Health and Medicine

Two pregnant women from Illinois have tested positive for the Zika virus after traveling in Honduras and Haiti. The Illinois Department of Public Health says doctors are monitoring the women's health and their pregnancies. The virus is spread through mosquito bites and there's no risk of person-to-person spread. Outbreaks have been reported in parts of the Caribbean and Latin America. In Brazil, there's evidence linking the infection to a serious birth defect in which the brain and head are smaller than normal.

Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration has named an insurance company executive to lead Get Covered Illinois, the state's health insurance marketplace. The Illinois Department of Insurance says Karen Woods will fill the post. Woods previously worked as executive director of Blue Cross Blue Shield's retail claim operation. She succeeds Karin Zosel who left in early August to return to MacMurray College in Jacksonville where she worked before the Republican appointed her.

Advocate BroMenn Medical Center in Normal has received a four million dollar surprise. That's the amount an 83 year old man had left for the hospital when he died last April. Kenneth W. Smith was a longtime resident of Normal, though he had never given to Bromenn before.

University of Illinois has formed a committee to build the core curriculum of its new engineering-based medical school at the Urbana-Champaign campus. The university has announced the committee will be led by co-chairs Dr. Robert Good and Professor Rashid Bashir. Good is the senior associate medical director of population health at Carle Health System. Bashir heads the department of bioengineering at University of Illinois.  

An outbreak of E. coli linked to Chipotle restaurants has spread to Illinois and two other states. The list of those sickened is seven people longer. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says a total of 52 cases have now been reported in nine states. Chipotle today announced it was tightening its food safety standard. Of the 52 people infected, the CDC says 47 reported eating at a Chipotle Mexican Grill in the week before the illness started. The agency has not yet determined the ingredient responsible.
 

Illinois' new medical marijuana shops sold nearly $211,000 worth of cannabis in the first week, with less than a quarter of eligible patients buying so far.  

The state's first regulated marijuana dispensaries opened Monday. Program director Joseph Wright said Friday the dispensaries served 806 customers. They purchased about 460 ounces of marijuana, or about a half an ounce per person, on average.  

Green Thumb Industries CEO Ben Kovler says the numbers are "a very strong start." 

Governor Bruce Rauner has cut back on institutional care available to seniors.  The Republican used an amendatory veto Friday to reduce the cost of the measure aimed at protecting people who get institutional or at-home care while officials develop a new way of measuring need. Chicago Democratic Rep. Greg Harris sponsored the plan. He says it ensures people getting assistance now won't get cut off by a new assessment process.  

Medical marijuana growers in Illinois have been notified by state officials that they can start shipping their products to dispensaries today for sale to patients early next week. Department of Agriculture instructions say marijuana can be transported only between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. Vehicles carrying it must be staffed by at least two cultivation center employees. Growers must enter product ID numbers into a digital statewide tracking system. A Florida-based company called BioTrack THC has the Illinois contract for tracking medical marijuana from seed to sale.

Illinois wants insurance companies in the small group market to submit changes to their small business policies as quickly as possible following a bipartisan adjustment to the nation's health care law. President Barack Obama signed legislation last week that gives states flexibility about whether to change the definition of ``small business'' under the law.  

In an Oct. 9 memo to insurers, the Illinois Department of Insurance says it will keep defining ``small'' as employers with 1 to 50 employees.  

An advisory board has voted to add chronic pain syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, osteoarthritis and three other pain conditions to the list of illnesses that can be treated by marijuana in Illinois. The state's Medical Cannabis Advisory Board made the recommendations Wednesday at a meeting in suburban Chicago.