I just felt like this baby was at higher-than-normal risk, and deserved our best shot,” Dr. Hannah Gay, a pediatric HIV specialist at the University of Mississippi, said in an interview.

That fast action apparently knocked out HIV in the baby’s blood before it could form hideouts in the body. Those so-called reservoirs of dormant cells usually rapidly reinfect anyone who stops medication, said Dr. Deborah Persaud of Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. She led the investigation that deemed the child “functionally cured,” meaning in long-term remission even if all traces of the virus haven’t been completely eradicated.

Next, Persaud’s team is planning a study to try to prove that, with more aggressive treatment of other high-risk babies. “Maybe we’ll be able to block this reservoir seeding,” Persaud said.

No one should stop anti-AIDS drugs as a result of this case, Fauci cautioned.

But “it opens up a lot of doors” to research if other children can be helped, he said. “It makes perfect sense what happened.”

Better than treatment is to prevent babies from being born with HIV in the first place.

About 300,000 children were born with HIV in 2011, mostly in poor countries where only about 60 percent of infected pregnant women get treatment that can keep them from passing the virus to their babies. In the U.S., such births are very rare because HIV testing and treatment long have been part of prenatal care.

“We can’t promise to cure babies who are infected. We can promise to prevent the vast majority of transmissions if the moms are tested during every pregnancy,” Gay stressed.

The only other person considered cured of the AIDS virus underwent a very different and risky kind of treatment — a bone marrow transplant from a special donor, one of the rare people who is naturally resistant to HIV. Timothy Ray Brown of San Francisco has not needed HIV medications in the five years since that transplant.

The Mississippi case shows “there may be different cures for different populations of HIV-infected people,” said Dr. Rowena Johnston of amFAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research. That group funded Persaud’s team to explore possible cases of pediatric cures.

It also suggests that scientists should look back at other children who’ve been treated since shortly after birth, including some reports of possible cures in the late 1990s that were dismissed at the time, said Dr. Steven Deeks of the University of California, San Francisco, who also has seen the findings.

“This will likely inspire the field, make people more optimistic that this is possible,” he said.

In the Mississippi case, the mother had had no prenatal care when she came to a rural emergency room in advanced labor. A rapid test detected HIV. In such cases, doctors typically give the newborn low-dose medication in hopes of preventing HIV from taking root. But the small hospital didn’t have the proper liquid kind, and sent the infant to Gay’s medical center. She gave the baby higher treatment-level doses.

The child responded well through age 18 months, when the family temporarily quit returning and stopped treatment, researchers said. When they returned several months later, remarkably, Gay’s standard tests detected no virus in the child’s blood.

Ten months after treatment stopped, a battery of super-sensitive tests at half a dozen laboratories found no sign of the virus’ return. There were only some remnants of genetic material that don’t appear able to replicate, Persaud said.

In Mississippi, Gay gives the child a check-up every few months: “I just check for the virus and keep praying that it stays gone.”

The mother’s HIV is being controlled with medication and she is “quite excited for her child,” Gay added.

It’s the first big look at diet and strokes, and researchers say it might help explain why blacks in the Southeast – the nation’s “stroke belt” – suffer more of them.

Blacks were five times more likely than Whites to have the Southern dietary pattern linked with the highest stroke risk.

And Blacks and Whites who live in the South were more likely to eat this way than people in other parts of the country were. Diet might explain as much as two-thirds of the excess stroke risk seen in Blacks versus whites, researchers concluded.

“We’re talking about fried foods, french fries, hamburgers, processed meats, hot dogs,” bacon, ham, liver, gizzards, and sugary drinks, said the study’s leader, Suzanne Judd of the University of Alabama in Birmingham.

People who ate about six meals a week featuring these sorts of foods had a 41 percent higher stroke risk than people who ate that way about once a month, researchers found.

In contrast, people whose diets were high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fish had a 29 percent lower stroke risk.

“It’s a very big difference,” Judd said. “The message for people in the middle is there’s a graded risk” – the likelihood of suffering a stroke rises in proportion to each Southern meal in a week.

Results were reported Thursday at an American Stroke Association conference in Honolulu.

The federally funded study was launched in 2002 to explore regional variations in stroke risks and reasons for them. More than 20,000 people 45 or older – half of them black – from all 48 mainland states filled out food surveys and were sorted into one of five diet styles:

-Southern: Fried foods, processed meats (lunchmeat, jerky), red meat, eggs, sweet drinks and whole milk.

-Convenience: Mexican and Chinese food, pizza, pasta.

-Plant-based: Fruits, vegetables, juice, cereal, fish, poultry, yogurt, nuts and whole-grain bread.

-Sweets: Added fats, breads, chocolate, desserts, sweet breakfast foods.

-Alcohol: Beer, wine, liquor, green leafy vegetables, salad dressings, nuts and seeds, coffee.

“They’re not mutually exclusive” – for example, hamburgers fall into both convenience and Southern diets, Judd said. Each person got a score for each diet, depending on how many meals leaned that way.

Over more than five years of follow-up, nearly 500 strokes occurred.

Researchers saw clear patterns with the Southern and plant-based diets; the other three didn’t seem to affect stroke risk.

There were 138 strokes among the 4,977 who ate the most Southern food, compared to 109 strokes among the 5,156 people eating the least of it.

There were 122 strokes among the 5,076 who ate the most plant-based meals, compared to 135 strokes among the 5,056 people who seldom ate that way.

The trends held up after researchers took into account other factors such as age, income, smoking, education, exercise, and total calories consumed.

Fried foods tend to be eaten with lots of salt, which raises blood pressure – a known stroke risk factor, Judd said. And sweet drinks can contribute to diabetes, the disease that celebrity chef Paula Deen – the queen of Southern cuisine – revealed she had a year ago.

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, drugmaker Amgen Inc. and General Mills Inc. funded the study.

“This study does strongly suggest that food does have an influence and people should be trying to avoid these kinds of fatty foods and high sugar content,” said an independent expert, Dr. Brian Silver, a Brown University neurologist and stroke center director at Rhode Island Hospital.

“I don’t mean to sound like an ogre. I know when I’m in New Orleans I certainly enjoy the food there. But you don’t have to make a regular habit of eating all this stuff.”

SEE ALSO: CDC Spokesman Looks To Stop Infection With Personal AIDS Story On National Black HIV/AID Day

“The Voice” singer Jamar Rogers has been traveling to high schools and universities, lecturing students about the importance of practicing safe sex. He should know. He learned that he was diagnosed with AIDS following a six-year stint of using crystal-meth, sharing needles, and having unprotected sex. Now, he’s a spokesman for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention “Let’s Stop HIV Together” campaign.

