Timely and relevant global health security news curated by GCHS
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Featured Headlines
- US Human Screwworm Case ‘Surprising’, But ‘Not Shocking’Hoosier Ag Today You’ve been hearing quite a bit lately about the New World Screwworm (NWS) in Mexico and in central America—and the harmful impact that the pest can have on cattle, horses and other animals. But, the CDC announced that a person from Maryland was recently found to be infected with NWS. “From what… Read more: US Human Screwworm Case ‘Surprising’, But ‘Not Shocking’
- Human Case of Flesh-Eating Screwworm Reported in MarylandNYT The patient had traveled to Central America, where an outbreak of myiasis, an infection by screwworm larvae, has been ravaging livestock. In early August, a case of myiasis, an infestation caused by the New World screwworm, was confirmed in a Maryland resident who returned from travel in El Salvador, according to U.S. health officials.… Read more: Human Case of Flesh-Eating Screwworm Reported in Maryland
- A Maryland resident is diagnosed with screwworm. Here’s what to know about the flesh-eating parasite.CBS A Maryland resident who traveled to El Salvador has been diagnosed with New World screwworm — the first reported U.S. case tied to travel to a country with a current outbreak. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the diagnosis on Aug. 4. Federal health officials acknowledged the infection in an emailed statement Monday. The… Read more: A Maryland resident is diagnosed with screwworm. Here’s what to know about the flesh-eating parasite.
- What Americans Need to Know About Covid Shots This SeasonBloomberg Covid confusion Between conflicting opinions, leadership upheavals and a lot of misinformation, you can be forgiven for not knowing what’s going on with Covid vaccines this year in the US. Here’s the need-to-know ahead of the impending fall season. Covid confusion Between conflicting opinions, leadership upheavals and a lot of misinformation, you can be forgiven for not knowing what’s going on with Covid vaccines… Read more: What Americans Need to Know About Covid Shots This Season
- How a Réunion Island outbreak sparked France’s record chikungunya seasonMedical News In a recent rapid communication in the journal Eurosurveillance, researchers from France’s public health agency detail the current scenario of the chikungunya disease within the country. Specifically, the aftermath of a large 2025 chikungunya outbreak on Réunion Island led to a surge of imported cases in mainland France, triggering an unusually early and widespread… Read more: How a Réunion Island outbreak sparked France’s record chikungunya season
Updates on ongoing disease outbreaks
- Cambodia records more avian flu cases in poultry, peopleWatt Poultry Since the start of August, the Cambodian medical authority has confirmed three further infections with influenza A(H5N1) virus. This brings the nation’s total so far this year to 15, according to the latest update on the health situation in the Western Pacific Region from the World Health Organization (WHO; as of August 15). The most recent cases… Read more: Cambodia records more avian flu cases in poultry, people
- Seventy U.S. Bird Flu Cases Underscore How Much We Still Don’t KnowForbes When a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus jumped into American dairy cows in the spring of 2024, scientists worried about the next step: spillover into humans. Sure enough, that is precisely what happened. Between March 2024 and May 2025, seventy human H5N1 infections were confirmed in the United States. Now, a new study in Nature Medicine, led… Read more: Seventy U.S. Bird Flu Cases Underscore How Much We Still Don’t Know
- Bird flu hits three poultry farms in southern BulgariaThe Poultry Site Bulgaria reported outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza on three farms in the southern part of the country, Reuters reported, citing the World Organisation for Animal Health on Monday, as Europe faces a seasonal upturn in the deadly disease. The H5N1 virus was detected on three farms with a total flock of 28,000 birds… Read more: Bird flu hits three poultry farms in southern Bulgaria
- Promising bird flu vaccine advances as organoids reveal how H5N1 scars airwaysMedical Express Researchers at Texas Biomedical Research Institute have developed a new, proof-of-concept vaccine to protect people from the bird flu strain currently circulating in the United States. The team, led by Professor Luis Martinez-Sobrido, Ph.D. and Staff Scientist Ahmed M. Elsayed, Ph.D., recently published initial results in npj Vaccines. The live attenuated vaccine contains a weakened (attenuated)… Read more: Promising bird flu vaccine advances as organoids reveal how H5N1 scars airways
- Bird Flu on Dairy Farms May Be Airborne After AllScientific American Infectious bird flu virus was found in milk, on equipment, within wastewater and aerosolized in the air on California dairy farms. The H5N1 avian influenza virus can now be found not only in milk and on milking equipment but also in farm wastewater and in the air, say researchers who have been trying… Read more: Bird Flu on Dairy Farms May Be Airborne After All
- Why COVID keeps roaring back every summer, even as pandemic fadesLos Angeles Times The summer season continues to see spikes in COVID-19 activity. The latest jump is being fueled by the subvariant XFG, nicknamed ‘Stratus.’ Masks have been stored away. Social distancing is just a vague memory. Interest in vaccines is waning. COVID, for many, feels… Read more: Why COVID keeps roaring back every summer, even as pandemic fades
- What Americans Need to Know About Covid Shots This SeasonBloomberg Covid confusion Between conflicting opinions, leadership upheavals and a lot of misinformation, you can be forgiven for not knowing what’s going on with Covid vaccines this year in the US. Here’s the need-to-know ahead of the impending fall season. Covid confusion Between conflicting opinions, leadership upheavals and a lot of misinformation, you can be forgiven… Read more: What Americans Need to Know About Covid Shots This Season
