Chrono list of posts

LA Times As 2024 came to an end, bird flu dominated headlines. The virus, technically known as avian influenza, was being detected in raw milk, dairy farms and even children, my colleagues Susanne Rust and Melissa Gomez reported. After federal officials confirmed the severe case of a Louisiana patient, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in California and pushed… Read more: What’s the prognosis for bird flu in 2026?

New York Times Researchers are not just worried about the virus popping up on American farms. Other types are causing trouble around the world. In the United States, the term bird flu has become synonymous with a particular virus that has devastated poultry and dairy farms over the past few years. But that virus, called… Read more: Bird Flu Viruses Raise Mounting Concerns Among Scientists

Watt Poultry The largest of the three affected flocks included 250,600 commercial meat turkeys. The presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has been confirmed in three commercial meat turkey flocks in Minnesota. According to information from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) two of the flock infections occurred… Read more: Avian influenza confirmed in 3 Minnesota turkey flocks

Outbreak News Today According to the World Health Organization (WHO) Western Pacific Region, from 9 to 15 January 2026, three new cases of human infection with avian influenza A(H9N2) virus were reported. All three cases were reported from China. The first case is a five-year-old male from Hubei Province, with an onset of symptoms on… Read more: H9N2 avian influenza cases reported in China

Think Global Health A former special advisor to the WHO director general outlines arenas that could strengthen global health regardless of a U.S. withdrawal. On Thursday, the required one-year notice period will pass since the United States declared its intention to leave the World Health Organization (WHO), although other member states continue to discuss the U.S. exit given that the country… Read more: The United States Leaves the WHO. Three Reforms Could Motivate Its Return

CIDRAP In consulting rooms across America, physicians face a challenge that no medical school prepared them for. A parent arrives with a list of concerns gathered from social media, podcasts, and well-meaning friends. The questions sound scientific. The language borrows from immunology. The citations reference real studies. And yet the conclusions are wrong. These parents… Read more: Vaccine myths that won’t die and how to counter them—part 1

STAT Kennedy has indicated that he wants to revamp the system that compensates people who are injured by vaccines. Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appears to be reshaping another little-known piece of federal vaccine infrastructure, a move that could have big consequences for the availability of immunizations in the U.S. Kennedy has removed at least four… Read more: RFK Jr. is moving to remake a little-known vaccine panel. It could have big consequences

Fierce Pharma While much of the biopharma industry has spent the past 12 months treading lightly around the Trump administration and the tumult it has wrought on U.S. medical research and regulation, Pfizer’s CEO cut to the chase this week in a blatant rebuke of HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., according to The Wall… Read more: Pfizer CEO lays blame for US vaccine woes on RFK Jr.’s ‘anti-science’ stance: WSJ

Gizmodo Six-year-old Woody has recovered well enough to take his daily walks again. A six-year-old dog named Woody has just earned a new lease on life, thanks to a rare type of brain surgery performed by veterinarians in Portland, Oregon. Surgeons at DoveLewis Animal Hospital conducted the surgery to remove a tumor in Woody’s skull.… Read more: This Adorable Good Boy Just Got Rare, Life-Saving Brain Surgery

The Conversation After a sharp uptick in flu cases in mid-December 2025, flu activity across the U.S. and Canada remains high. Although cases are trending downward in Canada as of Jan. 9, 2026, the season has yet to peak in the U.S., according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As an emergency room pediatrician in central Massachusetts,… Read more: New variant of the flu virus is driving surge of cases across the US and Canada

The Conversation A group of volunteers spent days locked in a small hotel room with people actively infected with flu. They played games, shared objects and exercised together in conditions designed to help the virus spread. Yet not a single person caught influenza. The unexpected finding comes from a well-designed study that set out to… Read more: Why a flu transmission experiment didn’t spread the flu

Washington Post This flu season is shaping up to be particularly bad. Here are antiviral medications to consider if you test positive. If you are sniffling, coughing and feeling feverish, you may have the flu. And you are not alone. There have been at least 15 million cases of the flu in the United States… Read more: Got the flu? Here’s what to know about antivirals to fight it.

