Author: Claudinne Miller
A year later, cow flu origins are an unsettling puzzle
Science It’s still unclear how H5N1 virus jumped into U.S. cattle—and why it keeps doing so. When U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials reported one year ago today that the H5N1 avian influenza virus had infected dairy cattle in Texas and Kansas, it seemed a freak event—a rare confluence of factors that somehow allowed a […]
Mar 26, 2025
Vaccine skeptic hired to head federal study of immunizations and autism
Washington Post A long-discredited researcher and vaccine skeptic will conduct a government study on whether vaccines cause autism. A vaccine skeptic who has long promoted false claims about the connection between immunizations and autism has been tapped by the federal government to conduct a critical study of possible links between the two, according to current […]
Mar 26, 2025
Texas measles outbreak grows to 327 cases with 18 confirmed infections over last 5 days: Officials
ABC News The measles outbreak in western Texas is continuing to grow with 18 cases confirmed over the last five days, bringing the total to 327 cases, according to new data published Tuesday. Nearly all of the cases are in unvaccinated individuals or in individuals whose vaccination status is unknown, according to the Texas Department […]
Mar 25, 2025
Fungus labeled ‘urgent threat’ by CDC is spreading rapidly, hospital study finds
The Hill New cases of a dangerous, drug-resistant fungus have been identified in at least two states’ hospital systems. Candida auris, also called C. auris, was first identified in the U.S. in 2016. Since then, the number of cases have increased every year, jumping substantially in 2023 (the last year of data available from the Centers […]
Mar 25, 2025
CDC is pulling back $11B in Covid funding sent to health departments across the U.S.
NBC News “Now that the pandemic is over, the grants and cooperative agreements are no longer necessary,” federal health authorities wrote to funding recipients this week. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is pulling back $11.4 billion in funds allocated in response to the pandemic to state and community health departments, nongovernment organizations and […]
Mar 25, 2025
Tuberculosis was once a disease in decline, but a resurgence in cases has health officials puzzled
PBS Newshour An outbreak of tuberculosis, or TB – a lung disease that is often accompanied by a hacking cough – began in January 2024 in Kansas City, Kansas, and two nearby counties and continues as of early March 2025. To date, 147 people have been reportedly diagnosed with TB in the outbreak, with 67 becoming […]
Mar 25, 2025
HHS Closing Long COVID Office
MedPageToday Closure is part of the Trump administration’s “reorganization” The Office of Long COVID Research and Practice will close as soon as this week, according to an internal HHS email obtained by Inside Medicine. The authenticity of the email was confirmed by a government employee familiar with the situation. The email states that this action is […]
Mar 25, 2025
DC Health officials confirm measles case in the District
WTOP The D.C. Department of Health confirmed Tuesday a positive case of measles in a person who visited various locations in the District while contagious. The unidentified person traveled throughout the nation’s capital within the last week. Anyone not immune to measles who traveled to the potential exposure sites during the noted dates and times […]
Mar 25, 2025
We Need a Reminder of What the Pre-Vaccine Era Was Like
NYT Of the more than 200 Americans infected by the measles outbreak in Texas and beyond, nearly all were unvaccinated — including a 6-year-old child who died — or had an unknown immunization status. While a measles epidemic affecting hundreds of people across state lines is hard to imagine in 2025, the vaccine fears that […]
Mar 25, 2025
Kennedy Instructs Anti-Vaccine Group to Remove Fake C.D.C. Page
NYT Children’s Health Defense, founded by the health secretary, had published online a vaccine-safety page that looked like the agency’s but that suggested links to autism. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s health secretary, on Saturday instructed leaders of the nonprofit he founded to take down a web page that mimicked the design of the […]
Mar 25, 2025