- A 1990 Measles Outbreak Shows How the Disease Can Roar BackNYT To understand the virus’s re-emergence in America in 2025, some experts are looking to a past epidemic that had a high death rate in Philadelphia. Few expected a major return of measles to the United States this year, a quarter-century after it was declared eliminated here. But return it has, with more than 1,300 confirmed cases this… Read more: A 1990 Measles Outbreak Shows How the Disease Can Roar Back
- What We’ve Learned from the Texas Measles OutbreakTime Texas health officials on Aug. 18 declared the end of a measles outbreak that had sickened more than 760 people across the state and killed two children. Doctors and public-health officials involved in the outbreak, most of whom had previously never encountered a measles patient, are now taking stock of what they’ve learned about the virus… Read more: What We’ve Learned from the Texas Measles Outbreak
- As Measles Exploded, Officials in Texas Looked to CDC Scientists. Under Trump, No One Answered.KFF As measles surged in Texas early this year, the Trump administration’s actions sowed fear and confusion among CDC scientists that kept them from performing the agency’s most critical function — emergency response — when it mattered most, an investigation from KFF Health News shows. The outbreak soon became the worst the United States has… Read more: As Measles Exploded, Officials in Texas Looked to CDC Scientists. Under Trump, No One Answered.
- Senegal reports mpox case, patient in isolationReuters Senegal authorities said they had detected a case of mpox in a foreign man who arrived in the West African country last week. The health ministry said it was the first case it… Read more: Senegal reports mpox case, patient in isolation
- Mount Sinai Breakthrough: Potent Antibodies Open Path to Mpox TherapiesMt Sinai A team from the Microbiology Department at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has discovered three powerful monoclonal antibodies from a person who had previously been infected with mpox (formerly… Read more: Mount Sinai Breakthrough: Potent Antibodies Open Path to Mpox Therapies
- A red meat allergy from tick bites is spreading – and the lone star tick isn’t the only alpha-gal carrier to worry aboutThe Conversation Hours after savoring that perfectly grilled steak on a beautiful summer evening, your body turns traitor, declaring war on the very meal you just enjoyed. You begin to feel excruciating itchiness, pain or even swelling that can escalate to the point of requiring emergency care. The culprit isn’t food poisoning – it’s the… Read more: A red meat allergy from tick bites is spreading – and the lone star tick isn’t the only alpha-gal carrier to worry about
- How Tick Data is Busting Myths, Raising New Concerns of Lyme DiseaseUniversity of Guelph, Canada Encounters with ticks are no longer just a problem for someone trudging through the woods – they can happen right in your own backyard. That is one of the findings from ongoing research studying tick bites from the G. Magnotta Research Lab at the University of Guelph. Launched in 2022, the study is… Read more: How Tick Data is Busting Myths, Raising New Concerns of Lyme Disease
- Tick-borne Rocky Mountain spotted fever spreading in CanadaCBC Potentially deadly disease already found in Ontario and Quebec this year. Quebec has reported a case of the potentially deadly tick-borne disease Rocky Mountain spotted fever that was likely acquired in Ontario or Quebec. The disease was reported in dogs in Ontario earlier this year. Here’s what you need to know about preventing, identifying and treating the… Read more: Tick-borne Rocky Mountain spotted fever spreading in Canada
- Tick-borne disease spreads, causing meat, dairy allergiesThe Hill mergency room visits have spiked across the Midwest this summer as millions of Americans grapple with tick bites, but a lesser-known tick-borne illness is causing particular alarm in some communities. Alpha-gal syndrome, transmitted by the lone star tick, creates severe allergies to meat and dairy products that can last for years. The condition essentially forces people to adopt vegan diets, with… Read more: Tick-borne disease spreads, causing meat, dairy allergies
Emerging Infectious Disease Headlines
- West Nile alert issued as two fatalities confirmed in MinnesotaMinnesota Star Tribune State is reaching peak season for risk of West Nile, the mosquito-borne virus that so far has been confirmed in 20 people and blamed for two deaths… Read more: West Nile alert issued as two fatalities confirmed in Minnesota
- A red meat allergy from tick bites is spreading – and the lone star tick isn’t the only alpha-gal carrier to worry aboutThe Conversation Hours after savoring that perfectly grilled steak on a beautiful summer evening, your body turns traitor, declaring war on the very meal you just enjoyed. You begin to… Read more: A red meat allergy from tick bites is spreading – and the lone star tick isn’t the only alpha-gal carrier to worry about
- US Human Screwworm Case ‘Surprising’, But ‘Not Shocking’Hoosier Ag Today You’ve been hearing quite a bit lately about the New World Screwworm (NWS) in Mexico and in central America—and the harmful impact that the pest can have… Read more: US Human Screwworm Case ‘Surprising’, But ‘Not Shocking’
- Human Case of Flesh-Eating Screwworm Reported in MarylandNYT The patient had traveled to Central America, where an outbreak of myiasis, an infection by screwworm larvae, has been ravaging livestock. In early August, a case of myiasis, an… Read more: Human Case of Flesh-Eating Screwworm Reported in Maryland
- A Maryland resident is diagnosed with screwworm. Here’s what to know about the flesh-eating parasite.CBS A Maryland resident who traveled to El Salvador has been diagnosed with New World screwworm — the first reported U.S. case tied to travel to a country with a current outbreak.… Read more: A Maryland resident is diagnosed with screwworm. Here’s what to know about the flesh-eating parasite.