WREG The Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) reported a fungal infection outbreak spreading in parts of Middle Tennessee, and there are at least 18 known cases currently, according to a document on its website. TDH says the fungal infection is referred to as histoplasmosis, caused by histoplasma, which is a fungus that grows in soil that’s… Read more: Tennessee: Fungal infection spreads in two counties; health officials say

Beef Magazine eports keep coming in of increased New World Screwworm (NWS) cases in northern Mexico. And this too-close-for-comfort activity has U.S. cattle markets and cattlemen on edge. USDA’s APHIS website on Thursday afternoon, January 15th, showed several new cases of NWS in Mexico that cropped up during the week, including six new cases in… Read more: Screwworm worries and worse

Washington Post A new study shows the intricacies of the cold virus and how it interacts with nasal airway cells, revealing why some people are hit harder than others. When the common cold rips through a household, it can leave a wildly uneven path of symptoms. The same cold-causing rhinovirus that produces barely a sniffle… Read more: Why the same cold virus makes some people more miserable than others

University of Reading Severe vitamin D deficiency is associated with a higher rate of hospitalisation for respiratory tract infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia, according to a new studyinvolving scientists from the University of Reading. Scientists found that those with a severe deficiency (below 15 nnmol/L) were 33 per cent more likely to be admitted to hospital for… Read more: Vitamin D deficiency linked to respiratory infection risk

ABC News Many patients who contracted mpox during the 2022 outbreak experienced physical effects more than a year later, a new study published on Monday finds. Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Columbia University’s division of Infectious siseases and the University of Texas Health Science Center looked at more than 300 adults who… Read more: More than half of mpox patients in 2022 outbreak experienced lasting physical effects: Study

University of Cambridge The mpox virus appears to be circulating silently in parts of Nigeria, in many cases without the symptoms typically associated with the disease, according to new research led by scientists from the University of Cambridge and partners in Nigeria. The findings may have implications for controlling the spread of the disease. In… Read more: Hidden mpox exposure detected in healthy Nigerian adults, revealing under-recognised transmission

STAT With measles transmission in the United States at levels that haven’t been seen in decades, the principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that he would not view the loss of the country’s measles elimination status as a significant event. “Not really,” said Ralph Abraham, a physician who formerly… Read more: Senior CDC official: Loss of measles elimination status in U.S. would be ‘cost of doing business’

Science Daily Researchers from New England Biolabs (NEB®) and Yale University describe the first fully synthetic bacteriophage engineering system for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an antibiotic-resistant bacterium of global concern, in a new PNAS study. The system is enabled by NEB’s High-Complexity Golden Gate Assembly (HC-GGA) platform. In this method, researchers engineer bacteriophages synthetically using sequence data… Read more: Scientists are building viruses from scratch to fight superbugs

ABC News At least 88 new measles cases in South Carolina have been confirmed amid the state’s outbreak, bringing the total number of infections to 646, state health officials said Tuesday. The majority of cases have been found in the Upstate region and around Spartanburg County, which sits on the border with North Carolina. The South Carolina… Read more: South Carolina: At least 88 new measles cases confirmed

PubMed This study explores how internet memes serve as digital communication tools in public health discourse, influencing public perceptions by spreading both accurate and misleading health information. Utilizing a dual qualitative approach, Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA) and Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA), this study examined 99 vaccine-related memes shared online during the 2019 and 2025 measles… Read more: Vaccination in the Age of Memes: An Exploration of Digital Health

BBC Mystery surrounds the appearance of hundreds of Victorian hobnailed shoes which have washed ashore on a beach. The black leather boots, thought to date back to the 19th Century, were discovered by volunteers cleaning up rock pools on Ogmore By Sea Beach in the Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales. Emma Lamport from the Beach… Read more: Mystery as hundreds of Victorian shoes wash up on beach

Vax Before Travel Mexican health authorities recently confirmed the country’s first case of mpox caused by clade Ib of the monkeypox virus (MPXV). According to a report from the World Health Organization (WHO) on January 9, 2026, the affected individual is an adult male with a recent travel history to Germany. He is currently receiving… Read more: Mpox Clade Ib Arrives in Mexico

Outbreak News Today The Madagascar Ministry of Health declared an mpox outbreak in Mahajanga I urban commune, Boeny region at the end of 2025. The declaration followed confirmation of five samples by PCR at the National Medical Analysis Laboratory and the Institut Pasteur de Madagascar. As of January 2, 2026, 35 mpox cases, of which… Read more: Madagascar reports 1st mpox outbreak

NPR The federal government has drastically scaled back the number of recommended childhood immunizations, sidelining six routine vaccines that have safeguarded millions from serious diseases, long-term disability, and death. Just three of the six immunizations the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it will no longer routinely recommend — against hepatitis A, hepatitis B,… Read more: The CDC just sidelined these childhood vaccines. Here’s what they prevent

