Chrono list of posts

CNN With concerns about Iran laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was asked Tuesday whether Iran might turn to dolphins to help confront the US Navy. He said that he could “confirm” that Iran didn’t have dolphins to deploy as part of operations but said he would neither “confirm or… Read more: Are military dolphins working in the Strait of Hormuz? Probably not, but they have been part of the US Navy for decades

The Lancet The barrage of misinformation in the field of health care is persistent and growing. The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs) in health care has expedited the increase in misinformation, and LLMs are susceptible to false output if they are trained on incorrect health-care information. This risk of misinformation is especially… Read more: Large language models and misinformation

CIDRAP Doctors and scientists are still working to understand why COVID-19 can cause fatal damage to so many different organs. A potentially major piece of that puzzle was revealed today in research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. During the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitalized patients who weren’t sick enough to be in the intensive care unit… Read more: New research chips away at COVID-19 blood clot myster

The Lancet The USA currently faces its largest measles outbreak in decades, with 2280 confirmed cases in 2025 and 910 additional cases reported in just the first 6 weeks of 2026.1 This re-emergence threatens one of the country’s major public health achievements: the elimination of measles in 2000, a feat reached after several years of extensive… Read more: Will the USA lose its measles elimination status?

NBC News 4 A beaver that attacked multiple people, including at least one child, at a lake in New Jersey has tested positive for rabies, according to town officials. Police in Mahwah responded to Lake Henry around 6 p.m. Sunday after a report of an animal attack. An 8-year-old boy had been fishing from the… Read more: Rabid beaver attacks 8-year-old boy, other park guests at New Jersey lake

Scientific American The tragic and fatal outbreak of hantavirus onboard a luxury cruise ship highlights the gaps in research and treatments for the rare and mysterious infection—including how the virus spreads among people. The fatal outbreak of hantavirus on a cruise ship is a tragic case study in how pathogens in this mysterious family of… Read more: A dangerous experiment is playing out on a cruise ship with hantavirus

The Conversation Cruises are sold as floating holidays, but they are also useful for understanding public health. Cruise ships are carefully designed places where many people live, eat, relax and move through the same shared spaces for days at a time. They show how easily illness can spread when people are packed into a single… Read more: Hantavirus, COVID, norovirus, legionnaires’: why are cruise ships so prone to disease outbreaks?

El Pais Health authorities only began contacting the passengers who left the ship on Tuesday. Twenty‑three passengers from the MV Hondius have been on land for more than two weeks. They disembarked on April 21 on the island of Saint Helena, 10 days after the first death on board, and began their journeys home. That is what a… Read more: Spanish passenger on the ‘Hondius’: ‘There are 23 people who got off on Saint Helena and have been wandering around’

MedPage Today Accurate risk assessment can spare patients from costly preventive care. Just a week after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. downplayed rabies during a Senate hearing based on the few annual fatalities, CDC staff held a call with physicians to emphasize that preventing further deaths requires millions of U.S. medical visits every year… Read more: As RFK Jr. Downplays Rabies, CDC Staff Tells Docs It’s a Daily Threat

MedScape The UK is recruiting 3000 of the 4000 volunteers needed for a major international trial of an mRNA vaccine against bird flu, as experts warn that H5N1 remains a credible pandemic threat. H5 influenza, or avian/bird flu, remains a pandemic threat, experts said. The virus has been circulating in wild birds — and domestic poultry —… Read more: UK Leads Global Bird Flu Vaccine Trial

The Scientist Regular surveillance and rapid sequencing in coastal wildlife help researchers identify viral mutations and assess their pandemic potential. The first sign that something was wrong came during a survey walk in Año Nuevo State Park, a stretch of beach along the central coast of California. In January 2026, researchers at the University of… Read more: How an H5N1 Outbreak in Elephant Seals Can Inform Pandemic Readiness

AVMA Poultry losses alone surpass 200 million since outbreak started in 2022. The U.S. outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI, more specifically avian influenza type A H5N1), is experiencing a resurgence among commercial poultry operations, driven largely by spillover from migrating wild birds, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The threat of infection… Read more: Surge in HPAI infections attributed to wild-bird spillover

National Geographic Experts explain why the outbreak aboard a Dutch cruise ship is so rare—and how much of a risk it poses. It’s not extraordinary for a cruise ship to be afflicted by an eruption of infectious diseases. But the recent cluster of hantavirus cases on the M.V. Hondius, a Dutch polar expedition vessel sailing from Argentina… Read more: What is hantavirus? Here’s everything you need to know about how it spreads