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Rogers sees Feb. 7th, the 13th anniversary of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, (NHBAAD), with a mixture of despair and hope. He says the day is not only a time to recognize that Blacks continue to bear the greatest burden of HIV in the nation, but it’s also a time for lawmakers, leaders, and members of the community to look toward an end to the epidemic.

“There are still a lot of people who are at risk and engaging in risky behavior. By sharing my own story, I’m trying to tell people that it doesn’t have to get as bad as it got before I found out,” he told NewsOne. Rogers says that he had full-blown AIDS when he learned his status.

And he’s not alone. While only representing 14 percent of the U.S. population, African Americans account for half of all new HIV infections and almost half of the 1.1 million Americans living with HIV.

While African-American women also continue to be far more affected by HIV than women of other races/ethnicities, recent data show early signs of an encouraging decrease in new HIV infections. The CDC is hopeful that this charts the way to a longer-term trend.

The statistics are grim for African-American youth, though. Young people between the ages of 13 and 24 represent more than a quarter of new HIV infections each year, 26 percent, and most of the youth living with HIV, 60 percent, are unaware they are infected, according to the CDC.

Young gay and bisexual men and African-Americans represent the group of young people who are most affected by HIV/AIDS.

RELATED: Breaking News: Young Gay, Bisexual Black Males Hit Hardest By HIV Infection

In 2010, 72 percent of estimated new HIV infections in young people occurred in young men who have sex with men (MSM). By race/ethnicity, 57 percent of estimated new infections in this age group were in African Americans, according to the CDC.

“I really want our youth to know that HIV/AIDS is still around and our approach to educating youth about safer sex is not working,” he continued. “I’ve been approaching it from a self-respect and self-love point of view, saying, You know what? You need to know that you were born on purpose and with purpose. Once you know that you have a purpose, you are not willing to engage in risky behavior. I don’t know if my method is working, but I’m going to keep hitting the pavement and sharing it as much as possible.”

Donna McCree, associate director for health equity of CDC’s division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, said that everyone has a role to play in helping to reduce the rates. Getting tested is an important first step and the CDC helps visitors to its National HIV and STD Testing Resources website find testing facilities via zip code. She encourages everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 to know their status.

“This is an exciting time,” she told NewsOne. “We have more tools than ever to win the fight against HIV. For any of the tools to make a difference, we really have to commit to using them. We know now that people newly diagnosed with HIV dramatically reduce the risk of passing the virus to another person.”

But the down side is that African Americans are least likely to have medical coverage or to have the virus under control when compared to racial groups, McCree said.

“We have to work to ensure that HIV-positive African Americans are connected to and stay in effective care and treatment, which allows us to protect their health and the health of their partner,” she said.

She said that breakthrough treatments such as PrEP, or Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, could greatly help reduce the infection rate. It is a pill that people who do not have HIV take daily to reduce their risk of becoming infected. When used consistently, PrEP has been shown to be effective in MSM and heterosexually active men and women.

“But for these new medical breakthroughs to reduce new HIV infections, those that are at risk need to be aware of it and they have to be able to access care and use it consistently,” she said. “ So it’s very important that we get tested. That is the first step and Feb. 7th is a good day to remind everyone about the importance of getting tested and protecting ourselves and others from infections.”

Courtesy of HarperCollins Publishers

Is it becoming harder and harder to stick to your resolve to lose weight as the New Year kicks in to its second month? Well, fitness guru Donna Richardson Joyner has a fitness program to help you work your plan.

SEE ALSO: Dr. Ian Smith’s New Diet May Help You ‘Shred’ Pounds

In “Witness to Fitness: Pumped Up! Powered Up! All Things Are Possible” (pictured below),” Joyner combines a fitness regime of faith, healthy eating, and exercise that she tells NewsOne is sure to keep you on track. Throughout the 208-page book, she quotes scriptures, recommends low-calorie snacks, and 10-minute workouts for those days when you simply cannot fit a full workout in to your schedule.

Joyner, a member of President Barack Obama’s Council For Fitness, took time out of her busy schedule to talk about her new book and answer questions about obesity and the importance of healthy eating and fitness in the African-American community. She urges African-American women, who have the highest obesity rate of any group in the nation, and their families to join First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign and battle against negative stereotypes in the media.

NewsOne: “Witness to Fitness” is such a great idea. How did you come up with it?

Donna Richardson Joyner: Just like my “Body Gospel” faith, fitness and healthy foods DVD and church program, God placed it in my heart to write “Witness To Fitness.” Being a witness to your health is like being a witness to your faith. People have to be an eyewitness to their health and take action to become a better person with a healthy mind, spirit, and body.

You don’t waiver or compromise your faith so don’t waiver or compromise on your health. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God, You are not your own (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV). It’s time to stop doing nothing and start doing something. Stop making excuses and start making better choices.

NO: What advice do you have for African-American women who have the highest obesity rate of any group of Americans? 

DRJ: Four out of five African-American women are overweight or obese. We can’t accept this as the norm. Let’s put a stamp on it, “Not Accepted.”

The reason why I wrote “Witness To Fitness” was because I had traveled around the world helping people become healthier but my greatest challenge was not overseas it was my family, my community, my church.

I was sick and tired of being sick and tired of witnessing love ones suffer from preventable illnesses like obesity, go to heaven way to soon, know better but not do better and not appreciating good health until they experienced bad health.

My sisters, the most-precious gift you can give to yourself is not getting your hair done, or your nails manicured, not a pair of 4-inch shoes or a fabulous dress, it’s Good Health!

Your health is the power line of your life, and without it, there is no being. Sharon, a middle age woman, went to the doctor a few times complaining about her health and never following the advice of her doctor who told her to be more physically active and eat nutritional meals. Falling on deaf ears he finally said, “Would you rather exercise one hour of every day or be dead every hour of every day.”

It’s time for change and you have the power to change. Change your thinking and your actions will follow. My pastor once said, “You cannot conquer what you are not committed to moving forward.” Let’s not just pray about good health, let’s be about it. See your health as a necessity, not a luxury. I have 28-day program that will help you get started and develop habits that become a part of your lifestyle.

It will work if you work it. In the Bible it says, “Whatever you eat or drink do it for the glory of the Lord.” In other words, treasure your temple don’t trash your temple.

