instruction:
Given a paragraph, generate a claim that is supported by the given paragraph. 1) The claim must contain information from within the paragraph. 2) A sentence within the paragraph can be used as a claim. 3) The claim should not have contradictions within the paragraph. 4) The claim should be at most one sentence long.
question:
Most cases are reported in the northern and eastern panhandles probably because of their proximity to the high-incidence states of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, the Department of Health and Human Resources said. In an advisory Monday to health care providers, Health Commissioner Dr. Rahul Gupta wrote that the increase could be from increased reporting or from more ticks infected with the bacteria. Most cases appear between May and September, but ticks have become more active in winter months, he said. According to the department, 580 cases have been reported so far this year, up from 97 statewide in 2012. “Based on the change, West Virginia is considered a high incidence Lyme disease state,” Gupta wrote. Patients treated early with antibiotics usually recover quickly. He recommended a two-step blood test to confirm evidence of antibodies against the Lyme disease bacteria. Symptoms often include a circular rash around a tick bite and fever, headaches and fatigue, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. If left untreated, the infection can spread to joints, the heart and the nervous system. The CDC says there were more than 36,000 probable cases in the U.S. last year, with 26,203 confirmed.
answer:
West Virginia reports increasing Lyme disease cases.


question:
This release doesn’t discuss costs in its comparison of influenza shots versus nasal sprays, although both modes of immunization have been around for a long while and the costs for both are easily known. While flu immunizations are often free through public health clinics and such, some people receive their immunizations from their family physicians and carry a specific cost. Knowing the difference in costs between the two types is useful information both for people and public health officials. The release reports similar rates of vaccine uptake for intranasal vaccine and standard flu shots. But it does not quantify benefits for the main outcome of the study, that is, rates of influenza in communities vaccinated with nasal vs injected vaccine over the course of the study. These rates were statistically no different: 5.2% for the standard vs 5.3% for the nasal vaccine. This release makes no mention of possible harms that my follow the use of either the influenza vaccine injections or nasal spray, even though there are well-known restrictions on whom should and should not receive the nasal spray, and potential negative reactions to the injections among some people. The release points out that the study was the “first blinded randomized controlled trial” done in children within largely closed communities and it found similar efficacy in using the two modes of immunization. However, we do wish the release had addressed limitations, as well as some of the complexity of making these results generalizable to a larger population, as we saw with NPR’s take on the news. While media attention is routinely heightened leading up to and during flu season, this release does not appear to reach the level of disease mongering. The release does identify the chief funder of the study, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, although it offers no information on possible conflicts of interest among any of the researchers. The abstract of the study does state that two of the researchers do have links to pharmaceutical firms, but not in relation this study. Since the study looked a two forms of influenza vaccine administration, it obviously addresses the question of comparing alternatives. Both forms of immunization — shots and nasal spray — have been around for some time, their availability is widely known, earning the release a Satisfactory in this category. The release makes clear that the novelty of this study is its ability to examine both indirect effects of vaccination on the community as well as direct effects for persons receiving the vaccine. The release does not use any unjustifiable language.
answer:
Flu nasal spray provides similar protection against influenza as flu shot: Study


question:
A passenger waits for a delayed flight at Heathrow airport's terminal four in London August 12, 2006. REUTERS/Toby Melville  The findings show that bariatric surgery, an increasingly  popular operation, benefits patients’ health and saves money,  according to Pierre-Yves Cremieux of the economic consulting  firm Analysis Group and the University of Quebec at Montreal,  who led the study. Bariatric surgery alters the digestive system’s anatomy,  reducing the volume of food that can be eaten and digested. The  most common form is gastric bypass, which makes the stomach  smaller and permits food to bypass part of the small intestine. Some insurers have been reluctant to cover this surgery. “It demonstrates the fact that this is not cosmetic  surgery,” Cremieux said in a telephone interview. “The reason why you get your money back when you cover  bariatric surgery is because the patients who were morbidly  obese before and had high rates of diabetes and hypertension no  longer do. They don’t go to the doctor as much as they used to,  and they don’t go to the emergency room as much as they used  to. Why? Because they are healthier,” Cremieux added. How quickly an insurer recovered the costs of paying for  bariatric surgery depended on the type performed, Cremieux  reported in the American Journal of Managed Care. Insurers fully recovered the expense of covering minimally  invasive bariatric surgery, which on average cost $17,000,  within about two years, the study showed. They fully recovered the expense of more common bariatric  procedures such as traditional gastric bypass surgery, which on  average cost $26,000, within about four years. After surgery, the obese patients lost weight and incurred  lower costs associated with prescription drugs, doctor visits  and hospital services as they became healthier and less  burdened by chronic disease, the researchers said. The researchers based the findings on insurance claims  filed by 3,651 morbidly obese bariatric surgery patients and  insurance claims filed by an equal number of morbidly obese  people who did not have weight-loss surgery. It spanned six months of pre-surgical evaluation and care,  the operation and up to five years of post-surgical care. Those  who did not have surgery also were tracked for five years. The average age of the surgical patients was 44 and most  were women. They began the study with obesity-related ailments  like high blood pressure, diabetes and sleep apnea. Previous research has found that obese people who have  weight-loss surgery are less likely to die from heart disease,  diabetes and cancer than obese people who do not have such  surgery. An estimated 205,000 people had bariatric surgery in  the United States last year. The study was funded by Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon  Endo-Surgery division, which makes instruments for bariatric  surgery.
answer:

Insurers recoup obesity surgery cost in 2-4 years.