Forbes Key Background The MV Hondius left Ushuaia, Argentina on April 1 for the Canary Islands off the coast of northwestern Africa, visiting some of the world’s most remote islands along the way. The ship made stops in Antarctica, South Georgia, Nightingale Island, Tristan da Cunha, St. Helena (where the Dutch man’s body was taken from the… Read more: Cruise Ship’s Hantavirus Outbreak Could Have Started On Bird-Watching Trip

NYT The agency’s scientists and data contractors reviewed millions of patient records for studies that were pulled back before release. Officials at the Food and Drug Administration have blocked publication of several studies supporting the safety of widely used vaccines against Covid-19 and shingles in recent months, a spokesman for the Department of Health and… Read more: F.D.A. Blocked Publication of Research Finding Covid and Shingles Vaccines Were Safe

Morning Ag Study suggests transmission is not limited to direct contact with contaminated milk. The H5N1 strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 has been detected in over 700 herds of dairy cows in California, the largest dairy-producing state in the U.S. A study published May 5th in the open-access journal PLOS Biology led by Seema S. Lakdawala… Read more: Dairy Farms May Transmit H5N1 Virus Through Multiple Sources

LA Times A deadly hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship departing Argentina highlights a broader crisis: The country is experiencing a surge of the rare rodent-borne disease linked to climate change. Argentina has recorded 101 hantavirus infections since June 2025, roughly double the previous year, with the mortality rate nearly tripling to about one-third of… Read more: Hantavirus is on the rise in Argentina, where a stricken cruise ship began its journey

Washington Post More than 140 people remain on the Hondius, which will take about three days to reach the Spanish archipelago for screening. A local official has criticized the plan. Three people were evacuated Wednesday from the cruise ship facing a hantavirus outbreak in the Atlantic Ocean, as Swiss health authorities confirmed another case in… Read more: Hantavirus-hit cruise ship to head to Canary Islands as Swiss confirm new case

The Atlantic A hantavirus outbreak is serious and unnerving. Norovirus loves a cruise ship. So did the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19. The crowded rooms, stuffy air, and communal dining of a giant boat filled with humans create the ideal conditions for pathogens to spread. Now hantavirus—a highly deadly rodent-borne pathogen that typically spreads when people… Read more: A Brutal First for the Cruise Industry

NYT Three people with possible symptoms of the disease were evacuated on Wednesday morning from the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius. The passengers of the MV Hondius, in the grip of a deadly virus outbreak, are putting on movies, sanitizing their hands repeatedly and awaiting their next socially distanced meal as their ship sails the Atlantic. The… Read more: Hantavirus Cruise Ship Remains at Sea as Leaders Clash Over Its Docking

WSJ Patient fell ill with strain capable of human-to-human transmission after returning from cruise ship. Swiss officials are rushing to trace the contacts of a man who has been hospitalized in Zurich with a strain of the hantavirus that is capable of human-to-human transmission.  The patient became ill in Switzerland after returning from a trip… Read more: Hantavirus Case in Switzerland Spurs Race to Trace Contacts

Archeology News A mass grave uncovered in the ancient city of Jerash in modern-day Jordan is offering new evidence of how one of history’s earliest pandemics reshaped life and death in the Byzantine world. Researchers have confirmed the burial as the first biomolecularly verified plague mass grave from the First Pandemic, also known as the… Read more: Ancient mass grave in Jordan confirms victims of Justinian Plague pandemic

STAT The threat of the virus has clearly subsided, but opinions vary on why and how much of a risk remains. In April 2020, people around the globe were struggling to come to grips with the strictures of unprecedented societal shutdowns aimed at slowing the spread of Covid-19. Flattening the curve, in 2020-speak. Six years later,… Read more: What happened to Covid?

New York Times The mere thought of ticks makes our skin crawl. And the diseases they spread are only getting more common. In fact, the number of tick-borne illnesses reported each year to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more than doubled over the past two decades (though during the pandemic there was a drop in reported… Read more: Tick Bites Are No Joke. Here’s How to Prevent Them and Protect Yourself.