UC Berkeley Working-age men (15–64 years old) die more frequently than working-age women in nearly all societies that measure vital statistics. One reason for this disparity may be that men tend to behave in ways that are riskier. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, countries restrained risky behavior to reduce the spread of infection. This allowed… Read more: COVID-19 lockdowns in Nordic countries saved working-age men but not women

UC Davis Study Finds Viruses May Hide and Persist in Immune Cells. esearchers at the University of California, Davis, have uncovered new details about how a once-deadly coronavirus disease in cats spreads through the immune system. The findings may help scientists better understand long COVID and other long-lasting inflammatory illnesses in people. The disease, feline… Read more: Cat Disease Challenges What Scientists Thought About Coronaviruses

Respiratory Therapy Patients with neurocognitive difficulties post COVID-19 infection displayed a significant increase in their blood plasma of a crucial protein linked to neurodegenerative diseases and found in many Alzheimer’s patients. A study of 227 individuals who experienced neurocognitive difficulties post COVID-19 infection – such as headaches, vertigo, balance dysregulation, changes in taste/smell, and brain… Read more: Alzheimer’s Protein Detected in Long COVID Patients

Bloomberg The Covid pandemic didn’t just kill people directly. It appears to have accelerated a long-brewing reversal in US heart failure deaths, with mortality climbing faster since 2020 after years of decline, new research shows. The increases have been most pronounced among younger adults and Black Americans, pointing to disruptions in care and worsening conditions such as diabetes, obesity and… Read more: Heart Failure Deaths Have Accelerated in US Since Covid Pandemic

High Plains News “H5 bird flu is widespread in wild birds worldwide and is causing outbreaks in poultry and U.S. dairy cows with sporadic human cases in U.S. dairy and poultry workers,” according to CDC. TOPEKA — Kansas is suffering from the worst outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the country, with nearly 414,000… Read more: Kansas bird flu outbreak is worst in nation

STAT The virus is expected to kill millions of animals this winter. Cheaper egg prices have muted public discussion on one of the most serious threats to American agriculture this century: bird flu. But the problem has not disappeared. In fact, the data suggest that the virus will bring devastating animal and economic losses this winter. … Read more: We know how to prevent bird flu. So why aren’t we?

Nature An analysis of more than one million people in the UK found that two-thirds of people who were vaccine-hesitant during the COVID-19 pandemic went on to get vaccinated. Although some people were initially hesitant to be vaccinated against COVID-19 during the pandemic, many did eventually go on to get at least one dose, according to a… Read more: How to improve vaccine uptake: a huge study offers clues

The Conversation Colorado is in the midst of a record-breaking flu season. In the week ending Dec. 27, 2025, 831 people were hospitalized with influenza – the most since the state started tracking flu cases two decades ago. Hospitalizations eased the following week to 737 but still remain higher than prior years. Colorado is among the top five states with the… Read more: Colorado: An emergency room physician describes why the 2025-26 flu season is hitting hard

Space Microgravity pushed evolution into corners of the phage we still don’t fully understand” The International Space Station (ISS) is a closed ecosystem, and the biology inside it — including its microbial residents — don’t necessarily behave the same way on our home planet. To better understand how microbes may act differently in space, researchers at the… Read more: Viruses may be more powerful in the International Space Station’s microgravity environment

Watt Poultry Commercial poultry operations should have an avian influenza emergency preparedness plan as a tool to protect the health and safety of workers, veterinarians and anyone else who comes into contact with poultry. Matthew Spencer, U.S. Poultry & Egg Association vice president of HR and safety programs, highlighted basic requirements of such an emergency preparedness plan during the… Read more: Poultry farms need an avian flu emergency preparedness plan

Nature High pathogenicity avian influenza virus H5N1 subtype (H5N1 HPAIV), clade 2.3.4.4b, is expanding its host and geographical range, and invaded Antarctica in 2023. Although mortality in Antarctic wildlife from H5N1 HPAIV has been suspected, mainly based on virological analysis of swabs collected from dead animals, it has not been unequivocally diagnosed. Here we show… Read more: The expanding H5N1 avian influenza panzootic causes high mortality of skuas in Antarctica

The Atlantic The virus is storming the country, a reminder of how terrible its toll can be. The flu situation in the United States right now is, in a word, bad. Infections have skyrocketed in recent weeks, filling hospitals nearly to capacity; viral levels are “high” or “very high” in most of the country. In… Read more: The Flu Really Is That Bad

