NBC News (4/24, Fox) reports online that opioid deaths may be higher than report because opioids suppress the immune system and can result in infection deaths, researchers suggested at a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention meeting on Monday. CDC field officer Victoria Hall found 59 examples of such cases in Minnesota’s Unexplained Death surveillance system. According to Hall, 22 of the “deaths involved toxic opioid levels.”

CNN (4/24, Scutti) reports online that Hall conceded the data could not indicate “what percent we are underestimating,” but she insisted that “we know we are missing cases.”

Related Links:

— “http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/deaths-infections-may-be-masking-opioid-deaths-n750336,” MAGGIE FOX, NBC News, April 24, 2017.

According to the NBC News (4/24, Gammon) website, data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse reveal that “approximately one in seven people who try addictive substances will get hooked, and the abuse of illicit drugs costs the economy $193 billion each year in healthcare, crime prevention, and loss of productivity.” Currently, scientists “are working on vaccines that block drugs from reaching the brain, preventing addicts from getting high.”

Related Links:

— “Anti-Drug Vaccines Could Be a Game-Changer for People Battling Addiction,” KATHARINE GAMMON, NBC News, April 24, 2017.

The AP (4/25, Johnson) features the stories of several teenagers who have received opioid abuse treatment at “special schools that use peer communities to support sobriety.” The piece centers on students at Hope, which offers services to 41 teenagers who have “abused marijuana, alcohol, painkillers and heroin.” Unlike other treatment facilities, Hope “embraces treatment with medication and doesn’t see it as a crutch.” The school is the subject of a study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, in which a researcher who “is studying whether kids who’ve been treated for addiction do better in recovery schools” has found some “evidence [which] shows recovery-school students are less likely to relapse than students who attend traditional schools after treatment.”

Related Links:

— “Overcoming Opioids: Special schools help teens stay clean,” CARLA K. JOHNSON, Associated Press via KWWL, April , 2017.

Healio (4/24, Oldt) reports, “Adults with mental illness were significantly more likely to smoke, compared with adults without any mental illness,” SAMHSA researchers found after analyzing “data from the 2012 to 2014 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health.” The study revealed that “adults with mental illness were more likely to report past-month cigarette use, compared with those without mental illness (33.3% vs. 20.7%).” The data can be seen here.

Related Links:

— “Smoking more common in adults with mental illness,” Amanda Oldt, Healio, April 24, 2017.

Healio (4/21, Oldt) reported, “Moderate-severe menopausal vasomotor symptoms were independently and significantly associated with moderate-severe depressive symptoms in women aged 40 to 65 years,” researchers found after conducting “a nationally representative cross-sectional survey of 2,020 Australian women aged 40 to 65 years,” then adjusting for confounding factors. The findings were published online March 6 in the Journal of Women’s Health.

Related Links:

— “Severe hot flashes increase risk for depression,” Worsley R, et al., Healio, April 21, 2017.