Health Highlights: July 16, 2008

The three new states each have a single confirmed case of the bacterial infection that matches 41 others confirmed in Ohio and Michigan, the wire service said, citing information from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While the stricken person in Kentucky lives near Ohio, the other two recent victims did not travel to either Midwestern state where the outbreak originated, a CDC spokesman told theAP.

The outbreak emerged between May 30 and June 24. While 21 of those stricken have been hospitalized, none has died, the CDC said.

Infection with this strain,E. coliO157:H7, can cause bloody diarrhea and dehydration, and in severe cases, kidney failure. Children, the elderly, and those with weakened immune systems are at greater risk of serious infection.

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Congress Overrides Bush Veto of Physician Medicare Bill

Within hours of President Bush's veto of legislation designed to restore a 10.6 percent cut to Medicare reimbursement fees paid to doctors, the House and Senate on Tuesday both voted overwhelmingly to override the veto.

In restoring the money to doctors, the legislation makes up the resulting shortfall by trimming fees to private insurers who participate in a program called Medicare Advantage.

In vetoing the measure Tuesday, Bush said that while he supported restoring the cut aimed at doctors, he disapproved of shifting the cuts to the insurers. "Taking choices away from seniors to pay physicians is wrong," Bush said in his veto message.

But Congress disagreed. The Senate voted 70-26 to override the veto, shortly after the House did so by a lopsided vote of 383-41, theBloombergnews service reported.

"We thank the bipartisan majority in Congress who voted to put patients first," Dr. Nancy Nielsen, president of the American Medical Association, said in a news release hailing the Congressional action.

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