Health Highlights: Sept. 2, 2021

Here are some of HealthDay's top stories for Wednesday, Sept. 2:

Risk of long COVID drops by half in 'breakthrough' cases in fully vaccinated. A British study of almost 1 million people who were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 found that in those who got a breakthrough case, the odds of developing long COVID was cut in half, compared to unvaccinated people who developed the illness. Read more

FDA advisors set to meet on Sept. 17 to discuss booster shots. Outside experts charged with advising the FDA on the need for COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for Americans will meet on Sept. 17 -- just three days ahead of a Sept. 20 start to a rollout of boosters that's already set by the Biden Administration. The advisory panel's decision could either bolster or cast doubt on the White House move. Read more

Could nose cartilage help replace worn-out knees? Millions of aging Americans require knee replacement each year, but there's a hint from early research that cells found in a patient's nose cartilage might be used to regrow worn cartilage in ailing knees. Read more

Depression greatly ups odds for an early death in people with MS. A diagnosis of multiple sclerosis can often bring on depression, and a new study finds that the odds for death rise five-fold in people with both MS and depression, compared to people with neither condition. Read more

Oxycontin maker Purdue Pharma is dissolved in court decision over opioid lawsuits. In a decision announced Wednesday by a bankruptcy judge in White Plains, N.Y., Purdue Pharma, which made and aggressively marketed the highly addictive opioid painkiller Oxycontin, will be dissolved. Purdue's owners, the Sackler family, will also have to turn over billions to help tackle the opioid epidemic. Read more

COVID vaccine's power fades, but still effective. A study of more than 19,000 San Diego health care workers finds that COVID-19 vaccination may lose power to ward off "breakthrough" infections, with numbers of such cases rising sharply by July. But the rate of COVID-19 infection among unvaccinated workers was still nearly triple that of people who'd gotten their shots. Read more