NO: What are some of the greatest myths surrounding Black women and obesity? Are African-American women just thick and big boned? The hook in the popular “Birthday Song” by 2 Chainz, featuring Kanye West, is “All I want for my birthday is a big booty h**.”  In a sense, big booties and thick women are glorified. 

DRJ: First, let’s stop saying the words big boned and thick to describe African-American women. Let’s start by saying we are fearfully and wonderfully made and we “can do all things through Christ who strengths us.” I don’t care what shape, size, color, age, or nationality you are; it’s important to be healthy. Full figure, skinny Minnie, big buns, curvy hips, tank thighs, it does not matter what you call it, take care of your body or you won’t be around to take care of others.

We have a health epidemic in Black communities and we must act now! My grandmother use to say if you take one step, the good Lord will take two.

Faith without works is dead.

First lady Michelle Obama says, “Let’s Move.” Whatever you want to call it, just do it.

NO: African-American women have long been known for their spirituality. Is that why you combined faith, food, and fitness?

DRJ: If we trust in God for everything else in our life, why won’t we trust in Him regarding our physical being? Most of us have tried diets, gadgets, and crazy programs. The one thing missing was God. By combining your faith, fitness, and healthy foods, you sow good seeds, you reap healthy returns.

Losing weight is not just physical, it’s spiritual. There are no short cuts and it’s not easy. Believe in your faith and be obedient in your actions so you can be faithfully fit and fabulous!

NO: Finally, what is your secret to staying fit? What advice can you give to other women who resolved to lose weight in 2013 and are trying to stay on track?

DRJ: I’m physically active daily and enjoy walking, swimming, golfing, dancing, hiking etc. I practice good nutrition. I treat myself once or twice a week. I have daily devotion every morning with prayer and meditation. I have used challenges, obstacles, and pains in my life to push me in to my greater purpose and calling in life. I have learned to decrease self and increase God. I serve with honor and humility.

Staying fit, having a loving heart, and a giving spirit allows me to help people around the world not just look good and feel good but to be good and do good. “To whom much is given much is required.”

The problem is not just sometimes starting but sticking to it.

Remember, God can’t bless what you don’t do.

Ask him for the grace to change. You have to want to change more then you want to stay the same. If you have started with your New Year’s resolution to lose weight or become healthier here are a few tips to keep you going:

1.  Decrease processed foods, increase natural foods.

2.  Drink plenty of water (8 or more glasses daily).

3.  Practice moderation. If you can’t see the bottom of the plate, you have too much. Use a salad plate, eat slower, snack on fruit and veggies, no seconds, and don’t pick up the saltshaker.

4.  Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Get rid of negative self talks, stinking thinking, and lose the bad attitude.

5. If you fall off the wagon, get right back on track that day. Don’t blow the whole day, week, or month because of one mistake. It’s temporary and it shall pass the moment you call on Him to help you move forward. Call on him to push you away from the table when you are full. Call on him to get your butt up to workout after you hit the snooze button. Call on him when you don’t think you can walk another mile or stay on the StairMaster 5 more minutes.

This awakening, being a “Witness to Fitness,” is about you, it’s about me, and we are in this together. Now woman up, and do it not just for yourself, but also for your children and your family. Get pumped up, powered, and prayed up!

 SEE ALSO: Lessons As A Women’s Health Activist

If weight loss is at the top of your list of New Year’s resolutions, then Dr. Ian K. Smith (pictured) has just the prescription for you. The New York Times-bestselling author has just released “Shred: The Revolutionary Diet (pictured below),” which is the No. 1 book in the nation. His latest diet pledges to help people lose four inches and two sizes in as little as six weeks.

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Best known as Dr. Ian, he told NewsOne that his new diet is a great way for people jump start their New Year’s resolutions to lose weight and begin an exercise plan because it allows dieters to slowly change their habits.

While most people give up on their weight loss resolutions because diets and workouts are too grueling, Dr. Ian insists that his Shred diet is different. Shred’s food choices include grains, skinless poultry and fish, and fresh fruits and veggies, with exercise including walking, jogging outside, swimming laps, and attending spinning classes.

“People get excited when they see a loss of 4 or more pounds in just the first week and this motivates them to shred even harder,” he says.

National TV talk show and radio host Steve Harvey recently announced that he lost 4 pounds during his first week on the diet and is determined not just to finish the 6-week cycle, but to make it a way of life.

Here, NewsOne talks to the diet guru, whose list of bestsellers include “The Fat Smash Diet,” and “Extreme Fat Smash Diet,” about his new book, obesity in the African-American community, and healthy living.

NewsOne: What led to the development of “Shred? Can it help people jump start their diet and workout plans for the New Year and put them on a path for lasting change?

Dr. Ian K. Smith: I created this program for friends who had lost weight on my Fat Smash Diet, but had hit a plateau. They asked me to create a customized plan for them that would get them losing weight again. Thus was born the first iteration of “Shred.” This summer, I tweeted to my followers some of the diet to help them lose weight before the New Year’s weight loss panic hit. After 5,000 tried the program, the results were amazing. The average results were 20 pounds, 4 inches and or 2 sizes in six weeks.

I wanted to simplify dieting and make it accessible to everyone. The food can be purchased at any grocery store and is extremely affordable. The plan is portable, meaning whether you’re in an airport or a restaurant or on vacation you can still follow “Shred.” Diabetics, vegetarians, those with other medical conditions or allergies have been successful on “Shred” because it’s extremely flexible and encourages substitutions where necessary.

You can get diet and health tips from me by following me on Twitter @doctoriansmith.

NO: Statistics show that African Americans are 1.5 times as likely as
Whites to be obese. Is something going on in the Black community that is causing obesity and impacting the overall health of the community?

IKS: Yes, we are making poorer food choices. We are not as physically active as we need to be. We have a sense of resignation when it comes to disease, such as diabetes and high blood pressure. To some degree, we give up because a family member has it and we expect to get it also, so we don’t take precautions. We have to change our attitude about disease and do a better job of taking the necessary steps to prevent it. All of America is overweight and has problems. African Americans are often culturally entrenched in issues such as self-image and food that have become problematic.

NO: What are the greatest misconceptions and misrepresentations about African Americans and obesity?

IKS: We tend to think that the BMI chart or other measures of obesity don’t apply to us. We, too, often confuse what is aesthetically pleasing with what the medical definition is for being overweight or obese.

Just because you’re confident in your body and others like the way you look, doesn’t mean that you have a healthy weight.

The same rules of obesity that apply to others must also apply to us. Our bones aren’t larger and we are not genetically predisposed to being larger than others.

