Author: Claudinne Miller
HHS cuts millions in grants to the American Academy of Pediatrics
NBC News The move is an escalation in the agency’s clash with the medical group, which is suing Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over vaccine policy. The Department of Health and Human Services has terminated seven grants totaling millions of dollars to the American Academy of Pediatrics, escalating its confrontation with the group, which is suing Health […]
Dec 17, 2025
Whooping cough cases soar as vaccination rates drop
NBC News In an NBC News data investigation of 31 states, about 70% of counties and jurisdictions fell below the target vaccination rate needed for community protection. At just 2 weeks old, Feleena Owens was struggling to breathe. The newborn was coughing so badly, her skin turned a sickly gray-blue color. Her face contorted as […]
Dec 17, 2025
Recent Florida Cases of Chikungunya Linked to Cuba Travelers, Reminder Vector-Borne Illness is Still Circulating
Contagion Live During this time of year, much of the US becomes too cold for mosquitos to transmit vector-borne diseases. However, Chikungunya is still be transmitted in tropical environments. For example, 29 countries in the Caribbean region have documented cases of this disease as of December. One particularly hard hit country has been Cuba. Over […]
Dec 17, 2025
Bird flu found in Wisconsin dairy herd for first time
WPR Dodge County farm is first in state to have a positive test in cows for the highly contagious disease. Officials said they have found bird flu in a Wisconsin dairy herd for the first time. Tests of cow’s milk from a Dodge County farm were positive for the highly contagious virus, officials with the […]
Dec 17, 2025
CDC Adopts Contentious Hepatitis B Vaccine Recommendation
MedPage Universal birth dose dropped, despite warnings from physicians, medical groups. The CDC has formally adopted a recommendation from its vaccine advisory panel to stop recommending hepatitis B vaccination for every newborn at birth. The agency said Tuesday that the childhood immunization schedule will be updated to reflect a shift to shared clinical decision-making for […]
Dec 17, 2025
How the Pandemic Lockdowns Changed a Songbird’s Beak
NYT For ecologists, the Covid-19 pandemic has presented a remarkable natural experiment in what can happen to wild animals when humans stay home. About two decades ago, the dark-eyed junco, a forest-dwelling sparrow, began to colonize urban Los Angeles. The birds proved to be remarkably successful in the city, making themselves at home on the […]
Dec 17, 2025
Stopping the next flu pandemic
Nature Avian influenza is devastating poultry operations, spreading in dairy cattle and infecting farm workers. Why isn’t the United States doing more to stop it? In spring, consumers in the United States found themselves having to hunt for something that had previously been exceedingly easy to find: eggs. Some supermarkets limited customers to a single […]
Dec 17, 2025
The quest to hatch a bird-flu vaccine
Nature Although development of a jab for the H5N1 strain of avian flu is well under way, other strains are receiving less attention — and political obstacles to research could hamper progress. During the summer of 2023, fur farms in Finland that raise mink, foxes and raccoon dogs were hit by an outbreak of H5N1 […]
Dec 17, 2025
Could tracking animals’ health help to avert the next pandemic?
Nature Avian influenza is sweeping the globe and infecting dozens of species. Advocates of an approach called One Health are calling for broad surveillance of wildlife, livestock and pets. In the southwestern United States in the early weeks of 2024, a large-animal veterinarian pulled up to a dairy farm on his usual rounds and was […]
Dec 17, 2025
Fever-Proof Bird Flu Variant Could Fuel the Next Pandemic
Science Daily Bird flu viruses present a significant risk to humans because they can continue replicating at temperatures higher than a typical fever. Fever is one of the body’s main tools for slowing or stopping viral infections, yet research led by the universities of Cambridge and Glasgow shows that avian flu strains can keep multiplying […]
Dec 17, 2025