Author: Claudinne Miller
Here’s How We Know Vaccines Are Safe and Effective
MedPageToday Statements from a federal official about potential changes to the way vaccines are evaluated have left experts with more questions than answers. Earlier this month, an apparent policy change appeared in a statement to the Washington Post in which an HHS spokesperson told the paper that “All new vaccines will undergo safety testing in placebo-controlled trials prior […]
May 21, 2025
Person may have spread measles at Shakira’s New Jersey concert, health officials warn
USA Today A person who attended a Shakira concert at MetLife Stadium was infected with measles and may have spread the highly contagious virus at the event, New Jersey health officials said. The person, who lives out of state, attended the concert in East Rutherford on May 15 while infectious, according to a statement released by the New […]
May 21, 2025
Measles Updates: Texas Cases Pass 700 As Illness Reported In 30 States
Forbes Texas has reported over 700 measles cases since January, according to the latest numbers from the state’s health department, representing the bulk of measles cases that have been reported in the U.S. this year. There have been 1,024 confirmed cases of measles across 30 states so far this year, according to the latest update from the […]
May 21, 2025
In El Paso, measles is infecting more adults than children
Texas Tribune As soon as measles started spreading in West Texas, El Paso health officials began preparing schools and day care facilities for the day the virus would inevitably arrive. But now that it’s here, it’s not kids who are making up the brunt of the cases — it’s adults. Two-thirds of El Paso’s cases […]
May 21, 2025
Separating Snake Oil From Science
The Dispatch When the lines between expert and huckster are increasingly blurry, how do we determine what’s authoritative? Health communication—especially across social media—has become that pooling equilibrium. It used to be the case that when the results of scientific studies were disseminated, the messaging came from your doctor or national organizations like the American Academy of […]
May 21, 2025
Yellow Fever Resurgence Could Make COVID Look ‘Pale’ by Comparison
Science Alert Yellow fever is a dangerous mosquito-borne virus that, for hundreds of years, has caused sporadic, deadly outbreaks in the tropics of South America, Central America, and Africa. According to a new perspective from infectious disease specialists and the Yellow Fever Advisory Group, the chances of the virus going global have only increased with each passing decade. A recent resurgence in yellow fever […]
May 21, 2025
WHO declares polio outbreak in Papua New Guinea
BBC The World Health Organisation has declared a polio outbreak in Papua New Guinea and called for an “immediate” vaccination campaign. Samples of the highly infectious virus were found in two healthy children during a routine screening in Lae, a coastal city in the country’s north east. Less than half of the country’s population are […]
May 21, 2025
Panel Discussion: ‘What turns spillovers into epidemics?’
University of Oxford How do we move from tracking disease emergence to predicting the next epidemic? This talk brings together experts in pathogen genomics, virology, ecology, climate science, and data science to explore how AI, genomic surveillance, and new environmental data streams can enhance predictive models of emerging infectious diseases —bridging the gap between spillover […]
May 20, 2025
More than 2 million hens in Arizona flock hit by avian flu
Watt Poultry Nearly 2.26 million commercial laying hens in Arizona have been lost to highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) reported that the presence of the virus was confirmed in Maricopa County on May 19. The flock included 2,258,100 hens. Instances of HPAI infections […]
May 20, 2025
What makes H5N1 a pandemic risk and how can we stop it?
Medical News As H5N1 bird flu continues to evolve and cross species, researchers reveal how the latest vaccine technologies, nanomedicine, and AI could shape the future of pandemic defense. The global health landscape has been starkly reminded of the pandemic risk associated with zoonotic viruses with multiple host species. In a recent PEARLS article, a concise […]
May 20, 2025