NO: What is a simple way of starting a fitness plan and how can dieters
avoid overeating at a meal?

IKS: You have to put one foot in front of the other — literally. Take your time. Don’t start a program that calls for changes that are too drastic. Being overwhelmed at the beginning of a plan means you’re less likely to follow it. Start walking or playing a sport or moving in a way that’s fun. Sometimes the gym is not for everyone. Also, start exercising with a friend. Do it in small intervals at first, and then as you get better conditioned, increase the duration of your exercise. Most importantly, challenge yourself a little without overwhelming yourself.

NO: And finally, what is your secret? How do you manage to stay healthy and fit with such a busy work schedule?

IKS: I wrote “Shred” not just because it is a great way to lose weight, but because it is a state of mind. I am constantly working on shredding my body and making choices that give me the best chance at having the body that I want. I don’t advocate perfection and am not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I try to be healthier on balance and make smart decision most of the time, and still enjoy the times when I don’t.

Black Breast Cancer Survivors

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So what is the bonafide secret for seeing 10-plus decades on this planet? If you’re Denver resident Mekey Yetashawork (pictured), it’s all about working up a sweat, plus a little prayer.

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“Exercise must be done daily,” the 103-year-old Ethiopian native says. Yetashawork walks a half-mile at the Cherry Creek Shopping Center in Downtown Denver almost every day. He’s done so for the past 12 years. While it takes him two hours to walk that half-mile, it’s hard to argue with the results. And his family and nursing home assistants ensure he makes it there.

Regulars at the mall have taken notice. “He walks the mall almost every day, and he just keeps going,” mall employee Bill Bradshaw said.

“We all have aches and pains, and we’re all 40 to 50. We won’t say our age, but here he is just moving forward.”

Another mall employee, Arkady Jencks, noted that “every day when I was a kid my mom worked at the mall, and I would see him walking around, same pace.”

Even when he isn’t walking, Yetashawork is moving his body in some manner, KUSA reports.

Watch Yetashawork do his daily mall workout here:

“When I sit down, you see me,” he said.  “My feet always, always [are moving]. That’s the most important part of your body.”

Modifying his eating habits has also helped, he says. “I eat once a day. Once a day only. Then I have my stomach rest, you know?”

And there’s prayer to wrap up his daily regimen: Yetashawork says 90 percent of his energy is delivered from a higher power.

The retired pharmacist, who came to America as a refugee and also speaks 10 languages, summed it up as succinctly as possible. “Until you die, you have to move!”

Sound advice.

Yetashawork will celebrate his 104th birthday April 12th with a party at Cherry Creek that will be organized by the mall’s top officials.

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According to a new study published by Wake Forest University School of Medicine, scientists discovered that two out of every five Black women or 40 percent avoid exercise because of hairdo worries, reports Medscape News Today.

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Black women’s attitudes about their hair just adds to a growing concern about the lack of healthful fitness habits from a population that has the highest rates of being overweight and obese compared to other groups in the United States.  Government estimates state that 4 in 5 African-American women are overweight or obese.

“As an African-American woman, I have that problem, and my friends have that problem. So I wondered if my patients had that problem,” said Dr. Amy McMichael, the study’s senior researcher and a dermatologist at the university.

The U.S. Army is trimming the fat, due to the alarming number of soldiers who are grossly overweight. Why? Because the battle of the bulge has now become the leading cause of ineligibility for enlistment as one in four adults are just too fat to join the military, reports the Washington Post.

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According to the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center, in just over a 12-year period from 1998 to 2010, the number of active-duty military personnel has tripled, with 86,186 troops being labeled as obese.

A mind-boggling 20 percent of all male recruits and 40 percent of female recruits are too overweight to enter the military ranks. In order to join the military, new recruits have to shed pounds so that they can pass the minimum requirements in both  height/weight measurements as well as any physical fitness tests.

Between 1995 and 2008, the military had 140,000 individuals who showed up at recruiting centers but failed their entrance physical because of their weight.

The fat trend has prompted the military to consider some drastic changes in its training programs and is forcing the hand of commanders to get rid of those who are deemed too fat for a foxhole.  So far this year alone, more than 1,600 soldiers were given the military boot out of the Army for tipping the scales, which is 16 times greater than the number of military personnel who were ousted in 2007.

“A healthy and fit force is essential to national security,” Cmdr. Leslie Hull-Ryde, a Pentagon spokesperson who was interviewed by the Washington Post.  ”Our service members must be physically prepared to deploy on a moment’s notice anywhere on the globe to extremely austere and demanding conditions.”

Currently around 70 percent of the U.S. population is overweight or obese, and a Johns Hopkins study predicts that number will climb to 86 percent in the next 20 years.  Being overweight in the military is a huge hurdle.  Troops have to sprint, climb, walk long distances, go through obstacles while wearing ammunition, body armor, and supplies that weigh 50 pounds or more.

The military health insurance system, TRICARE, already doles out $1.1 billion a year for obesity-related illnesses.

Sound off!

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RELATED: Nelson Mandela Is ‘Doing Well’ In Hospital

Doctors who are treating the 94-year-old former president of South Africa say that he is responding to their treatments, according to a statement released from the country’s incumbent President Jacob Zuma.

The statement also said that Mandela had the same lung condition last year.

Mandela, who has become increasingly fragile over the last few years, was last seen in public during the 201o World Cup hosted by South Africa.  The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has also received round-the-clock care after undergoing abdominal surgery earlier this year.

Mandela, who is affectionately called “Madiba” by his countryman, spent 27 years as a political prisoner because he fought against the racist political apartheid system in South Africa.  The first democratically elected president was freed from prison four years before he took office in 1994.

Only last month, Mandela was honored with being featured on the front of his country’s currency.  The new 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 rand banknotes will co-exist with the current bills as legal tender.

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At first it was reported that the country’s first Black president was hospitalized for not being able to speak.  A close unidentified source spoke to the South African newspaper, The Sunday Times, revealed that “he [Mandela] has not been talking … he is not looking good. It’s clear that something is troubling him.”

The 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader, who spent 27 years in prison for fighting racist White rule in his country, was previously hospitalized this past February for persistent abdominal pains, but a keyhole examination revealed there was nothing wrong with him.  Mandela has since stayed mostly at his home in the village of Qunu located in the Eastern Cape province.

Increasingly frail and no longer able to make personal appearances, Mandela, who is also affectionately referred to as “Madiba,” which is his Xhosa clan name, was visited this year by such luminaries as former U.S. President Bill Clinton and last year by First Lady Michelle Obama.