The Atlantic This flu season has been rough. Antivirals can help. Antiviral drugs for influenza, the best known of which is Tamiflu, are—let’s be honest—not exactly miracle cures. They marginally shorten the course of illness, especially if taken within the first 48 hours. But amid possibly the worst flu season in 25 years, driven by… Read more: The Best Flu Drug Americans Aren’t Taking

AP Health officials in South Carolina confirmed 124 new measles cases since Friday, as the outbreak in the northwestern part of the state balloons following the holidays. There is a second, separate measles outbreak along the Arizona-Utah border, where 418 people have been infected since August. Last year was the nation’s worst year for measles spread since… Read more: South Carolina confirms 124 new measles cases as outbreak on the Arizona-Utah line grows

NYT The groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, say the C.D.C.’s revised vaccine schedule is not based on scientific evidence and will harm the public. Six leading medical organizations plan to ask the courts to throw out revisions to the childhood vaccination schedule announced last week by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and… Read more: Medical Groups Will Try to Block Childhood Vaccine Recommendations

MedPageToday Nonmedical exemptions to childhood vaccination requirements are on the rise, with substantial variation among U.S. counties and states, an analysis of county-level data showed. The median rate of nonmedical vaccination exemptions for personal beliefs or religious reasons increased from 0.6% in 2010-2011 to 3.1% in 2023-2024, while the rate of medical exemptions remained steady,… Read more: Nonmedical Childhood Vaccination Exemptions Are Climbing

Washington Post Two OB/GYNs appointed to an influential federal vaccine advisory panel have criticized vaccination during pregnancy and more broadly. One called the vaccine industry “disgusting.” Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday expanded a key federal vaccine advisory panel to include more critics of vaccines who have contradicted mainstream medical guidance, including one… Read more: New RFK Jr. pick for vaccine panel: ‘I was not anti-vaccine. I am now.’

MedPageToday However, estimated COVID-related hospitalizations and deaths did decrease from 2022 to 2024. Despite the end to the public health emergency declaration in May 2023, COVID-19 continued to have a large impact on the U.S. population and healthcare system, a cross-sectional study suggested. From October 2022 to September 2023, there were an estimated 43.6 million… Read more: COVID Continues to Take a Toll, Especially Among Older Adults, Study Suggests

Medical Express Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers report national estimates of 43.6 million COVID-19-associated illnesses and 101,300 deaths in the US during October 2022 to September 2023, plus 33.0 million illnesses and 100,800 deaths during October 2023 to September 2024. People 65 years and older accounted for the majority of hospitalizations and deaths.COVID-19… Read more: COVID-19 still claims more than 100,000 US lives each year

Fierce Pharma Bayer has filed separate lawsuits against the creators of three COVID-19 vaccines, claiming they violated intellectual property developed by Monsanto, the crop science company the German company acquired a decade ago. In federal district court in Delaware, Bayer filed one complaint against Moderna and another against partners Pfizer and BioNTech. In U.S. district… Read more: Bayer files separate lawsuits against Moderna, J&J and Pfizer-BioNTech over COVID vaccine tech

Nature The emergence of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5 clade 2.3.4.4b has triggered an unprecedented global panzootic in recent years. As the frequency and scale of HPAI H5 outbreaks continue to rise, understanding how wild birds contribute to shape the global virus spread across regions—affecting poultry, domestic and wild mammals—is increasingly critical. In this… Read more: The role of wild birds in the global highly pathogenic avian influenza H5 panzootic, 2020–2023

Science Focus Bird flu has been rampaging through wildlife and farm animals worldwide. Will it make the long-feared jump to people? When a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu strain of avian influenza (H5N1) began sweeping across wild birds and poultry in 2020, it already looked concerning. Five years on, the picture has grown darker… Read more: ‘It’s completely out of control’: Scientists warn bird flu could spark a human pandemic in 2026

Bloomberg Cal-Maine Foods Inc., the biggest egg producer in the US, said bird flu still has an “extremely strong” presence, having last year decimated US poultry flocks and sent egg prices soaring to records. Nearly 500 outbreaks in poultry were reported across 26 countries in October and November last year, according to the World Organisation for… Read more: Top US Egg Producer Says Bird Flu Still ‘Extremely Strong’

Washington Post The Trump administration took unprecedented steps to recommend fewer vaccines for children without extensive consultations with career scientists. Vaccine experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were blindsided by a top deputy toHealth Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to unilaterally overhaul the childhood immunization schedule, according to current and former agency staff.… Read more: CDC staff ‘blindsided’ as child vaccine schedule unilaterally overhauled