- The CDC quietly scaled back a surveillance program for foodborne illnessesNBC As of July 1, a critical surveillance program is monitoring for only two pathogens instead of the usual eight. A federal-state partnership that monitors for foodborne illnesses quietly scaled… Read more: The CDC quietly scaled back a surveillance program for foodborne illnesses
Read more Emerging Infectious Diseases
- RFK Jr. Vowed to Find Environmental Causes of Autism, but Axed That Type of ResearchMed Page Today “We need to stop trusting the experts,” Kennedy recently said. Erin McCanlies, MPH, PhD, was listening to the radio one morning in April when she heard Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promising to… Read more: RFK Jr. Vowed to Find Environmental Causes of Autism, but Axed That Type of Research
- Dormant cancers can be reawakened by flu, COVID: StudyFox Infections like influenza and COVID-19 may do more than cause temporary illness. A new study suggests they can also “wake up” dormant cancer cells, potentially increasing the risk of recurrence and metastasis years after… Read more: Dormant cancers can be reawakened by flu, COVID: Study
- Chikungunya Virus Found to Infect Cartilage Cells, Offering Clues to Long-Term Joint PainGlobal Biodefense A new study published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases provides the first in vivo evidence that chikungunya virus (CHIKV) directly infects cartilage-producing cells known as chondrocytes. Using a genetically engineered virus that glows in infected tissues,… Read more: Chikungunya Virus Found to Infect Cartilage Cells, Offering Clues to Long-Term Joint Pain
- Kennedy’s Anti-Vaccine Strategy Risks Forcing Shots Off Market, Manufacturers WarnKFF Dining under palm trees on a patio at Mar-a-Lago in December, President-elect Donald Trump reassured chief executives at pharmaceutical giants Eli Lilly and Pfizer that anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wouldn’t be a radical choice to head… Read more: Kennedy’s Anti-Vaccine Strategy Risks Forcing Shots Off Market, Manufacturers Warn
- RFK Jr demanded a vaccine study be retracted — the journal said noNature In a rare move for a US public official, health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr called for a Danish paper finding no link between aluminium in vaccines and disease to be retracted. US… Read more: RFK Jr demanded a vaccine study be retracted — the journal said no
- Vaccine misinformation led to an officer’s murder at the CDC – politicians’ silence is deafeningGuardian After a gunman reportedly deceived by anti-vaccine disinformation opened fire on the CDC and fatally shot David Rose, a community grieves as Trump officials remain silent. A lie murdered David Rose. Five hundred cops packed the pews of an Atlanta megachurch… Read more: Vaccine misinformation led to an officer’s murder at the CDC – politicians’ silence is deafening
- The Playbook Used to ‘Prove’ Vaccines Cause AutismNYT The Playbook Used to ‘Prove’ Vaccines Cause Autism. The health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., says he wants to understand what causes autism. It’s a perfectly laudable goal and one that scientists have been pursuing for decades. But after… Read more: The Playbook Used to ‘Prove’ Vaccines Cause Autism
- The lessons New York still has not learned from the Covid vaccine rolloutSTAT As Covid-19 has receded from everyday life, New Yorkers — and Americans more generally — haven’t shown much interest in poring over their governments’ pandemic-era performance. In 2024, congressional Republicans released a deeply partisan Covid-19 report, focused on issues like… Read more: The lessons New York still has not learned from the Covid vaccine rollout
- The week that Covid-hit Britain returned to the pubBBC It became known as “Super Saturday”. Britain’s pubs had been shuttered for more than four months during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, since Boris Johnson, then UK prime minister, held a TV address which announced strict new… Read more: The week that Covid-hit Britain returned to the pub
Interesting and Sometimes Funny
- Pet Rats Using Paws to Create Mini Masterpieces That Have Sold for Over $2,600 Total
Eighteen-year-old Ella Woodland’s pet rats have a knack for artistic expression, and by guiding them to paint mini masterpieces, she’s helping their talents flourish. Eighteen-year-old Ella Woodland’s pet rats have a knack for artistic expression, and by guiding them to paint mini masterpieces, she’s helping their talents flourish. There’s a little something in this project… Read more: Pet Rats Using Paws to Create Mini Masterpieces That Have Sold for Over $2,600 Total