During his present hospital stay, South African President Jacob Zuma visited the elderly anti-apartheid hero on Sunday and his office released a press release the following day informing the public that Mandela looked well and “had a good night’s rest. The doctors will still conduct further tests today. He is in good hands. “

Mandela is a cancer survivor and underwent surgery for an enlarged prostate gland in 1985. Six years later, he would go through a series of chemotherapy treatments for prostate cancer, ultimately beating the disease.

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Marley’s Mellow Mood, which is typically found in convenience stores and gas stations, is part of a new trend of “relaxation” products.  The drink, which prominently features an image of the late reggae star on its label, was also available for sale at the William R. Satz School and Holmdel High School in Holmdel, N.J.

Chartwells School Dining Services, the company that partners with school districts to provide dining services to students, claims that the relaxation concoction was an “unauthorized purchase not approved for sale in schools managed by Chartwells.”

After ingesting the beverage, children reported spitting it up and vomiting, while others felt lethargic. The Satz School sent a letter to parents saying:

Several students went to our nurse’s office to report symptoms of nausea, headaches, light-headiness, and a feeling of lethargy.

The beverage contains valerian, which is a medicinal herb that has not been subjected to extensive testing.  Valerian is used for treating insomnia, stress, and anxiety, and there reportedly hasn’t been much research done on the potential effects it has on children.

Ironically, the beverage’s label has a warning that indicates it may cause drowsiness and is not intended for children.

The Marley family drink also contains other ingredients, such as lemon balm, hops, passion flower, and chamomile.

In a statement regarding the negative effects that the Marley drinks had on the children, Chartwells said:

Anthony McWilliams, left, and “L” Lawrence Warren, right, participate in the 2nd Annual Stand Up and Represent National Black Gay Pride march in the West End section of Atlanta.

Young gay and bisexual Black males are hit hardest by new HIV-infection rates and that’s not the worst news: Most of them do not even know it, according to survey results released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Young people between the ages of 13 and 24 represent more than a quarter of new HIV infections each year (26 percent), and most of the youth living with HIV (60 percent) are unaware they are infected, according to a Vital Signs report from the CDC.

Young gay and bisexual men and African-Americans represent the group of young people who are most-affected, the report says. In 2010, 72 percent of estimated new HIV infections in young people occurred in young men who have sex with men (MSM).  By race/ethnicity, 57 percent of estimated new infections in this age group were in African Americans, the report shows.

The sad news is that most never get tested because of social and economic factors, such as poverty, lack of access to health care, the stigma of being gay or bisexual, and discrimination, the report says.

The data reveals the latest information on HIV infections, testing, and risk behaviors among young people and was published in advance of World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, with the hopes of reaching and educating people about the importance of safe sex and getting tested.

“Given everything we know about HIV and how to prevent it after more than 30 years of fighting the disease, it is just unacceptable that young people are becoming infected at such high rates,” Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., CDC director, said during a conference call about the report. “Reducing HIV among young people is a top priority for the CDC. This is about the health of a new generation and protecting them from an entirely preventable disease.”

Dr. Frieden lamented that despite treatment advances, the virus remains incurable, which is a tremendous burden on the health care system. He said the cost of care for a single patient is approximately $400,000 over his lifetime and added that because of the infection rate in young people, the nation is accruing about $400 million in health care costs every month and about $5 billion annually in preventable infections.

Overall, an estimated 12,200 new HIV infections occurred in 2010 among young people aged 13-24, with young gay and bisexual men and African Americans hit harder by HIV than their peers, the report shows.

Kevin Fenton, M.D., director, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, CDC., said education is the key to reducing the numbers in the African-American community.

“Homophobia, addressing risk behavior, and access to treatment all have an impact on the infection rate,” Fenton told NewsOne in a separate interview. “There are lots of complexities around the epidemic, but that will not prevent us from doing a good job. We are ensuring that all Americans have information. It’s critical to reach all young people to inform them about HIV, how to practice safe sex, and how to get tested. The CDC has been doing a lot of work in this space.”

Despite recommendations from the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics that call for routine HIV testing of youth in medical settings, the report shows that few young people have been tested for HIV. Only 13 percent of high school students have ever been tested for HIV, which is 22 percent of sexually experienced students.

As a result of lower testing levels, HIV-infected people under the age of 25 are significantly less likely than those who are older to get and stay in care and to have their virus controlled at a level that helps them stay healthy and reduce their risk of transmitting HIV to partners.

The CDC also examined risk behaviors among high school students in 12 states and nine large urban school districts and found that young men who sleep with men (MSM) reported engaging in substantially higher levels of risk behavior than their heterosexual male peers:

• Young MSM were more likely to report having had sex with four or more partners or injecting illegal drugs.
• Among students who were currently sexually active, young MSM were more likely to have used alcohol or drugs before their last sexual experience and were less likely to have used a condom.
• Young MSM were also less likely to report having been taught about HIV or AIDS in school.
• Only 35 percent of people aged 18 to 24 years have been tested.

“The new data included in today’s release helps us to better understand why HIV is taking such a heavy toll on young men who have sex with men and highlights the importance of addressing risk behaviors and improving our education and efforts to address the epidemic in young people,” Frieden said. “As we work to drive down new HIV infections in all populations, we have to give particular attention to the next generation, especially African-American and gay and bisexual young men. Every young person should know how to protect themselves from HIV and should be empowered to do so. Protecting our next generation from HIV is key to achieving a vision of an AIDS-free generation in the U.S.”

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The special, “I’m Positive,” is scheduled to air Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. ET/PT. Drew Pinsky, who is one of the show’s producers, said that if it does well, he hopes it can become a regular series.

In three decades, infection with the virus that causes AIDS has gone from a virtual death sentence to a chronic condition that can be controlled with early detection and a drug regimen. But even if it doesn’t develop into full-blown AIDS, there’s still some doubt about the long-term health implications of living with HIV and the drugs designed to keep control of it, Pinsky said.

Watch an MTV PSA against HIV:

“People are taking it too casually … and forgetting about it,” Pinsky said.

A generational divide is evident in the profiles on “I’m Positive.” California girl Kelly, one of the three subjects, feels in control of the situation despite her infection. The Mother of Stephanie, a single Southern girl infected through one instance of unprotected sex, is distraught and thinks her daughter is about to die.

The third profile subject, Otis, had a hard time telling his family that he was HIV positive since it was only a year earlier that he revealed he was gay.