Earth.com Scientists have now used artificial intelligence, computer systems that learn patterns from data, to write complete viral genomes from scratch in the lab. In parallel, a Microsoft-led study showed that AI tools can redesign known toxins so they escape common DNA synthesis safety checks. Those AI-built viruses are bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria rather than humans,… Read more: AI can now create viruses from scratch, one step away from the perfect biological weapon

Works in Progress The first vaccine was a lucky accident. Now we can design new vaccines in weeks, atom by atom. In 1796, when Edward Jenner developed the first vaccine, against the smallpox virus, no one knew what viruses were, let alone connected them to diseases.  Many believed Jenner’s vaccine worked because it depleted the body of… Read more: The golden age of vaccine development

SciTechDaily Researchers studying infectious diseases have found evidence of Pteropine orthoreovirus (PRV), a bat-associated orthoreovirus, in stored throat swabs and virus cultures from five people in Bangladesh. These patients were originally believed to have Nipah virus infection but later tested negative. The finding expands the list of animal-to-human viruses known to infect people in Bangladesh… Read more: Scientists Discover Previously Undetected Bat-Borne Virus Infecting Humans in South Asia

Earth.com A new form of the mpox virus has surfaced in England, detected in a traveler returning from Asia and carrying a hybrid strain that blends genetic material from two different mpox lineages. The finding arrives amid a busy year for the virus, with global health agencies reporting roughly 48,000 confirmed mpox cases worldwide. Since… Read more: Traveler brings home a newly-evolved ‘hybrid’ mpox virus

The Conversation The Trump administration’s overhauling of the decades-old childhood vaccination schedule, announced by federal health officials on Jan. 5, 2026, has raised alarm among public health experts and pediatricians. The U.S. childhood immunization schedule, the grid of colored bars pediatricians share with parents, recommends a set of vaccines given from birth through adolescence to prevent a… Read more: RFK Jr. guts the US childhood vaccine schedule despite its decades-long safety record

The Conversation A new year might mean new viral threats. Old viruses are constantly evolving. A warming and increasingly populated planet puts humans in contact with more and different viruses. And increased mobility means that viruses can rapidly travel across the globe along with their human hosts. As an infectious diseases physician and researcher, I’ll be keeping an eye on a… Read more: Viral outbreaks are always on the horizon – here are the viruses an infectious disease expert is watching in 2026

Health Policy Watch The US government-funded trial on the timing of hepatitis B vaccinations, which will delay vaccination for up to 7,000 newborns in Guinea-Bissau, started this week. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded a controversial Danish research group a ,6 million five-year grant to study the “optimal timing and delivery of… Read more: Controversial US-Backed Vaccination Study Begins in Guinea-Bissau

Eurasia Review An unprecedented avian flu outbreak in Argentine Patagonia devastated a stable elephant seal colony, highlighting the rising threat of infectious disease to wildlife in a warming world. In the spring of 2023, we returned to Península Valdés, a rugged coastal region in Argentine Patagonia, expecting to witness the familiar sights and sounds of… Read more: How A Bird Flu Outbreak Wiped Out A Generation Of Seals In Patagonia—And What It Means For Wildlife Conservation – Analysis

Wired On average, the typical American contracts two to three colds per year between September and May, at an estimated cost of around $40 billion to the economy. Effective forms of treating or preventing colds have proven hard to come by, with the majority of over-the-counter medicines yielding modest results; it’s hard to devise a drug that tackles the vast array of viral… Read more: The Ancient Art of Nasal Rinsing Might Protect You From a Cold

WJAR News The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources announced a highly pathogenic Avian Influenza was detected in a domestic flock of chickens. Officials said the agency safely depopulated and disposed of a backyard flock of chickens in Dukes County. According to officials, the birds exhibited signs consistent with Avian Influenza and tested positive for the… Read more: Massachusetts officials announce detection of Avian Influenza

Pulmonology Advisor The U.S. recorded more than 2,000 measles cases in 2025, the nation’s highest yearly total in decades, health officials report. As of Dec. 30, 2,065 measles cases had been confirmed nationwide, according to the latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The last time the United States saw more cases in a… Read more: US Sees Highest Measles Case Count in Decades as Outbreaks Grow

CBS News Four children have died from the flu in Massachusetts so far this season, public health officials say. The deaths occurred in recent weeks as peak flu season gets underway, according to the Department of Public Health. The Boston Public Health Commission said Tuesday that two of the deaths were children in the city under 2… Read more: 4 child flu deaths reported in Massachusetts: “We are seeing children who are seriously ill”