TapInto Vampire bats in Peru show signs of past H5N1 infection. Bats have become the latest mammals susceptible to H5N1, the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus responsible for bird flu. In Peru, over a dozen vampire bats have been found carrying H5N1 antibodies, indicating exposure to the virus, researchers report November 11 at bioRxiv.org. The finding… Read more: Bats might be the next bird flu wild card

Hawaii News Now State health officials say mpox has been detected in a wastewater sample on Oahu for the first time. The Hawaii Department of Health said the sample, collected April 13 at a treatment facility on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, tested positive for clade I mpox. Officials emphasized that no clinical cases of clade… Read more: DOH detected Mpox in Oahu wastewater sample

Pasadena Star News The Pasadena Public Health Department on Wednesday, April 29, urged residents to take precautions against mpox and consider vaccination as cases increase in California. Health officials said vaccination remains the best protection against severe illness, particularly for individuals at higher risk of exposure. Mpox, a viral disease, is currently circulating in two… Read more: Pasadena urges mpox precautions as cases rise for the viral disease

Phys.org A research team from the LKS Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong (HKUMed) has developed a machine-learning classifier capable of analyzing the genomes of influenza A viruses (IAVs) to accurately predict their potential risk of transmission among mammals. The team has successfully identified the key clues that may explain cross-species transmission… Read more: AI classifier flags bird flu genomes more likely to spread in mammals

IFL Science An mRNA vaccine for avian influenza, developed by pharma company Moderna, has begun Phase 3 human trials. Building on the same technology used in their highly successful COVID-19 vaccine, the aim is to shore up the world’s defences against what is widely considered to be one of the biggest viral threats facing humanity.… Read more: In Readiness For The Next Pandemic, Human Trials Begin Of An mRNA Vaccine For Bird Flu

New York Times n Illinois and other states, officials hoped that culls could halt the progress of chronic wasting disease. Now they are losing hope. In the middle of a spring afternoon near Lowden-Miller State Forest, Daniel Skinner poured a small pile of dried, yellow corn onto the ground. Shouldering his .308 Remington rifle equipped… Read more: Targeted Hunts Were Supposed to Curb ‘Zombie Deer Disease.’ Now What?

ABC News With a busy travel season approaching, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning that additional measles cases in the U.S. can be expected over the next few months. The agency sent the alert to state and local health departments, reminding them to report measles cases to the CDC within 24 hours and to… Read more: CDC warns additional measles cases in US are expected amid upcoming travel season

Johns Hopkins University New survey finds significant link between ‘new right’ outlets and vaccine hesitancy. People who follow “new right” media outlets are more than twice as likely to be vaccine-hesitant compared to those who never engage with those outlets, a new Johns Hopkins University study finds. Researchers surveyed nearly 3,000 adults in 2025, as… Read more: Where people get their news influences their beliefs about vaccines

Scientific American Our food choices could play an important, short-term role in how our bodies respond to infections, new research suggests. “Starve a cold, feed a fever” is a myth—but according to new research, the timing of when we eat in the short term may play a role in how our bodies fight off infections. Researchers analyzed… Read more: What you eat for lunch could influence your immune system just hours later

8 News Now The Southern Nevada Health District announced on Tuesday that two cases of Legionnaires’ disease were associated with stays at the Wynn Las Vegas, and guests who have stayed at the resort recently are urged to complete a health survey. According to a release from the district, both cases are associated with travel.… Read more: 2 Legionnaires’ disease cases linked to Las Vegas Strip hotel

Washington Post OPINION This November, the Pan American Health Organization will review whether the United States has lost its measles elimination status — a designation held since 2000. As of April 23, 1,792 confirmed cases have been reported across the U.S. Utah is the latest epicenter: nearly 600 cases since last summer. At one to three deaths per… Read more: Measles deaths are coming. Doctors are fighting an uphill battle.

You Can Know Things How do we address the firehose of inaccurate information that is flooding the internet right now? It’s tempting to try to play whack-a-mole, tackling one rumor after another, and there is certainly value in addressing individual claims. But emerging research shows a better (and less exhausting) method: “prebunking” — or teaching people to… Read more: 5 Logical fallacies in the era of RFK Jr.