As proven by its programming on teenage pregnancy, MTV finds that this documentary-style programming is a good way to reach its young viewers with a message.

“Young people relate when they see their peers struggling with this phenomenon,” Pinsky said.

MTV began running “safe sex” campaigns in 1985, and has been encouraging youngsters to get themselves tested for 15 years in an effort funded together with the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Two in five people infected with HIV each year in the United States are between the ages of 13 and 29, MTV’s targeted audience. More than 1.1 million Americans are living with HIV infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

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Ever since Lenox Hill Hospital decided to invest in posh executive suites that are housed two floors below the common maternity ward earlier this year, nurses allege that the care and attention to newborns of regular Moms has diminished. Reportedly called the “Beyonce Room,” the “Park Ave. Studio,” and the “premium deluxe,” these executive suites (partly pictured above), with full-service, can be had for $1,750 a night — if you can afford to birth like Beyonce — and $1,400 a night for the premium rooms. If your pocket isn’t deep enough, though, a Mother also has the option of paying for the cheapest of the deluxe rooms, “deluxe private,” at $850 a night.

Consequently, a Mother’s stay, which is usually three nights, could cost her up to $5,250 not including actual medical care costs.

The NY Daily News reports:

The “Beyoncé Room” … [has] blond wood floors, dark wood cabinets and cream-colored walls. The fourth-floor rooms feature better linens, plush terry cloth robes, a microwave, coffeemaker and two plasma screen TVs, according to one nurse.

By contract, nurses are only allowed to take care of eight babies at a time. At Lenox Hill, two nurses are supposed to be on-duty caring for up to 18 babies. When a well-heeled Mother goes in to labor, though, one of these nurses is reportedly ordered downstairs to give that Mom one-on-one care, meaning that the other nurse is left behind to manage all of those newborns by her lonesome.

Fed up, one nurse told the NY Daily News,”It’s incredibly stressful. You have too many babies. You can’t do all you need to do for them.”

Other nurses “have been saying they [hospital executives] don’t care about the 99 percent, they only care about the 1 percent.”

While the hospital denies that the executive suites have nicknames and denies leaving the common maternity ward shortstaffed, the New York Professional Nurses Union Chief of Staff Eileen Toback is reportedly threatening to strike if these practices don’t change.

“These units are incredibly busy and there are not enough nurses and ancillary staff,” Toback said. “The stress is that a whole other floor puts pressure on the ratios. And something has to give.”

Sound off!

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“We know that we are not out of the woods yet,” Dr. J. Todd Weber of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said as the death toll reached 14.

Of the 170 people sickened in the outbreak, all but one have a rare fungal form of meningitis after receiving suspect steroid shots for back pain, the CDC said. The other case is an ankle infection discovered in Michigan; steroid shots also can be given to treat aching knees, shoulders, or other joints.

Fungus has been found in at least 50 vials of an injectable steroid medication made at a specialty compounding pharmacy in Massachusetts, investigators said. Health authorities haven’t yet said how they think the medication was contaminated, but they have ruled out other suspects – other products used in administering the shots – and the focus continues to be on that pharmacy, the New England Compounding Center.

Compounding pharmacies traditionally supply products that aren’t commercially available, unlike the steroid at issue in the outbreak. And Dr. Madeleine Biondolillo of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health said it appears the company violated state law governing those pharmacies, which aren’t supposed to do large-scale production like a drug manufacturer. Instead, they’re supposed to produce medication for patient-specific prescriptions, she said.

“This organization chose to apparently violate the licensing requirements under which they were allowed to operate,” she told reporters Thursday.

Company officials weren’t immediately available to comment Thursday but earlier this week declined comment except to say they were cooperating with the investigation.

Idaho becomes the 11th state to report at least one illness. The others are Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia.

Last month, after illnesses began coming to light, the company recalled three lots of the steroid medicine – known as preservative-free methylprednisolone acetate- that were made in May, June, and August. The recall involved about 17,700 single-dose vials of the steroid sent to clinics in 23 states.

It’s not known if all or just some of the vials were contaminated, or how many doses were administered for back pain or for other reasons. Those given joint injections are not believed to be at risk for fungal meningitis, which is an inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord. A back injection would put any contaminant in more direct contact with that lining.

Symptoms of meningitis include severe headache, nausea, dizziness, and fever. The CDC said many of the cases have been mild, and some people had strokes. Symptoms have been appearing between one and four weeks after patients got the shots, but CDC officials on Thursday warned at least one illness occurred 42 days after a shot.

The fungus is difficult to grow in lab analyses, and health officials on Thursday issued an unusual piece of advice to doctors: If a patient who got the injection starts to develop meningitis symptoms, he or she should be treated, even if testing is negative for the fungus.

The fungus behind the outbreaks was initially identified as Aspergillus, but as more testing of patients has been completed, it’s become clear that another fungus – a kind of black mold called Exserohilum – is the primary cause. As of Wednesday, CDC’s fungal disease laboratory confirmed Exserohilum in 10 people with meningitis and Aspergillus in just one.

Exserohilum is common in dirt and grasses, but this is the first time it’s been identified as the cause of meningitis, said Weber, who is managing the CDC’s response to the outbreak.

Health officials are hurriedly trying to determine the best way to treat this kind of an illness, and have settled on two very strong anti-fungal medications. Consulting with experts, they’re making a best guess as to the dosage and length of time patients will have to be treated.

“This is new territory,” Weber said.

Fungal meningitis is not contagious like the more common forms.

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According to the lawsuit, the 38-year-old man was taken to Beebe Medical Center on June 26th, after he was suffering from pronounced chest pains. The EMS workers observed that Dillard demonstrated all of the signs that point to an impending heart attack. The young man had an abnormal EKG as well.

After being examined by the hospital staff, though, Dillard was allegedly told to go home and seek the medical services of a cardiologist.

When Dillard went to the hospital lobby to wait for a ride home, he later died of a heart attack at some point during the night and his body was discovered in the hospital’s lobby by a worker. 

 Dillard was reportedly in the lobby so long that rigor mortis (the stiffening of the joints and muscles of a body after death) had already begun to set in, states the lawsuit.

Dillard was then transported back to the emergency room, where he was pronounced dead.

The lawsuit accuses Beebe Medical and Sussex Emergency Associates of negligence and wrongful death, with Dillard’s family members seeking damages.  The family also claims that Dillard should have been admitted, kept for observation, and had his cardiac history considered as well.

