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The flu got off to an early start this season and has been on a vicious tear throughout the Bay Area and California. State health officials have confirmed 17 deaths of people younger than 65 statewide, though news reports from counties around the state indicate the death toll is in the dozens. There have been four reported deaths in Santa Clara County as of Dec. 30, and one in Monterey County as of Dec. 28. (Drummond, 1/4)

Flu activity is increasing sharply across the state, averaging above the last two years’ peak levels at this time, according to the latest flu report from the state health department. ...With nearly 600 flu cases last week, Central Florida’s Centra Care centers reported a 200-percent increase compared with the same time last year and a 400-percent increase compared to 2015. (Miller, 1/4)

According to vital statistics records, Texas’ maternal mortality rate — defined as deaths per 100,000 live births — jumped 87 percent, from 18.3 for the five years from 2006 to 2010 to 34.2 for 2011 to 2015. But researchers say it’s likely that some of the deaths classified as maternal in the second five-year period were mistakenly linked to pregnancy or childbirth. (Fields, 1/4)

White women in Connecticut have one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the nation, but Hispanic infant mortality rates in the state are among the highest. The infant mortality gap in the state was documented by the Centers for Disease Control in a report released Thursday. (Radelat, 1/4)

L.A. County officials said Thursday that a woman had been infected with the Zika virus by her partner in the first case of sexually transmitted Zika virus in the county. A man who lives in L.A. County traveled to Mexico and became infected with the Zika virus in early November, and shortly afterward his female partner, who didn't travel to Mexico, also developed the infection, officials said. (Karlamangla, 1/4)

Seeking ways to curb the use of opioid painkillers, doctors at Baltimore’s VA Medical Center started offering a version of acupuncture to treat some veterans’ chronic pain. Two years later, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has embraced the therapy based on the traditional Chinese practice of inserting needles into the body to treat maladies. The VA is using acupuncture at clinics across the country. (Cohn, 1/5)

People born in Washington will now have a third choice — X — when defining their sex on a birth certificate. Anyone born here can change the designation on their birth record from male or female to a single mark of “X,” a nonbinary designation, starting Jan. 27. The steps are simple, can be done multiple times, and there is no fee. A person completes the request, signs it, has it notarized and submits it to the Department of Health. (Willmsen, 1/4)

A deal finalized just two years ago between nonprofit Baylor Scott & White Health and Tenet Healthcare, one of the nation’s largest for-profit hospital chains,  to jointly operate five area hospitals has come to an end. The two will no longer share ownership of the Frisco-based Centennial and Rowlett-based Lake Pointe medical centers. A third center in Sunnyvale will continue in a partnership, but will now be partly owned by United Surgical Partners International, an Addison company acquired by Tenet in 2015. (Rice, 1/4)

Federal grant money lost by Central Care clinics that leaders say will shut down its six locations has been awarded to Houston Area Community Services, a well-known local health provider to the underserved that has rebranded as Avenue 360 Health & Wellness. Central Care Integrated Health Services, which serves about 10,000 patients in Third Ward, Acres Homes and Sunnyside among other areas, has sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to continue receiving the grant money. A temporary restraining order issued by a federal judge in December extended the funding until Monday. (George, 1/4)

Certificate of need. Rural access to health care. Medical marijuana. Hands-free cellphone use. Medicaid “waivers.’’At a Capitol press conference on the upcoming General Assembly, [David] Ralston indicated that health care and the recommendations of the House Rural Development Council are among his top legislative priorities for the session, which begins Jan. 8. (Miller, 1/4)