MedPageToday Lengthy viral antigen persistence far more common, regardless of prior vaccination. Drugs commonly used to treat systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARDs) may keep the SARS-CoV-2 circulating after COVID-19 infection in patients with these conditions, with researchers documenting substantially increased viral antigen persistence compared with other post-COVID patients. Tests for 40% of SARDs patients remained… Read more: Rheumatic Disease Drugs Help COVID Virus Stick Around Longer, Study Suggests

NPR That has been the question for nearly 150 years, when Dr. Robert Koch first identified the rod-shaped bacterium that causes tuberculosis. This serious respiratory illness is currently the world’s deadliest infectious disease, killing more than a million people a year. The most common test to determine if someone has tuberculosis hasn’t really changed since the… Read more: Long a dream, it’s now real: a fast and accurate TB test that doesn’t need phlegm

Medical Brief At least five people have died in Burundi, and another three dozen become ill from unexplained causes. The case-fatality rate of 14% has alarmed officials, who say symptoms have included fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, headache and dark urine, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). In severe cases, people may display… Read more: Mystery illness in Burundi kills five

WHO From 23 January to 31 March 2026, based on reporting date, detections of influenza A(H5N1) in four humans, influenza A(H9N2) in five humans, influenza A(H10N3) in one human, an influenza A(H1N1) variant ((H1N1)v) virus in one human, an influenza A(H1N2)v virus in one human, and influenza A(H3N2)v virus in one human were reported officially.… Read more: Influenza at the human-animal interface summary and assessment, 31 March 2026

Gizmodo Backyard chicken lovers beware: an outbreak of drug-resistant Salmonella bacteria linked to these birds is spreading across the country. Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first reported on the outbreak late last week. There have been over 30 reported cases in multiple states, along with several hospitalizations. In some of the cases, the… Read more: Backyard Chickens Are Spreading Antibiotic-Resistant Salmonella Across the US, CDC Warns

Washington Post Federal vaccine advisers to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. voted in December to recommend delaying the first shot until at least two months of age for infants born to mothers who test negative for the virus. The Trump administration’s decision to drop the long-standing recommendation that newborns receive a hepatitis B vaccine… Read more: CDC delay of infant hepatitis B shot likely to raise infections, studies show

AMWA Being a parent in medicine today can feel profoundly vulnerable. Recommendations evolve rapidly, headlines shift, and studies can trend on social media before most clinicians have fully reviewed the methodology. The effects are trickling down into exam rooms across the country, where parents are trying to do what they have always tried to do:… Read more: The Misinformation Crisis: Parents, Physicians, and the Changing Landscape of Vaccine Trust

Bloomberg A man with advanced HIV died with drug-resistant mpox replicating in his brain, US scientists found, in a case that shows how the virus can persist and evolve just as global health programs to check such infections are being scaled back. The findings, based on a detailed autopsy by researchers at the National Institutes… Read more: Mpox Can Infect and Replicate in the Brain, NIH Researchers Say in Fatal HIV Case

Phys.org What happens inside the lungs before COVID-19 symptoms appear? Research in mink offers a rare window into the early stages of the disease. These insights matter for both animal and human health. Researchers and veterinary pathologists from Wageningen Bioveterinary Research (WBVR, part of Wageningen University & Research), together with Royal GD and Utrecht University,… Read more: COVID-19 in mink farm reveals early lung damage

Medical News In a recent study published in the journal Communications Medicine, researchers in Australia and Norway examined how inflammatory and neurological protein levels differ between long coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and recovery, and how they respond to vaccination and reinfection. According to research, an estimated 5% to 30% of people infected with Severe Acute Respiratory… Read more: Study finds long COVID leaves a distinct immune signature in the blood

Science News H5N1 bird flu viruses have acquired a molecular trick that makes them more easily infect mammary glands in cattle, but this adaptation does not appear to affect humans. To infect cells, influenza viruses latch on to certain sugars decorating cell surfaces. Some H5N1 viruses have picked up mutations that allow them to grab… Read more: New mutations help the H5N1 bird flu virus infect cows but not people

AZ Central The Navajo Nation Department of Health and medical centers on and around the Navajo Nation have confirmed recent reports of plague, chickenpox and measles over the past few weeks, prompting medical professionals to warn the public to remain vigilant. On April 8, the Navajo Nation Department of Health confirmed a case of plague… Read more: Arizona: Navajo health officials report cases of plague

SOS Médias Burundi Mpanda, April 13, 2026 — An as-yet-unidentified illness, responsible for several cases and deaths in the Mpanda district, has been mobilizing Burundian health authorities for several days. While initial laboratory analyses are reassuring, investigations are continuing to determine the exact origin of this illness. The illness has been reported in the villages… Read more: Mpanda : an unknown illness under surveillance; initial analyses rule out major hemorrhagic fevers

Lamilano Burundian health authorities, together with the World Health Organization (WHO), are investigating the cause of a mysterious disease that has caused five deaths and 35 infections in the Mpanda district, located in the northern region of the country.  Laboratory tests have ruled out the presence of Ebola and Marburg virus infections, Rift Valley fever,… Read more: Burundi: Mysterious disease kills five; WHO investigates