The hospital released the following statement regarding the Dillard case:

A patient came into the Beebe Medical Center emergency department and was seen, treated appropriately following all protocols, and was discharged in stable condition. While sleeping in the lobby waiting for a ride, the individual passed away. In keeping with Beebe’s internal policies, this was fully disclosed and investigated by state and federal agencies having oversight authority.

According to a major 2010 study, “Unequal Treatment:  Confronting  Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Healthcare,” minorities in America — even those with private health insurance — receive lower-quality health care than Whites, contributing to higher death rates and shorter lifespans.

This translates in to minorities receiving less lifesaving heart medications, bypass surgery, dialysis, or kidney transplants. Minorities are also more likely to get their feet and legs amputated as a treatment for late-stage diabetes.

If Dillard’s family can indeed prove that Dillard was indeed neglected in their lawsuit, then the aforementioned statistics and reality of African Americans in this health care system will be underscored yet again and the hospital and its staff should receive the highest punishment and fines for their gross neglect.

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In June, she first disclosed that she has MDS, a blood and bone marrow disease. She will be hospitalized next week to prepare for the transplant. The donor will be her older sister, Sally-Ann Roberts, who was on hand for Thursday’s emotional send-off.

Watch Roberts saying goodbye here:

There’s no timetable for when Roberts will be back at “GMA,” but she promised she’ll return “as soon as I can.”

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Overall, more than a third of adults are obese but rates vary by state. The latest figures are based on a 2011 telephone survey that asked adults their height and weight. For the first time, households with only cell phones were included.

State rates remained about the same although states with very high rates went from nine to 12. At least 30 percent of adults are obese in Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia.

Colorado was lowest, at just under 21 percent, and Mississippi was highest at nearly 36 percent.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the figures Monday.

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Under the Wisconsin congressman’s Medicaid plan, states would take over the program.

At the same time, Ryan’s budget would reduce projected federal spending on Medicaid by about $800 billion over 10 years, dramatically shrinking it as a share of the national economy.

Medicaid serves about 60-million people, roughly 10 million more than Medicare. It’s a diverse population brought together by need. Most Medicaid recipients are low-income children and their mothers, but the costliest cases are severely disabled people, many of them seniors in nursing homes.

Ryan would also repeal President Barack Obama‘s health care law, expected to add at least 11 million more people to Medicaid.

Ryan’s Medicaid plan is in sync with his new boss, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

“Gov. Romney … believes that states are far better positioned to design programs that effectively serve those in need,” said campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul.

But no matter who runs Medicaid, such cuts would result in millions of vulnerable people losing health insurance, according to advocates for the poor and some nonpartisan economic analysts.

“Medicaid is already a very lean program,” said Edwin Park of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which advocates for low-income people. “It is not a program where you can magically glean huge efficiencies by just devolving it to the states. The only way to compensate for funding reductions of this magnitude would be to institute deep, damaging cuts to beneficiaries and the health care providers who serve them.”

Bring it on, says Wisconsin Health Secretary Dennis Smith, who oversees Medicaid in Ryan’s home state. Smith, who works for Republican Gov. Scott Walker, says states can cut costs without gutting services by running Medicaid more efficiently.

“Everybody agrees that there is excess cost in the health care system, so by golly, give us the flexibility to address it, and we will,” said Smith. “We can serve the people on Medicaid with the adjustments the Ryan budget. We can make that work.”

For example, Wisconsin is now charging some low-income adults a modest monthly premium for Medicaid, tapping a new funding source to pay for valuable benefits, Smith said. And the state is looking for ways to help frail elderly people keep living at home, avoiding the costly alternative of a nursing home.

Growing enrollment has turned Medicaid into a big share of state budgets, and since Washington sets many of the rules, the program is a source of constant tension between federal and state governments. On average, the federal government pays about 60 percent of Medicaid costs, and states cover the rest. The Supreme Court recently gave some latitude to states chafing at Obama’s health care law, saying they are free to opt out of its Medicaid expansion.

Obama has largely shielded Medicaid from cuts in budget negotiations with Congress. But his administration has proposed new ways to allocate funding that could be used to dial back the federal share.

Ryan’s plan goes beyond tweaking. It would essentially rip up the Medicaid manual and start all over again. States would get a lump sum from Washington, a “block grant” indexed to reflect population growth and inflation. The idea has governors split along party lines.

Ryan’s Medicare plan, shifting future retirees to private insurance, would phase in over a decade or more. The Medicaid changes would come much more rapidly. The proposal has not been fleshed out, leaving many unanswered questions. For example:

-What happens if a state’s economy tanks?

Under current law, the federal Medicaid share is pegged to program enrollment, not population growth, said John Holahan, director of the Health Policy Center at the nonpartisan Urban Institute.

That means federal funding increases when the Medicaid rolls swell. But under Ryan’s plan, “there are no provisions to automatically deal with recessions,” said Holahan. “The demand for Medicaid goes up at the same time state revenue is going down.”

-Would low-income and disabled people still have a legal right to coverage?

Converting Medicaid into a block grant would end the current right to coverage under federal law, and it remains unclear what rights could be preserved. Most analysts say states would insist on the flexibility to reduce their Medicaid rolls. The Urban Institute estimates that between 14 million and 27 million people would lose coverage because of Ryan’s spending restrictions.

-What sorts of safeguards would remain in place for seniors in need of nursing home care?

Although frail elderly people must spend down most of their savings before they can qualify for Medicaid, a federal law shields spouses from becoming impoverished. It’s unclear what would take its place.

Supporters of state control say governors and legislatures are closer to the people and would not harm their own constituents.

Back in Ryan’s state, the jury is still out.

Medicaid covers nearly 1 in 5 Wisconsin residents, and hospitals have a major stake in the outcome. Joanne Alig, senior vice president for policy with the Wisconsin Hospital Association, says they would need to know more about the plan to reach conclusions.

“While I think we are supportive of looking at alternatives to the Medicaid status quo, the devil’s in the details,” she said.

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She makes about $15,000 a year, supporting her daughter and unemployed husband. She thought she’d be able to get health insurance after the Supreme Court upheld President Barack Obama’s health care law.

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Then she heard that her own governor won’t agree to the federal plan to extend Medicaid coverage to people like her in two years. So she expects to remain uninsured, struggling to pay for her blood pressure medicine.

“You fall through the cracks and there’s nothing you can do about it,” said the 52-year-old home health aide. “It makes me feel like garbage, like the American dream, my dream in my homeland is not being accomplished.”