Outbreak News Today During the week ending April 4, Senegal health authorities reported an additional Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) case. The case is a 28-year-old female from Dioffor area in Fatick region in southwest Senegal. She presented at the health facility with fever, muscle and body pain, vomiting, bleeding and meningoencephalitis. CCHF virus was… Read more: Senegal reports 2nd human CCHF case of 2026

History Fun Facts When he wasn’t building an animation empire that still dominates Hollywood more than half a century after his death, Walt Disney was busy moonlighting as an FBI informant. He was initially recruited on November 10, 1940, and was then made a “Special Agent in Charge Contact” in 1954 — essentially a voluntary FBI contact who… Read more: Walt Disney was an informant for the FBI

Sci Tech Daily As human development increasingly encroaches on the Amazon, researchers find that the growing boundary between forests and urban areas is accelerating the spillover of yellow fever into human populations. Human activity is pushing deeper into previously undisturbed ecosystems, disrupting natural balances and creating new risks for people. A study from UC Santa Barbara finds… Read more: As Cities Invade the Amazon, Yellow Fever Makes a Dangerous Comeback

Nature Climate change is expected to significantly alter the ecological dynamics of zoonotic diseases, yet its long-term impact on rodent-borne hemorrhagic fevers in South America remains poorly understood. Here, we developed a robust predictive modeling framework that integrates species distribution models with a mechanistic force-of-infection approach to evaluate the effects of climate change on zoonotic… Read more: Climate-driven changes in zoonotic risk of arenaviral hemorrhagic fevers in South America

Bloomberg A sustained drop in childhood vaccinations could cost the US about $7.8 billion in measles outbreaks over five years, a new study found. The warning comes as vaccine policy and public confidence face fresh pressure under the second Trump administration. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has moved to reshape a key federal vaccine advisory panel, raising concerns among public… Read more: US Faces $7.8 Billion Measles Risk as Vaccination Rates Decline, Study Finds

News4 Utah New measles exposure locations have been released, including several preschools and elementary schools. Utah has now hit 602 confirmed measles cases during the current outbreak. According to the Utah Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Utah now has 602 confirmed measles cases during the current outbreak, which started in June 2025. Southern… Read more: Utah: Several preschools exposed to measles, cases reach 600

Politico Vaccine skepticism among Americans is widespread, The POLITICO Poll found, indicating that one of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s animating priorities is gaining traction. Results from the March poll of 3,851 U.S. adults conducted by Public First show that a plurality of Americans question the safety of vaccines, support reducing the number administered and… Read more: More Americans doubt vaccine safety than trust it

Science The closer and longer the contact between species, the higher the chances of transmission of pathogens. This rule of thumb applies to human-to-human contacts as well as contacts with other species. Gippet et al. examined trade data for wildlife species from the past 40 years and showed that the longer a species had been legally… Read more: Wildlife trade drives animal-to-human pathogen transmission over 40 years

NYT Live animal markets and the illegal sale of wildlife pose particular dangers, but any sale of wild animals or animal products poses spillover risks, a new study suggests. The global wildlife trade is driving the spread of disease from animals to people, according to a new study of thousands of wild mammal species and 40 years… Read more: Global Wildlife Trade Fuels Spread of Disease From Animals to People

Frontiers Background:  Live animal and wet markets (LWM) serve as critical interfaces where humans closely interact with domestic and peri-domestic animals, facilitating the spillover of zoonotic pathogens. Previous outbreaks of avian influenza viruses (AIV) and coronaviruses (CoV) linked to these markets underscore their significant public health risks. Despite the high density of LWM and historical… Read more: Avian influenza and coronaviruses in live animal and wet markets in Laos: prevalence and public health considerations

Healthy Travel Diphtheria returns to the Northern Territory The NT Centre for Disease Control is investigating a diphtheria outbreak in the Northern Territory. Four cases of respiratory diphtheria have been notified since 23 March 2026 – two in Darwin and two in Alice Springs – alongside 37 cases of cutaneous (skin) diphtheria notified since May… Read more: Australia: Diphtheria cases in 2026

Sci Tech Daily A new experimental vaccine takes aim at one of tuberculosis’s most stubborn defenses: the ability of bacteria to persist despite treatment. In a study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health report developing a therapeutic DNA vaccine delivered through the nose for tuberculosis (TB). The… Read more: Johns Hopkins Scientists Develop Nasal DNA Vaccine for Tuberculosis