Many working parents like Pico are below the federal poverty line but don’t qualify for Medicaid, a decades-old state-federal insurance program. That’s especially true in states where conservative governors say they’ll reject the Medicaid expansion under Obama’s health law.

In South Carolina, a yearly income of $16,900 is too much for Medicaid for a family of three. In Florida, $11,000 a year is too much. In Mississippi, $8,200 a year is too much. In Louisiana and Texas, earning more than just $5,000 a year makes you ineligible for Medicaid.

Governors in those five states have said they’ll reject the Medicaid expansion underpinning Obama’s health law after the Supreme Court’s decision gave states that option. Many of those hurt by the decision are working parents who are poor – but not poor enough – to qualify for Medicaid.

Republican Mitt Romney‘s new running mate, conservative Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan, has a budget plan that would turn Medicaid over to the states and sharply limit federal dollars. Romney hasn’t specifically said where he stands on Ryan’s idea, but has expressed broad support for his vice presidential pick’s proposals.

Medicaid now covers an estimated 70 million Americans and would cover an estimated 7 million more in 2014 under the Obama health law’s expansion. In contrast, Ryan’s plan could mean 14 million to 27 million Americans would ultimately lose coverage, even beyond the effect of a repeal of the health law, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation of Ryan’s 2011 budget plan.

For now, most states don’t cover childless adults, but all states cover some low-income parents. The income cutoff, however, varies widely from state to state.

Most states cover children in low-income families. Manuel and Sandra Pico’s 15-year-old daughter is covered by Medicaid. But the suburban Miami couple can’t afford private insurance for themselves and they make too much for Florida’s Medicaid.

Manuel Pico, a carpenter, used to make more than $20,000 a year, but has struggled to find work in the last three years after the real estate market collapsed. He occasionally picks up day jobs or takes care of the neighbor’s yard. Sandra Pico would like to work full time, but can’t afford to pay someone to watch her 34-year-old sister, who has Down syndrome.

“No matter how hard I work, I’m not going to get anywhere,” Sandra Pico said. “If you’re not rich, you just don’t have it.”

In San Juan, Texas, 22-year-old Matthew Solis makes about $8,700 a year – too much to qualify for Medicaid in that state. Solis, a single father with joint custody of his 4-year-old daughter, said he works about 25 hours per week at a building supply store making minimum wage and is a full-time college student at the University of Texas-Pan American. He aspires to be a school counselor.

He recently sought medical care for food poisoning, visiting a federally funded clinic. But he doesn’t see a doctor regularly because he can’t afford private insurance. The new health law allows young adults to remain on their parents’ insurance until age 26. But that doesn’t help Solis, whose father is uninsured and whose mother died of leukemia when he was 8.

“I voted for him (Obama) because he promised we would have insurance,” Solis said. “I’m pretty upset because I worked for Obama and I still don’t have coverage.”

His governor, Rick Perry, like Pico’s governor, Rick Scott, is rejecting the Medicaid expansion. So Solis too is out of luck unless his circumstances dramatically change.

In most of the states where governors are rejecting or leaning against the expansion, the income level that disqualifies a parent from Medicaid is stunningly low.

Only in New Jersey, where Gov. Chris Christie has said he’s leaning against the expansion, is Medicaid available to parents with incomes at the poverty line and slightly above. New Jersey will cover a parent making $24,645 in a family of three.

Most states base Medicaid eligibility for parents on household income and how it compares to the federal poverty level, which was $18,530 for a family of three in 2011, the year being used for easier state-by-state comparisons.

In Louisiana, the eligibility cutoff for a working parent is 25 percent of federal poverty, or $4,633 for a family of three. In Nevada, it’s 87 percent of the federal poverty level, or $16,121 for a family of three.

That’s been the range in states where governors are likely saying no to expanded Medicaid.

In contrast, states where governors have said they’ll expand Medicaid are more generous with working parents. The Medicaid eligibility cutoff ranges in those states from Washington’s $13,527 to Minnesota’s $39,840.

To be sure, some states with generous coverage for parents have been forced to cut back. Illinois, facing a financial crisis, ended coverage last month for more than 25,000 working parents. Even so, the state still covers working parents with incomes slightly higher than the poverty line.

The national health law’s Medicaid expansion would start covering all citizens in 2014 who make up to roughly $15,400 for an individual, $30,650 for a family of four.

The federal government will pay the full cost of the Medicaid expansion through 2016. After that, the states will only pick up 5 percent of the cost through 2019, and 10 percent of the cost thereafter.

So why would any governor say no to such a great deal?

These governors are in favor of smaller government. In principle, they don’t want the federal government to expand – even if that expansion would help their own citizens. And they say they don’t want their own states paying any more of the Medicaid tab even if it’s years down the road.

“We don’t need the federal government telling us what to do when it comes to meeting the needs of the citizens of our states,” Florida Gov. Rick Scott wrote recently in an opinion piece for U.S. News and World Report. “And we don’t need Washington putting states on the hook for future budget obligations.”

Also, many conservatives view Medicaid as a wasteful, highly flawed program, akin to no health coverage. Many doctors across the country won’t treat Medicaid patients because the payments they receive are so low.

When the Supreme Court ruled that states could opt out of the health law’s Medicaid expansion, it raised the chances for inequity at a time when more Americans have fallen from the middle class into poverty, said Isabel Sawhill, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

“Why should a sick person in Connecticut have access to health care when they don’t in Mississippi and Texas?” Sawhill asked. “We really do have a very high level of poverty as a result of the recession. And the safety net is weaker than ever.”

Medicaid, the nation’s single largest insurer, is a state and federal program created in 1965 as a companion program to welfare cash assistance to single parents. Today, the elderly and disabled cost nearly 70 cents of every Medicaid dollar, not the stereotypical single mother and her children.

What’s largely unknown to many Americans is who is left out of the safety net, said Cheryl Camillo, a senior researcher at Mathematica Policy Research. “A huge chunk of the populace is not covered, even by Medicaid,” she said.

The political rhetoric during a presidential campaign focuses on the middle class and leaves the uninsured working poor largely invisible, said Rand Corp. researcher Dr. Art Kellermann.

“We hear a lot of talk about unemployment and the aspirations of middle-class Americans. But we don’t hear about the consequences of unemployment and the consequences of the collapsing middle class,” Kellermann said. Losing health insurance is one of those consequences.

“It’s like the public just doesn’t want to believe anything else until it hits home,” he said, “Until it’s their own child, brother or parent that got laid off when they were 58, until then, it’s not real.”

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